A link to the video story and an inside look at the taping and some of this year's participants

Vanderbilt's Aspirnaut STEM pipeline for diversity and wellness recently celebrated its 15th anniversary with a daylong scientific symposium, followed by a feature on the program broadcast Aug. 2 on NBC Nightly News.

Ten years on, a unique summer research program at Vanderbilt University Medical Center designed primarily for rural high school students with limited resources is achieving its goal of increasing the number of the nation’s scientists and engineers.

Students watched, transfixed, for nearly an hour last Friday as internationally known portrait artist Igor Babailov sketched Jeff Balser, M.D., Ph.D., vice chancellor for Health Affairs and dean of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.

Undergraduates from across the country attended a summer research conference at Vanderbilt this week sponsored by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

Seniors Domonique Bragg and Cody Stothers, who both hail from rural Arkansas, followed a similar path to Vanderbilt.

A chemical bond discovered by Vanderbilt University scientists that is essential for animal life and which hastened the “dawn of the animal kingdom” could lead to new therapies for cancer and other diseases.