September, 2015
VenoStent, PinPtr edge closer to market with boost from $200K AIR-TT grants
Sep. 30, 2015—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 a vein graft-supporting device made from a new class of shape-memory polymers. PinPtr is a cloud-based, high-precision, low-cost positioning...
Fourth environmental engineering professor is certified by U.S. academy
Sep. 29, 2015—Mark Abkowitz is the fourth Vanderbilt environmental engineering faculty member in three years to be accepted into the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists as a board certified environmental engineering member. Abkowitz, a professor of civil and environmental engineering, professor of engineering management, and director of the Vanderbilt Center for Environmental Management Studies (VCEMS),...
Corvettes rev hands-on approach to automotive engineering at GM Ride & Drive
Sep. 28, 2015— Three gleaming, new Corvette convertibles – Torch Red, Arctic White and Laguna Blue – are in a nose-to-tail line at 10 a.m. on a sunny Friday waiting for Vanderbilt drivers. Along with the Vettes, a fleet of 19 other General Motors vehicles from all four of its U.S. brands, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Buick and GMC,...
Recruiter explains packed VU engineering career day: ‘We go where the talent is’
Sep. 25, 2015—It was no mistake that undergraduates striding through Thursday’s Engineering & IT Industry Career Day looked purposeful and professional, cradling stacks of resumes and glancing at smartphones to find their destinations. The event drew a record-breaking crowd of 683 young engineers, who were offered coaching by Vanderbilt University’s Center for Student Professional Development on how...
Student last year, recruiter this year: Halma job gives Trout opportunity for globetrotting
Sep. 25, 2015— Tori Trout smiled and chatted persistently, hour after hour, as hundreds of young engineering students lined up to listen to her pitch for working at Halma plc — the same pitch that convinced her just a year ago. Trout studied chemical engineering at Vanderbilt, graduated with her bachelor’s degree in May and jumped into...
New polarized light detector opens door for optical communications, quantum computing
Sep. 22, 2015—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 team of Vanderbilt University engineers...
Vanderbilt software institute celebrates big week for grants
Sep. 17, 2015—Researchers at the Vanderbilt Institute for Software Integrated Systems are celebrating this week after the announcements of three major National Science Foundation grants in three days. First, the NSF announced on Monday the institute’s Aniruddha Gokhale, associate professor of computer science and computer engineering, would share a $240,000 award with Shivakumar Sastry of the University...
Tiny flying robots form teams, cooperate—Engineering’s Hall Lecture Oct. 12
Sep. 16, 2015—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. Kumar, recognized around the world for his groundbreaking work on the development of autonomous robots and on biologically-inspired algorithms...