Regional Innovation Showcase brings together head of the NSF Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships with nine universities
Vanderbilt University’s Office of the Vice Provost for Research and Innovation hosted a Regional Innovation Showcase, bringing together research and innovation experts from nine universities based in Tennessee and Kentucky. The event . . . provided an opportunity for the participants to connect, collaborate and share the latest developments in research and innovation within the region with each other and with guest of honor Erwin Gianchandani, assistant director of the National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP) that was founded in 2022. The event featured a keynote conversation with Erwin Gianchandani moderated by Vanderbilt’s Padma Raghavan, vice provost for research and innovation, and Deborah Crawford, vice chancellor for research, innovation and economic development at the University of Tennessee. In addition to panels, the showcase’s 170 registrants also participated in a poster session with over 30 faculty and student presenters from the participating universities. MORE
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| FEDERALLY FUNDED RESEARCH
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National Aeronautics and Space Administration—Vanderbilt University’s Ralf Bennartz to lead NASA mission to study ice cloudsVanderbilt has been chosen to lead a NASA satellite mission, supported by a grant of up to $37 million, aimed at better understanding Earth’s high-altitude ice clouds. Ralf Bennartz, Stevenson Chair and professor of earth and environmental sciences, will lead the mission, which will underscore Vanderbilt’s cutting-edge contributions to comprehending our planet’s climate. Bennartz, who has dedicated his career to studying water vapor, clouds and precipitation, will be the project’s principal investigator. The mission is part of NASA’s Earth Venture class, a program dedicated to propelling innovative, cost-effective science missions that broaden knowledge of Earth’s intricate weather systems. The grant, capped at $37 million, is for lifecycle costs and does not include launch costs. The goal is to launch the satellites for this mission by the end of 2027. MORE
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National Endowment for the Humanities—NEH awards stipend to Vanderbilt’s Meng Zhang for innovative edible bird’s nest researchVanderbilt Assistant Professor of History Meng Zhang has been awarded a stipend from the National Endowment for the Humanities to bolster her research into the edible bird’s nest trade in maritime Asia, shedding light on its economic and environmental transformation, political economy and the role it played in the emergence of global capitalism. Zhang’s innovative project dives into the social life of edible bird’s nests, made from the hardened saliva of rare, cave-nesting swiftlets, that are treated as unique delicacies. This intriguing commodity underwent a fascinating transformation between the 16th and 19th centuries, evolving from Southeast Asian exotica into a luxury item and medicinal elixir revered by elite Chinese consumers—within China and in the diaspora. Backed by the NEH grant, Zhang will trace the journey of these edible bird’s nests from their natural origins to the lavish dining tables of the Qing emperor and the upper elites. MORE
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National Institutes of Health—Study establishes molecular basis for interaction between an essential protein complex and its regulatorThe labs of Lauren Jackson, associate professor of biological sciences and biochemistry, and Todd Graham, Stevenson Professor of Biological Sciences at the College of Arts and Science and professor of cell and developmental biology, recently published a study in the Journal of Cell Biology describing a significant interaction between an essential protein complex used for protein and lipid transport—the COPI complex—and its regulator protein. [The] lab studies the cellular “FedEx system” that allows proteins and lipids to move between membrane-bound compartments. This work focused on COPI . . . . Mutations in COPI are associated with multiple human diseases, including cancers and microcephalies, which are conditions in which a patient’s head is abnormally small. [They aim to] understand human physiology and what goes wrong in disease states, such as in neurological disorders or cancers, when essential proteins are mutated or lost. [This research was funded in part by the NIGMS of NIH.] MORE
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National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation—Nanotechnology repaves the path for cancer-fighting T cellsVanderbilt researchers are bolstering the fight against cancer with technology that enhances the effectiveness of T cells that attack tumors. The cutting-edge research was recently published in the high-impact journal Science Immunology. Cancers co-opt both the immune and cardiovascular systems to fuel their own growth, researchers say. They do this in part by forming new blood vessels that provide essential nutrients to rapidly dividing cancer cells. T cells in the immune system also use blood vessels as conduits for finding and invading tumors. But vessels in tumors are often abnormal and put up barricades that impede the ability of T cells to locate and kill cancer cells. However, using a nanotechnology invented in the Immunoengineering Lab at Vanderbilt, researchers discovered they could reverse–or normalize–the malformed tumor vasculature by activating the stimulator of interferon genes (STING) pathway, a component of the immune system that plays an important role in protecting against pathogen infection and the development of cancers. [This research was funded in part by the NIH and NSF.] MORE
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National Institutes of Health—Humphreys’ study shows broad benefits of family-based care on recovery from psychosocial deprivation
New research published in the American Journal of Psychiatry provides the most rigorous and comprehensive evidence to date that children exposed to severe psychosocial deprivation at a young age benefit substantially in cognitive and physical outcomes when they receive enriching family-based care. Senior author Kathryn Humphreys spoke today at the annual conference of the American Psychiatric Association about the research findings. The study analyzed nearly two decades of data from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project and found that the positive effects of family-based foster care on children’s recovery from early severe psychosocial deprivation remained stable throughout their development into adolescence and that foster care most influenced IQ and disorders of attachment/social relatedness. The positive effect on IQ is notable since “the foster care intervention was not specifically designed to improve cognitive functioning, but rather to improve caregiver-child relationships,” the authors write. [This research was funded in part by the NIH.] MORE
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Data Science Institute makes strides in project aiming to create an AI Assistant for acquiring low-resource languages like HindiThe Vanderbilt University Data Science Institute made progress this semester on a research project to bridge the gap in language acquisition of low-resource languages through deep learning. The team is developing an AI assistant for language professors and tools that keep the curricula up-to-date with changes in the Hindi language. The project’s goal is to address the challenges faced by less commonly taught languages, such as Hindi, which often struggle to keep up with the changes in language. Existing teaching materials for Hindi are rigid and overly formal, teaching a “pure” version of the language rooted in Sanskrit, and do not account for colloquialisms or loan words from other languages. To address these issues, the project team is developing an AI assistant for language professors, along with tools that allow curriculums to stay current with changes in the language. The team is also developing a process that can be replicated by others, with a proof of concept that uses AI to generate level-appropriate and updated vocabulary lists. MORE
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New research collaborative, The Possibilities Project, will work to advance Black students’ well-being in educationA new research collaboration focused on generating and sharing evidence-based Black education solutions has launched under the leadership of Vanderbilt Professor Chezare Warren. According to its mission statement, The Possibilities Project “is an arts-informed knowledge hub committed to improving Black students’ well-being in education and beyond.” The collaborative will serve as both a research laboratory and a convener of scholars, practitioners, and policymakers committed to advancing Black education solutions related to, and building from, Black children’s possibility. The recently launched website updates interested stakeholders about the collaborative’s scholarship and initiatives, as well as amplifies the work of colleagues deeply engaged in projects that are informed by Black children’s possibility. MORE
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Vanderbilt students manage $500K portfolio in TVA Investment Challenge ProgramVanderbilt University students in two business courses managed a $500,000 investment fund and took fourth place in the 2022 Tennessee Valley Authorities’ Investment Challenge. Awards were announced at the annual TVA ICP Investment Conference on April 17, where students from participating universities gather to review their portfolios and hear from private equity, hedge fund and other investment professionals. The TVA Investment Challenge oversees a $12 million portfolio that is managed by students at 25 colleges and universities, each competing with each other to beat the S&P 500 total return index. In 2022, the Vanderbilt team beat the S&P 500 performance by 3.9%; Vanderbilt has now beaten the S&P performance in three of the last four years. The team of students are responsible for managing the day-to-day decisions and investments. They design short- to mid-term investment strategies, decide on stock positions and monitor performance reports within the guidelines of the competition. MORE
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Vanderbilt launches free online ChatGPT course, shaping the future of AI educationChances are you’ve heard of ChatGPT. Perhaps you’ve even tested out the headline-worthy AI tool yourself. But do you know how to harness ChatGPT to be more productive in your personal and professional life? Jules White, associate dean for strategic learning programs and associate professor of computer science at Vanderbilt University, is making ChatGPT more accessible and useful for the broader public with the launch of his free online Prompt Engineering for ChatGPT course on the Coursera platform. Prompt engineering, the process of crafting high-quality inputs to generate high-quality outputs, is an increasingly crucial skill as large language models like ChatGPT rise in popularity. Vanderbilt’s Prompt Engineering for ChatGPT course teaches the most effective patterns and approaches to writing inputs for the large language model. Students start by crafting basic prompts and build toward writing sophisticated prompts to solve problems across all domains. Learners solidify their prompt engineering skills through interactive, hands-on assignments. MORE
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