Materials Science

The Interdisciplinary Materials Science (IMS) program held its annual Sales Pitch Competition, where students were challenged to deliver a three-minute research talk (no slides allowed) using only a single image or prop to engage the audience. Incoming students served as judges, and cash prizes were awarded to the top presentations. First Place – Rahul Shah […] Read More

VINSE graduate student Chris Whittington, a Ph.D. student in Interdisciplinary Materials Science at Vanderbilt University, received the Best Poster Presentation Award at the 2025 SPIE Optics + Photonics Conference, held August 17–21 in San Diego, CA. His poster, “Heterogeneous Integration of VO₂ Nanopatches on Subwavelength-Engineered Antislot Photonic Crystal for Optical Switching,” tied for the top […] Read More

VINSE graduate student Owen Meilander, a Ph.D. student in Interdisciplinary Materials Science working under the direction of Professor Mona Ebrish, received the Best Student Poster Presentation Award at the 2025 Lester Eastman Conference on High Performance Devices, held August 11–12 at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL. His poster, “Gate Leakage Suppression of Enhancement […] Read More

DISSERTATION DEFENSE Aditha Senarath, Interdisciplinary Materials Science Program *under the supervision of Josh Caldwell and Ron Schrimpf “GaN for Space and Power Electronics: Radiation Effects Study and Development of a Nano-Optical Probe for Characterization” 07.11.25 | 9:00 am | FGH 132  | Zoom For decades, the semiconductor industry has followed Moore’s Law, predicting a doubling […] Read More

DISSERTATION DEFENSE Kellen Arnold, Interdisciplinary Materials Science    *Under the supervision of Sharon Weiss “Integrated Photonics for Intense Light-matter Interaction and Applications in Aerospace” 05.20.25 | 12:30PM | ESB 044 | Zoom: 965 0203 9030 Passcode: 069821 Over the last several decades, the technological revolution into a digital age has opened doors to endless possibilities […] Read More

DISSERTATION DEFENSE Ryan Kowalski, Interdisciplinary Materials Science    *Under the supervision of Josh Caldwell and Richard Haglund  “Infrared Light at the Nanoscale: Confinement and Spectroscopy”  04.25.25 | 10:30AM | Buttrick Hall 206 | Zoom: 942 8904 4051 Passcode: 450959 Conventional optical microscopy and spectroscopy are limited by the diffraction limit, which restricts spatial resolution to […] Read More

Jojo Pearson, a swimmer and Ph.D. student in Interdisciplinary Materials Science at Vanderbilt, is conducting cutting-edge research in tissue engineering that could significantly impact the fight against neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. Her work, led with advisor Leon Bellan, focuses on neurovascular coupling, exploring how stem cell models could improve understanding and treatment of brain diseases. […] Read More

Interdisciplinary materials science doctoral student Andrew Tonigan has been awarded a $10,000 ASTM International scholarship for his graduate studies in a field where technical standards play a crucial role. He is one of four scholarship winners. The other recipients are from the University of Alabama, McGill University and Indiana University… Read More

“Mood ring materials” could play an important role in minimizing and mitigating damage to the nation’s failing infrastructure. The American Society of Civil Engineers has estimated that more than $3.6 trillion in investment is needed by 2020 to rehabilitate and modernize the nation’s failing infrastructure. President-elect… Read More

Robert Bayuzick, who had experiments conducted on three separate flights of the space shuttle Columbia while he was a professor of chemical engineering and director of materials science at Vanderbilt University, died Feb. 8, 2013, in Nashville. He was 75. Robert Bayuzick Bayuzick’s research was directed toward materials processing under… Read More