Keivan Stassun

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

Stassun, who is also a founding co-director the Fisk-Vanderbilt Master’s-to-Ph.D. Bridge Program, was among the 2024 MacArthur fellows announced on Tuesday, Oct. 1. The fellowship, which is awarded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, aims to identify extraordinarily creative individuals with a track record of excellence in a field of scholarship or area of practice. Recipients also demonstrate the ability to affect society in significant and beneficial ways through their pioneering work or the rigor of their contributions, according to the foundation. Read More

AJ Hinton, Amber Crabtree, and colleagues collaborated to provide a commentary on the challenges facing autistic adults in science, technology, engineering, math, and medicine. As autistic adults face a high unemployment rate, the authors argue that solutions are necessary to evoke change within STEMM institutions to acquire and retain autistic employees. Read More

Two Vanderbilt researchers are part of a team that earned a $1 million grant to develop AI-based training that will help neurodiverse people learn to drive—addressing a huge obstacle for that population. “The ability to drive will open up new opportunities for employment and a life of independence for many neurodiverse individuals,” said Nilanjan Sarkar,... Read More

Two Vanderbilt researchers are part of a team that earned a $1 million grant to develop AI-based training that will help neurodiverse people learn to drive—addressing a huge obstacle for that population. “The ability to drive will open up new opportunities for employment and a life of independence for many neurodiverse individuals,” said Nilanjan Sarkar,... Read More

Mechanical engineering Professor Nilanjan Sarkar, Frist Center Director Keivan Stassun and collaborators receive $1M to develop an integrated AI and behavioral science-based driving training system to improve transportation independence for neurodiverse individuals. Read More

Vanderbilt University and the Frist Center for Autism and Innovation at Vanderbilt are collaborating with The Precisionists, Inc., a Wilmington, Delaware-based company that assesses, trains and employs neurodiverse adults to carry out project-based consulting work. TPI anticipates steady growth in Nashville and plans to create more than 500 local jobs for adults with autism and neurodiversities within the next three to five years.  Read More

Aging stars expand and eventually destroy planets in their inner systems. Or do they? A team of researchers that includes Keivan Stassun finds evidence of a planet that survived its star’s transformation, and that is reshaping our understanding of planetary and stellar evolution. Read More

Vanderbilt University collaborates with the University of Tennessee and more than 100 partner organizations to launch the Advancing Technology-Enabled Mobility Solutions (TEAM TN) initiative. TEAM TN aims to advance mobility solutions, spark innovation and make Tennessee a key player in the $2 trillion global transportation economy. Read More

Four Vanderbilt and VUMC faculty—María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Kimryn Rathmell, Keivan Stassun and Major Jackson—have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a record number of elections from Vanderbilt in a single year. Read More

Keivan Stassun, Stevenson Professor of Physics and Astronomy and director of the Frist Center for Autism and Innovation at Vanderbilt University, has been appointed to the National Science Board by President Joe Biden. Read More

Nilanjan Sarkar and Meiyi Ma have received Civic Innovation Challenge planning grants from the National Science Foundation. The purpose of the NSF CIVIC program is to accelerate the transition to practice of foundational research and emerging technologies into communities through civic-engaged research. Read More

Keivan Stassun, Stevenson Professor of Physics and Astronomy and director of the Frist Center for Autism and Innovation, is a co-author of the study “Increasing Diversity and Inclusion in the Leadership of Competed Space Missions.” The report will be published by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine on May 18. 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

Keivan Stassun joins leading astronomers to write "Astro2020," a once-in-a-decade guide for astronomy research, prioritizing gargantuan telescopes on the ground and in orbit as well as increased diversity and inclusion. Read More

A team of Vanderbilt and Vanderbilt University Medical Center faculty are working together to produce a series of children’s science books aimed at fourth grade–level readers. Read More

Under the leadership of Keivan Stassun, founding director of the Frist Center for Autism and Innovation, the center has been recognized for its innovations in engineering research related to autism and the value of neurodiversity in the workplace. 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

Thanks to her passion for astronomy, as well as mentoring from faculty, undergraduate Samantha Bianco is both a named co-author on a graduate-level scientific research paper and the first Vanderbilt student officially to have completed an Immersion Vanderbilt project. Read More