The Vanderbilt Institute of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (VINSE) is a multi-disciplinary institute that supports research, education, and K-12 outreach across science, engineering, and medicine. Housed in the Engineering and Science Building, VINSE facilities comprise a state-of-the-art cleanroom with hard and soft lithography, an imaging suite including a focused ion beam instrument, and a characterization laboratory (https://www.vanderbilt.edu/vinse/facilities/index.php). VINSE researchers are using nanoscience and nanotechnology to enable new discoveries across a broad range of areas spanning drug delivery, cellular communication, metamaterials, sensors, batteries, and photodetectors (https://www.vanderbilt.edu/vinse/research/index.php). Educationally, VINSE has strong ties to the Interdisciplinary Materials Science Program for graduate students (https://engineering.vanderbilt.edu//materials-science/) and the undergraduate minor in Nanotechnology and Nanoscience (https://www.vanderbilt.edu/vinse/nano-minor.php). Students can also participate in a multi-year immersion in VINSE as part of the VINSE Tech Crew or enroll in one of several classes that have laboratory components in VINSE facilities (https://www.vanderbilt.edu/vinse/immersion.php). VINSE outreach activities include classroom visits, on-campus high school field trips, sponsorship of REU students, and laboratory modules for the Vanderbilt Summer Academy (https://www.vanderbilt.edu/vinse/outreach.php). VINSE has current users from Vanderbilt, other external academic institutions, and industry. VINSE staff are available to train new users, assist in process development, and to carry out processes for researchers as a service. If you are interested in more information about our core facilities, capabilities to support various research initiatives, educational opportunities, or outreach events, please email vinse@vanderbilt.edu.
