By Lindsay Travis 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 29, 2024) — On Friday, the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees approved 16 University Research Professors for the 2024-25 academic year. Established by the Board of Trustees in 1976, the professorships program recognizes excellence across the full spectrum of research at UK.

“Each year it is truly gratifying to recognize these distinguished experts who have made significant contributions across the breadth of research fields at the University of Kentucky,” said Lisa Cassis, UK’s vice president for research. “Our next cohort of University Research Professors have demonstrated

By Emily Sallee 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 22, 2024) — The University of Kentucky Office of Nationally Competitive Awards has announced that three UK students have been awarded Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships:

Kachroo, O’Neal and Yang are among 438 students selected nationwide to receive the 2024-25 scholarship. This year’s recipients were selected from a pool of 1,353

By Lindsay Travis 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 1, 2024) — A study by a group of researchers at the University of Kentucky in collaboration with scientists in four other countries has been published in Nature.

Jeramiah Smith, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Biology in the College of Arts and Sciences, collaborated with an international research group to parse the hagfish genome and better understand the early evolution of vertebrates.

Their study is “The hagfish genome and the evolution of vertebrates.” Hagfish are a type of jawless fish that live in deep ocean waters

By Jenny Wells-Hosley

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 29, 2024) — On Monday, April 8,sky gazers across North America will be treated to a total solar eclipse. During a solar eclipse, the moon passes between the Earth and the sun, casting a shadow on the planet and temporarily blocking the sun's light. Weather permitting, this event creates an awe-inspiring display as the sky darkens and the sun's corona becomes visible.

Like the rest of the continent, the University of Kentucky and Lexington are gearing up for this rare natural phenomenon. However, it's important to note that Lexington will only experience approximately 97% coverage. While that might sound good enough, experts in the UK Department of Physics and

By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Maddie Duff is reaching out to her fellow Appalachians through a University of Kentucky research initiative called SPARK, or Students Participating as Ambassadors for Research in Kentucky.  

Duff, a junior neuroscience major in the University of Kentucky’s College of Arts and Sciences, conducts research through SPARK, the Appalachian Career Training in Oncology and the John Calhoun Wells Eastern Kentucky Scholars Fund. Each of these programs encourage and assist students with giving back inside their communities. For example, Duff conducts phone surveys of people with hearing issues.

“A lot of the participants I've dealt with just want to be heard,” said Duff, who’s from Prestonburg, Ky. “They want somebody to understand the struggles that they go through as a patient who has all these

By Richard LeComte  

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- For baseball fans, the game can be poetry in motion: Athletes swing, catch, run, slide and throw with both power and grace. Thus it’s natural that Dorian Hairston, a former University of Kentucky baseball player, English major and writer, would use poetry to chronicle the life of one of the sport’s greatest players. 

In the book, “Pretend the Ball is Named Jim Crow,” Hairston collects a series of provocative poems about Josh Gibson (1911-1947), the legendary Negro Leagues player who hit more than 800 home runs and was compared favorably to Babe Ruth. Because of segregation, Gibson never got to play in the majors, and he died just before

By Kody Kiser and Kayla Gales 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 15, 2024) — This year marks the 75th anniversary of Lyman T. Johnson’s historic legal triumph against the University of Kentucky, a milestone that marked him as the first Black student to integrate the university.

A lifelong champion of education and its transformative potential, Johnson was an advocate for equality in both education and broader society, drawing inspiration from his experiences as

By Lindsay Travis 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 13, 2024) — Chemists at the University of Kentucky are researching how changes in the atmosphere’s composition may play a role in forming air pollution.

The study was recently featured on the cover of the journal American Chemical Society  Environmental Science & Technology Air, which focuses on investigations of air chemistry and physics, air pollution and climate change that impact human and ecosystem health.

Marcelo Guzman, Ph.D., associate professor in

By Daniel Flener 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 15, 2023) — In August 2021, as the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, many students in the country found themselves in limbo — unsure of whether or how to continue their education. As they searched for answers, and many fled their home country, the launch of the Kentucky Innovative Scholarship Pilot Project provided hope, and the University of Kentucky mobilized to provide a home away from home.

The program, funded by a $10 million appropriation by the 2022 Kentucky General Assembly, allows colleges and universities to provide scholarships up to the total cost of attendance for displaced students. One of those students who came to

By Jackie Wilson 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 30, 2023) — University Press of Kentucky announces the publishing imprint Screen Door Press, which will be edited by Crystal Wilkinson, professor of English in the University of Kentucky's College of Arts and Sciences. 

Dedicated to discovering exceptional, and varied voices within Black literary traditions, the imprint will include short stories, novellas and novels across a broad range of categories. The goal of Screen Door Press is to publish thought-provoking books that feature relatable characters, strong narratives and

By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- To get a National Institutes of Health research internship, college students need to look through a website and find an investigator to take them on. University of Kentucky junior Lilly Bauer did just that — she spent the summer of 2023 working in the lab of Carole Bewley in Maryland.  

"I've always heard of the National Institutes of Health, and I know it’s a very. big deal in the science community," said Bauer, a junior biology major in the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences. “The cool thing I liked about the NIH internship is that you reach out to the principal investigators yourself. You’re on your own to get accepted. I am really interested in microbiology, so I looked under microbiology

By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Tyler Patton exemplifies persistence: As a first-generation college student, he has weathered family and personal trauma, dropping out of college, a two-year stint in the U.S. Marine Corps and financial obstacles on the way to a University of Kentucky bachelor’s degree in English and perhaps on to law school.  

Now he’s poised to graduate in May and head off to law school. He credits one faculty member in particular — Michelle Sizemore, associate professor of English — as someone who came through when he needed help, guiding him toward the College of Arts and Sciences’ Finish Line Fund. 

“I have a class with Dr. Sizemore called Reading Dangerously, and she's been very helpful to me,” said Patton, who’s from Lexington and

By Rebekah Frazier 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 20, 2023) — Geologist Matt Crawford, a landslide researcher at the Kentucky Geological Survey and recipent of a doctorate in geological sciences from the University of Kentucky, took discoveries from Kentucky landslides to international collaborators in Sri Lanka last month.  

Crawford was part of the U.S. Geological Survey Landslide Disaster Assistance Team,

By Sarah Geegan and Amy Jones-Timoney 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 15, 2023) — The University of Kentucky Office of the Provost has funded eight transformative projects, supporting an inaugural cohort of IMPACT Award recipients.  

Among the projects is the UK Hub for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. The proposed project will transform the educational and research capacity of AI/ML work at UK by building a centralized hub connecting AI/ML method consumers, users, and developers.

 The UK Hub for AI/ML will position UK researchers well for transdisciplinary work, stemming

By Jenny Wells-Hosley and Lauren Parsons 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 15, 2023) — More than 77,000 physical pages of Fayette County’s historical records, spanning from the late 1700s through 1865, are now digitized and publicly accessible online, thanks to a project led by University of Kentucky scholars, students and community partners. The project aims to help families and researchers piece together information and previously unknown

By Jackie Wilson

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 14, 2023) — "A Is for Affrilachia" by artist, writer, poet and University of Kentucky professor Frank X Walker is the grand prize winner of the 2023 Black Authors Matter Children’s Book Awards. Illustrated by Ron Davis (upfromsumdirt), "A Is for Affrilachia" was chosen for best overall book and content and also selected as the best book in the educational category.

The Black Authors Matter Children’s Book Awards were established to honor excellence in African American literature. A panel of authors evaluated more than 150 entries. In addition to the grand prize, submissions were

By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Jennifer Cramer, professor of linguistics in the University of Kentucky’s College of Arts and Sciences, is participating in the nationwide 2023-24 Weekend HERS (Higher Education Resource Services) Leadership Institute for emerging leaders in higher education. She is among 63 higher education leaders chosen for the program. 

The HERS Leadership Institute is designed for faculty and staff who generally hold mid- to senior-level positions in higher education.  

Participants represent a range of racial and ethnic groups, gender identities, nationalities, veteran and disability statuses, religious affiliations, ages and years of experience in higher education, thereby broadening the range of perspectives and insights brought to each session. 

 "The goal of the

By Ann Blackford 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 9, 2023) — University of Kentucky alumnus Jim Embry, known as a civil rights activist, eco-activist farmer, social justice advocate and public speaker, was awarded the James Beard Foundation Leadership Award earlier this year in Chicago.

The James Beard Foundation Awards recognizes leaders in America’s food culture that exemplify the James Beard Foundation’s core value of championing a standard of good food anchored in talent,

By Lindsey Piercy 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 9, 2023) — For her intimate memoir, “We Are Too Many,” Hannah Pittard, English professor in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky, is a Southern Book Prize finalist.

Designed to honor great Southern voices, the Southern Book Prize is awarded by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) to books published in 2023 that are Southern in nature — either set in the South, written by a Southern author or both.

Additionally, the 18 finalists received enthusiastic reviews from booksellers.

Now through Feb. 1,

By Lindsay Travis 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 3, 2023) — From bettering life here on Earth to exploring what living off this planet could be like, Beckman Scholars at the University of Kentucky are advancing their branches of science through the prestigious program. 

The UK Beckman Scholars Program is named Scholars United by Chemistry: Cultivating Excellence through Science Stewardship. The Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation funds 15 months of mentored research for two UK undergraduate students in chemistry, biological sciences and associated interdisciplinary combinations.

SUCCESS is an extensive multidisciplinary program that revolves around chemistry as