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Vanderbilt engineering professor Sankaran Mahadevan wins international research award

Sep. 23, 2022—Sankaran Mahadevan, John R. Murray Sr. Professor of Engineering and civil and environmental engineering professor, is the winner of the 2022 IASSAR Distinguished Research Award. The award is presented every four years to two eminent senior researchers by the International Association on Structural Safety and Reliability at its quadrennial meeting. IASSAR promotes the study, research...

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Record number of high school students compete in annual bridge challenge

Mar. 2, 2020—The sound of a small basswood bridge failing under a heavy load is more of a whimper than a bang. The snap is audible but subtle, and Jessica Baker listened intently for it dozens of times Saturday. Jessica, a junior at Blackman High School in Murfreesboro, was among a record number of Middle Tennessee students...

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Large-scale engineering projects wow fourth graders studying renewable energy

Dec. 20, 2019—  “This trip made me want to be an engineer.” Best feedback ever from a youngster on a fieldtrip, according to staff leaders at Vanderbilt Engineering’s Laboratory for Systems Integrity and Reliability. Eight fourth graders from Nashville’s Akiva School recently toured the engineering school’s super-sized, high-bay lab in Metro Center, located along the Cumberland River...

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Alert system for failing nuclear plant pipes uses thin films and sound vibrations

Oct. 24, 2019—A failing pipe can be tough to spot. It may cause a puddle, produce another sign of damage, or simply burst before detection. A flooded kitchen or laundry room is messy and inconvenient, but the stakes are much, much higher in nuclear power plants – which on average contain many miles of pipeline. As concern...

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New recyclable resin makes wind turbine blades much more sustainable

Feb. 16, 2018—Fields of spinning wind turbine blades inspire thoughts of earth-friendly energy, but until now, generating wind power hasn’t been as sustainable as people may have thought. It generally requires a great deal of time and energy to cure the type of resin that makes the 150-foot-wide fiberglass blades strong and durable. When they finally wear...

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Vanderbilt School of Engineering offers new master of cyber-physical systems degree

Jan. 3, 2017—A new master’s degree from the Vanderbilt University School of Engineering is designed to prepare students to meet the dramatic rise in workforce needs in such high-profile fields as the Internet of Things – the advanced connectivity of devices and systems – the security of cyber domains, the smart grid and defense. The new Cyber-Physical...

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Congressional staff visits include Vanderbilt engineering labs

Sep. 9, 2016—Professor of Mechanical Engineering Nilanjan Sarkar (center), accompanied by Ph.D. students Dayi Bian (second from right) and Jian Fan (far right), shows Kayla McMurry (far left) and Mackensie Burt (second from left) from Sen. Lamar Alexander’s staff the simulator that he developed with researchers at the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center to help teenagers with autism learn...

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Conferences draw 700 engineers from 25 nations to Vanderbilt

May. 23, 2016—Computational mechanics, materials and risk and reliability loom large on session agenda Engineers from 25 nations will return home from Vanderbilt with the most comprehensive, up-to-the-minute information available on predicting how well systems and infrastructure will stand up to stress — and new materials under development to make sure they can. The Engineering Mechanics Institute...

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