Sarah Ross

Shannon Martello, a graduate student in Dr. Marjan Rafat’s lab, has been awarded an NIH F31 predoctoral fellowship, a prestigious award designed to support promising doctoral candidates in biomedical and behavioral research. F31 fellowships provide stipend support and resources to help students complete their dissertation research and develop into independent… Read More

VINSE graduate student Chris Whittington, a Ph.D. student in Interdisciplinary Materials Science at Vanderbilt University, received the Best Poster Presentation Award at the 2025 SPIE Optics + Photonics Conference, held August 17–21 in San Diego, CA. His poster, “Heterogeneous Integration of VO₂ Nanopatches on… Read More

Emily Rouse Graduate Student, Chemistry Tim Hanusa Research Group One of the primary synthetic techniques used in the Hanusa group is solventless synthesis, specifically, mechanochemistry. Mechanochemistry involves driving chemical reactions through the application of mechanical force. This approach offers a sustainable alternative to conventional synthesis by minimizing or… Read More

VINSE graduate student Owen Meilander, a Ph.D. student in Interdisciplinary Materials Science working under the direction of Professor Mona Ebrish, received the Best Student Poster Presentation Award at the 2025 Lester Eastman Conference on High Performance Devices, held August 11–12 at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL. His poster,… Read More

Şahpar Nil Özer Undergraduate Student, Mechanical Engineering & Economics Cornelius Vanderbilt Scholar As an undergraduate at Vanderbilt University, I’ve built my academic path around the intersection of mechanical engineering, economics, and nanoscience, a combination that reflects my curiosity about both how the world works and how innovations move… Read More

Patricia Poley Biomedical Engineering Craig Duvall Research Group Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are chemicals that contain oxygen and are chemically reactive and unstable due to their possession of an unpaired electron. Common ROS species in the body include hydrogen peroxide and superoxide anions. At low levels, ROS exist… Read More

Jacob “Jake” Grayson Graduate Student, Physics & Astronomy Richard Haglund Research Group My research focuses on harnessing optical phase-change materials to enable new forms of active control in nanophotonic devices. In particular, I have been working to integrate vanadium dioxide (VO₂)—a material that undergoes a dramatic, reversible metal–insulator… Read More

Sk Md Ali Zaker Shawon Graduate Student, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Shihong Lin Research Group As a Ph.D. candidate in Chemical Engineering at Vanderbilt University, my research in the Lin Research Group advances membrane and electrochemical separation technologies to enable more sustainable chemical processes. I develop high-performance pervaporation… Read More

VINSE is pleased to announce the promotion of four outstanding members of the Tech Crew in recognition of their contributions to research, education, and cleanroom operations. Senior Tech Crew Promotions Ella Dzialowski has been promoted to Senior Tech Crew for her extensive troubleshooting on the photoplotter tool, work on… Read More

VINSE welcomes Andrea Locke, who joined the institute in August 2025. Locke leads the Locke Biosensing Lab, which develops optical biosensing platforms to address clinical diagnostic challenges at the point of care. The lab integrates nanoplasmonic structures into paper- and microfluidic-based systems to create rapid, user-friendly diagnostic tools. Current projects… Read More