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Meet Our Graduates: Thomas Stilson

Oct. 16, 2021—Thomas Stilson received his B.E. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 2019 from Vanderbilt University. As an undergraduate, Thomas served on the VINSE Tech Crew, where he provided friendly after-hours support and a helping hand on equipment transfers during the new facility buildout. Thomas is now a research engineer at Utility Global, a startup in...

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Meet Our Graduates: Claire Marvinney

Oct. 14, 2021—Before starting as a staff scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the new Quantum Information Science Section, Claire Marvinney joined the lab as an Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Fellow in 2018, working first in the Quantum Information Science Group and then in the Quantum Heterostructures Group under the direction of Benjamin Lawrie. In her previous work,...

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Spotlight Publication: “Examining the self-assembly of patchy alkane-grafted silica nanoparticles using molecular simulation” published in The Journal of Chemical Physics

Oct. 13, 2021—“Examining the self-assembly of patchy alkane-grafted silica nanoparticles using molecular simulation” published in The Journal of Chemical Physics has been selected as a VINSE spotlight publication. About the authors: Cal Craven is working towards his Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Materials Science under the direction of Dr. Clare McCabe, Justin Gilmer is a working towards his Masters in Interdisciplinary Materials Science...

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Meet Our Graduates: Mengya Li

Oct. 11, 2021—Mengya Li earned her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at Vanderbilt University in August 2018 under the supervision of Dr. Cary Pint. Mengya’s research focus was on energy storage devices beyond lithium-ion during her PhD. She developed synthesis of several composite electrodes with specific architectures designed for high performance supercapacitors, sodium-ion batteries, and lithium-sulfur batteries. Mengya...

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Spotlight Publication: “Kupffer cell release of platelet activating factor drives dose limiting toxicities of nucleic acid nanocarriers” published in Biomaterials

Oct. 7, 2021—“Kupffer cell release of platelet activating factor drives dose limiting toxicities of nucleic acid nanocarriers”  published in Biomaterials has been selected as a VINSE spotlight publication. About the author: Meredith Jackson earned her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering in May 2019 under the direction of Dr. Craig Duvall. Meredith studied ways to improve the therapeutic window...

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Meet Our Graduates: Justin Lynch

Oct. 6, 2021—Justin Lynch received his B.E. in Chemical Engineering in 2019 from Vanderbilt University, along with a minor in Nanoscience & Nanotechnology. As an undergraduate, Justin served on the VINSE Technical Crew during the summer and academic year, where his focus was on process development to optimize many of the services offered in the cleanroom. This...

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Meet Our Graduates: Kofi Christie

Oct. 4, 2021—Kofi Christie earned his PhD in environmental engineering at Vanderbilt University in May 2020, where he worked to advance water treatment and desalination technologies for high-salinity wastewater. His thesis focused on expanding our understanding of membrane distillation through module-scale thermodynamic analysis and elucidation of the causes and effects of inorganic fouling on membrane surfaces. After receiving...

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IMS Conversation Hour

Oct. 1, 2021—The Vanderbilt University School of Engineering is hosting conversation hours discussing graduate programs. Be sure to tune in on October 19th at 7pm to see 4 of the Interdisciplinary Materials Science students talk about their graduate student experiences within the IMS program. Register HERE

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Rate of Change & the Patterns of Bipolar Disorder

Oct. 1, 2021—Rosenthal shares how her personal struggle with bipolar disorder influenced her research. Sandra Rosenthal is the Jack and Pamela Egan Professor of Chemistry, Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Pharmacology, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and Materials Science at Vanderbilt University. Rosenthal is an acclaimed researcher in the field of nanoscience and nanomaterials. She has received national...

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Meet Our Graduates: Brice Harkey

Sep. 30, 2021—Brice Harkey earned her MS in Interdisciplinary Materials Science from Vanderbilt University in December of 2018 under the supervision of Dr. Kelsey Hatzell. Brice studied polymer ceramic blends in various ratios to understand benefits on Li+ – ion battery applications. In tandem, she also studied structure-property relationships by understanding the effect of molecular weight tunability...

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