By Jennifer T. Allen

The University of Kentucky and the Beijing Institute of Technology Zhuhai (BITZH) began a partnership last year to build a cultural bridge between the two countries and create opportunities for Chinese and American students. With 19 BITZH students currently studying in Lexington and a new dean at the helm of the Sino-US College in Zhuhai, the benefits of the partnership are already becoming apparent.

“The Beijing Institute of Technology Zhuhai is a really exciting new type of university in China,” said Mark Kornbluh, dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Kentucky. “The Chinese government has made land available to the top universities in China, but they

By Sarah Jayne Johnson

In the summer of 1816, a group of friends gathered on Lake Geneva to see who could tell the most terrifying tale. An 18-year-old Mary Shelley was among the group. She told the frightening story of a young scientist who creates a grotesque monster in an unorthodox scientific experiment. Victor Frankenstein and The Creature were born that night — the rest is history.

On Oct. 24, the University of Kentucky’s Department of English and the English Honors Society Sigma Tau Delta invite the public to join in a celebration of this monumental narrative for the 200th anniversary of "Frankenstein."

"Frankenstein" is simultaneously the first science-fiction novel, a gothic horror and a tragic romance all sewn into one

Professors Anne-Frances Miller, Susan Odom, and Dong-Sheng Yang have received four new grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF).  These highly-competitive awards will fund research projects on electron transfer in flavoproteins (Miller), high potential redox couples (Odom), high concentration electrolytes (Odom), and spectroscopy of transient organometallic complexes (Yang).

Prof. Miller has a strong history of studying enzymatic redox catalysis, including the enzymes superoxide dismutase and nitroreductase. A major portion of Miller’s research involves enzyme engineering, focusing on rational design of flavoenzymes to modify their electronic characteristics. Miller explains, “Just as electrical wires carry power to every room in our houses, cells have dedicated proteins carrying a current of electrons from

By Lindsey Piercy

The University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences will induct six new members into the A&S Hall of Fame on Friday, Oct. 19. 

For more about each honoree, see their brief biographies below.

Alumni inductees:

Jennifer L. Garr, topical studies, bachelor's degree, 1986

Garr is a native of Louisville, Kentucky. Early in her sophomore year at UK, she chose the path of topical studies with an emphasis in art therapy. Garr’s activities ranged from a semester as staff artist for the Kentucky Kernel to public relations director for the UK Student Center Board. Garr has worked at some of the top advertising companies and management agencies, including Brown & Williamson International, Leo Burnett, J. Walter Thompson, Publicis,

By Sarah Jayne Johnson

Lang's popular lectures on origami explore its connections to mathematics, science and technology. His workshops cover both artistic techniques and application in industrial design.

Robert Lang, one of the world's leading origami artists, will visit the University of Kentucky Oct. 22-23 to present a public lecture and hold workshops. The free events are sponsored by UK Student and Academic Life and hosted by the UK Department of Mathematics in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Lang's popular lectures on origami explore its connections to mathematics, science and technology. His workshops cover both artistic techniques and application in industrial design.

"It is

By Madison Dyment

A national scholarship can go a long way, even when the recipient is a senior. Just ask UK senior, Claire Barrera, the latest recipient of the Trjitzinsky Scholarship, one of the American Mathematical Society’s (AMS) coveted awards.

Rounding out her final year as a math major and economics minor, Barrera pins her scholarly path on her upbringing.

“Math, for me, is actually a family thing,” she said. “My mom is an accountant and my grandpa is an engineer, so I think it just ran in my family. I picked up on math very easily from a young age.”

This natural knack for her field went a long way in helping her achieve this scholarship. Barrera’s skill and hard work carried her through to recognition, first from UK faculty, and then from the American Mathematical Society.

The American Mathematical Society provides $3,000 at an AMS-member

By Meg Mills

UK Has been recognized as a Tree Campus USA each year since 2012.

"This is a very exciting time to be involved with sustainability at the University of Kentucky, and I am inspired by the work being done and opportunities being made possible by students, staff and faculty across our campus." Shane Tedder, UK’s sustainability coordinator, said. 

Nationwide, October is designated as Campus Sustainability Month by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. UK is participating with events and opportunities throughout the month. These remain:

October 6-14 is Tree Week 2018, presented by the Urban Forest Initiative and collaborators on campus and in the community, including the TFISE. This week of events is a celebration of Lexington

By Sarah Jayne Johnson

The University of Kentucky John Jacob Niles Center for American Music’s "Appalachia in the Bluegrass" will welcome Sparky and Rhonda Rucker and Stray Local to campus this October to continue the concert series. Storyteller and multi-instrumentalist Sparky Rucker and his wife, musician Rhonda Rucker, will perform Oct. 5. The following week, indie band Stray Local will play Oct. 12. The free public concerts, which begin at noon, will be presented at the Niles Gallery in the Lucille C. Little Fine Arts Library and Learning Center.

Old-Time ‘Ruck’us

By Jenny Wells

Ann Morris, an associate professor of biology in the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences, has received $1.87 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to continue her cutting-edge research in retinal development and regeneration.

The Research Project Grant (R01), titled "Vertebrate Photoreceptor Development and Regeneration," will be funded over five years and supports Morris and her team's efforts to improve the understanding of cell differentiation in the retina, the photosensitive lining in the back of the eye. The project has the potential to lead to developments for treating human retinal degenerative diseases that can cause blindness, such as retinitis pigmentosa (RP), macular degeneration and retinal detachment.

“I am 

By Eliana Shapere

“People have been searching for an EDM (Electric Dipole Moment) of the neutron since 1950. We are trying harder and harder to find the needle in the haystack. If it were discovered at the anticipated level of sensitivity and accuracy that experiments can obtain now, it would be completely revolutionary. It would be evidence for physics that we can’t currently describe theoretically.”

Brad Plaster, associate chair and professor of physics in the University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences, lit up as he described his research.

“Protons and neutrons compose the nucleus of atoms. Neutrons have no electric charge. However, they are composed of quarks, subatomic, fractionally charged particles,” he explained. “What the EDM would postulate is that there might be some slight imbalance of positive

By Dave Melanson

Yang Song, a doctoral student in the UK Department of Chemistry and researcher in at the UK Center for Applied Energy Research (CAER), helped lead the research effort on this project.

When Mark Crocker and the biofuels research team at the University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy Research (CAER) began their work to convert lignin into biofuels and chemicals, some called it a biofuels gold rush.

Little did anyone know how important gold would become to the actual research.

Utilizing a gold-based catalytic system developed in CAER’s Biofuels and Environmental Catalysis Laboratory, the center’s researchers have discovered a method to turn lignin into valuable aromatic compounds. The process is 

By Gail Hairston

The University of Kentucky Alumni Association — with a committee chaired by UK Associate Provost for Faculty Advancement G.T. Lineberry — regularly honors outstanding UK faculty members with the UK Alumni Professorship Award.

This year, the honors went to Dibakar (D.B.) Bhattacharyya of the College of Engineering’s Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering; D. Allan Butterfield of the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Chemistry; Seth DeBolt of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment’s Department of Horticulture; Brent Seales of the College of Engineering’s Department of Computer Science; and

By Carl Nathe

Christopher Barton with stream monitoring equipment in Robinson Forest. Photo by Matt Barton, UK Ag Communications.

The University of Kentucky’s Christopher Barton (principal investigator) and Kenton Sena (co-principal investigator) recently were  awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to modernize the stream monitoring network at UK’s Robinson Forest in southeastern Kentucky. This project will upgrade the existing network to enhance both data quality and data accessibility. Currently, the monitoring equipment is old and technologically obsolete, and requires a significant amount of upkeep time for data collection and processing.

Sena, who earned his Ph.D

By Olivia Ramirez and Kody Kiser

As the university for Kentucky, understanding and addressing the health needs of the people of the Commonwealth is the goal of many faculty, staff, clinicians and researchers. As a step toward improving health equity in the Commonwealth, the University of Kentucky Center for Health Equity Transformation (CHET) was established during the 2018 Board of Trustees meeting. 

On this episode of Behind the Blue, CHET director Nancy Schoenberg and associate director Carrie Oser discuss how, through research and training, CHET will increase the number of researchers and the amount of health-equity focused research at UK.

"[Kentucky] is one of several states where we see declines in life expectancy so there is a lot of work to be done. We believe that research can help inform the best practices that can support

By Danielle Donham

 The University of Kentucky Appalachian Center (UKAC) will be hosting an open house celebration from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 25, at its location on 624 Maxwelton Court. The recently-appointed associate director of the center and Appalachian Studies Program, Kathryn Engle, and new Scholar-in-Residence Gurney Norman will be on hand for a gathering filled with refreshments, entertainment, music and tours. This event is free and open to the community, UK students, faculty and staff members.

Food will be provided at the event with a short welcome presentation kicking off at noon. The open house will provide a chance to visit and

By Ellie Wnek

Watch Andrew Finn Magill perform a couple Irish tunes above.

Fiddle music will fill campus as the "Appalachia in the Bluegrass" concert series presents performances by Andrew Finn Magill and Emily Miller and Jesse Milnes. On Friday, Sept. 21, fiddler Finn Magill will perform. The next week, Friday, Sept. 28, country and old-time duo Miller and Milnes will play. These free public concerts will take place at noon, at the Niles Gallery, located in the University of Kentucky Lucille C. Little Fine Arts Library and Learning Center.

'Finn the Fiddler'

Raised in

By Nate Harling

Mark Kornbluh, dean of the University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences, has named Emily Beaulieu the new Director of International Studies. Beaulieu, an associate professor of comparative politics in the Department of Political Science, has spent 12 years teaching and conducting research at UK.

Beaulieu obtained a bachelor’s degree in International Studies and French from the University of Washington, and her master’s and doctoral degrees in political science from the University of California, San Diego. She has published a number of works relating to international politics, including, “Electoral Protest and Democracy in the Developing World,” for which she constructed an original data set of election-related protest and reform throughout the developing world for a 31 year period.

“I love the idea, as director of International Studies,

By Lindsey Piercy

Foodies, mark your calendars! Dan Pashman will be speaking at the University of Kentucky on Monday, September 24. The event titled, "Audio Storytelling in Food and Beyond", is presented by the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Studies.

Food lovers are probably familiar with Pashman. He is the creator and host of WNYC's James Beard Award-nominated food podcast, The Sporkful. Pasham and his guests often obsess over the details of eating to uncover truths about food and people.

"The Sporkful is one of the best podcasts available today because it's funny, informative and persuasive. It is a major part of the new movement in food writing," Jeff Rice, department chair, said.

The podcast discusses diverse topics, such as the search for a Syrian sandwich, the origins of

By Sarah Jayne Johnson

This fall in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month the University of Kentucky Libraries Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) will be exhibiting "Los Códices: an exhibit of illustrated books from indigenous Mesoamerica," Sept. 12-Nov. 9, in the Great Hall of the Margaret I. King Library Building. The exhibit and a lecture with art historian Lori Diel are free and open to public.

National Hispanic Heritage Month runs Sept. 15 to Oct. 15. The celebration started as a week under President Lyndon Johnson and then expanded to the present 30-day period under President Ronald Reagan in 1988. It started Sept. 15, the