Research

For well over a decade, Vanderbilt Engineering alumnus Brock Smethills (BE’13) and his family have been driving to a picturesque spot just south of Denver, envisioning the futuristic wonderland it would become. Houses where the residents pay mere pocket change for utilities thanks to solar power and a one-of-a-kind system… Read More

Brock Smethills is COO of Sterling Ranch. (Heidi Hall/Vanderbilt University) A recent alumnus who distinguished himself in the aerospace field returns this week to talk about his latest big challenge — launching a 20-year, 12,050-unit sustainable community just south of Denver. Brock Smethills (BE’13) is chief operating… Read More

Ebony McGee (Vanderbilt) Understanding the ways in which women persist in the face of barriers in engineering will be the focus of a collaborative study by education researchers at Vanderbilt and Purdue universities. The three-year study, “Why We Persist: An Intersectional Study to Characterize and Examine the… Read More

Vijay Kumar delivers the John R. and Donna S. Hall Engineering Lecture in Jacobs Believed In Me Auditorium. (Joe Howell/Vanderbilt University) Aerial robot superstar Vijay Kumar gets that there are good reasons for the Federal Aviation Administration to look askance at drone use. There are… Read More

Akos Ledeczi and Will Hedgecock, who developed PinPtr. (John Russell/Vanderbilt University) Two innovative but very different products designed by Vanderbilt University engineers are getting a financial push onto the market, thanks to National Science Foundation Accelerating Innovation Research–Technology Translation (AIR-TT) grants of about $200,000 each. VenoStent is… Read More

Invention of the first integrated circularly polarized light detector on a silicon chip opens the door for development of small, portable sensors that could expand the use of polarized light for drug screening, surveillance, optical communications and quantum computing, among other potential applications. The new detector was developed by a… Read More

Vijay Kumar and his students at the University of Pennsylvania build small, agile flying robots that swarm, sense each other, and form ad hoc teams that could be used for search and rescue in large-scale disasters. Penn Engineering Dean Kumar Kumar, recognized around the world for his groundbreaking work on… Read More

Vanderbilt University’s newest chemical and biomolecular engineering assistant professor grew up fascinated with the human brain and decided early on he’d focus his research on that complex organ. But a surprise turn of events as an undergraduate led Ethan Lippmann into a particular avenue of brain research: using induced pluripotent… Read More

  (Vanderbilt University) VISE is keeping its acronym but changing its name. The Vanderbilt Initiative in Surgery and Engineering will become the Vanderbilt Institute in Surgery and Engineering. The promotion from a three-year trial program to an established institute is the consequence of a Vanderbilt… Read More

John F. Mansfield, left, MSA President, congratulates Jake Benzing on his award. (Submitted photo) A Vanderbilt PhD student in interdisciplinary materials science took home a first-place poster award at August’s Microscopy & Microanalysis conference, held last month in Portland, Oregon. Jake Benzing, whose adviser is Associate Professor of… Read More