Upcoming Events
VSEC News
Past Events
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November 3, 2025
12:10pm
Finding Common Ground: Bypassing Polarization on Energy Issues
On November 3, 2025, Vanderbilt Law School hosted “Finding Common Ground: Bypassing Polarization on Energy Issues” in Flynn Auditorium. The event featured a fireside chat with former Governor Phil Bredesen, who shared insights on overcoming political divides surrounding energy policy and sustainability. Part of the Speaker Series, “The Private Sector and the Planet: Environmental Governance Across Industries,” the discussion was presented by the Vanderbilt Private Climate Governance Lab, Dialogue Vanderbilt, the Vanderbilt Center for Sustainability, Energy, and Climate, and the University of Iowa Hubbell Environmental Law Initiative.
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October 28, 2025
12:10
Increasing Resilience to Climate Hazards in Coastal Communities Through Collaborative Research
This seminar explored innovative, interdisciplinary research aimed at strengthening community resilience to these threats. The discussion covered three key areas: (1) the development of community-scale spatial mapping tools that guide the placement of green and grey stormwater infrastructure for maximum benefit; (2) a youth education program designed to build disaster awareness and advocacy in coastal Georgia; and (3) advanced methods for strategically placing real-time water level sensors to better predict and mitigate flood risk. The seminar concluded with a broader reflection on ongoing efforts to assess and reduce risk across structures, infrastructure systems, and communities.
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October 7, 2025
12:00pm
Climate and Sustainability
Co-sponsored with the Law School, Professor Bell-James discussion explored how Australia is navigating sustainability challenges and climate policy. Members of the VSEC Leadership Team as well as VU students attended the event.
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October 6, 2025
4:00pm
Integrating Finite Elements with Machine Learning: Geoenergy and Structural Digital Twins Applications
Dr. Mostafa Mobasher seminar provided a great opportunity to learn how engineering innovation is shaping the future of our cities and communities.
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August 12 & 13, 2025
All Day
VSEC Inaugural Symposium and Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
Building on last year’s announcement of its creation through Discovery Vanderbilt, the university has officially launched the Vanderbilt Center for Sustainability, Energy and Climate to advance research and partnerships.
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August 4, 2025
All Day
VSEC Speaks with the British Embassy
Vanderbilt Center for Sustainability, Energy and Climate (VSEC) directors, Hiba Baroud and Hussam Mahmoud presented an overview of VSEC to members of the British Embassy on Monday, August 4, 2025, during the Embassy's visit to the Vanderbilt University campus. They spoke about the vision for VSEC and how future sustainability innovations can be made possible with interdisciplinary collaboration and their home within the Vanderbilt School of Engineering. VSEC directors were met with enthusiastic questions and discussion from the British Embassy members.
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June 3, 2025
12:00pm
Global Research Seminar- Dr. Tim Hageman and Dr. Tushar Kanti Mandal
The purpose of their visit is to unite international expertise to address the challenges of accurately and efficiently modeling fracture phenomena in natural and advanced man-made materials. These researchers will bring complementary strengths that enable our team to address global challenges related to climate science (e.g., glacier and ice shelf fracture in response to climate change), energy storage (e.g., electrochemical modeling of Li ion batteries) and advanced manufacturing (e.g., lightweight metamaterials with superior toughness). Thus, their research broadly matches key areas of interest for VSEC such as Energy Integration, Resource Sustainability, and Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation.
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April 10, 2025
9:30am
Climate Change, Urban Heat Islands, & Public Health
The panel was comprised of top Tennessee public health officials, including John Vick, Office of Primary Prevention with the Department of Health and Kendra Middlebrook, Environmental Epidemiology Program, Department of Health. In addition, government and non-profit sector leaders working to address challenges associated with growth and climate change included Kendra Abkowitz, senior director of Sustainability and Resilience, Nashville Mayor’s Office; and Todd Lawrence, executive director of Urban Green Lab.
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April 3, 2025
9:30am
Swetha Peteru: Peatlands and livelihoods in Southeast Asia
Peatlands in Southeast Asia are essential for local communities, providing critical resources such as food, water, and forest products, while also playing a significant role in climate change mitigation as carbon sinks. However, these ecosystems face major threats, including land conversion, fires, and climate change, which endanger both the environment and the communities reliant on them. Dr. Peteru will share her research on the exploration of the intricate relationship between peatlands and community livelihoods, using the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach (SLA) to analyze available assets, vulnerability contexts, and the effectiveness of various livelihood strategies in fostering resilience among peatland-dependent communities.
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February 17, 2025
12:10-1:05pm
Nashville Environmental Law & Policy Annual Review
The Environmental Law & Policy Annual Review (ELPAR) hosted its annual Nashville Conference, which featured Sarah Fox, Associate Professor of Law at the Marquette University Law School. The conference centered on Professor Fox’s ELPAR-recognized article: “Soil Governance and Private Property,” which was previously published in the Utah Law Review and was selected as part of ELPAR’s 2024-2025 top 20 environmental law and policy articles.
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February 15, 2025
All Day
2025 Annual Summit: Driving Sustainability & Social Impact
Vanderbilt’s Center for Social Ventures hosted the 2025 Annual Summit, themed Driving Sustainability & Social Impact. This free event is open to ALL Vanderbilt students and faculty, and will provide an opportunity to connect, engage in meaningful discussions, and explore the intersection of sustainability and social change.
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February 13, 2025
9:30am
Alexis Temkin: Forever Pesticides and their Forever Pieces: Environmental Presence and Implications
In collaboration with colleagues (Center for Biological Diversity, PEER, and EWG), Dr. Temkin co-authored a paper recently published in Environmental Health Perspectives on the presence of PFAS in pesticides, and the implications for public health and policy. This talk will summarize the main findings of the paper and focus on the presence of these chemicals, as well as their degradation products, primarily the ultra-short chain PFAS trifluoroacetic acid, or TFA, in the environment, including water and food.
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February 10, 2025
12:00-1:30pm
Littoral Beings: Totemic Sea Country in Aboriginal Australia
Dr. Veronica Strang (University of Oxford) will present a Zoom talk entitled "Littoral Beings: Totemic Sea Country in Aboriginal Australia." During the event, Dr. Strang discussed her book, Water Beings: From Nature Worship to the Environmental Crisis (2023). Presentation abstract: "In Euro-American agricultural societies, draining ‘ambiguous’ wetlands and achieving defined boundaries between water bodies and dry land have long been a priority.
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February 6, 2025
4:10pm
The Sustainable Sacred: Retelling the Religious History of the Lands that Became America
Prof. Thomas Tweed, Department of American Studies, University of Notre Dame. Thomas Tweed’s forthcoming book, Religion in the Lands That Became America, is a sweeping retelling of religious history that spans 11,000 years and shows how religion has enhanced and hindered individual, communal, and environmental flourishing from the Ice Age to the Information Age. The story follows diverse devotees as they cross and transform the landscape, negotiate lifeway transitions (from foraging to farming and factories to fiber optics), and confront several “sustainability crises” (from the medieval Cornfield crisis to the ongoing Industrial crisis). In this first public talk about the project, Tweed offers an overview, assessing the standard narrative and indicating how this story differs. He ends by inviting discussion about its possible significance for retelling the religious history of the lands that became Tennessee and for addressing pressing national problems like polarization.
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January 23, 2025
9:30am
David Padgett: Geospatial technology applications in support of community based environmental justice research and advocacy
Dr. David A. Padgett is the Team Lead for the HBCU Environmental Justice Technical Collaborative (HEJTC), a team of HBCU-affiliated data science, economics, geoscience, and geographic information systems (GIS)experts. The HEJTC created the HBCU Climate and Environmental Justice Screening Tool (HCEJST) to provide stakeholders with options to visually display potential environmental threats to their communities as well as integrated race/ethnicity variables that were omitted from the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool. In 2023, the HEJTC developed the “HBCU Justice 40 Funds Data Tracking Tool.” The tool's primary objective is to enable environmental justice stakeholders in “red states” to geographically trace the path of Inflation Reduction Act, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and other Justice 40-related funds.
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January 15, 2025
12:00pm
VSEC Mixer
The mixer was open to the VU community and brough together faculty, students, and staff who are interested in VSEC topics to learn more about the center. A presentation was provided to give an overview of VSEC and the Seed Project Fund (SPF) was announced. The Co-Leads also introduced themselves and described their focus areas.
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October 22, 2024
3:00pm
Mary Ellen Ternes Distinguished Lectureship: The Value of Interdisciplinary Expertise in Designing for Sustainability, with Plastic Focus
Mary Ellen Ternes discussed the value of interdisciplinary training and experience in pursuing more sustainable approaches for our society while meeting our energy, climate and chemical pollution challenges. Focusing on her experience with the horizon issue of plastic in all its forms and uses, Mary Ellen reviewed plastic as an environmental pollutant, comparing developing national and global plastic policy to policy histories of other ubiquitous materials presenting similar environmental and human health risks.