By Kristi Willett

In the largest grant ever awarded to the University of Kentucky, researchers from UK's Center on Drug and Alcohol Research (CDAR) and across campus — in partnership with the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services and the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet (JPSC) — will lead a project as part of the HEALing Communities study.

The four-year, more than $87 million study has an ambitious but profoundly important goal: reducing opioid overdose deaths by 40 percent in 16 counties that represent more than a

By Lindsey Piercy

Frank X Walker with his son, Kumasi. The painting features Walker's mother and one of his sisters. Photo by Shauna M. Morgan.

If you were to walk into the dining room of Frank X Walker's Lexington home, it wouldn't look like your typical space for hosting dinner parties. Instead, it's been converted into a studio and a nursery, where Walker now spends the majority of his time. The room is often filled with the two things he is most passionate about — work and family.

For Walker, an English professor in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky, last summer marked the beginning of a new era — an era ignited by pain and fueled by passion.

"After my

Major: Psychology

Senior Leadership Recruiter at Tesla *

I grew up in the Louisville area and went to Sacred Heart Academy. Go Valkyries!

I loved to play volleyball, tennis and swim. I’ve always loved interior design and art projects.

Growing up, we took a lot of trips in the conversion van, so I’ve actually been to 45 states! Today, my partner Anand and I try to travel as much as we can, but we usually choose a plane over the van :).

I was the kid wearing tie dye and reminding everyone to recycle, which is probably why I ended up at Tesla!

Catherine Seidelman (class of 2010), Will Seidelman (class of 2009), and Dexter

Major: Psychology

Minor: Philosophy

Manager, User Research AmazonTransportation and Recipient Experience at Amazon *

We moved several times before ending up in the bluegrass state. I was interested in technology early in life and my parents fostered that desire. In high school, I played a KY state tournament basketball game in Rupp Arena, I do not think Coach Cal would have been particularly impressed with my performance

By Michael Lynch

Authors Patrick Gooding and Frank Ettensohn look at their new publication on black shales in the Appalachian and Illinois Basins.

A new wall-size chart published by the Kentucky Geological Survey (KGS), a research unit of the University of Kentucky, shows how black shale formations in the Appalachian Basin of Eastern Kentucky are connected to similar shales in the Illinois Basin, which underlies parts of Western Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois. Black shales are found beneath almost 70 percent of Kentucky and are important for the oil and natural gas resources they contain. So tracing the presence of the shales in the Appalachian region, where more is known about them, to their Illinois Basin counterparts could be valuable for future resource exploration in the Illinois Basin.

One of the challenges of making such

By Jenny Wells

This summer, the University of Kentucky Dr. Bing Zhang Department of Statistics will host its first Statistical Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) workshop for students and their faculty mentors.

This all expense-paid program will take place June 3-5 at General Butler State Park in Carrollton, Kentucky. The event will offer a real data analytics workshop and information on careers and graduate school opportunities in the areas of data science, analytics and statistics/biostatistics.

“With funding from the National Science Foundation and the American Statistical Association, we’re excited to host the first ever SURE workshop, where undergraduates can learn about statistical programming and options for careers in statistics," said Arnold Stromberg, chair of UK Statistics. "We especially

By Jenny Wells

Travis (TJ) Schuyler (left) with Gary Pundsack, CEO of Stratodynamics Inc., hold the HiDRON glider. Schuyler, with UK chemistry Professor Marcelo Guzman, engineered the atmospheric-sensing equipment that was integrated into the glider.

A University of Kentucky doctoral student and chemistry professor have measured environmental variables during high-altitude, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flights for the first time, reaching a better understanding of meteorological conditions to enable the next generation of weather forecasting models.

Travis Schuyler, a doctoral candidate in the UK Department of Chemistry in the College of Arts & Sciences, working with Marcelo Guzman, built a system for

By Hannah Edelen

Laura DeMarco, a professor in the Department of Mathematics at Northwestern University, will deliver the 2018-19 Hayden Howard Lecture. Hosted by the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences' Department of Mathematics, the lecture will take place 3:30 p.m. Thursday, April 11, in 106 White Hall Classroom Building. DeMarco will deliver a lecture titled “Complex Dynamics and Arithmetic Distribution.”

“I will explain a notion of arithmetic equidistribution that has recently found application in the study of complex dynamical systems,” DeMarco said. “It was first introduced about 25 years ago by Szpiro-Ullmo-Zhang to analyze the geometry and arithmetic of abelian varieties. In 2011, Matt Baker and I used the theory to study periodic points of maps on P^1. In this talk, I will explain some dynamical questions that were inspired by

By Aaron Porter and Jenny Wells

Today and tomorrow, people from all around the world are coming together on the University of Kentucky campus to explore the global impact of the #MeToo movement.  

This two-day, international symposium, "Comparative Perspectives on #MeToo," will feature scholars, students and activists from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America discussing the impact, scope, connections and challenges associated with #MeToo and similar movements. 

"The issues behind #MeToo and similar movements have affected women and others in higher education and other settings for a long time, yet we rarely have the opportunity to discuss these issues across nations, languages and other differences," said Cristina Alcade, associate dean of inclusion and internationalization in the UK College of

By Aaron Porter

G.R.F. (John) Ferrari, a distinguished professor of classical literature at the University of California, Berkeley, will be speaking on campus Monday, April 8. The event, hosted by the Department of Philosophy and the Department of Modern and Classical Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences, will be held at 7 p.m., in the UK Athletics Auditorium at William T. Young Library. Ferrari will be discussing his book, "The Messages We Send: Social Signals and Storytelling."

Ferrari is an expert on Greek philosophy and has written several books on Plato. This particular piece of work marks a departure in his research.

"The book offers a new framework for understanding different ways in

It is well past time to celebrate and give recognition to the place African American women have created within the U.S. political history. As we celebrate the victory of Lori Lightfoot becoming the first African American woman mayor of Chicago, we also remember that it was half a century ago when Shirley Chisholm became the first African American woman to serve in the U.S. Congress. Let us not overlook the local African American women who are adding to the foundation of the political landscape. On March 7, 2019, five of these outstanding women were recognized for their contributions at the University of Kentucky, Black Women in Politics Celebration Luncheon.

ANGELA C. EVANS

Angela C. Evans is a native of Lexington, KY.  In 2015, she was elected to the Lexington-Fayette Urban City Council. She has served as a public defender in Lexington, KY, and

How does a journal unravel the threat of violence against women and the many forms of violence in women's lives throughout the world?

The Violence Against Women journal tackles this complex topic by shedding light not only on the forms of violence that are widely discussed, but also on the lesser known forms of violence. After 25 years of publications, this international journal is now ranked ninth among journals focusing on women's studies and cited more than 3,400 times.

Claire Renzetti, chair of the Department of Sociology and Judi Conway Patton Endowed Chair in the UK Center for Research on Violence Against Women, founded the

A team of researchers from the College of Arts and Sciences Department of Physics and Astronomy has made a discovery that has changed the "elementary textbook" description of protons.

Professors Keh-Fei Liu and Terrence Draper, along with postdoctoral scholar Jian Liang, are co-authors of a study titled "Proton Mass Decomposition from the QCD Energy Momentum Tensor" that was published this past fall in Physical Review Letters. Since then, the study has gained national attention in the world of physics, as its results have opened doors for more calculations and theoretical understanding.

The team recently explained to UKNow exactly what they learned and what it means for their scientific community.

Protons are made up of quarks, but according to your study,

By Whitney Hale

The Kentucky Women Writers Conferencehas named three finalists in its Prize for Women Playwrights, which honors new theatrical work. Now in its fifth biennial cycle, the prize seeks to bring more plays by women to the stage, through a collaboration among the Kentucky Women Writers, partnering producer and director Eric Seale, and guest judge Ifa Bayeza. The winner receives a world premiere production for a paying audience in November 2019 at the Pam Miller Downtown Arts Center, with royalties, plus a cash prize of $500.

Finalists are:

“Bite the Apple” by Linda Manning, of Bronx, New York. Cinderella, in a

By Carol Lea Spence

The University of Kentucky is hosting the third annual Expanding Your Horizons Conference for middle school girls and their parents or guardians from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. EDT Saturday, April 20. This day of hands-on workshops will inform young Kentucky girls and their parents about exciting career opportunities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Women continue to be underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields, and they hold a disproportionately low share of STEM undergraduate degrees, particularly in engineering, according to a study from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

“Many higher education institutions like UK struggle against the problem of poor retention of female undergraduates in a lot of science, engineering and math majors,” said Ellen Crocker, assistant professor in the

By Ellie Wnek

Although separated by thousands of miles, an ocean and most of continental Europe, the Appalachian-Carpathian International Conference will bring scholars together to discuss important issues that affect both Appalachian and Carpathian mountain communities.

The 2019 conference will take place in Brasov and Petrosani, Romania, Oct. 7-11, 2019. The conference is titled "Making Place: Transitional and Post-Industrial Development in Mountain Communities." The program committee is currently accepting proposals for plenary and concurrent sessions. Topics range from cultural preservation and folklore to sustainable agriculture and forestry to community development and economic diversification.

Possible formats include:

By Mack McCormick and Whitney Hale

By Nate Harling

Students in Jeff Rice’s WRD 300: Introduction to Writing, Rhetoric and Digital Studies class presented on the week’s reading, “Made to Stick.” Rice is chair of the Department of Writing, Rhetoric and Digital Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Everyone hears it at some point. Whether it is across the table from a relative at Thanksgiving dinner, on a quiet car ride home with a parent or while out for coffee with an old friend from high school. When a student majoring in the arts and sciences informs someone else of their field of study, they will be met with the same question, often accompanied by a slight lift of the eyebrows: “So what are you going to do with that?” This kind of skepticism is indicative of the widespread social perception that students of the liberal arts are less prepared for careers than their peers

By Whitney Hale

Virginia Clay McClure's senior photo from the university's yearbook. Photo courtesy of UK Special Collections Research Center.

The University of Kentucky community is celebrating Women’s History Month. Throughout March, UKNow will feature the women — past and present — on whose shoulders we stand and whose hard work has made our achievements possible. With a combination of fierce resolve and deep compassion, UK women have left indelible marks on our university. Join us as we highlight these #WomenOfUK.

The first woman who received a Ph.D. from UK said that her department chairman did not "want a woman to get a doctor's degree." Despite those words, Virginia Clay McClure, a native of Mt. Sterling, Kentucky, received her doctoral degree in American history in 1934.

By Hannah Edelen

Tara Holm, a mathematician and professor at Cornell University, will deliver the 2018-19 J.C. Eaves Lecture. Hosted by the University of Kentucky Department of Mathematics, the lecture will take place at 5 p.m. Thursday, March 21, in 208 White Hall Classroom Building.

Holm, a 2012 Fellow of the American Mathematical Society and former Visiting Fellow at both Oxford and Princeton, will deliver a lecture on “Understanding Symplectic Geometry Through Polytopes and Lattice Points.”

“Symplectic geometry, the natural geometry of classical mechanics, is floppier than Riemannian geometry, but more rigid than topology. I will give an overview of this floppy/rigid spectrum,” Holm said. “I will conclude with how some of my recent work, joint with Daniel Cristofaro-Gardiner, Alessia Mandini and Ana Rita Pires, comes to feature continued