Faculty named Chancellor Faculty Fellows often steer pathbreaking research centers because smart and motivated people helping with society's biggest challenges is an essential part of Vanderbilt's mission.
More than a decade ago, the Office of the Provost launched this boldly supportive program which provides a yearly cohort of Vanderbilt's top recently tenured faculty with $80,000 over multiple years to fuel their work.
In the second of a multipart series, alumni of the Chancellor Faculty Fellows program showcase the research centers they run and explain the impact of this university support.
Sharon Weiss, Director, Vanderbilt Institute of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Engineering, professor of electrical and computer engineering and of materials science and engineering and of physics
School of Engineering
COHORT: 2015
Sharon Weiss is a member of the first cohort of Chancellor Faculty Fellows. Along with her research in silicon photonics, biosensors and hybrid nanomaterials, Weiss directs the Vanderbilt Institute of Nanoscale Science and Engineering. VINSE has been her research home since early in her own career.
"As 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," she said.
BREAKTHROUGH RESEARCH
When Weiss received the fellowship more than a decade ago, she said it created the opportunity for her to take risks, leading to breakthrough research.
"Since the beginning of my Vanderbilt career, I have investigated a nanoscale material with extremely large internal surface area called porous silicon. Most of my research with this material is for the application of chemical and biomolecular detection, such as medical diagnostics. The 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," she said.
The Weiss lab group submitted two patents based on this research and is currently participating in the national NSF I-Corps program to explore the translational potential of the technology.
Receiving this fellowship also fortified her confidence to take on leadership roles on campus and across her profession.
"Being named a Chancellor Faculty Fellow alongside so many accomplished Vanderbilt colleagues across campus was very special," she said. "To me, it meant that Vanderbilt was proud of what I had already accomplished and believed that I was on a trajectory to not only be a leader in my research field, but also a leader at Vanderbilt." - Sharon Weiss
Dan Sharfstein, Director, George Barrett Social Justice Program
Dick and Martha Lansden Chair in Law, professor of law and of history
Vanderbilt Law School
COHORT: 2015
Daniel Sharfstein is also part of the inaugural cohort of Chancellor Faculty Fellows. He is a legal historian and award-winning author whose scholarship focuses on the legal history of race and citizenship in the United States. He is also the director of the George Barrett Social Justice Program, which focuses on social justice issues and public interest practice opportunities.
This leadership position speaks to the work Sharfstein accomplished through the Chancellor Faculty Fellows program, including his 2017 book on post-Reconstruction America, Thunder in the Mountains: Chief Joseph, Oliver Otis Howard, and the Nez Perce War.
"The Chancellors Faculty Fellows program gave me the time and support to research and write my second book," he said. "Pivoting from the formative experience of my first book to an entirely new project required total commitment from me. I plunged into new archives and new scholarly conversations. I spent weeks traveling the entire length of the Nez Perce Trail, some of it on horseback. The fellowship reminded me how committed the university also was to the project, and that affirmation lifted me every step of the way."
Sharfstein also expanded his research into the classroom, teaching federal Indian law, serving as a tribal judge and organizing exhibits and public commemorations of the dozen Cherokee and Chickasaw students who attended Vanderbilt in the 19th century.
CONVERSATIONS ACROSS DISCIPLINES
Sharfstein said some of the greatest benefits of the CFF program are the relationships he's built.
"I was able to make true friendships with fellows across the university and have wide-ranging conversations across disciplines. As I work on various early-career development programs with the American Society for Legal History, I continually appreciate the magic of a cohort." - Daniel Sharfstein
Christopher Loss, Justice-Moore Family Executive Director, Lamar Alexander Initiative
Associate professor of public policy and higher education
Peabody College of education and human development
Associate professor of history
College of Arts and Science
COHORT: 2016
Christopher Loss is a historian of the modern United States and an award-winning author whose scholarship examines the history of the American university and its influence on democratic citizenship, politics and society. He is also the founding director of the Lamar Alexander Initiative at Vanderbilt, named after longtime esteemed statesman Lamar Alexander, BA'62.
The goal of the Alexander Initiative is to "provide high school history and civics educators from across the United States with a fully funded professional development experience that bolsters their capacity to teach American history in ways that strengthen students' faith in democratic values and institutions."
Along with leading the Alexander Initiative, Loss has just completed a book, Front and Center: Academic Expertise and Its Challengers in Modern America, which will be published in the spring. It traces the rise of interdisciplinary centers and the democratization of expertise after World War II, revealing how contests between academic experts and amateurs transformed universities into sites of broader political and cultural debate in the postwar era and beyond.
INVESTMENT IN RESEARCH
Loss credits the support from the Chancellor Faculty Fellowship in allowing him to advance his writing and leadership.
"I was able to finish one book and begin work on Front and Center because of the Chancellor Faculty Fellowship," Loss said. "The fellowship gave me the time and resources to visit archives all over the country and to scale up the project. I would have been hard-pressed to do that otherwise, and I'm grateful."
Loss said the university's investment in his work inspires him to create a supportive community for students and fellow faculty across academia.
"I love the unique energy of a college campus. Collaborating with creative people across diverse fields makes academic life an absolute privilege. Where else can you teach, attend a lecture, hold meetings, slip away to the library, and go to a game all in one day? These kinds of experiences don't just magically happen; they depend on a community where people support, respect and invest in one another." - Christopher Loss
Ganesh Sitaraman, Director, Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator and director, Program in Law and Government
New York Alumni Chancellor's Chair in Law
Vanderbilt Law School
COHORT: 2018
Constitutional law expert Ganesh Sitaraman holds two leadership positions tied to his expertise. He is the director of the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator, which conducts policy-relevant research and develops new policy ideas on pressing topics in political economy and regulation. He is also director of Vanderbilt Law School's program in law and government.
Sitaraman received his fellowship in 2018, when he was doing research fundamental to his current work.
"During the time of the fellowship, I finished and published two books, The Great Democracy and The Public Option and worked on an edited collection that followed up on The Public Option. The CFF offered the time to work on these projects and complete them, and those projects have been a foundation for some of my more recent work," he said.
The program in law and government, which Sitaraman directs, is considered the Law School's largest and most intellectually diverse initiative, with 24 law faculty and an additional 10 affiliated university faculty. The program is designed to expose students to a wide range of legal, political, historical, philosophical and economic perspectives that inform the practice of law in the United States and abroad.
"I am so grateful for Vanderbilt's support and investment in me and my work." - Ganesh Sitaraman
Erin Calipari, Director, Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research
Bixler-Johnson-Mayes Chair, professor of pharmacology, associate professor of molecular physiology & biophysics and of psychiatry & behavioral sciences and of computer science
School of Medicine Basic Sciences
COHORT: 2024
Erin Calipari leads the Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, which is doing crucial brain research to understand the brain mechanisms connected with addiction and substance abuse. This research leads to the creation of pharmaceuticals and other treatment insights for those battling substance abuse disorders. The Calipari lab also studies the brain circuitry connected with treatments for complex psychiatric disorders.
Calipari is part of the 2024 cohort of Chancellor Faculty Fellows, and she said the fellowship came at an opportune moment.
"The timing of the fellowship came at a stage in my career where I was building a research program, mentoring trainees, and trying to push into new areas, all at once," she said. "Having the support from the Chancellor Faculty Fellows program gave me the flexibility to take on some bigger, riskier ideas and build the kind of research program I wanted, rather than just focusing on what felt like the safest next step."
SUPPORTING HER VISION
Calipari said that Vanderbilt invested in her and her research vision early, allowing her to take bold approaches to this highly impactful work.
"There were some technical approaches that I wanted to try that were both expensive and incredibly challenging. That kind of early support lets you generate the data and build the momentum that makes future discoveries possible. I have since gotten federal funding to continue the project," she said.
Calipari is passionate about mentorship and said the fellowship created the opportunities for her to bring others along.
"I've been really intentional about creating that same kind of supportive environment in my own lab. Science works best when people feel comfortable asking questions, taking intellectual risks, and learning from failure instead of avoiding it," she said.
"The fellowship gave me the ability to better support the students and postdocs in my lab, which has probably been the most meaningful part. Great science happens because of great people. Investing in them always pays off." - Erin Calipari
- Read about more Chancellor Faculty Fellows excelling in their fields
- Learn more about the Chancellor Faculty Fellows program
- Meet the 2026 cohort of Chancellor Faculty Fellows
