2017

Johnny Hall Dunlap, a Vanderbilt University alumnus and professor emeritus of mechanical engineering known for his devotion to students, died June 17 in Nashville. He was 85. Dunlap earned his bachelor’s degree in engineering from Vanderbilt in 1953, graduating magna cum laude. He was offered a teaching position in 1955… Read More

Building transient electronics is usually about doing something to make them stop working: blast them with light, soak them with acid, dunk them in water. Professor Leon Bellan’s idea is to dissolve them with neglect: Stop applying heat, and they come apart. Using silver nanowires embedded in a polymer that… Read More

Vanderbilt University’s Office of the Provost has recognized three engineering faculty proposals with Discovery Grants, one of Vanderbilt’s primary means of investing in advancing the discovery of knowledge in its core disciplines and strengthening the university’s scholarly profile. A total of 13 faculty proposals have… Read More

Imagine plopping six cups of coffee grounds on the heads of patients just before they are wheeled into the operating room to have nose or throat surgery? In essence, that is what a team of Vanderbilt University engineers are proposing in an effort to improve the reliability of… Read More

Karl Zelik, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering, has received top awards from the International Society of Biomechanics and the American Society of Biomechanics for early career research. Both awards recognize Zelik’s body of work on improving and unifying the understanding of human locomotion, and translating this understanding to advances… Read More

The first drug to treat calcification of heart valves may be one originally designed for rheumatoid arthritis. Today in Circulation, the journal of the American Heart Association, Vanderbilt University researchers published findings that the drug – a monoclonal antibody known as SYN0012 – shows promise in keeping heart valve leaflets… Read More

In a world with more frequent extreme weather events, basing new bridges on historical weather data and previous structure wear no longer works. Take South Carolina, said Hiba Baroud, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering. Four tropical storms plus Hurricane Matthew pounded the coastal state in 2016 alone, the latter… Read More

WIPER will be the first use of ballistic shockwave detection in anti-poaching efforts. The sensors will be integrated into GPS-enabled collars, as shown on the large tusker above. (Photo by Save the Elephants) Anti-poaching authorities will soon have a powerful new weapon in their arsenal – high-tech ballistic shockwave sensors… Read More

Team led by Vanderbilt researchers develops new, quicker method to measure energy transfer between assistive devices and people wearing them That robotic exoskeletons can improve mobility of people with disabilities and enhance human performance is widely understood. The same has not yet been true for how to best measure and… Read More

A commonly used brain scanning technique can map electrical activity under the skull as precisely as more invasive methods that rely on probes or electrodes, according to a research team led by John Gore, director of the Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science and professor of biomedical engineering. The study… Read More