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Vanderbilt University launches refreshed visual identity
Vanderbilt University today launched a refreshed visual identity designed to reflect the university’s forward momentum and to build pride and visibility across the institution, including its athletics program. The new identity, which includes a clear articulation of who the university is today through new wordmarks and logos, has been approved by the Vanderbilt University Board of Trust and will be implemented in phases, starting in late March. Updates to the Vanderbilt identity come after extensive input from across the community, with more than 500 completed surveys, 70-plus one-on-one interviews and dozens of workshops and group engagement sessions conducted during the past two years. Steve Ertel, vice chancellor for communications and marketing, led the effort. MORE
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Raghavan identified for President’s Committee on the National Medal of Science
President Joe Biden has announced his intent to appoint Vice Provost for Research Padma Raghavan to the President’s Committee on the National Medal of Science. Raghavan is Vanderbilt University’s inaugural vice provost for research and a professor of computer science. The President’s Committee on the National Medal of Science comprises distinguished scientists and engineers who evaluate nominees for the National Medal of Science, a Presidential Award to recognize individuals for their outstanding contributions to knowledge in the physical, biological, mathematical, engineering, social and behavioral sciences. Since its establishment in 1959, the National Medal of Science has been awarded to 506 distinguished scientists and engineers whose careers spanned decades of research and development, according to the announcement. MORE
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FEDERALLY FUNDED RESEARCH
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National Institutes of Health—Hunger signals, including those from cannabinoids, mapped in the brain
[H]ow the natural cannabinoid molecules found in the body regulate feeding and eating is not well researched. Masoud Ghamari-Langroudi, research assistant professor of molecular physiology and biophysics, research assistant professor of pharmacology and faculty affiliate at the Warren Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery, and his lab discovered how endogenous cannabinoids, those made by the body, modulate the “feeding cells” in the brain to regulate body weight. His lab used a variety of techniques, including behavioral studies, gene expression analysis, hormone assays and electrophysiology techniques, to map the brain circuits associated with cannabinoids and eating behavior. [These brain circuits] are implicated in a variety of disordered eating behaviors, including obesity and anorexia, making the Food and Drug Administration particularly interested in targeting them as a therapeutic tactic against associated disorders. This research was supported by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. MORE
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Vanderbilt engineering researchers use artificial intelligence to help basketball players improve their shots
To shoot a basketball with precision requires countless hours of practice. Usually, this happens under the watchful eye of a coach, who can provide guidance on the right mechanics of each shot. Now, though, thanks to new research from Vanderbilt University, players may soon be able to use artificial intelligence technology to work on those same principles on their own. Employing AI software called a temporal relational network, the researchers were able to optimize shot type recognition, achieving an accuracy of 96.8 percent on 1,500 novel shots. In the future, White and Olea hope that this study will assist in the enhancement of solo practices. This research has the potential to be executed through the use of their proposed five shot type dichotomy as a functional tool within an app or website with the ability to show athletes the “correct” or a “better way” to take it to the hoop. MORE
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Data Science Institute builds AI technologies to support book project about the Black experience at Vanderbilt
Rosevelt L. Noble, BS’98, PhD’03, director of the Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center and senior lecturer in sociology, is participating in an ongoing collaboration with the Data Science Institute to support the research and writing of his book, Lost in the Ivy. The book, to be published by Vanderbilt University Press in fall 2023, draws on interviews with more than 500 Black students and alumni about their experiences at Vanderbilt. Noble’s interest in the project was spurred after attending the 2007 dedication of Murray House on The Martha Rivers Ingram Commons, named in honor of Walter Murray Jr., BA’70, MM’74, the university’s first African American Board of Trust member. After getting to know the Murray family, Noble began looking deeper into the Black experience at the university. [The team then] contacted the DSI team about ways to support Lost in the Ivy, particularly through the use of technology to uncover common themes and topics from myriad interviews. MORE
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Colleen Niswender lands national award, several grants for Rett syndrome research
Associate Professor of Pharmacology Colleen Niswender, who also is director of molecular pharmacology for the Warren Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery (WCNDD), was awarded the ASPET Scientific Achievement Award in Drug Discovery and Development and three separate grants for her Rett syndrome research. Rett syndrome (RTT) is a neurodevelopmental disorder caused by genetic mutations in a gene called MECP2. Most RTT patients are females who exhibit symptoms that include apneas, seizures, gait disturbances and intellectual disability. Niswender’s innovative drug discovery research in G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) molecular pharmacology has earned her this honor. Her contributions include developing novel approaches for the treatment of RTT and other brain disorders such as schizophrenia and Parkinson’s disease, as well as understanding context-dependent pharmacology of GPCR ligands, new modes of efficacy for GPCR allosteric modulators, roles of GPCR heterodimers in regulating brain function and validation of specific GPCRs as new targets for the treatment of brain disorders. MORE
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Kimberly Welch awarded Mellon Foundation’s New Directions Fellowship
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has selected Kimberly Welch, a Vanderbilt scholar of American slavery, race, and law, for a New Directions Fellowship that will expand her interdisciplinary research on African Americans and the history of finance. New Directions Fellowships, awarded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, assist faculty members in the humanities and humanistic social sciences who look for systematic training outside their own areas of special interest. Welch, an associate professor of history and assistant professor of law, will strengthen and deepen her expertise in business law, economics and finance for her current research project, The Stability of Fortunes: Black Americans and Finance in the Nineteenth Century. The two-year $306,000 fellowship will support research leave and tuition to undertake a self-directed course of study at Vanderbilt Law School and the Owen Graduate School of Management. Welch is only the second faculty member at Vanderbilt University to receive a New Directions grant in the 20-year history of the program. MORE
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Graduate student Steenwyk receives prestigious 2022 Harold M. Weintraub Award
Jacob Steenwyk, a sixth-year doctoral student studying biology in the Rokas Lab, is a recipient of the 2022 Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award presented by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. He is the second Vanderbilt student ever to have received this honor, which recognizes outstanding achievement in graduate studies in biological sciences. Steenwyk will receive a $2,000 honorarium and the opportunity to speak virtually to the award symposium on May 6, 2022, at Fred Hutchinson’s Robert W. Day Campus. Steenwyk also is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Gilliam Fellow for Advanced Study, where his research explores the diversity of budding yeasts and filamentous fungi to study the principles and pace of evolution. MORE
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Mentor network at the Wond’ry gives direction to entrepreneurial dreams
Karrie Dudek is a Vanderbilt postdoctoral fellow who is building blood vessels with a unique biomaterial. Tim Darrah is a NASA fellow and military veteran who designed a device to protect air quality in buildings. Undergraduate Ben Damir is creating an immersive theme park that lets guests play in a medieval fantasy world. These three share something in common beyond their Vanderbilt education: They’re all working with the mentor network at the Wond’ry, Vanderbilt’s Innovation Center. The Wond’ry is a hub for entrepreneurial and social innovation projects within the Vanderbilt community and across the region. Support includes training, programming, makerspaces, microgrants and access to a network of almost a hundred professionals who are willing to listen to ideas and provide crucial advice and mentorship. MORE
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VUSN’s new Leadership Lecture Series kicks off with renowned researcher Peter Buerhaus
Peter Buerhaus, PhD, FAAN, FAANP(h), a renowned researcher who studies the health care workforce and economy will share his expertise on the future of nursing, health equity and the relationship balance between nurses, leadership and educators. He will be the inaugural speaker in a new Leadership Lecture Series presented by the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing on Thursday, April 7. Buerhaus, a professor of nursing at Montana State University, has published more than 135 peer-reviewed articles, with five designated as “classics” by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research . . . . He was inducted into the American Academy of Nursing in 1994 and elected into the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine in 2003 (now the National Academy of Medicine). One of his most recent projects was serving on the taskforce that authored the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s The Future of Nursing: 2020-2030, a report that nursing schools, professional associations and others use to help develop future strategic plans. MORE
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VUbrief summarizes Vanderbilt news items to inform our Congressional community of developments at the university. Visit our website for past issues of VUbrief. Vanderbilt University Office of Federal Relations (202) 216-4361
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