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Class of 2021 Commencement to be celebrated in person May 15–16; Graduates Day to feature Dr. Anthony Fauci
Vanderbilt University announced today that it will host in-person Commencement ceremonies for the Class of 2021. The events, which will adhere to campus safety protocols, will take place May 15–16, 2021. This year’s Graduates Day event, which includes all undergraduate, graduate and professional students receiving degrees, is scheduled for Friday, May 14, and will feature Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert and an internationally renowned biomedical scientist. Fauci will receive Vanderbilt’s prestigious Nichols-Chancellor’s Medal when he speaks to the graduating students and their guests in a virtual address. The event is also open to all alumni and to the public. [ Caroline Kennedy, who was scheduled to deliver the address in-person for the class of 2020, will now be delivering the Graduates Day address to the Class of 2020 virtually on Friday, April 30.] MORE
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FEDERALLY FUNDED RESEARCH
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Photonics discovery portends dramatic efficiencies in silicon chips
A team led by Vanderbilt engineers has achieved the ability to transmit two different types of optical signals across a single chip at the same time. The breakthrough heralds a potentially dramatic increase in the volume of data a silicon chip can transmit over any period of time. Joshua Caldwell, associate professor of mechanical engineering, and Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor Sharon Weiss, professor of electrical engineering, led the team . . . . The work is an important advance in silicon photonics, which uses light rather than electrical signals to transmit data. [The research was supported by multiple agencies, including the Office of Naval Research, the National Science Foundation, and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. Silicon waveguide fabrication was conducted at a DOE Office of Science User Facility.] MORE
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Despite limitations of pandemic, research continues at Peabody, College of Arts and Science
Vanderbilt researchers are prolific and resolute in their pursuit of transformative research and innovation. During the Research Ramp-up process, more than 3,000 Vanderbilt research personnel have returned to in-person research activities, while many others have continued remotely through perseverance and ingenuity. On campus and at home, they are making discoveries that advance knowledge and improve lives. [ James Booth from Peabody College of education and human development is adapting research protocols in response to the pandemic, and Katherine Friedman from College of Arts and Science is modifying interaction in the lab to continue vital research.] MORE
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Underrepresented students’ perceptions of calculus instruction reveal ‘weed-out’ mechanisms that discourage participation in STEM
Luis Leyva, assistant professor of mathematics education at Vanderbilt University and director of PRISM (Power, Resistance & Identity in STEM) at Peabody College, led a research team that recently identified mechanisms in undergraduate calculus instruction that contribute to the function of introductory mathematics as a gatekeeper to STEM majors among Black students, Latin* students, and white women. Leyva suggests that instructors of these courses need to approach instruction with awareness of how these influences uniquely impact underrepresented students’ classroom experiences, which have major implications for diversifying STEM fields. MORE
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Vanderbilt harassment prevention initiatives featured on National Academies digital repository
Three of Vanderbilt University’s key initiatives to prevent sexual harassment are highlighted in a searchable repository launched by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine in its Action Collaborative on Preventing Sexual Harassment in Higher Education. Vanderbilt University and Vanderbilt University Medical Center are founding members of the Action Collaborative, established in 2019 to support colleges, universities and research institutions with implementing recommendations made in a report by the National Academies . . . . The website, which shares policies and practices of the collaborative’s members, provides information on how Vanderbilt added language to its faculty application and offer letters to improve screening of job candidates with a history of discrimination or harassment, and how one department amended its “direct-admit” graduate admissions policy to diffuse power differentials. A third Vanderbilt initiative focuses on the first sexual harassment survey of university-employed faculty and postdoctoral fellows and trainees in spring 2019. MORE
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Annual event underscores contributions of women in STEM fields
Marguerite Davis was one two biochemists who discovered vitamins A and B in 1913, though her university refused to pay Davis a salary for five of the six years she worked with Elmer McCollum, her more famous colleague. In 1946, Connie Myers Guion was the first woman in the U.S. to be named a professor of clinical medicine, though as recently as five years ago she did not have a biography on Wikipedia, the massive, open-collaborative online encyclopedia created and maintained by a community of volunteer editors. Davis and Guion are among the female scientists and researchers whose biographies benefitted from the annual Wikithon organized and hosted by Women of VISE. The week-long effort focuses on contributing to and improving the quality of Wikipedia pages on women in science, technology, engineering and math. There is a significant gender gap on Wikipedia—fewer than 20 percent of biographies on the site are about women. MORE
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Bordenstein elected to American Academy of Microbiology
Seth Bordenstein, Centennial Professor of Biological Sciences, has been elected to [a] fellowship in the American Academy of Microbiology, the honorific leadership group within one of the largest life science societies in the world. Bordenstein is among 65 fellows selected in 2021 for his scientific achievements and original contributions that have advanced the field of microbiology. Fellows of the American Society for Microbiology’s academy are elected annually through a highly selective peer review process. Bordenstein is director of the Vanderbilt Microbiome Initiative and associate director of the Vanderbilt Institute for Infection, Immunology and Inflammation. 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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