In the second installment of a multipart series, alumni of the Chancellor Faculty Fellows program were interviewed about the research centers they run and to explain the impact of this university support. Sharon Weiss, VINSE Director, reflected on how being named to the inaugural cohort of Chancellor Faculty Fellows (2017) continues to turn that early investment into breakthrough research and leadership at Vanderbilt.
鈥淎s VINSE director, I am proud to have launched several new initiatives to support students and faculty, including career mentoring, pilot funding, the development of a new immersion course combining STEM and entrepreneurship, and the establishment of an industrial associates program,鈥� she said.
When Sharon received the fellowship more than a decade ago, it gave her the opportunity to take risks that led to breakthrough research. 鈥淭he CFF funding facilitated my exploration of porous silicon for energy storage. One aspect of the energy storage research involved growing a graphene coating on porous silicon. It turned out that this technique, which stabilized the surface for energy storage, also stabilized the surface when porous silicon is used as a rapid diagnostic test,鈥� she said. The Weiss lab group has filed two patents based on this research and is now participating in the national NSF I-Corps program to assess the technology鈥檚 translational potential.
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