‘Risk Reliability and Resilience’
Cyberattack shows need for greater supply chain resiliency— and the role inland waterways can play
Oct. 18, 2021—A 12,000-mile superhighway snakes through the United States—underused, underappreciated, and underfunded. Each year, it carries cargo to and from many of the country’s oceangoing ports as well as to and from 38 states. The inland waterway system is an unsung hero of the nation’s freight transportation system, moving $135 billion annually in raw materials, fuel,...
$2.5 million NASA project will develop and test safety management for ‘air taxis’
Jun. 28, 2021—Multi-university team tackles safety systems for autonomous eVTOLs Vanderbilt engineers are part of a NASA-funded, multi-institution effort to develop safety systems for a mode of transportation that doesn’t exist yet—small, commercial, autonomous planes that move people by air between locations in large, crowded cities. The task is a formidable one with machine learning at its...
Grad student adds drone imagery to toolbox for post-disaster recovery
Jun. 24, 2021— A new online gallery of photos taken in the days, weeks and months following the March 2020 regional tornados is the work of an engineering graduate student who wants to make disaster recovery more equitable. Daniel Perrucci, a Ph.D. candidate in civil engineering, used bird’s eye imagery from drones as well as street-level photography...
Stronger waterborne petroleum access spared Nashville worst of Colonial Pipeline shutdown shortages
Jun. 19, 2021—Vanderbilt civil and environmental engineers have concluded that cities in Middle and East Tennessee with waterborne access to petroleum products were far less affected by the disruption of the Colonial Pipeline shutdown in May 2021 than other regional markets. The research was conducted as part of a case study on resilience strategies for navigable portions...
Vanderbilt graduate researcher awarded prestigious $161,000 U.S. Department of Energy grant
May. 5, 2021—Irfan Ibrahim The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy has awarded an Integrated University Program fellowship grant of $161,000 to environmental engineering graduate research assistant Irfan Ibrahim to further his work on nuclear reactor safety. The office’s awards provide 50 scholarships and 31 fellowships for nuclear scientists and engineers at 35 colleges and...
Minimizing risks in wind and solar power forecasts
Oct. 1, 2020—RISK, RELIABILITY AND RESILIANCE Team will model time horizons from 15 minutes to 24 hours The price for electricity on the wholesale market fluctuates every five minutes based on demand. Adding renewable energy to the mix greatly complicates matters. Historical methods that predict supply and demand are not accurate. Supply varies as the wind blows,...
Electronics institute advances employer partnerships and undergraduate training
Oct. 1, 2020—The Institute for Space and Defense Electronics is answering a market need for highly specialized knowledge at two distinct but vital points—training for radiation effects engineers and internships for undergraduates in a subject usually reserved for graduate students. As the largest academic program of its kind in the U.S., ISDE is uniquely positioned to meet such...