David Kosson, Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Engineering, has been appointed to a new working group charged with developing an international strategy to support and promote faculty research, scholarship and creative expression.
The working group, created by Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Susan R. Wente, comprises faculty from a wide range of disciplines. The group will identify Vanderbilt’s strengths and existing international ties, assess current and best practices of peer institutions, and identify areas of need and opportunity. The group is charged with developing a strategy that both supports the international research of faculty and raises the global profile of Vanderbilt as a research institution.
The working group will seek to leverage and expand upon the university’s extensive existing global partnerships, collaboration and teaching.
Kosson is professor of civil and environmental engineering, chemical engineering, and earth and environmental sciences. He is co-principal investigator of the multi-university Consortium for Risk Evaluation with Stakeholder Participation (CRESP). Kosson’s research focuses on management of nuclear and chemical wastes, including process development and contaminant mass transfer applied to groundwater, soil, sediment and waste systems.
His research in collaboration with the Energy Research Centre of The Netherlands on leaching of contaminants from wastes and construction materials is currently providing the foundation for environmental regulation of these materials at U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Netherlands Ministry of Environment and the European Union’s Directorate General for the Environment.
Wente has identified four guiding principles for the development of the university’s global strategy:
- Building a grassroots foundation through partnerships and continued growth of faculty partnership and collaboration with international colleagues;
- Leveraging the One Vanderbilt trans-institutional approaches to research, scholarship and teaching to further develop international opportunities;
- Enhancing student and faculty scholarship through strategic and aligned investments in education and research; and
- Communicating Vanderbilt’s global impact by re-inventorying existing international efforts and bringing recognition of these efforts through broader communication.
In addition to dozens of partnerships between individual faculty members and centers with international colleagues, Vanderbilt has established key institutional partnerships abroad. These include partnerships with the University of Melbourne, the University of Sao Paolo, Leipzig University and Queens University in Belfast.
Other members of the working group are:
- Ted Fischer, co-chair, professor of anthropology, professor of medicine, health and society, director of the Center for Latin American Studies, College of Arts and Science;
- Ingrid Wuerth, co-chair, Helen Strong Curry Professor of International Law, Law School;
- Joy Calico, professor of musicology, Blair School of Music;
- Roger Colbran, interim chair and professor of molecular physiology and biophysics, School of Medicine
- Xiu Cravens, associate dean for international affairs, Peabody College;
- Steven Goodbred, professor of Earth and environmental sciences, College of Arts and Science;
- Carolyn Heinrich, professor of public policy and education, Peabody College;
- Debra Jeter, professor of accounting, Owen Graduate School of Management;
- Jose Medina, professor of philosophy, College of Arts and Science;
- Moses Ochonu, professor of history, College of Arts and Science;
- Leong Seow, Distinguished Professor of Hebrew Bible and Vanderbilt, Buffington, Cupples Professor of Divinity, Divinity School; and
- Muktar Aliyu, associate professor of health policy, School of Medicine.