Research
Mobile Lab Ambassador Application Open
Nov. 29, 2016—Do you enjoy teaching others about sustainability? Are you looking to get some experience in education? Do you want to work with Nashville students in the coolest Mobile Laboratory around? If you answered yes to any of these, we need you! We are looking for two paid VU student ambassadors for the Mobile Lab for...
Cave study designed to solve puzzle of prehistoric megadroughts in the western U.S.
Sep. 2, 2016—Jessica Oster, assistant professor of earth and environmental sciences at Vanderbilt University, is using cave deposits to reconstruct past climates. The paleoclimatologist is also setting up an educational program to involve undergraduate, graduate, and high school students in the analysis of samples, design of independent research projects, and managing and manipulating data sets. Read the full...
How to make electric vehicles that actually reduce carbon
Mar. 2, 2016—Read the full story here. An interdisciplinary team of scientists has worked out a way to make electric vehicles that only are not only carbon neutral but carbon negative, capable of actually reducing the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide as they operate. They have done so by demonstrating how the graphite electrodes used in the...
Eos Project funds environmental awareness planning and programming projects on campus
Feb. 18, 2016—Thirteen seed projects in environmental awareness and campus greening have been funded by the Eos Project, an initiative to promote greater understanding of environmental issues through diverse disciplines and channels across Vanderbilt. “We are taking a broad approach, aiming to implement permanent changes in the curricula, supporting undergrads working on environmental and social justice issues, and...
Resolving the food-energy-water trilemma
Jan. 26, 2016—Read the Research News @ Vanderbilt story here. Food. Energy. Water. Not only are these critical natural resources, they are also inextricably linked with each other. Water is needed to grow food. Energy is needed to pump water and to plant, grow and distribute food. Water is required to produce energy. And so on. The...
Vanderbilt partners with Nashville MTA to develop Transit-Hub app
Jan. 21, 2016—Nashville Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) is now working with the Institute for Software Integrated Systems at Vanderbilt University to develop smarter and easier to use applications for commuters in middle Tennessee. As the need for public transportation increases, the need for easy-to-use and commuter friendly systems become increasingly important. The T-HUB app provides these tools...
Harnessing the power of computers to create a sustainable future
Jan. 11, 2016—Harnessing the power of computers to help create an economically, environmentally and socially sustainable future – that is the purpose of a major new grant issued by theNational Science Foundation to a new network of universities and organizations that includes Vanderbilt University. The five-year, $10 million grant is part of NSF’s Expeditions in Computing program...
Vanderbilt School of Engineering, partners awarded $3.5 million from ARPA-E for transformational energy technology
Nov. 30, 2015—Read the Research News @Vanderbilt story here. A new $3.5 million award from the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy will support Vanderbilt University School of Engineering researchers’ efforts to create software that can control the Smart Grid – a decentralized power system that is more efficient, sustainable and reliable than America’s current electrical power...
Students from award-winning Whites Creek academy visit school’s wind-solar demo site
Nov. 30, 2015—Read the full story here. When Whites Creek High School students and teachers looked for a ground-mount solar cell installation to visit, they didn’t have to go far. It’s a mere 15 miles to the Vanderbilt School of Engineering’s wind-solar energy demonstration site at the top of Love Circle, one of the highest points in...
Vanderbilt offers new environmental sociology major
Nov. 24, 2015—Read the MyVU story here. Vanderbilt’s Department of Sociology this year launched its new environmental sociology major, the first environmental and sustainability studies major outside the sciences at Vanderbilt and one of the first such majors in the country. “Sociology developed the major in environmental sociology to provide students with more options,” said David Hess,...