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Slow traffic, fast food: The effects of highway congestion on fast-food consumption
Feb. 17, 2025—Sitting in your car at 5:15 p.m. on a Tuesday, vehicles line the highway as far as the eye can see. The GPS estimates you still have 30 minutes left in traffic, and a vision of your empty fridge passes through your mind as your stomach grumbles. You are faced with a decision: stop at...
Students contribute to Nashville’s socially engaged art scene
Feb. 11, 2025—Socially engaged art is defined as art that involves the community in debate, collaboration, and social interaction. But what does that look like in practice? A group of Vanderbilt students sought to answer that question. As part of Professor of the Practice of Art Jana Harper’s class, Socially Engaged Art Practice, students investigated and participated...
Katie Crawford named interim director of Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities; Holly Tucker steps down
Jan. 28, 2025—Katie Crawford, Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair, professor of history, and chair of the Department of Gender and Sexuality Studies, has been named the interim director of the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities. Crawford’s appointment follows the five-year leadership of Holly Tucker, Mellon Foundation Chair in the Humanities and professor of French, who is stepping...
Undergraduate students manage $500k portfolio in TVA’s Investment Challenge Program
Jan. 23, 2025—Many college students learn the basic concepts of investing in business or economics courses. However, at Vanderbilt, students get hands-on experience managing real stocks with real money. As part of the Investment Analysis and Corporate Valuation courses, taught by Associate Professor of the Practice of Managerial Studies Willis Hulings, more than 30 students across the...
A picture is worth a thousand words: Advanced writing seminar offers students hands-on art historian experience
Jan. 14, 2025—On a crisp fall evening in North Nashville, the sound of clapping emanates from Fisk University’s Carl Van Vechten Art Gallery. Inside, Vanderbilt students walk the large room, surrounded by a rich array of 20th century early modernist works from the collection of Alfred Stieglitz. As they tour the space, each student gives a 15-minute...
Undergraduate students co-lead study on carbon offset financing for energy-efficiency upgrades for low-income households
Dec. 17, 2024—Climate change affects us all; however, disadvantaged communities are often the most vulnerable and negatively impacted. Low-income households have limited material and financial resources to build resilience to heat and other weather events. Low-income households in the U.S. spend 6 to 10 percent of their limited income on energy costs, compared with 3 percent spent...
Estonian Ambassador Kristjan Prikk discusses Russia-Ukraine conflict and European democracy with Vanderbilt students
Dec. 16, 2024—Article written by Alexander Schmidt, Visiting Associate Professor of Max Kade Center for European and German Studies, and Allison Kaplan, class of 2025 Estonia’s Ambassador to the United States, Kristjan Prikk, engaged students at Vanderbilt University on October 2 during a lively classroom discussion on the future of European security and democracy. The event, hosted...
Stewart, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair in the Humanities, emeritus, has died
Dec. 13, 2024—Tony Stewart, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair in the Humanities and professor of religious studies, emeritus, died on October 6, 2024, in Nashville. He was 70. Stewart was a prominent figure in the field of South Asian religious studies. He was a pioneer in research on Bengali religious narratives and helped advance the field of literary...
Analyzing police shootings, public safety, and policy
Nov. 22, 2024—A series of three recently published studies have provided the first nationally comprehensive analysis of shootings by law enforcement officers that injured or killed people in the U.S. Led by Julie Ward, assistant professor of medicine, health, and society, in a joint effort with the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions, the team analyzed...
Genes + culture: Exploring how our first language is echoed in our genes
Nov. 21, 2024—A person’s native language is often referred to as their “mother tongue.” But does a first language always come from your mother? In a new study conducted by Associate Professor of Biological Sciences Nicole Creanza, postdoctoral student Yakov Pichkar, and alumna Alexandra Surowiec BA’19, they found that certain cultural factors, such as being born in...