Fisk-Vanderbilt Bridge Program

See how a passion to help underrepresented students ignited astrophysicist Keivan Stassun’s mission, earning him a MacArthur “genius” award. Read More

Vanderbilt's Spring 2024 Scaling Success Grant awards support four innovative research projects, empowering faculty to secure expanded external funding. The grant program, initiated in 2022, has already helped its inaugural awardees obtain prestigious grants. Read More

The Women's Center presents awards in three categories each year: the Margaret Cuninggim Women's Center Leadership Award, the Mentoring Award and the Mary Jane Werthan Award. This spring, the Margaret Cuninggim Women’s Center named five people from the Vanderbilt community as recipients of its annual awards. Read More

The Fisk-Vanderbilt Master’s-to-Ph.D. Bridge Program, emphasizing multi-messenger astronomy, utilized strategic funding from a Scaling Success Internal Award to secure a $1.7 million NSF grant. This collaborative journey, focusing on inclusive STEM education and innovative training approaches, highlights the power of adaptability and vision in research endeavors. Read More

The Fisk-Vanderbilt Master’s-to-Ph.D. Bridge Program, a partnership to create equitable pathways to STEM, has been awarded a Sloan Foundation grant for the first U.S. graduate certificate course in multi-messenger astronomy.  Read More

A team of astronomers has made the discovery of a lifetime that will help answer burning questions on the evolution of stars. The group is led by Keivan Stassun, Evolutionary Studies Initiative member and Stevenson Professor of Physics and Astronomy. Read More

Kelly Holley-Bockelmann, Stevenson Professor of Astrophysics, has received the 2022 Mentor Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The award is for individuals who have mentored significant numbers of underrepresented students who are working toward doctorates in STEM. Read More

Stephen Taylor, assistant professor of physics and astronomy, has received a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Program award to further his efforts to probe ultra-low-frequency gravitational waves. Read More

Keivan Stassun will discuss strategies to increase underrepresented minorities at the Ph.D. level in science and engineering in an event hosted by the Association of American Universities on Thursday, April 8, at noon CT. Read More

Vanderbilt astronomers have painted their best picture yet of an RV Tauri variable—a rare type of stellar binary—by mining a 130-year-old dataset that spans the widest range of light yet collected for one of these systems, from radio waves to X-rays. Read More

With support from the Heising-Simons Foundation, Vanderbilt will help advance underrepresented minority astrophysics scholars to secure faculty appointments with elite postdoctoral fellowships. Read More

In her latest "Open Mind" column, Interim Chancellor and Provost Susan R. Wente reflects on the words carved into the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C.: “Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope.” Read More

A team of STEM researchers, including Vanderbilt astrophysicist Kelly Holley-Bockelmann, have published a new collaborative study on Ph.D. bridge programs as a mechanism to empower students, foster diversity and spur a more holistic approach to graduate education.  Read More

A National Academies committee, featuring Vanderbilt astrophysicist Keivan Stassun, published a report and resource guide on effective mentorship in the fields of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine. Read More

A lively group of students, faculty, staff and postdocs participating in the Fisk-Vanderbilt Master’s-to-Ph.D. Bridge Program recently gathered in the lobby of the Vanderbilt Engineering and Science Building for the program’s annual mentor mixer. Read More

Astrophysicist Keivan Stassun has been named mentor of the year by AAAS for his efforts in increasing the number of underrepresented minorities in STEM Ph.D. programs. Read More

In prelude to the total solar eclipse on Aug. 21, Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos interviews astronomy expert Keivan Stassun on "The Zeppos Report." Read More

The August total solar eclipse, digital humanities and moral intelligence are among the diverse topics covered during the spring term of Vanderbilt's Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. Read More

"Diverse: Issues In Higher Education" has ranked Vanderbilt University No. 1 in the country for the number of doctoral degrees awarded to African Americans in the biological and biomedical sciences. Read More

When Vanderbilt’s Graduate School relocated to Alumni Hall earlier this year, it was more than just a routine move from one office space to another. In a broader sense, it also represented a shift in philosophy—away from the more traditional notion of graduate education and toward a more holistic approach that better equips students for today’s fast-changing and heavily interconnected world. Read More