News

Vanderbilt scholar Peter T. Cummings, the John R. Hall Professor of Chemical Engineering, emeritus, has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering.  In an announcement released February 7, 2023, the Academy cited Cummings for his “simulation-based solutions to chemical engineering problems, and for innovations and leadership in modeling and computational nanoscience.” Cummings spent 20... Read More

Piran Kidambi, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, has been awarded a grant to further his research into capturing high-resolution images of live viruses in tissues. The three-year grant from Chan Zuckerberg Initiative’s Frontiers of Imaging is one of 20 awarded worldwide with the aim of revolutionizing the study of viruses, human health and... Read More

Project will be led by Mechanical Engineering Professor Nabil Simaan, a globally renowned expert in robotic surgery A multidisciplinary team from the Vanderbilt Institute for Surgery and Engineering has received a multi-year, multi-million dollar contract to develop a low-cost simulation tool to train medical personnel in Kenya to perform minimally invasive laparoscopic procedures. The project will... Read More

Biomedical engineering graduate student Ismael Ortiz has been awarded a fellowship in the Ford Foundation Fellowship Programs competition administered at the Fellowships Office of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. Ford Predoctoral Fellowships are highly competitive with a typical overall success rate of only 4% to 5%. Fellowships provide three years of support at... Read More

By Lena Anthony First-year nursing students, U.S. Army soldiers and a middle school science class might seem very different at first glance. But when you consider the recent work of Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Engineering Gautam Biswas, the similarities become clear. Each group has been a test case for Biswas’ research, which collects multimodal data... Read More

Mikail Rubinov, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, has been awarded $600,000 from the National Science Foundation to develop new computational methods for analysis of large-scale brain activity data. The three-year project is funded by the NSF Collaborative Research in Computational Neuroscience (CRCNS). It was awarded alongside a companion project from the U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation... Read More

Vanderbilt University and the School of Engineering offer undergraduates numerous summer research opportunities to expand their classroom knowledge and gain valuable practical experience. The Institute for Software Integrated Systems is hosting a virtual open house for interested students on Feb. 22 from 3 to 6 p.m. The registration deadline is Feb. 21. The School of... Read More

Five graduate students named Eisenhower Fellows Vanderbilt University’s strengths in transportation, resilience and sustainability are on display this week at the Transportation Research Board’s 102nd annual meeting held in person in Washington, D.C. As part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the TRB provides leadership in transportation improvements and innovation. Four faculty members and six... Read More

A company co-founded by Robert J. Webster III, Richard A. Schroeder Professor of Mechanical Engineering and associate professor of medicine and urology at Vanderbilt University, has received a breakthrough device designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that could open the door for new diagnostic and therapeutic applications of flexible endoscopy. The designation given... Read More

A company co-founded by Robert J. Webster III, Richard A. Schroeder Professor of Mechanical Engineering and associate professor of medicine and urology at Vanderbilt University, has received a breakthrough device designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that could open the door for new diagnostic and therapeutic applications of flexible endoscopy. The designation given... Read More

Technology driven by deep-learning model delivers 4D video-rate imaging, improves precision A multidisciplinary team of engineers and clinicians at Vanderbilt University Medical Center has advanced its work to develop new tools for intraoperative imaging during ophthalmic surgery. The team recently presented a novel, automated instrument tracking method that leverages multimodal imaging and deep learning to... Read More

Maizie (Xin) Zhou, assistant professor of biomedical engineering and computer science, is the recipient of a $1.9 million award from the National Institutes of Health. She has also received $120,000 from Complete Genomics, a leader in human genome sequencing. The Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA)(R35) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIH) will... Read More

Vanderbilt researchers have uncovered conditions needed to produce cellulose at the single molecule level that could one day aid in the dismantling of bacterial defenses as well as potentially lead to the engineering of more efficient and cost-effective biofuel feedstock sources. The findings were published in the scientific journal PNAS. The researchers used optical tweezers... Read More

Using historical crash data, data collection, advanced classification models and machine learning algorithms that encompass critical factors in bicycle crash outcomes, Vanderbilt engineers Ishita Dash, Mark Abkowitz and Craig Philip developed an analysis that will result in a set of policies and actions that transportation planners nationwide can use to mitigate cyclists’ safety risks. The... Read More

Vanderbilt University engineering professor Michael R. King has been elected a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. The NAI Fellows Program recognizes academic inventors who have created or facilitated outstanding inventions that make a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development, and the welfare of society. Election to NAI Fellow is the highest... Read More

Experts from the Institute for Scientific Information identified 13 faculty at Vanderbilt University and Vanderbilt University Medical Center as among the top one percent of cited researchers worldwide. The preliminary list of Highly Cited Researchers is drawn from the highly cited papers that rank in the top one percent by citations for field and publication... Read More

Two Vanderbilt faculty who conducted translational research have received the distinction of Best Invention of 2022 from TIME magazine. TIME’s Best Inventions of 2022 Cover “These winning innovations exemplify the transformative potential of university research when it aims to solve society’s most urgent problems, and when universities partner with the broader innovation ecosystem to bring... Read More

Two Vanderbilt faculty who conducted translational research have received the distinction of Best Invention of 2022 from TIME magazine. TIME’s Best Inventions of 2022 Cover “These winning innovations exemplify the transformative potential of university research when it aims to solve society’s most urgent problems, and when universities partner with the broader innovation ecosystem to bring... Read More

The transport of water molecules through nanoscale pores is central to a number of processes like water treatment, biological membranes, ionic/molecular separations, water treatment and protective applications, but the mechanisms of transport are not fully understood. Piran Kidambi, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Vanderbilt, and a team of researchers recently had a... Read More

Vanderbilt researchers have created single-atom thick membranes with pores that allow for transport of water molecules but block even the smallest of salt ions and small molecules. The findings were published in Nature Communications on November 7, 2022, and could hold implications for developing advanced materials that protect against threats such as biological and chemical... Read More