Larisa DeSantis

Thirteen innovative projects across seven colleges and schools have been selected for the spring 2024 round of Seeding Success internal grants. The Office of the Vice Provost for Research and Innovation announced the recipient list on May 31. Read More

A group of Vanderbilt students with diverse majors joined their creative forces for an immersive writing challenge: Take sophisticated science, technology, engineering and math topics and make them compelling for fourth graders. How did they do it? Through storytelling. Read More

A pilot funding initiative will support faculty as they mentor students on Immersion Vanderbilt, a feature of Discovery Vanderbilt's emphasis on research and creation across the university. Read More

Larisa DeSantis, associate professor of biological sciences and earth and environmental sciences, will give the Royal Irish Academy's Discourse Lecture on Monday, July 18, which will be viewable online. Speakers at this event recently have included four Nobel laureates and a former president of Ireland. Read More

Members of the Evolutionary Studies Initiative took a field trip to Coon Creek Science Center (CCSC) to dig for fossils. Read More

Over the past decade, Larisa DeSantis, paleontologist and associate professor of biological sciences, has worked with a team of former Vanderbilt undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral scholars and experts from across the globe to show how species can be both generalized at the species level and specialized individually—a probable key to their success. Read More

Nine outstanding faculty members from across the university have been selected for the 2021 cohort of Chancellor Faculty Fellows. This group is composed of highly accomplished, recently tenured faculty from a wide variety of disciplines and areas of expertise. Read More

Associate Professor of Biological Sciences Larisa DeSantis discusses pizzly bears (grizzy + polar bear hybrid species)! Read More

Chemical signatures and microscopic wear patterns in dental fossils show that the diet of sabertooth cats included mammoths. Read More

Dental analysis from Larisa DeSantis shows that polar bears may not be able to compete for food sources as their environment melts away. Read More

Isotope analysis of ancient Peruvian teeth gives anthropologists a clearer image of how cooperating societies function. Read More

Kids and lifelong learners can hear directly from paleontologists about bizarre creatures of the past during a free virtual National Fossil Day event on Saturday, Oct. 10, at 10 a.m. CT. Registration is required. Read More

International collaboration shows that marsupial saber-tooth cats were more closely related to possums than fearsome predators. Read More

Paleontologist and associate professor of biological sciences Larisa DeSantis finds answers about early hominin diets are with an unrelated group of mammals—tapirs. Read More

The quokka, a small marsupial native to Australia, is an example of a species vulnerable to extinction in the country’s harsh surroundings. In a new study, researchers at Vanderbilt University demonstrate evidence for the dramatic decline of quokkas over the past century. Read More

The most detailed study to date of ancient predators trapped in the La Brea Tar Pits is helping Americans understand why today we’re dealing with coyotes dumping over garbage cans and not saber-toothed cats ripping our arms off. Read More

The Vanderbilt community is invited to a panel discussion on Tuesday, March 12, titled “ZigZags: Honest STEM Career Paths.” The discussion will be held at the Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center. Read More

When Associate Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences Larisa DeSantis was 9 years old, she had the opportunity to meet with then-President George H.W. Bush in the Oval Office. The interaction with the 41st president would have a profound effect on her life. Read More

The extinction of one of Australia’s top predators, the marsupial lion, was likely a result of changing weather patterns and loss of habitat rather than human impacts, a study led by Vanderbilt University paleontologist Larisa DeSantis has found. Read More

Paleontologist Larisa DeSantis' latest research confirms that the shape of tooth wear best indicates the kind of food koalas and kangaroos ate, not whether it was covered in dust and dirt. Read More