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February, 2016

School launches Emerging Scholars in Engineering Lecture series

Feb. 24, 2016—The Vanderbilt School of Engineering is launching a new lecture series Feb. 29 that will showcase young engineering talent. The intent of the Emerging Scholars in Engineering Lecture series is to showcase young people from underrepresented groups who are nearing completion or who have completed a doctoral degree. “The goal of the Emerging Scholars series is...

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Adams earns Lazan Award for pioneering structural health monitoring technology

Feb. 24, 2016—Douglas Adams, Daniel F. Flowers Professor and Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, is the recipient of the 2016 B. J. Lazan Award from the Society for Experimental Mechanics. Adams will accept the award in June at SEM’s International Congress in Orlando, Florida. Adams is being recognized for pioneering...

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Zelik named NIH Career Development Award Winner; earns grant, mentorship

Feb. 23, 2016—Assistant Professor Karl Zelik is one of three National Institutes of Health K12 Career Development Award winners for 2016 who will be participating in the Interdisciplinary Rehabilitation Engineering Program. The winners, all early-stage engineering investigators selected because their work has the potential for translational impact, will be mentored by senior clinical scientists in rehabilitation and...

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Abkowitz earns Hochman Lifetime Achievement Award from TRB

Feb. 23, 2016—Mark Abkowitz, a Vanderbilt University professor of civil and environmental engineering and director of the Vanderbilt Center for Environmental Management Studies, recently won the Charles H. Hochman Lifetime Achievement Award from the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies. In the citation, the board pointed out that Abkowitz had served on the Committee on the...

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Engineering major on NCAA Championship tennis team offers advice for sport, life

Feb. 18, 2016—Maggie Leavell started at Vanderbilt University as a tennis player on an underdog team, going into every match with something to prove. Today, she’s on the 2015 NCAA Championship team, and in some ways, that’s even tougher. “It’s so very surreal,” said Leavell (ES’16). “But it’s something we’ve done a good job of handling. There...

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NROTC’s Lassen balances military training, challenging mechanical engineering major

Feb. 17, 2016—Renee Lassen’s mechanical engineering major demands that she spend hours a day at computers, designing systems and writing code to make those work. But to keep her jam-packed schedule in order, she swears by something positively quaint – a thick, pink paisley day-planner, its pages crammed with her neat, tiny writing. As an engineering third-year...

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Wilson is ‘A’ Award grant recipient for neuroblastoma immunotherapy work

Feb. 17, 2016—John Wilson, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, recently was named an ‘A’ Award recipient by the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation for developing a new class of therapeutic to “retrain” the immune system against neuroblastoma. The Vanderbilt University School of Engineering researcher is one of three promising young investigators nationwide to win three-year, $450,000 grants, selected...

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School recognizes students in athletics, Army and Navy ROTC

Feb. 16, 2016—When a former trial lawyer with the United State Department of Justice and the first African American varsity athlete in the SEC, and the president and CEO of an American chain of over 600 restaurants offer you some advice, listen. Two nationally known Vanderbilt engineering alumni recently spoke to about 50 students who find time...

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