By Vice President for Research Lisa Cassis

We are pleased to announce that Dr. Chad Risko has accepted our offer to be the new Faculty Director of the Office of Undergraduate Research.  Dr. Risko is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Kentucky (UK).

He received his PhD at the Georgia Institute of Technology under the direction of Professor Jean-Luc Brédas, undertook postdoctoral research with Professors Mark Ratner and Tobin Marks at Northwestern University and has been at UK since 2014.

Dr. Risko’s research blends principles from organic and physical chemistry, condensed-matter physics, and materials science to develop theoretical materials chemistry approaches to better understand and design materials for advanced electronics and power generation and storage applications. He was named a 2016 Emerging Investigator by the Journal of Materials Chemistry (Royal Society of Chemistry), received a 2018 Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, was selected as a 2018 Cottrell Scholar (Research Corporation for Science Advancement, RCSA), and an RCSA Scialog Fellow for Advanced Energy Storage, and is also a recipient of the UK College of Arts & Sciences Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentoring Award and the UK Alumni Association Great Teacher Award. 

We were gratified to receive multiple enthusiastic and competitive applications for this position which speaks very well of the commitment to mentored undergraduate research and creative activities across the university. We ask that you welcome Dr. Risko to this important new position and work with him to raise the profile of undergraduate research campus wide.