Fauchet urges Congress to support engineering education and research
Philippe Fauchet, the Bruce and Bridgitt Evans Dean of Engineering at Vanderbilt University, met with members of Congress last week while in Washington, D.C., to emphasize the integral role that engineering research plays in strengthening the United States’ competitiveness and security. He urged members of Tennessee’s congressional delegation to continue to support this work by ensuring adequate federal funding in fiscal 2024 for the agencies that support engineering education and research—namely the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the federal departments of defense and energy. He drew attention to a few of the innovative projects Vanderbilt has been a part of recently, including the university’s selection as the lead institution for NSF’s new Mid-South Innovation Corps Hub, which will provide training to academic researchers across all science and engineering fields and is expected to help the region maximize its innovation potential. MORE
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FEDERALLY FUNDED RESEARCH
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NSF—National Science Foundation Mid-South Innovation Corps Hub commences at Vanderbilt with innovation summit
Participants from around the region gathered at Vanderbilt University Feb. 9–10 for the formal initiation of the National Science Foundation Mid-South Innovation Corps Hub. The two-day summit included a convocation, a venture showcase and a reception for hub partners and regional dignitaries. Vanderbilt is leading the hub, which plans to focus on inclusive and collaborative innovation. Its goals are to help the outcomes of groundbreaking university research translate more quickly into the commercial marketplace and to foster a prosperous ecosystem for innovation across the Midsouth. Hosted by The Wond’ry, Vanderbilt’s Innovation Center, the Vanderbilt Innovation Council and several student organizations . . . attendees included . . . Ralph Schulz, president and CEO of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, Bradley Jackson, president and CEO of the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and representatives from the office of U.S. Rep. Mark Green (TN-7th District). MORE
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National Science Foundation—Vanderbilt biomedical engineering professor wins NSF early career award to support tissue engineering research
Vanderbilt University engineering professor Jonathan Brunger has won a National Science Foundation CAREER Award to understand how cells and biomaterials can work together to improve tissue regeneration. The prestigious five-year award honors early career faculty who have the potential to serve as role models in research and education and lead advances in their fields. The grant . . . could lead to strategies for engineering cells to express selected therapeutic response at effective doses for chronic inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis. Brunger earlier won a $1.5 million NSF grant with two Vanderbilt colleagues . . . . His lab is also supported by NIH grants and foundation awards. MORE
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National Institutes of Health—Vanderbilt Researcher Identifies Modes of Natural Selection in Understudied Human Populations
Amanda Lea, assistant professor of biology, along with a global team of experts, have discovered new pathways of natural selection in humans. The group . . . studied two populations of Bolivians that live in the lowlands northeast of the Andes mountains, the Tsimane and the Moseten. Previous work has shown that these tropical populations are exposed to high burdens of pathogens and parasites, while showing minimal cardiovascular disease or dementia. Results from this study suggest that the Tsimane population’s genome has undergone selection on traits associated with both immunity and metabolism, and that these selected regions are associated with health in the population today. This research builds context into the evolution and specialization of humans across the globe. This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health. MORE
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2022 Prenatal-to-3 State Policy Roadmap informs Tennessee’s State of the Child report
The Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth’s annual KIDS COUNT State of the Child report features information from the 2022 Prenatal-to-3 State Policy Roadmap created by the Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center at Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development. The State of the Child report examines data on the health and well-being of children in Tennessee as well as the potential for federal and state aid to improve children’s health and address economic, education, and child welfare and justice concerns. The state’s report includes data from the Roadmap on programs that support infants and families, including that an estimated 2.5 percent of eligible children under the age of three are served by evidence-based home visiting programs; only 2 percent of SNAP-eligible families with children under age 18 are not receiving SNAP, making Tennessee the best state for SNAP service; and that only 3.8 percent of income-eligible children have access to Early Head Start, making Tennessee one of the worst states for supporting families with this service. MORE
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Vanderbilt supercharges its computer science program
In the early months of 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic was scrambling university budgets and hiring plans across the country, Vanderbilt saw a golden opportunity to catapult its rapidly growing computer science program into the upper ranks of this booming field. In September of that year, the university launched Destination Vanderbilt, a $100 million initiative to recruit new faculty over and above normal hiring. The initiative targeted several key growth areas, with computer science being a primary focus. Vanderbilt’s computer science program has long been supportive of interdisciplinary work, but in recent years has increased collaboration with departments across the university. The research and teaching activities range from artificial intelligence and cyber security to clean energy and medical devices. In Vanderbilt’s CS program, nearly 80 percent of Bachelor of Science graduates in May 2022 received job offers from companies like Amazon, Capital One, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft, just to name a few, with median starting salaries around $120,000. MORE
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Vanderbilt libraries add image-based research to discovery agenda
Vanderbilt University is now a member of the International Image Interoperability Framework consortium. IIIF is an international consortium of universities and other cultural heritage institutions using a standard for viewing, comparing and annotating digital objects. This growing ecosystem of open-source tools will transform research and discovery and greatly enhance the university’s capacity to conduct image-based research. IIIF-based tools compare artworks across different museum collections and assist in the identification of objects depicted in large collections of artwork. MORE
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The Wond’ry, Vanderbilt’s innovation center, collaborates with IBM to equip learners for STEM-related careers
The Wond’ry, Vanderbilt’s innovation center, is working with IBM to equip Vanderbilt community members with no-cost STEM education and career readiness resources through IBM SkillsBuild, a no-cost education program focused on underrepresented communities, that helps develop valuable new skills and equitable access to career opportunities in technology fields. As part of this collaboration, the Wond’ry will work directly with students to enhance their IBM SkillsBuild experiences, by exploring how the Enterprise Design Thinking framework can empower diverse teams and drive business results by focusing on users’ needs and quickly developing solutions. Students will be matched with local non-profit community partners providing real-world field experience and the opportunity to learn within an established socially impactful organization. MORE
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Lab-to-Table Conversation: ‘How I Got Over: Navigating Academia as a Black Scientist’ Feb. 27
Jobs in STEM fields are projected to double their growth rates from the last decade to the next, but African Americans are significantly underrepresented in STEM workforce participation. Pew Research shows that only 6 percent of the life sciences workforce is African American, while 13 percent of the U.S. population is African American. How can Black people resist absorbing negative messages they encounter in STEM? How can the academic community in the life sciences be more aware and inclusive? The virtual Lab-to-Table Conversation at 11 a.m. on Feb. 27 will discuss some of the challenges that Black trainees and faculty face in their fields of study and the strategies they have used to be successful in the face of these challenges. They will also discuss how inclusion and equity can increase representation and bolster the upward trajectory of Black scientists. Register for the event here. MORE
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Partnership between Vanderbilt and Tennessee Performing Arts Center celebrates 20 years, helps connect downtown audiences to the arts
Vanderbilt University’s 150th anniversary this year is an opportunity to celebrate partnerships that have connected people in Nashville to programs and events sponsored by the university. For the past 20 years, Vanderbilt and the Tennessee Performing Arts Center have collaborated to cultivate new audiences for the arts downtown through a series of programs aimed at attracting constituents interested in exploring the arts. The relationship started as a way for Vanderbilt to connect with the downtown population. Traveling to the West End neighborhood for a lunchtime or post-workday event was not always feasible for people downtown, so Vanderbilt sought partnerships that would allow the institution to meet people where they were. In the arts, that meant collaborating with TPAC. The partnership’s first lunchtime event happened in February 2003. Since then, more than 27,000 people have participated in partnership events. MORE
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