‘VINSE Faculty News’
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...
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...
Vanderbilt startup BioNanovations gets accelerated
Aug. 30, 2013—As a graduate student in professor Todd Giorgio‘s biomedical engineering laboratory, Charleson Bell played a central role in developing a novel nanotechnology system that can detect bacterial inflections within a matter of minutes, compared to current tests that take several days to complete. It was innovative and promising enough that Vanderbilt has applied for a patent. Being...
Deyu Li receives Chancellor’s Award for Research
Aug. 22, 2013—Deyu Li, associate professor of mechanical engineering, was one of five faculty members receiving a Chancellor’s Award for Research, which also recognizes excellence in research, scholarship, or creative expression. These awards are given for works presented or published in the preceding three calendar years. KEEP READING>
Size matters in nanocrystals’ ability to release gases
Aug. 6, 2013—More efficient catalytic converters on autos, improved batteries and more sensitive gas sensors are some of the potential benefits of a new system that can directly measure the manner in which nanocrystals adsorb and release hydrogen and other gases. The technique, which was developed by Vanderbilt University Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Rizia...
Project seeks to create ‘bioartificial’ kidney
Jul. 11, 2013—Nephrologist William Fissell IV, M.D., associate professor of Medicine and Biomedical Engineering, is intent on creating and mass-producing an implantable bioartificial kidney that can transform quality of life and prospects for survival for people with chronic kidney disease who would otherwise be forced onto dialysis. Donor kidneys are in very short supply for the approximately...
Collaboration between Vanderbilt and startup Femtometrix leads to exclusive deal
Jun. 27, 2013—An innovative wafer inspection tool developed by a team of Vanderbilt professors and engineers has been licensed exclusively to startup company Femtometrix. The semiconductor wafer-inspection technology based on laser optics was invented by Norman Tolk, Ph.D., professor of physics, Michael Alles, engineer for Vanderbilt University’s School of Engineering, and Ron Schrimpf, Ph.D., professor of electrical...
Weiss participates in NSF advocacy day
May. 10, 2013—Following an early morning flight to Washington, D.C., on May 7, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Physics Sharon Weiss braved the rainy weather to head to Capitol Hill and meet with staff members in the offices of Sen. Lamar Alexander, Sen. Bob Corker, Rep. Jim Cooper and Rep. Chuck Fleischmann as well as the...
Professor’s lab brings first ALD systems to Vanderbilt
Apr. 2, 2013—Cary Pint’s lab – Nanomaterials and Energy Devices Laboratory in Olin Hall – is close to completion and it brings to Vanderbilt its first two atomic layer deposition (ALD) systems, relatively small tools that deposit atomically thin layers of material on virtually any surface. The lab also houses a host of tools for new carbon...