Engineering And Technology

Radiation is known to destroy some breast cancer cells, but new research published in Cell Reports shows that it might also make some surrounding tissue more prone to cancerous cell growth. Vanderbilt postdoctoral fellow Kevin Corn conducted much of the study’s work with Assistant Professor Marjan Rafat. “When we think about radiation, we usually focus on tumor cells,” Rafat said. “But the surrounding tissue is also responding, and that can shape what happens after treatment.” By addressing processes in that surrounding tissue, they hope to reduce the chance that breast cancer will recur. Read More

Hussam Mahmoud, director of the Vanderbilt Center for Sustainability, Energy and Climate, has been named a National Geographic Explorer for an innovative study about how to provide a better framework for preparing for wildfires. National Geographic Explorers are groundbreaking scientists, conservationists, educators and storytellers who get funding and support from the National Geographic Society to illuminate and protect the planet. Read More

Cyberattacks on medical devices and health care systems can endanger patient lives. A project led by a team of Vanderbilt faculty—the Advance Risk Management and Operational Resilience for Hospitals system—is a vulnerability mitigation platform to help avert and thwart such threats. Its development got a $7 million boost from the federal ARPA-H program. Read More

The United States’ global leadership in science and technology depends on sustained federal investment in engineering research and education. With that message, Krish Roy, Bruce and Bridgitt Evans Dean of Engineering at Vanderbilt University, joined fellow Tennessee engineering leaders on Capitol Hill to underscore the importance of funding for agencies that power innovation and workforce development. Read More

Being able to tell whether an image is real or generated by AI may be something you’re born with: object recognition. “It’s a stable trait that helps people meet new perceptual challenges,” study author Professor Isabel Gauthier said. “We were shocked to see how intelligence or even technology training did not help accurately judge if a face is AI.” Object recognition has been linked to success in a wide range of tasks, such as X-ray analysis and cancer cell categorization. Read More

Vanderbilt University has announced its fall 2025 recipients of the Seeding Success, Scaling Success and Rapid-Advancement MicroGrant Program awards, providing internal funding to help faculty launch new research directions, strengthen proposals and compete for major external grants. Read More

Vanderbilt University announced seven recipients of the Innovation Catalyst Fund awards for the October 2025 cycle. The awards offer strategic pre-seed funding to help faculty across a wide range of disciplines turn promising research concepts into tangible solutions that address fundamental societal needs.  Read More

He leads groundbreaking work creating robotic tools to make surgeries safer. Now, with a passion for partnership, see how Robert Webster is carving a path for others to take their life-changing innovations and turn them into reality. Read More

Robert J. Webster, the Richard A. Schroeder Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Vanderbilt, has been elected Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors as well as elevated to IEEE Fellow, a prestigious title awarded by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers to members who have made significant contributions to the fields of engineering, science, and technology. Read More

What does the future of AI and robotics look like in our daily lives and as a career field? In a special episode of Quantum Potential, Provost C. Cybele Raver talks with Matthew Johnson-Roberson, the inaugural dean of the College of Connected Computing, about the accelerating evolution of AI and robotics. Read More