Research

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

Vanderbilt’s five 2020 Eisenhower Fellows assemble with Federal Highway Administration officials after the awards ceremony. From left, Ewa Flom FHWA program manager, Paul Johnson, Charles Doktycz, Will Barbour, Derek Gloudemans, Yanbing Wang and two other FHWA representatives. Five engineering Ph.D. students have received prestigious Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Fellowships and… 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

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

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

Vanderbilt mechanical engineers took home top awards at the Dec. 6 meeting of the Materials Research Society in Boston, Massachusetts. Kelsey Hatzell Mechanical engineering professor Kelsey Hatzell received the Materials Research Society Nelson “Buck” Robinson Science and Technology Award for Renewable Energy. Hatzell was selected from more than 25 candidates… Read More

John Gore, director of the Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science, has been appointed to a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine standing committee to advise the Department of State on unexplained health effects on U.S. government employees and their families at overseas embassies. John Gore The committee was… Read More

Anita Mahadevan-Jansen, Orrin H. Ingram Professor of Engineering and director of the Vanderbilt Biophotonics Center, has been elected as a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, the highest professional distinction accorded solely to academic inventors. The NAI Fellows Selection Committee chose Mahadevan-Jansen, a professor of biomedical engineering, for demonstrating… Read More

Nabil Simaan, professor of mechanical engineering, has been elevated to IEEE Fellow by the Board of Directors of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The award – effective January 1, 2020 – recognizes Simaan for contributions to dexterous continuum robotics for surgery. Technologies developed by his group have advanced… Read More