Vanderbilt is classified as a "Research University (very high research activity)," and is engaged in some of the most important engineering research and cross-disciplinary research conducted in the nation.

Spanning biomedical, civil, chemical, environmental, electrical, mechanical engineering as well as materials science and computer science fields, Vanderbilt has special expertise in key research areas. Research activity in the School of Engineering can be grouped in nine intellectual neighborhoods that characterize our distinctive culture of collaboration within and beyond the traditional walls of departments, schools, institutions and disciplines.

Energy and Natural Resources	Surgery and Engineering	Big Data Science and Engineering
Enabling sustainable resource and energy conservation production and recovery	Designing technology, methods and tools to improve patient outcomes	Harvesting and using knowledge from collections of big data sets
Biomedical Imaging and Biophotonics	Risk, Reliability and Resilience	Nanoscience and Nanotechnology
Using physical phenomena to diagnose and treat disease	Improving predictability of systems, infrastructure and materials	Applying science and engineering of materials and processes at nano scale
Rehabilitation Engineering	Regenerative Medicine	Cyber-physical Systems
Restoring lost physical and cognitive function	Replacing, engineering and healing damaged tissues and organs	Integrating software and hardware using multidisciplinary approaches

---