Interdisciplinary Materials Science

DISSERTATION DEFENSE Matthew Vasuta, Interdisciplinary Materials Science *under the supervision of Kane Jennings “Multicomponent Thin Films and Membranes by Combined Spin Coating and Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization” 9.21.26 | 1:00 pm | 209 Furman Hall Thermally driven separations such as distillation necessitate large energy demands, motivating the development of selective… Read More

Interdisciplinary Materials Science Ph.D. students Vikash Khokhar and Andrew Steiner received Outstanding Poster Awards at the 4th International MXene Conference, held Aug. 20-22, 2026, in Chicago. Both Steiner and Khokhar are Ph.D. students in Vanderbilt University’s Interdisciplinary Materials Science program and conduct research under the direction of Dr. De-en Jiang… Read More

Mark your calendars! VINSE and Interdisciplinary Materials Science (IMS) are co-hosting a tailgate party on Saturday, November 14, before the Alabama vs. Vanderbilt football game. Kickoff time has not yet been announced, but we encourage you to save the date. Join us at Tailgate Lot 2 for hot… Read More

Emanuela (Emi) Riglioni and Owen Meilander, graduate students in interdisciplinary materials science at Vanderbilt University, have been awarded Best Student Poster Presentation at the 2026 Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences Users Meeting, held at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Their presentations showcase cutting-edge advances in materials science and highlight ongoing collaborations… Read More

Soren Smail, a graduate student in the Interdisciplinary Materials Science Program at Vanderbilt University, has been awarded Talk of the Day at the recent Porous Semiconductors Science and Technology (PSST) Conference in Naples, Italy. The honor was selected by conference attendees, participants, and session chairs in recognition of the… Read More

Emma Bartelsen, a PhD candidate in Vanderbilt University’s Interdisciplinary Materials Science (IMS) Graduate Program, has been awarded a 2026 SPIE Optics and Photonics Scholarship, recognizing her potential contributions to optics, photonics, and related fields. SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, selected 85 outstanding student members worldwide to… Read More

The Interdisciplinary Materials Science (IMS) graduate program is pleased to announce the arrival of 10 new PhD students who will join the program this upcoming academic year. This cohort reflects the program’s commitment to bringing together scholars from diverse academic disciplines and institutions to advance… Read More

Janet Macdonald, professor of chemistry and associate director of Vanderbilt University’s Interdisciplinary Materials Science (IMS) program, has been named director of the program effective July 1. She succeeds Josh Caldwell, who has served as director since 2021. Macdonald has served as associate director of IMS since 2021 and has been… Read More

Emmanuel Dabuo Graduate Student, Interdisciplinary Materials Science Caldwell Research Group Before coming to Vanderbilt, Emmanuel was convinced his research would center on 2D materials, particularly graphene, for solar energy applications. That changed during a rotation in Prof. Caldwell’s lab, where he was introduced to defect characterization in… Read More

Ryan Anthony Kowalski, from Taunton, Massachusetts, is this year’s Founder’s Medalist for the Graduate School. He is graduating with a doctor of philosophy in interdisciplinary materials science. Kowalski is the first student from the interdisciplinary materials science (IMS) program to receive this honor. Kowalski’s research… Read More