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FEDERALLY FUNDED RESEARCH
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Vanderbilt rocketry team places second in 2021 NASA Student Launch Competition
The Vanderbilt Rocket Team placed second in the Launch Division of the 2021 NASA Student Launch Competition, the space agency announced June 4. The team will receive $2,500 from the National Space Club. The Vanderbilt team also won NASA’s Educational Engagement Award for their innovative virtual rocketry workshops for school students. For the past nine months, 46 teams entered the launch competition, one of NASA’s Artemis Student Challenges. This year NASA challenged teams to design a lander—when deployed from the rocket on descent from apogee at an altitude between 500 and 1000 feet—that could right itself. Vanderbilt’s Mantis lander when readied for rocket flight was a whopping 14 pounds with sophisticated levelling and locomotive capabilities and the ability to withstand a hard landing . . . . MORE
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Maternal health expert wins NIH grant to study disparity in cesarean births among Black and white women
Assistant Professor of Nursing Jeremy Neal has been awarded an R21 exploratory/development grant of more than $250,000 from the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities to assess the differences in labor progress and care among Black and white women with low-risk pregnancies. The study, which will focus on the frequency of cesarean births among the two groups, will be the first to describe obstetric care in this way at a high-volume, academic medical center, and its findings will inform how health care providers can improve standards of care to ultimately decrease the disparity in cesarean births. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 31.7 percent of all deliveries in the U.S. are by cesarean birth. Further, the disparity in primary cesarean birth rates between Black and white women with low-risk pregnancies in the United States is greater than ever before. In 2019, 30 percent of low-risk Black women experienced a cesarean birth compared to 24.7 percent of white women. MORE
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Research Snapshot: Finding confirms process by which ketamine acts as an antidepressant
Lisa Monteggia, professor of pharmacology, and collaborators have provided evidence about how ketamine works as a rapid-acting antidepressant in the brain. The research reinforces the hypothesis that the glutamate N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor on synapses, at the point where neurons communicate, is the drug’s target. The current understanding is that once ketamine is administered, it blocks those NMDA receptors. This changes a neural biochemical pathway, which elicits more protein production and thus rapid effects in the brain—including a novel form of plasticity that acts as a cellular correlate to rapid antidepressant’s effect. Ketamine can provide rapid antidepressant action—relief in as little as two hours that can be sustained for days to weeks—for individuals resistant to typical antidepressants and thus most at risk of suicide. Further, the idea of trying to understand why ketamine works in some patients but not others is important for everyone. [This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health.] MORE
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Vanderbilt faculty collaborate to develop tools for teaching personal geography and spatial awareness
A team of researchers has developed publicly available resources for teaching personal geography and critical spatial inquiry. Mapping Self in Society (MaSelfS) is a collaboration among faculty in learning sciences, archaeology and spatial analysis at Vanderbilt University and Georgia State University. The team recently launched a public website offering teaching frameworks and curricular tools for educators working in different disciplines, including social studies and computer science. Through five unique activities available on the site, students learn how to capture personal mobility data using their smartphones, place themselves “on the map” in meaningful ways, understand the basics of spatial data, and visualize their personal geography in relation to broader society. [The MaSelfS framework and website were developed with support from the National Science Foundation.] MORE
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Vanderbilt Poll: Tennesseans split along party lines on vaccines, 2020 election and ‘cancel culture’
Divisive party politics continue to dominate attitudes among Tennessee residents on key social issues, including the state’s response to COVID-19, willingness to get vaccinated and questions about whether the 2020 presidential election was “stolen,” according to the latest Vanderbilt University poll. Despite the continued polarization, the results of the spring poll did show some glimmers of unity among Tennesseans on topics such as infrastructure upgrades and pride as Americans. MORE
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Vanderbilt researcher finds that Supreme Court ban on race-conscious college admissions would restrict the pipeline of future leaders
As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to decide whether to hear a case challenging the use of race-conscious college admissions, Vanderbilt scholar Joni Hersch says a ban on affirmative action would substantially narrow the pipeline of minorities coming into professional occupations. In a forthcoming article . . . Hersch analyzed data on almost 500,000 college graduates to show a close connection between attending an elite undergraduate institution and the likelihood of earning a professional or graduate degree, which, in turn, is closely linked to gaining employment in influential positions. Hersch said these findings indicate that attending an elite undergraduate institution levels the playing field for all races in terms of attaining professional or graduate degrees, regardless of whether affirmative action initially played a role in undergraduate admissions. MORE
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New study finds community activists in Brazil’s favelas play a critical role in combatting COVID-19
A study co-led by Vanderbilt University’s Dominique Béhague found that Brazilian citizens without traditional public health expertise have stepped up and worked together in poor neighborhoods known as favelas to make significant strides in their community’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. They contend that collective social medicine—built on mutual aid and solidarity practices among neighborhood groups and local journalists—challenges conventional assumptions about the efficacy of hierarchical leadership models, disease-specific programs and other common practices in public health. The researchers observed that the community activists’ work in the favelas target COVID-specific issues while also tackling overarching societal factors of unemployment, mental health and food security. MORE
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Chancellor to host virtual event on sustainability and climate change June 15
Members of the campus community are invited to attend a virtual event to learn more about the future of climate change and how Vanderbilt will play a unique role in identifying and modeling solutions. The event on Tuesday, June 15, begins at 12:15 p.m. CT. Chancellor Daniel Diermeier and Vice Chancellor for Administration Eric Kopstain will be joined by Michael Greenstone, distinguished environmental economist and director of the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago, to share details of Vanderbilt’s new collaboration with Climate Vault. Attendees will hear firsthand how a series of innovative solutions, which includes this new and exciting collaboration, will put Vanderbilt on track to become the first member of the Association of American Universities to achieve carbon neutrality this spring—decades ahead of its initial sustainability goal. MORE
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Nashville medical leaders to discuss racial health disparities and possible solutions June 18
Local health experts will explore health disparities and inequities in the Nashville community and how these issues can be addressed during a virtual event on Friday, June 18, from 1 to 2 p.m. CT. Hosted by Vanderbilt, “Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities in Nashville: An Update” is free and open to the public. A follow-up to a similar discussion focused on COVID-19 a year ago, the webinar will address pertinent issues affecting the most vulnerable members of the Nashville community. An expert panel of community health leaders will offer ideas and solutions from a public health, public policy and broad medical perspective. MORE
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Rachel White named assistant vice chancellor for marketing for Division of Communications
Rachel White, a dynamic marketing leader, will join the Division of Communications July 6 as Vanderbilt’s inaugural assistant vice chancellor for marketing. The new, consolidated and renamed Marketing team under White’s leadership will combine the existing creative design, branding and trademark licensing functions and digital marketing and web development teams, as well as production management capacity. The joining of these teams happens at a crucial time as the university implements new marketing technologies and prepares to launch a redesigned web presence. White brings more than 15 years of marketing experience at Fortune 100 companies to this new role at Vanderbilt. Most recently, she was a senior director of marketing at Dollar General, where she founded and led the Dollar General Media Network and was responsible for generating income and repeat business. 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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