Faculty Accolades & Awards
Professor Larisa DeSantis was named a 2025 Guggenheim Fellow. Read more on her research and journey here!
Professor Dan Morgan was awarded the 2026 Chancellor’s Cup for his dedication to undergraduate and graduate students in mentoring, teaching, and research support over the past two decades. Read more about his achievement here!
Professor Lin Meng has been named an Early Career Fellow by the Ecological Society of America. This recognition highlights researchers who have made meaningful contributions to ecology while demonstrating strong promise in advancing the field. Lin’s work in global change ecology has helped improve understanding of how vegetation phenology responds to climate change and human activities, with implications for public health and sustainable cities.
Professor Zdravka (Zee) Tzankova, who co-founded the Climate, Health, and energy Equity Action Lab (CHEEL Lab) alongside Dr-s Carol Ziegler and James Muchira at the Vanderbilt School of Nursing, was awarded a $147,500 VSEC grant for an impactful pilot project aimed at testing the viability of mobilizing private funding to cover the cost of health-beneficial, comate-mitigating energy efficiency upgrades in low-income rental housing.
Pursued in collaboration with a community partner organization in North Nashville (Westwood Baptist and their Housing Ministry), Nashville-based Business Partner Energy Electives, and California-based carbon measurement partner WattCarbon, the research aims to measure the carbon reductions – and carbon offset credits – generated through comprehensive energy upgrades on energy-inefficient low-income rentals, and to create a blueprint for selling such carbon offset credits on the voluntary carbon market by way of generating funding for covering the upfront costs of low-income energy upgrades. The initial ideation and research at the foundation of this VSEC funded pilot project was completed with substantial research contributions from four Vanderbilt undergraduates (now environmental alums) – Maya Maciel-Seidman (2025), Samuel Lu (2025) Aaditi Lele (2025) and Cindy Yan (2025).
Student Accolades & Awards
Holland Perryman – CES Outstanding Senior Award for 2025-2026, 2026 Keegan Travelling Fellow
Chirac Troy – Vanderbilt Top 20 Senior
2026 Rachel Carson Council Students – Chloe Whalen, Adna Mutic, Alvin Liu, Ziheng Yan, and Grace Park