Research
Vanderbilt Engineering Students Prepare for 2015 Solar Decathlon
Sep. 17, 2014—Selected last spring for the 2015 U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon, a team of Vanderbilt students is partnering with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Nashville to build Harmony House. It’s a 1,000-square-foot, energy efficient, fully solar-powered home likely to be used as a test site for the housing nonprofit after the contest ends. “A lot of Solar...
Vanderbilt professor speaks on climate change at TEDxNashville
Jun. 1, 2014—Michael Vandenbergh, David Daniels Allen Distinguished Chair of Law and director of Vanderbilt’s Climate Change Research Network, recently spoke on “Buying Time: The Private Governance Response to Climate Change” at TEDxNashville. Professor Vandenbergh’s academic research explores the relationship between formal legal regulation and informal social regulation of individual and corporate behavior, the influence of social...
Diamond named Udall Scholar
Apr. 28, 2014—[Originally published by MyVU] The Office of Honor Scholarships is pleased to announce that Michael Diamond, a junior in the College of Arts and Science, has been named a 2014 Udall Scholar. The Udall Foundation is an independent federal agency that was established by Congress in 1992 to provide federally funded scholarships for college students...
In Class and Across Campus, Vanderbilt Helps Future Generations Find Relief for an Overstressed Planet
Mar. 18, 2014—[Originally published in Vanderbilt Magazine] Written by Joanne Lamphere Beckham From corporate boardrooms to statehouse chambers to the halls of academe, sustainability is one of this century’s biggest challenges. Although defined in many ways, sustainability is generally understood as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet...
Nashville team’s ‘Harmony House’ scores a spot in international Solar Decathlon
Feb. 18, 2014—[Originally published by Research News @ Vanderbilt] Team Music City, an interdisciplinary group from Vanderbilt University, Middle Tennessee State University and Habitat for Humanity of Greater Nashville, has been selected to compete in the Solar Decathlon 2015, a U.S. Department of Energy event that challenges students to design and build a functioning, energy-efficient, solar-powered house....
ChE senior enters final round of national undergraduate research competition
Feb. 6, 2014—[Originally posted by VUSE] Marc Panu is looking forward to a final round in March to determine a first-place award for undergraduate research that will be announced at the 40th annual convention of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) in Nashville. Panu, a senior in chemical and biomolecular engineering, captured the first-place award in...
Third environmental engineering professor is certified by U.S. academy
Dec. 16, 2013—[Originally posted by Vanderbilt School of Engineering] Eugene LeBoeuf, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Vanderbilt, is the third Vanderbilt environmental engineering faculty member in two years to be accepted into the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists as a board certified environmental engineering member. LeBoeuf’s research interests focus on developing improved...
Use water at ‘comfortable’ temperature to wash hands and fight global warming
Dec. 11, 2013—[Originally posted by Research News at Vanderbilt] Signs in many bathrooms across the country recommend washing hands in hot or warm water. In fact, if Americans could be persuaded en masse to use a comfortable water temperature when washing their hands, it could prevent the annual greenhouse gas emissions totaling the equivalent of the United...
New device stores electricity on silicon chips
Nov. 20, 2013—[Originally posted by Research News at Vanderbilt] Solar cells that produce electricity 24/7, not just when the sun is shining. Mobile phones with built-in power cells that recharge in seconds and work for weeks between charges. These are just two of the possibilities raised by a novel supercapacitor design invented by material scientists at Vanderbilt...
Grad student wins first place in DOE fuel cycle research competition
Jul. 18, 2013—[Originally posted by VUSE News] Lyndsey Morgan Fyffe, a doctoral student in environmental engineering, has been awarded a first place prize in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Innovations in Fuel Cycle Research Awards competition. Fyffe’s award is in the category of energy policy, and her award-winning research paper, “Developing Operational Safety Performance Measures for Nuclear...