Research

Throughout the past academic year, faculty in the College of Arts and Science have shown tremendous dedication to not only providing unparalleled instruction, but also toward advancing their scholarship and research. From powerful discoveries to creative expression across a wide range of disciplines, our faculty are making impactful contributions to… Read More

Illustrations by Liz Chagnon Faculty in the College of Arts and Science are pursuing groundbreaking research and discovery across a wide range of fields. They advance scientific progress, artistic expression, and a deeper understanding of the world around us—its past, present, and future.  Here are a few… Read More

In the world of black holes, there are generally three size categories: stellar-mass black holes (about five to 50 times the mass of the sun), supermassive black holes (millions to billions of times the mass of the sun), and intermediate-mass black holes with masses somewhere in between. Assistant Professor of… Read More

Our past has something to say. 2025 Guggenheim Fellow Larisa DeSantis is ready to translate. Read More

Josh Clinton, Abby and Jon Winkelried Chair and professor of political science, and co-director of the Vanderbilt Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions, joins Provost C. Cybele Raver to discuss how transparency and increasing public literacy ... Read More

Nashville’s tumultuous spring weather upended plans for an in-person faculty assembly on April 3. Fortunately, faculty will still have an opportunity to connect with colleagues and congratulate the 10 spring award winners during the May 1 Faculty Senat... Read More

Vanderbilt University has joined the Urban Humanities Network (UHN) as a consortium campus, solidifying the university’s place among leading institutions at the forefront of urban humanities scholarship. Established in 2022, UHN unites universities, organizations, and researchers dedicated to interdisciplinary study within the urban humanities, which operates at the nexus of… Read More

In many ways, the Vanderbilt undergraduate experience is a unique one. One example is in the unparalleled, hands-on research opportunities that students have from the moment they step onto campus. Assistant Professor of Physics Raghav (Rithya) Kunnawalkam Elayavalli Undergraduate research is a defining experience at Vanderbilt, providing students the opportunity… Read More

See how historian Jane Landers and her team are rescuing enslaved Africans’ stories from oblivion and honoring thousands of lives. Read More

New work from the Castiglione lab and that of collaborator, Elia Duh (Johns Hopkins), is shaping the way is shaping the way we understand the evolutionary limits of energy production. He discovered that the horse, an oft-studied, physiological powerhou... Read More

Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences Lin Meng While taking a flight one evening, Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences Lin Meng observed that the landscape outside of her window was lit up entirely by artificial light. In that moment, a thought crossed her mind:… Read More

As Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Physics and chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Julia Velkovska studies the tiny particles that form our universe. She focuses on how nuclear matter behaves when confronted with extreme density and tem... Read More

Learn about the women who inspire Steven Townsend in his breakthrough research that puts a spotlight on women, their health and discoveries around the healing powers of breast milk. Read More

Vanderbilt’s Alan Wiseman co-directs the Center for Effective Lawmaking with University of Virginia professor Craig Volden. Using a combination of 15 metrics, the center defines legislators that “exceed expectations” as those who outperform the center’... Read More

Shanay Desai, a senior double majoring in neuroscience and drug discovery and biotechnology, worked at Eli Lilly and Company last summer as a biotherapeutic scientist. It all started during his senior year of high school, when Shanay Desai watched the world go digital due to the pandemic. During that time,… Read More

If you could write a letter to someone 1,000 years from now, what would you say? And what would they think of the world today when reading it? These are some of the questions posed to visitors walking through the Vanderbilt University Museum of Art’s newest exhibit,… Read More

From left: Mary Anne Hunting, BA’80, and Kevin Murphy, Andrew W. Mellon Chair in the Humanities and professor of history of art and architecture. In the decades preceding World War II, professional architecture schools started enrolling increasing numbers of women. However, career success for these women did not come easily… Read More

Most of us rely heavily on shipping services like FedEx or UPS to ensure we receive the correct packages. If that system was disrupted, parcels would end up lost or in the wrong place. Similarly, all human cells require large protein coat complexes, working at transport hubs called endosomes, to… Read More

Major Jackson, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair in the Humanities, has been awarded the inaugural Patricia Cannon Willis Prize for American Poetry by Yale Library. Jackson was recognized for his acclaimed collection Razzle Dazzle: New and Selected Poe... Read More

Awarded annually since 1955, the fellowships honor extraordinary U.S. and Canadian researchers who stand out as the next generation of leaders for their creativity, innovation and research accomplishments. Tiriac, an assistant professor of biological s... Read More