Research
Simons Foundation awards $8 million grant to uncover secrets of black holes and strong gravity
Aug. 12, 2025—Article adapted from a press release written by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Over the next four years, Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy Alex Lupsasca will lead a Vanderbilt team in a multidisciplinary, multi-institutional collaboration funded by an $8 million grant from the Simons Foundation with a focus on black holes and strong gravity....
Tennessee middle schoolers investigate a Nashville watershed while trying on STEM roles
Aug. 10, 2025—By Jenna Somers and Krystal Schmidt This summer, around 30 middle-school students from the Tennessee Nature Academy explored upstream and downstream Mill Creek, which flows 28 miles from Nolensville to the Cumberland River in Tennessee. Some students...
Metal and semiconductor particles could transform health and safety technologies
Aug. 6, 2025—Ultra-thin layers of gold and copper sulfide developed by Vanderbilt doctoral student Yueming Yan with Associate Professor of Chemistry Janet Macdonald and Stevenson Professor of Physics Richard Haglund could revolutionize medical imaging and environme...
Tracy Sharpley-Whiting: Illuminating the interior lives of trailblazing historical figures
Jul. 29, 2025—Alexandre Dumas, the literary titan known for The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo and The Man in The Iron Mask, was immensely popular during his lifetime, but petty professional jealousies and the politics of race in the 19th century—he was...
Metal and semiconductor particles could transform health and safety technologies
Jul. 24, 2025—A new breakthrough in the field of physics led by doctoral student Yueming Yan could allow for the creation of small, thin, low-power optical devices to be used in both medical imaging and environmental sensing. In a study published in ScienceAdvances, Yan and his colleagues, including Associate Professor of Chemistry Janet Macdonald and Stevenson Professor...
Good chemistry: how chemistry students expand their skill set through hands-on, experiential learning
Jul. 15, 2025—This past academic year, seven graduate students and one undergraduate student participated in the 2025 Merck Compound Challenge. Created in 2018, the competition gives teams from around the world 48 hours to create a proposed route of chemical steps f...
Vanderbilt biologist receives $1.3M Keck grant to study what birds’ longevity could mean for human aging
Jul. 15, 2025—Pet parrots often outlive their owners, and Vanderbilt researchers want to know why—because uncovering the biological mechanisms behind exceptional longevity could one day help safely extend the lives of humans. With the support of a new $1.3 million g...
Nanobody hitchhikers boost immunotherapy potency in cancer treatment
Jul. 9, 2025—A collaboration among VUMC, the College of Arts and Science, the School of Medicine and the School of Engineering has led to some higher-order “hitchhikers” that can make immunotherapy cancer treatments more effective. Associate Professor John Wilson’s...
Good chemistry: how chemistry students expand their skill set through hands-on, experiential learning
Jul. 9, 2025—Whether you talk to a graduate or undergraduate student in the Department of Chemistry about why they study the field, their responses all evoke the same sentiment: a curiosity for the world and a desire to discover the unknown. All students can fulfill this desire by attending classes and learning from knowledgeable faculty members. However,...
Quantum Potential Podcast Episode 9: How stories spark change with Amanda Little
Jun. 23, 2025—In this episode of Quantum Potential, Amanda Little, writer-in-residence at Vanderbilt’s College of Arts and Science, joins Provost C. Cybele Raver to discuss how journalism can highlight the tipping points humanity faces and how people-first storytell...