Materials Science

VINSE hosted 59 posters at the 25th annual NanoDay, showcasing the depth and diversity of nanoscale science and engineering across Vanderbilt. Students from engineering, materials science, chemistry, and biomedical fields shared their latest findings during a packed two hour session. First Place, $500 Owen Meilander,… Read More

The Interdisciplinary Materials Science (IMS) program held its annual Sales Pitch Competition, where students were challenged to deliver a three-minute research talk (no slides allowed) using only a single image or prop to engage the audience. Incoming students served as judges, and cash prizes were awarded to the top presentations. Read More

Vikash Khokhar, a Ph.D. student in Interdisciplinary Materials Science working under the direction of Prof. De-en Jiang, recently presented his research at the ACS Fall Meeting 2025 in Washington DC. His talk, “Structure, Reactivity, and Dynamics of Amine Derived Polydentate… Read More

Mark your calendars! VINSE and Interdisciplinary Materials Science (IMS) are co-hosting a tailgate party on Saturday, November 8 before the Auburn vs. Vanderbilt football game. Kickoff time has not yet been announced, but we encourage you to save the date. Join us at Tailgate… 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

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

DISSERTATION DEFENSE Aditha Senarath, Interdisciplinary Materials Science Program *under the supervision of Josh Caldwell and Ron Schrimpf “GaN for Space and Power Electronics: Radiation Effects Study and Development of a Nano-Optical Probe for Characterization” 07.11.25 | 9:00 am | FGH 132  | Zoom For decades, the semiconductor… Read More

DISSERTATION DEFENSE Kellen Arnold, Interdisciplinary Materials Science    *Under the supervision of Sharon Weiss “Integrated Photonics for Intense Light-matter Interaction and Applications in Aerospace” 05.20.25 | 12:30PM | ESB 044 | Zoom: 965 0203 9030 Passcode: 069821 Over the last several decades, the technological revolution into a digital… Read More

DISSERTATION DEFENSE Ryan Kowalski, Interdisciplinary Materials Science    *Under the supervision of Josh Caldwell and Richard Haglund  “Infrared Light at the Nanoscale: Confinement and Spectroscopy”  04.25.25 | 10:30AM | Buttrick Hall 206 | Zoom: 942 8904 4051 Passcode: 450959 Conventional optical microscopy and spectroscopy are limited by the diffraction… Read More

Jojo Pearson, a swimmer and Ph.D. student in Interdisciplinary Materials Science at Vanderbilt, is conducting cutting-edge research in tissue engineering that could significantly impact the fight against neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. Her work, led with advisor Leon Bellan, focuses on neurovascular coupling, exploring how stem cell models could improve… Read More