News

While much of the campus enjoys spring break, VINSE NanoGuides welcomes 50 students from three middle Tennessee high schools: Cookeville, Greenbrier, and Springfield. They’re here to take part in our Blackberry Solar Cell hands-on lab to learn how nanoscale materials affect renewable energy technologies. Students made their own dye-sensitized solar… Read More

Simultaneous Spin Coating and Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization (scROMP) for the Rapid Synthesis of Semifluorinated Copolymer Films. aNorbornene (NB) is a fully hydrocarbon monomer, while 5-(perfluoro-n-alkyl)norbornenes (NBFn) are partially fluorinated monomers with perfluoro chains attached to norbornenyl rings. Congratulations to Matthew Vasuta in the Jennings lab! Matthew’s paper “Fluorocarbon Minimization Via… Read More

What role does design play in controlling fluid motion? Today, VINSE welcomed 16 students from Hillsboro High School for an interactive experience in the Cleanroom Microfluidics Lab. The visit introduced students to the VINSE cleanroom, a room with the cleanest air in Middle Tennessee, where they explored microfluidics with hands-on… Read More

Porous Silicon Membrane-on-Paper Biosensor Congratulations to Huijin ‘Ginny’ An in the Weiss group! Ginny’s article “Porous Silicon on Paper: A Platform for Quantitative Rapid Diagnostic Tests” has been selected as a VINSE spotlight publication. Porous silicon (PSi) is a versatile nanophotonic material widely utilized in… Read More

Matthew Vasuta has been selected to receive the 2026 Provost’s Pathbreaking Discovery Award, a premier university honor recognizing doctoral students who demonstrate truly exceptional research and scholarship. Vasuta is a fourth-year PhD student in the Interdisciplinary Materials Science Program and a member of Professor G. Kane… Read More

DISSERTATION DEFENSE Kieran Nehil-Puleo, Interdisciplinary Materials Science *under the supervision of Peter Cummings “Towards virtual autonomous material design” 3.4.26 | 3:00 pm | 134 Olin Hall | Zoom Virtual autonomous material design is a computational paradigm in which artificial intelligence, high-throughput simulations, and adaptive optimization algorithms work together… Read More

The Vanderbilt Institute of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, represented by Sarah Ross, has received the Community Partnership Excellence Award from Vanderbilt Compliance Services in recognition of its longstanding commitment to collaboration, education, and responsible community engagement. The award honors programs that exemplify meaningful partnership in higher education. In its official… Read More

VINSE offers customized photolithography patterning for direct-write or photomask applications. Tanner [Siemens] L-Edit IC software is a CAD package capable of complex, multi-layer layout editing for cleanroom tools such as the Bungard photoplotter, Heidelberg uPG101 laser writer, Raith eLine electron beam lithography system [EBL], and the future Elionix ELS-BODEN 50… Read More

BMECs subcultured on 6 kPa and 30 kPa GEL substrates under static conditions express CD31/PECAM-1 (red), claudin-5 (green). Merged images include DAPI (blue). Congratulations to Alexis Yates in the Lippmann lab! Dr. Yates article “Substrate stiffness and shear stress collectively regulate the inflammatory phenotype in cultured human brain microvascular endothelial… Read More

VINSE is proud to recognize several outstanding members of the Tech Crew from the Class of 2026 whose dedication, curiosity, and service have made a lasting impact on cleanroom operations, research, and outreach. Their contributions support the daily success of VINSE and reflect the collaborative spirit at the heart of… Read More