By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Nolia Williams spent her summer mixing her psychology and journalism majors in western Kentucky, where she got to talk to people affected by the ravages of environmental disasters. 

Working for the news network of the Edge Media Group, Williams wrote and recorded stories about tornado relief near Princeton and Hopkinsville, Kentucky, as well as some good-news stories, including a program for Trigg County homemakers and free medical care for veterans.  

“I am mostly doing human interest stories,” said Williams, a junior who grew up in Owensboro and now calls Hopkinsville home. “I’ve interviewed one of the tornado survivors, and I've covered some nonprofit organizations that are doing things in the community. For example, some

By Jesi Jones-Bowman

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 31, 2022) ­— The Office of Undergraduate Research at the University of Kentucky is honored to announce that 22 students have been selected for the 2022-23 Undergraduate Research Ambassador program.

The program’s mission is to increase awareness and create opportunities for students to actively engage in research and creative scholarship. Ambassadors must demonstrate academic excellence and  leadership potential and be involved in mentored research. This year’s ambassadors represent six colleges, 15 disciplines and 18 research areas.

The student leaders’ goal is to make undergraduate research more accessible. Ambassadors promote undergraduate research involvement and opportunities through student

By Jenny Wells-Hosley

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 29, 2022) — A study led by the University of Kentucky has been selected for funding by the National Science Foundation’s “Biodiversity on a Changing Planet” program, an international, transdisciplinary effort that addresses major challenges related to climate change. The five-year project has been awarded nearly $2.5 million.

Led by Michael McGlue, associate professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences in the UK College of Arts and Sciences, the study seeks to understand how aquatic biodiversity in Africa’s Great Rift Valley is affected by climate change.

The award marks a major milestone for climate research at UK — something McGlue and faculty hope to see even more support.

UK Chemistry Doctoral Student Receives U.S. Department of Energy Stipend By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Henry Pruett, a doctoral student in the Department of Chemistry in the University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences, has received a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Graduate Student Research fellowship, which provides a stipend of $3,600 a month.  

The program provides supplemental awards to outstanding U.S. graduate students to pursue part of their graduate thesis research at a department laboratory or facility in areas that address scientific challenges. Pruett is researching at a National Renewable Energy Laboratory near Denver. 

“This program will allow me to perform some experiments I would other not be able to,” he said. “I’ll also get the chance to work with some of the people at the forefront of the

By Whitney Hale

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 23, 2022) — University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences students have received Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarships to support their education abroad goals.

The Gilman Scholarship supports students who have been traditionally under-represented in study abroad, including but not limited to  students with high financial need, community college students, students in under-represented fields such as the sciences and engineering, students with diverse ethnic backgrounds and students with disabilities. Award recipients are chosen by a competitive selection process and must use the award, ranging from $100 to $5,000, to defray the cost of tuition, room and board, books

By Lindsey Piercy, Allison Perry and Danielle Donham

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 19, 2022) — In a myth-busting WVLK segment, “That’s Not How Any of This Works,” experts from various disciplines at the University of Kentucky discuss how their career paths and fields of study aren’t as they always appear on screen.

Stephen Voss, associate professor in the Department of Political Science in the College of Arts and Sciences, guest hosted the show

By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Cameron McAlister, a doctoral candidate in sociology at the University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences, has received a National Institute of Social Science 2022 Dissertation Grant. The grant is for $5,000.  

McAlister’s research examines how uneven development affects rural opportunity structures and outcomes for health and mortality. His dissertation, “Deaths of Deaths of Despair, Rurality, and Spatial Inequality: Emplacing Violent Death,” examines elevated rates of suicides and drug- and alcohol-related mortalities among working class residents of rural areas.  

"This project seeks to understand how ‘deaths of despair’ are cultivated in place as a result of historical patterns of economic turbulence and resource

By Jenny Wells-Hosley

LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 27, 2022) — Two University of Kentucky students have been selected for the Henry Clay Internship at NASA for the 2022-23 academic year. The internship offers an exceptional opportunity for highly accomplished students to serve in the NASA Office of the Chief Scientist.

NASA’s chief scientist serves as principal adviser to the NASA administrator and other senior officials on agency science programs, strategic planning and the evaluation of related investments. The Henry Clay Internship with this office is sponsored by the Kentucky Society of Washington in partnership with the 

For a photo gallery from the learning experience, click here.

By Daniel Flener

LEXINGTON, Ky (July 26, 2022) — This summer, Jim Krupa, UK biology professor, led a course on the evolutionary ecology of the Galápagos archipelago.

“The life on the islands is almost otherworldly,” Krupa said. “The students are absolutely shocked and amazed when they arrive. It’s incredible to see their reactions.”

The Galápagos Islands host some of the rarest life forms on Earth and hold a deep historical connection to the study of evolution. In 1835, Charles

By Elizabeth Chapin

LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 20, 2022) — A team of University of Kentucky researchers led by College of Engineering Professor Dibakar Bhattacharyya and his  Ph.D. student, Rollie Mills, have developed a medical face mask membrane that can capture and deactivate the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein on contact.

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Bhattacharyya, known to friends and colleagues as “DB,” along with collaborators across disciplines at UK, received a grant from the National Science Foundation o create the material. Their work was published in the Nature journal Communications Materials on May 24.

SARS-CoV-2 is covered in spike proteins,

By Jesi Jones-Bowman

LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 25, 2021) — Eight University of Kentucky students have been selected for the Sustainability Summer Research Fellowship program, a high-impact learning experience that contributes to the students’ academic growth as well as sustainability-focused research initiatives at UK and within the community at large.

The Sustainability Research Fellowship is a collaborative program coordinated by the Office of Undergraduate Research and sponsored by the UK Student Sustainability Council and UK Sustainability. The fellowship’s goal is to support and promote sustainability-related undergraduate research endeavors. The program, which launched in 2014, has supported 48 undergraduate sustainability summer projects.

“Sustainability Research Fellowships have

By Marci Adams

University of Kentucky Information Technology Services has recognized employees who celebrated milestone years of service during the year 2021. These 49 employees, ranging from seven different ITS divisions, combined for a total of 760 years of service at UK. ITS also honored student workers who have worked with ITS for two or more semesters.  

Dr. Susan Odom, faculty member of Chemistry Department in UK's College of Arts & Sciences served on the IT Advisory Council. Odom was committed to mentoring and supporting women in STEM fields. She co-founded a group to encourage girls to pursue their academic goals and served on the Kentucky ACE Women’s Network. ITS presented the faculty Customer Excellence award to Dr. Odom’s family in memoriam this spring, as she died in April 2021.   

See a complete list of ITS employees, student

By Richard LeComte 

Check out this gallery of photos from the dig. 

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Behind the older but spiffed-up University of Kentucky buildings along East Maxwell Street, beneath a canopy, UK students methodically dig two orderly, rectangular and deep holes. In said holes, they find what seems to be the foundation of a former outbuilding, some 1960s pull-tabs from old soda cans, pieces of ceramics and shards of china and glass — treasures from a recent past.  

“So far we found a lot of pieces of miscellaneously colored glass and random pieces of iron, like a nail or a hinge or a car part,” said Katie Reidy, a senior psychology major who’s in the class. “We found an L-shaped car part made out of iron, and we’ve found some old pull-tabs, too. It is

By Jennifer T. Allen

“The Harlan Renaissance: Stories of Black Life in Appalachian Coal Towns” by UK alumnus William H. Turner has been nominated for the Book of the Year Award by the Museum of African American History in Cambridge, Mass. The Museum of African American History (MAAH) Stone Book Award is an annual prize that encourages scholarship and writing within the field of African American history and culture.

“Pulitzer Prize winner Alex Haley (Roots) used to say, ‘If you ever see a little frog up on a 6-foot fence, somebody picked it up and put it there.’ Dr. Larry Tarpey (economist), Dr. John B. Stephenson and Dr. Doris Y. Wilkinson (sociologists) were my teachers at UK between 1966-1968. Each affirmed for me what they called ‘the unique -- but universal -- experience of Blacks in Appalachia,’” Turner said. “I came to UK as a junior from the

By Lindsey Piercy

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 17, 2022) — Stephen Davis, an associate professor in the Department of History in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky, has been awarded a 2022 ACLS Digital Justice Seed Grant.

The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Digital Justice Grant Program is designed to promote and provide resources for digital humanities projects that aim to diversify the

By Trey Conatser and Jill Abney

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 27, 2022) — The Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching  launched the Teaching Innovation Institute in 2020 as an incubator for cutting-edge instructional techniques. Two faculty cohorts have completed the program with a third on the way for the next academic year. The three cohorts have involved 61 faculty from 14 colleges and 46 departments or schools.

Members of the 2022 cohort of the Teaching Innovation Institute are: 

By Elizabeth Chapin

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 24, 2022) — The first cohort of interns in a new Kentucky Geological Survey program are spending their summers contributing to statewide research projects focused on geologic resources, environmental issues and natural hazards affecting Kentucky.

The new Paul Edwin Potter Internship Program is giving University of Kentucky students interested in geoscience research the opportunity to engage in a hands-on research project for 10 weeks throughout the summer. Although the program was limited to UK students during its first year, it will be expanded in future years to include students from other universities.

Supported by a gift from the

By Jesi Jones-Bowman

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 23, 2022) — The Office of Undergraduate Research has selected 16 undergraduates for the 2022 Commonwealth Undergraduate Research Experience Fellowship program.

The new CURE Fellowships, sponsored by UK Office of Undergraduate Research and the Office of the Vice President for Research, empowers undergraduates to become leaders for their communities by providing opportunities to develop new knowledge and skills through research within UK’s seven research priority areas: cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes & obesity, diversity and inclusion, energy, neuroscience and substance use disorder.

“Conducting summer research will provide me with

By Lauren Parsons

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 20, 2022) — More than 60,000 pages of Fayette County’s historical property records containing information about enslaved people from the late 1700s through 1865 will soon be available to the public online thanks to a partnership between the Fayette County Clerk, University of Kentucky’s Commonwealth Institute for Black Studies (CIBS), the Lexington Black Prosperity Initiative, Blue Grass Community Foundation and its Knight Foundation Donor Advised Charitable Fund.

The Fayette County Clerk began digitizing documents during the 1990s, but the books of historical property records remained on paper, including transactions detailing names of individuals sold and bought as slaves, mortgages naming enslaved people as