By Amanda Nelson

(Aug. 24, 2015) – The University of Kentucky Department of STEM Education, under the direction of Molly Fisher (PI), associate professor and director of graduate studies, and Jennifer Wilhelm (co-PI), professor and chair, is welcoming a new cohort of undergraduate students in the National Science Foundation’s Research Experiences for Undergraduates program.

As an REU site, the STEM Education Department hosts a cohort of undergraduates who work in its research programs.

Each student is associated with a specific research project, where he/she works closely with the faculty and other researchers.

Students are granted stipends and technology funds in order to carry out their

By Rachel Lorch

The roots of black cohosh, a plant native to the Appalachian region, has served a large variety of needs throughout its history. Progressing from its roles as an acne treatment and insect repellent, black cohosh root is often used today as an herbal supplement.

Gabrielle Miles, a former graduate student in the University of Kentucky’s Department of Statistics, studied black cohosh roots during her time at UK. The project on the plant was a continuation of work she completed as an undergraduate summer field intern with Dr. Jim Chamberlain, Research Forest Products Technologist at the USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station.

Miles’ interest in statistics and its application to ecology stems from the requirements of an

By Eli Capilouto

At 3 p.m. today, Tuesday August 18th, we will welcome members of our campus and community to tour three new residence halls on our campus, Woodland Glen III, IV and V. The projects surround Woodland Glen I and II, which we opened last year, and mark the completion of the new Woodland Glen community - a major milestone in our campus transformation.

Our priorities are guided by a single principle - to provide the best environment for the UK family to live, learn, create and heal. We've made extraordinary progress across campus, and there is still more work to do.

At 2 p.m. on Wednesday, August 19th, we will unveil the new Lyman T. Johnson Hall. Joined by members of the Johnson family and several university leaders, we are naming Central 1 Residence Hall

By Whitney Harder

(Aug. 17, 2015) — A $6 million National Science Foundation grant will allow researchers at the University of Kentucky, Oklahoma State University, University of Oklahoma, and University of Nebraska to develop unmanned aircraft systems, otherwise known as drone systems, to study atmospheric physics for improved precision agriculture and weather forecasting.

Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) are currently used in search and rescue, infrastructure inspection and in many other ways to gather information via cameras and specialty sensors. The four-university interdisciplinary team will develop small, affordable systems to measure wind, atmospheric chemistry, soil moisture, and thermodynamic parameters. Doing so will provide meteorologists with data needed to build better forecasting models.

The project, called CLOUD MAP for "

By Whitney Hale, Mack McCormick

(Aug. 17, 2015) — From the earliest moments of Kentucky’s recorded history, the lives of African-Americans have been intricately woven into the fabric of the state.

The slave and bodyguard of pioneer Nathaniel Hart, often referred to as Captain Jack Hart, first entered what would become the Bluegrass State in 1774. Little is known of the life of one the first African-Americans to explore Kentucky’s frontier, though he was present the following year at the signing of the Sycamore Shoals Treaty in Tennessee, which resulted in the purchase of "Kaintucke" from the Cherokees. The sparse records that do exist indicate that Jack Hart played a central role in Daniel Boone’s early exploration of the state during the mid-1770s serving as the pioneer’s "pilot," or guide.

However, black settlers like Jack Hart did not migrate

University of Kentucky psychologist, Richard Smith, was featured in a recent article in The New Yorker which looks at the differences between envy and admiration. Along with other psychologists featured in the article, Smith, who has been studying envy for over three decades, looks closely at the relation between envy and admiration in today’s society. The full article titled “Can Envy Be Good For You” can be found here.

By Blair Hoover

(Aug. 13, 2015) — Safety is always a priority at the University of Kentucky. Especially now, when thousands of new students are transitioning to campus at a time when vehicle and pedestrian traffic are heavy and streets are re-routed. UK Police will be out in full force to assist with Move-In, and everyone is urged to be patient and travel safely.

Move-In is an exciting time for our campus community and an important time to begin fostering student success — our top priority at all levels in everything that we do.

This year, we will welcome students and their families during four major Move-In days over the next week:

·      Saturday, Aug. 15

·      Wednesday, Aug. 19

·      Friday, Aug

By Whitney Harder

(Aug. 12, 2015) — Sung S. Ambrose Seo, assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Kentucky, has received the prestigious five-year National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award totaling $672,981.

The CAREER award is given in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education, and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of the university.

Funds from the award will allow Seo to investigate iridium oxides and unveil exotic collective phenomena, such as nontrivial topological states that are latent in bulk crystals, but emerge in

We are delighted to have three new faculty members joining the Department as Lecturers this fall. All three are exceptional individuals with diverse scientific interests and great enthusiasm for teaching. Dr. Lisa Blue earned her Ph.D. from UK (Atwood) and spent time in industry before returning. She will teach primarily within the General Chemistry program and also has experience in analytical chemistry.  Dr. Joshua Owen is also a UK Ph.D graduate (Butterfield) and will teach in multiple parts of the academic program, from general chemistry to organic chemistry to biochemistry. Dr. Ashley Steelman recently earned her Ph.D. at the University of Alabama (Bonizzoni) working on dendrimer synthesis, characterization, and applications. Like her other colleagues, her

By Whitney Hale

(Aug. 11, 2015) — Legendary 81-year-old poet Sonia Sanchez will return to the upcoming Kentucky Women Writers Conference on the 10th anniversary of the founding of the conference series named for her. The Sonia Sanchez Series, which brings a major thinker in multicultural and human rights issues to Lexington to speak throughout the community, will this year include a free public screening of "BaddDDD Sonia Sanchez: a new documentary," on the life and work of the celebrated writer, at the Lyric Theatre and Cultural Arts Center.

For Sonia Sanchez, writing is both a personal

By Alicia Gregory, Whitney Harder

(Aug. 10, 2015) — Computer science and the St. Chad Gospels. Physics and Spanish. Math and international studies. The combination of these don't seem to make a lot of sense, but it is these interests that have shaped the undergraduate career of one UK senior.

Stephen Parsons, a computer science and international studies major, with minors in physics, Spanish and mathematics, has thrived in a range of studies during his time at UK.

He has also worked in research that merged the fields of computer science and humanities. Parsons, who is a

By Gail Hairston

(Aug. 10, 2015) — The painful memories of World War II continue to adversely impact the political climate of Asia, especially between Japan and China and South Korea. In fact, many scholars still refer to the worldwide conflict as the Asia-Pacific War. Generations later, as the 70th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in 1945 approaches, Japan and its Prime Minister Shinzo Abe still struggle with what The Japan Times recently called "war apology issues."

Into this charged international political atmosphere, University of Kentucky Associate Professor of History Akiko Takenaka’s first book, "

By Gail Hairston

(Aug. 7, 2015) — Michael Bardo, University of Kentucky professor of psychology and director of the UK Center for Drug Abuse Research Translation (CDART), will serve as a member of the Pathophysiological Basis of Mental Disorders and Addictions Study Section of the Center for Scientific Review (CSR) through June 2017. CSR is the National Institutes of Health’s peer review system to identify the most promising research for treating, curing and preventing disease. NIH is part of the U.S. Department of Health and

By Whitney Harder

(Aug. 6, 2015) — University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences, together with its design and construction partners, JRA Architects and Messer, hosted a “topping off ceremony” yesterday to mark the securing of the last and uppermost beam atop the new Academic Science Building (ASB). The ceremony signifies completion of the structural phase of the three-story, $112 million project.

Those in attendance included College of Arts and Sciences Dean Mark Lawrence Kornbluh, Messer Operations Vice President Mark Hill and many Messer and College of Arts and Sciences employees working on the ASB. Held inside the building, attendees could see first-hand the

By Guy Spriggs

(Aug. 5, 2015) — Started in the summer of 2012 as an intensive “boot camp” to help the University of Kentucky’s new students prepare for college-level calculus, the FastTrack program has become an integral part of efforts to help students transition to the college classroom and set them up for success in the College of Arts and Sciences.

The curriculum for FastTrack has expanded over the last four years, and now gives students an invaluable introduction to UK’s math, biology, chemistry, engineering, Spanish and WRD (Writing, Rhetoric and Digital Studies). A key part of the program’s continued growth is the recent addition of FOCUS (FastTrack Orientation for College Undergraduate Success), a component built around developing the non-academic skills students need to

By Whitney Harder

(Aug. 3, 2015) – Vibrant sunflowers, tomatoes, peppers, herbs and more thrive alongside homemade bamboo trellises and watering hubs in an 86-plot garden. Corn stalks grow tall while cabbage blooms in a plot across the walkway. This is where Sookti Chaudhary, a doctoral student in the University of Kentucky Department of Economics, cultivates fresh foods and connects with others.

The garden is located right here on the UK campus in the Shawneetown graduate and family housing community. What began as a student initiative in 2009, the Shawneetown garden has grown from a space for 20 residents to now nearly 90 plots. But more than that, thanks to a UK Sustainability

By Sarah Schuetze

From Hawaii to Arizona, from Arizona to Kentucky, from Kentucky to Bristol, England…fellow statisticians might consider their colleague Grady Weyenberg’s past and future moves a product of what they call random variation, but they are the steps he’s taken toward his career as a statistician.

Weyenberg recently received his Ph.D. from the Department of Statistics at UK, just weeks before he and his wife Hillary make the move from Lexington to Bristol where Weyenberg will begin a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Bristol.

In the midst of preparing for the defense, Weyenberg and his wife were working on selling cars, getting visas, and getting rid of all electronic devices that can’t be used with the English 230 voltage system (

By Sarah Schuetze

In late July the University of Kentucky hosted the International Conference in Homological Algebra. Over the course of three days, scholars from all over the world discussed “recent developments and applications of the homological methods in areas such as Commutative and Non commutative Algebra, Model Category Theory, Algebraic Geometry,” according to the conference website.

David Stone, Professor of Mathematics at Georgia Southern University, explained that homological algebra is “algebra, but not the algebra you learn in high school. It’s much more abstract. Algebra provides the tools we need to compute solutions to many problems from other branches of mathematics and the sciences. It is also of interest for its internal structure—homological algebra explores

By Terrance Wade

(Aug. 3, 2015) - The Department of Chemistry in the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences will host a "Mathematics of Physical Chemistry Boot Camp" to prepare students for mathematical and numerical approaches they will encounter in class and in research.

Comprising two sessions, the free boot camp will take place from 8 a.m. to early afternoon Saturday, Aug. 22, and Saturday, Aug. 29.

The sessions will be instructed by assistant professors of chemistry Peter Kekenes-Huskey and Chad