The Wond'ry is a hub for innovation and entrepreneurship, typically associated with a university or community setting. Its programming is designed to foster creativity, collaboration, and the practical application of ideas.
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Climate, Health, and Energy Equity Lab (CHEEL)
The Climate, Health, and Energy Equity Lab (CHEEL Lab) combines research, practice, and teaching to advance just approaches to climate mitigation and renewable transitions. The Lab is co-founded and directed by Dr. Carol Ziegler (Vanderbilt School of Nursing), Dr. Zdravka Tzankova (Program in Climate & Environmental Studies), and Dr. James Muchira (Vanderbilt School of Nursing). Click here to learn more.
Climate Innovation Accelerator (CIA)
The Climate Innovation Accelerator is a first-of-its-kind initiative that
engages minority-led small businesses, and nonprofits to advance
Nashville’s goals toward a climate positive future through a 10-
week, no-cost learning journey, alongside student teams and skilled
advisors. Click here to learn more.
Founder
The Founder Program is a six month to year long support program for newly founded ventures and their founding team. Founders accepted into the program will work with dedicated mentors, in a fully furnished office space, our Launch Incubator Space, located in the Loews Office Tower at 2100 West End Avenue, Nashville, TN. Click here to learn more.
Industry Collaborator Program (ICP)
The Wond’ry Industry Collaborator Program is designed for any business or work unit on the campus who are looking to solve their problems creatively. Led by Prof. David Owens, author of “Creative People Must Be Stopped: 6 Ways We Kill Innovation”, the program is fully customizable to meet each client’s needs and availability. The program takes the clients through the design thinking process starting with finding the right problem through empathy and clearly defining the problem and moves onto ideation sessions including brainstorming, prototyping, testing, and iteration for rapid learning and improvement. Click here to learn more.
Innovation Open Mic
The Wond’ry hosts a monthly Innovation Open Mic event, where aspiring innovators are invited to practice presenting their ideas and projects to a panel of entrepreneurial experts and mentors. Whether a business, non-profit, technology, or invention, all ideas are welcome. At the end of each event, presenters receive feedback from the mentor panel to help them improve their projects. Click here to learn more.
Internal Consulting Program
Elevate your capacity for innovation through our internal consulting program, open to all Vanderbilt work units and faculty groups. As participants engage with our program, they embark on an enlightening journey that seamlessly bridges the worlds of design thinking and practical application. Click here to learn more.
Making Workshops
The Wond'ry Makerspaces workshops are interactive, hands-on learning environments where individuals can explore, create, and innovate using a variety of tools and materials. Click here to learn more about the Makerspaces and their upcoming workshops.
Map the System
Map the System is a global systems thinking competition that engages students in deeply understanding and working within complex social and environmental problems.
Throughout the program, you’ll be guided through a process that will help you complete each deliverable by the required deadline. Click here to learn more.
Mentorship Program
Wond’ry Mentors are a network of entrepreneurs, executives, creatives, and forward thinkers eager to share their experience and insights with the Wond’ry ecosystem.
Through the one-on-one, personalized guidance of a Mentor, participants gain access to years of expertise in the fields they hope to enter, need help in, or seek to hire from. Click here to learn more.
Mid-South I-Corps Hub
Led by Vanderbilt with an intentional emphasis on inclusive innovation, this hub will accelerate the translation of groundbreaking university research outcomes into commercialized ventures that seed emergent, prosperous innovation ecosystems across the Mid-south. Click here to learn more.
Social Changemakers
Social Changemakers (SC) is a 12-week immersive program in which students learn and apply human-centered design to co-create new capabilities addressing a specific need of a community partner working on complex social, economic and environmental challenges. Community partners are student-driven, through either a student-led nonprofit (established for at least a year) or a pre-existing student engagement with a local nonprofit. Students work in small teams and have the opportunity to strengthen skills, from collaboration and leadership to project design and management. Click here to learn more.
Social Innovation Bootcamp
Social Innovation Bootcamp gives Vanderbilt and Nashville community Partners the opportunity to explore social innovation through an introduction to the social innovation landscape from design thinking to field application. Participants will engage in a 4-session, half-day, crash course where they will experience hands on learning and expand their social innovation network to become equipped with the necessary tools and skills to drive social change. Click here to learn more.
Sullivan Family Ideator
The Sullivan Family Ideator Program at the Wond’ry helps aspiring university-affiliated innovators (students, staff, faculty, and alumni) evaluate and develop their ideas by teaching an evidence-based approach to idea evaluation and offering expert mentorship and access to resources. Participants can receive microgrants if they demonstrate a strong commitment to their idea and its merit. Completing the program and demonstrating product-solution fit can lead to further opportunities, such as eligibility for the National Science Foundation’s I-Corps Program and the Wond’ry’s Builder Program.
Quantum Design Studio
The Wond’ry Quantum Studio (TWQS) at Vanderbilt University is an organization that seeks to stimulate the growth of quantum talent in the state of Tennessee. Launched in August 2022, this avant-garde project aims to integrate high-impact learning methods, industry insights, and real-world quantum opportunities to nurture a diverse, competent quantum workforce. It underscores the principles of inclusivity and collaboration, which play a pivotal role in establishing a thriving quantum ecosystem. Click here to learn more.
UX Design Studio
This UX Studio program is an introduction to user experience (UX) design. Participants will learn the principles of UX design, including user research, prototyping, and usability testing. Participants will also learn the history and disciplinary roots, as well as the current state of the profession and the practice of UX strategy to create wireframes and prototypes. The course will culminate in a final project where participants will apply what they have learned to design a user-centered product. Click here to learn more.