Behind every major breakthrough is an investment that made it possible. The boldly supportive Chancellor Faculty Fellows program fuels Vanderbilt's next generation of academic leaders. It was launched more than a decade ago by the Office of the Provost, and it is thriving today.
The program provides Vanderbilt's top recently tenured faculty with $80,000 over multiple years to further their work. In addition, the yearly cohort of fellows gets leadership development and has a collaborative group to exchange ideas and sparks innovation.
In this first installment of a series, alumni of the Chancellor Faculty Fellows program explain the impact of this university support.
Kristopher Preacher, Lois Autrey Betts Chair in Education and Human Development, associate chair, Department of Psychology and Human Development
COHORT: 2015
Kristopher Preacher is a quantitative psychologist who builds advanced structural equation models that examine correlational and longitudinal data. In simple terms, he invents better ways for researchers to analyze complex real-world data.
"It is meaningful to have been a pioneer in a program that has gone on to support so many outstanding colleagues," he said. "Even in the best of circumstances, grant funding for pure quantitative research is rare. The CFF came at a critical point in my career when other funding sources were scarce, and it made a genuine difference in what I was able to accomplish."
ESSENTIAL INVESTMENT
Preacher said he was able to invest in essentials that are often overlooked, like computing equipment, statistical software and conference travel.
"Most importantly, it allowed me to support graduate students, which is where I find the work most meaningful," he said. "I've tried to keep graduate student support at the center of my work ever since. It is an investment in the future of the field."
Jamey Young, Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Engineering, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, and of molecular physiology and biophysics
Chair of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
COHORT: 2017
Jamey Young focuses on metabolic engineering to look for biological mechanisms that regulate metabolism. This research advances work on diabetes, obesity and other metabolic disorders.
"The CFF program provided funding for me to support students and postdocs working on high-risk/high-reward projects, broadening my lab's research program into new areas. For example, we were able to develop a method that uses isotopic tracers to measure the rates of metabolic reactions occurring inside the liver, muscle and fat tissues of mice," he said. "We are currently adapting this method to study the metabolic changes that occur in human subjects following bariatric surgery or treatment with anti-obesity medications."
MID-CAREER BOOST
Like many of the fellows, Young appreciated that the CFF award is targeted for mid-career researchers. And he used his time and funding to support future generations.
"I've been fortunate to work with many incredible students, postdocs and collaborators over the years. I've tried to give back to this community through taking on leadership roles that support students and other metabolism researchers at Vanderbilt and beyond, such as director of graduate studies for chemical engineering since 2018 and leading an interdisciplinary NIH training program, entitled Integrated Training in Engineering and Diabetes, since 2019," he said.
Jason Grissom, Patricia and Rodes Hart Professor of Public Policy and Education, faculty director of the Tennessee Education Research Alliance
Peabody College of education and human development
COHORT: 2018
Jason Grissom's primary areas of research are school leadership and educator mobility. As director of TERA, he collaborates with the Tennessee Department of Education, researchers at Vanderbilt and other universities, and other stakeholders to ensure that Tennessee has the research results it needs to inform effective K-12 education policy decisions.
"I used the financial support I received from the Chancellors Faculty Fellows program to pursue some TERA projects that I thought were important but would have been challenging to fund externally," Grissom said. "This work included investigating race and gender bias in teacher evaluation, estimating the impacts of principal turnover on schools, showing how teachers' commute times can impact their job outcomes, and exploring districts' implementation of remote learning in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic."
INVESTING IN THE FUTURE
Grissom echos the other researchers in his passion for investing in graduate students and postdocs to facilitate their engagement in his research.
"My students and postdocs continue to be key collaborators in my work, and working with them is the best part of my job," he said.
Jennifer Shinall, Sara J. Finley Chair in Women, Law and Policy, Associate Dean for Research
Vanderbilt Law School
COHORT: 2024
Jennifer Shinall is a lawyer and economist whose research focuses on discrimination, particularly in the areas of gender and disability. Her research examines how obesity, pregnancy and health status affect labor market outcomes. Her work further considers how these effects may differ by gender and how the legal system can address any observed disparities.
Shinall said CFF support funding helped keep her research alive when U.S. government-collected datasets didn't focus on gender-related issues.
"A great example comes from my research on pregnancy-virtually none of our U.S. government-collected datasets ask female respondents whether they are pregnant. As a result, these datasets can tell us very little about how pregnant women fare in the labor market," she said. "Second, and more recently, government-collected datasets have become less available and less reliable; during the October 2025 government shutdown, for example, the Bureau of Labor Statistics stopped collecting data altogether. Consequently, I have faced an increasingly greater need over time to collect my own data to produce research," Shinall said. "In short, the Chancellor Faculty Fellows program award has kept my empirical research going."
PRODUCING LEADERS
Shinall said the CFF program spurred her to take on leadership roles and reinforced her mission to work collaboratively.
"The Chancellor Faculty Fellows program has a strong history of producing campus leaders. Being part of this program encouraged me to accept my current leadership position as associate dean for research in the Law School," she said.
"One of the most persistent advantages of doing research at Vanderbilt is the university's commitment to interdisciplinary work. Unlike other universities, Vanderbilt's academic departments do not exist in closed-off silos," Shinall said. "As an interdisciplinarian myself, I feel very lucky to work in a place where cross-campus collaboration is not just tolerated but encouraged."
- Learn more about the Chancellor Faculty Fellows program
- Meet the 2026 cohort of Chancellor Faculty Fellows
