Vanderbilt is classified as a "Research University (very high research activity)," and is engaged in some of the most important engineering research and cross-disciplinary research conducted in the nation.

Spanning biomedical, civil, chemical, environmental, electrical, mechanical engineering and computer science fields, Vanderbilt also has special expertise in key research areas. Faculty and students collaborate across disciplines to address four critical research initiatives that characterize the school's commitment to help solve real-world challenges with worldwide impact:

• Energy and Natural Resources

The School of Engineering at Vanderbilt is recognized as an international research leader in areas of structural reliability and risk, nuclear waste management and teaching assessment approaches to environmental decision making.

• Medicine and Health

Critical research initiatives are ongoing in cellular dynamics in immunology, cardiology, cancer, rehabilitation engineering, as well as MRI and imaging systems to guide surgery. Other research efforts include laser-tissue interaction, biomedical optics and bionanotechnology.

• Security

A large number of faculty and students engage in cutting-edge research for critical commercial and governmental agencies that involve systems security and privacy. Research efforts include privacy aware health information systems, foundations for resilient systems design, system security co-design and secure control systems for industry and society.

• Entertainment

Research focus includes computer networking and network security, human-machine teaming, machine learning and software engineering.

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