Meet the People Changing the World

This new series, hosted by Jad Abumrad, showcases the Vanderbilt University teams working to build a better future. Each video highlights how pioneering research and scholarship have the potential to change life as we know it.

See the Potential

The Faith-Fueled Brain Scanner

Biomedical engineer Audrey Bowden shines a light on her development of a headband that can measure brain activity through light with applications for mental health diagnoses and shares how her faith motivates her research.

Less Traffic on the Road to Tomorrow

Civil engineers and computer scientists Daniel Work and Jonathan Sprinkle conducted the world’s largest real-world road test on a stretch of I-24 in Nashville to see how semi-autonomous vehicles can ease traffic for more sustainable and less stressful driving.

Meet the Host:
Jad Abumrad

Jad Abumrad, public radio icon and podcast pioneer, recently joined Vanderbilt University as a Distinguished Research Professor of Cinema and Media Arts and of Communication of Science and Technology at the College of Arts and Science. Abumrad created Radiolab and Dolly Parton’s America, both Peabody award–winning podcasts that explore big questions in philosophy and humanity. Abumrad was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2011 for innovation in the podcast field.

Research With Real Impact

As an R1 research university, Vanderbilt is a global hub for conducting scholarly research, advancing discoveries and fueling breakthroughs across multiple disciplines. Consistently ranked as one of the top universities for research and innovation, Vanderbilt provides undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral researchers with opportunities to participate in transformative discoveries with the potential to change the world.

Quantum Potential highlights just a few of the thousands of research initiatives taking place at the university and medical center each year.