October 2011 Vanderbilt View
Vaughan Jones
Oct. 3, 2011—Fields medalist brings informal style to Vanderbilt When Vaughan Jones was 5 years old, he made his first mathematical discovery. “I was learning the addition tables and realized that if one plus one equals two, then 100 plus 100 must equal 200 – something that people have since told me was a non-trivial step for...
Jonathan Metzl
Oct. 3, 2011—New center director explores connections between humanities and medicine Jonathan Metzl was born into medicine but is drawn to the humanities. He’s still insisting on having it both ways. The new director of Vanderbilt’s Center for Medicine, Health and Society is the son of a pediatrician and a psychoanalyst. Two of his three brothers are...
Tony Stewart
Oct. 3, 2011—Religious scholar’s journey takes him from Millersburg to Bangladesh Tony Stewart performed an experiment when he arrived on the Vanderbilt campus. “I asked everyone I ran into for directions to Religious Studies,” he said. “Without exception, they told me how to get to the Divinity School.” Although they share a lot of intellectual territory, Religious...
Jemima Pierre
Oct. 3, 2011—Anthropologist explores modern Africa and black immigrant experience in America In her interactions with black immigrants over the years, Jemima Pierre said she discovered a surprising sentiment. “They told me, ‘I never knew I was black until I came to the U.S.’ I found that fascinating. ” As a Haitian immigrant growing up in Miami...
Erin Rericha
Oct. 3, 2011—Interfacial scientist thrives on moment of discovery Erin Rericha considers herself an interfacial scientist. The new assistant professor of physics explained that she has “a bit of a split personality.” “I am trained as a condensed matter physicist,” she said, “and I spent my postdoc working in biology labs learning about cell migration.” An interest...
J.B. Ruhl
Oct. 3, 2011—Law professor sees progress where environmental and economic good meets Environmental law and property law expert J.B. Ruhl said he considers himself part of the “radical middle” when it comes to helping craft solutions to controversial environmental issues. “Sometimes you need to take an environmental good and pair it up with an economic good to...
Pietro Valdastri
Oct. 3, 2011—Bioengineer builds robotics to make medical procedures easier The prospect of a colonoscopy is about as unwelcome as a root canal, so it’s no surprise that it’s difficult to convince people to get regular screenings for colon cancer. But what if you could replace this uncomfortable procedure by swallowing a robotic capsule the size of...
Larry Bartels
Oct. 3, 2011—Political scientist looks at elections and why they matter Larry Bartels, arguably the most influential political scientist of his generation, is fascinated with democracy – how it really works, who has the most influence and why the presidential primary election process has propelled one-time dark horse candidates into contenders. Much of Bartels’ research is focused...
New Faculty 2011-12
Oct. 3, 2011—A complete list of new faculty for the 2011-12 academic year Blair School of Music Philip Dikeman, associate professor of flute B.M., Oberlin College, 1985 M.M., Yale University, 1987 Before joining the Blair School of Music faculty, Dikeman was the assistant principal flute of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for nearly 20 years as well as...
In Conversation with Ellen Clark
Oct. 3, 2011—Vanderbilt’s EAP helps employees find balance in their work and lives Ellen Clark’s first day on the job at Vanderbilt is stamped on her memory. It’s likely stamped on your memory, too. Clark, a licensed clinical social worker, had an official start date of Sept. 17, 2001. But when terrorists attacked the nation on Sept....
Editor’s Note
Oct. 3, 2011—I recently updated my Facebook status to read “I’m thinking of going off the grid.” I wasn’t planning to disappear into the wilderness sans smart phone to live off the land. But I was experiencing a technology burnout of sorts. Unlike five or 10 years ago, my world has become increasingly techno-centric. I blog. I...
Kudos
Oct. 3, 2011—Tracy Barrett, senior lecturer in Italian, has written Dark of the Moon, a re-telling of the Theseus myth for young adult readers, published by Harcourt Children’s Books. Leonard Bickman, the Betts Chair and professor of psychology, will receive the American Evaluation Association’s 2011 Alva and Gunnar Myrdal Evaluation Practice Award, given to an evaluator who...