December, 2012
BME researchers look at novel therapeutic approach to prevent hardened heart valves
Dec. 28, 2012—Heart valve disease has few non-surgical therapeutic options. To develop strategies for treating and preventing heart valve disease, W. David Merryman, Ph.D., assistant professor of Biomedical Engineering, and colleagues are studying the cellular signaling that leads to calcification (hardening) of the aortic valve. Previous studies have shown that the TGF-beta1 signaling pathway activates a process...
Goldfarb among 10 electronics visionaries to watch: EE Times
Dec. 21, 2012—Michael Goldfarb is one of 10 visionaries profiled by EE Times magazine in its December 2012 edition, Envisioning 2013. Goldfarb, H. Fort Flowers Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Vanderbilt, is among a group of eight humans, an avatar and a wireless networks center at MIT (with two human directors). The cover story – 10 electronics...
Bottle rockets pique middle schoolers interest in engineering
Dec. 21, 2012—Students from Wright Middle School showing the soda bottle rockets that they have made. (Susan Urmy / Vanderbilt) Frankie Corradetti stood in front of a class of enthusiastic but wriggly seventh graders. She was flanked on the right by an elaborate stand holding an upside-down soda bottle half filled with water and on the left...
Mechanical engineering alum is rising business leader in Ohio
Dec. 14, 2012—Mechanical Engineering alumnus Jed Hunter (BE’96) has been recognized by Crain’s Cleveland Business Magazine as one of 40 under 40 rising business leaders. Hunter, 38, is the area vice president and dealer principal for Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based Penske Automotive Group. He oversees eight local car dealers selling vehicles ranging from Toyotas and Smart cars to...
Engineering school benefactor William W. Featheringill dies
Dec. 11, 2012—William W. Featheringill, a Vanderbilt University Board of Trust member, alumnus and entrepreneur for whom Vanderbilt’s Featheringill Hall is named, died Sunday, Dec. 9. He was 70. A memorial service is scheduled for 2 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 13, at Independent Presbyterian Church, 3100 Highland Ave. S., Birmingham, Ala. Visitation will be prior to the service...
New faculty: Rizia Bardhan finds solutions at the nanoscale
Dec. 11, 2012— Rizia Bardhan (Joe Howell/Vanderbilt) Rizia Bardhan has a large picture of Mahatma Gandhi in her office. “Gandhi has always been very special to me,” she said. “We share the same birthday. He exemplifies the power of perseverance.” Perseverance has carried the new assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering to Nashville from Kolkatta, India,...
Dean Philippe Fauchet’s vision is a focus on human needs
Dec. 7, 2012—By Nancy Wise Don’t look to politicians, governments, nonprofits or even rock stars to solve societal problems—look to engineers. That directive comes from Philippe Fauchet, who became dean of the Vanderbilt University School of Engineering on July 1. Fauchet says human needs can be grouped into four core basics—medicine and health; energy and natural resources;...
NSF grant to help engineers accelerate development of medical capsule robots
Dec. 6, 2012—Four Vanderbilt School of Engineering faculty members have been awarded a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation to create new tools, including a web-based modeling and simulation infrastructure, intended to help speed up the development of miniature medical capsule robots. The four-year project – Cyber-Physical Systems: Integrated Modeling, Analysis and Synthesis of Miniature...