October, 2013
New device stores electricity on silicon chips
Oct. 22, 2013—Solar cells that produce electricity 24/7, not just when the sun is shining. Mobile phones with built-in power cells that recharge in seconds and work for weeks between charges. These are just two of the possibilities raised by a novel supercapacitor design invented by material scientists at Vanderbilt University that is described in a paper...
VUCast Extra: Blackberries, electricity, and high school students
Oct. 13, 2013—How do you get students excited about science? Try some blackberries, nanotechnology and solar cells mixed with Tennessee high school students at a Vanderbilt lab. Watch VUCast Extra now.
New faculty: John Wilson uses synthetic vaccines to further the fight against diseases
Oct. 7, 2013—Growing up close to nature in the small timber-and-fishing community of Gold Beach, Ore.—population 2,000—gave John Wilson an early interest in biology and biologically inspired design. That, combined with an aptitude for math and physics, drew him into the field of bioengineering. When Wilson sets up his lab at Vanderbilt in January, the new assistant...
VINSE Welcomes Leon Bellan
Oct. 4, 2013—Leon Bellan, assistant professor of mechanical engineering B.S., Caltech, 2003 M.S., Cornell University, 2007 Ph.D., Cornell University, 2008 Bellan’s research focuses on developing novel 3D microfluidic materials. A major focus of his lab is the production of biomaterials and biodevices—created with nontraditional, scalable fabrication techniques—that replicate and augment the functionality of natural tissue. He is currently...