2026 Hooding Speaker

Dr. M. Shane Hutson

M. Shane Hutson is a Professor of Physics and the A.B. Learned Professor of Living State Physics at Vanderbilt University. His training began with BA and MS degrees in physics from Wake Forest University – conducting research and publishing his first two scientific articles with the late Professor Emeritus George Holzwarth. He then earned a PhD in biophysics from the University of Virginia and completed postdoctoral training in biological physics at Duke University. He has 60+ peer-reviewed publications, has given 80+ invited talks around the world, and has secured external research funding from a wide range of agencies: NSF, NIH, DoD, EPA and HFSP. His research interests are highly interdisciplinary – from laser-tissue interactions to organ-on-chip approaches in toxicology to the mechanobiology of morphogenesis and wound healing – leading to collaborations with co-authors across the physical sciences, engineering, and biomedicine. He has also been an award-winning teacher of undergraduate physics and served in numerous leadership roles on campus and beyond:

Director of VPROMPT, the Vanderbilt-Pittsburgh Resource for Organotypic Models for Predictive Toxicology (2014-2019); Director of the College of Arts & Science Program in Faculty Career Development (2015-2017); Chair of the Department of Physics & Astronomy (2017-2023); Chair of the Vanderbilt University Laser Safety Committee (2020-2026); and elected Chair of the Southeastern Section of the American Physical Society (2025).