Alumni

The chief engineer for design and development of the Global Positioning System and its atomic clocks will visit the School of Engineering as part of 2020 National Engineers Week events, Feb. 17-21, at Vanderbilt University. Hugo Fruehauf Hugo Fruehauf, one of four engineers who created the Global Positioning System, will… Read More

  Elementary school teachers seemed particularly excited about Film Detective, a game to help adolescents on the autism spectrum learn to decode social scenarios, at the 7th annual ED Games Expo Jan. 9 in Washington, D.C. “They liked how engaging the game is, using television and movie clips as… Read More

Next-generation materials will be defined by their ability to adapt, change their properties, change their shape—shapeshifters. “We want to be able to make material that can flow when it wants to flow, that can be rigid when it needs to be rigid, that can appear one way or appear another… Read More

While others may have opened somewhat traditional gifts during the 2019 holiday season, Peter Cummings received an extraordinary one:  A singular issue of Molecular Physics, Volume 117, numbers 23-24, honoring him on his 65th birthday and recognizing him as “a constantly innovating scientific force” in molecular theory and molecular simulation… Read More

Vanderbilt engineers are working on a process that ultimately may allow patients to get blood test results fast. The process involves automating the duplication process of a person’s DNA to bring DNA levels up to the point where they can be detected. Mindy Leelawong (top) holds a vial of dye… Read More

Piran Kidambi has received a 2020 National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development grant. The five-year, $500,000 grant—Deconstructing Proton Transport through Atomically Thin Membranes—begins July 1, 2020. Piran Kidambi Kidambi, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, will use the award to support his research on membrane technology. His work… Read More

This past November, Frist Center for Autism and Innovation communications coordinator Claire Barnett spoke at TEDxVanderbilt about autistic employment. Her talk, titled “Why autistic unemployment is so high – and what we can do about it,” explores several reasons that autistic adults struggle to obtain meaningful work. Barnett… Read More

Plastic, glass and gels, also known as bulk amorphous materials, are everyday objects to all of us. But for researchers, these materials have long been scientific enigmas – specifically when it comes to their atomic makeup, which lacks the strict ordered structure of crystals found in most solids… Read More

Engineering alumnus Nikhil Goel, BE’13, has been selected for the 2020 Forbes “30 Under 30.” The list highlights “600 revolutionaries in 20 industries changing the course—and the face—of business and society.” In all, five Vanderbilt University alumni were named by Forbes this year; three are engineering grads, and this is… Read More

When biomedical engineering major Brett Koolik first started learning piano as a child, he wasn’t motivated solely by his love of music. He also wanted to figure out how a piano works. The Boca Raton, Florida, native has been passionate about making music and making discoveries in… Read More