By Charla Hamilton 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 19, 2025) — When Sara Khandani arrived in Kentucky at the age of 10, she faced an unfamiliar world. She had left behind her homeland of Iran, spoke limited English and was suddenly navigating a place that felt entirely foreign. Despite these challenges, she excelled academically, driven by a deep-seated determination and the values instilled in her by her family.

Khandani’s father was a physician in Iran, dedicated to treating patients of all ages. Sometimes patient care extended beyond

By Allison Jones 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 11, 2025) — The University of Kentucky’s Substance Use Priority Research Area (SUPRA) will host the Rising Stars Symposium to showcase innovative research and new findings on substance use disorders.

The symposium will be 8:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Thursday, April 17, in room 150 of the Healthy Kentucky Research Building. Registration for the symposium is online.

The symposium also allows invited researchers to examine the various programs in the

By Robby Hardesty M

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 17, 2025) — Crystal Wilkinson, the Bush-Holbrook Endowed Professor and director of the Division of Creative Writing in the University of Kentucky's College of Arts and Sciences, will present UK  Libraries’ 2025 Edward F. Prichard Lecture.

Wilkinson, who was Kentucky Poet Laureate for 2021-22, will read from her most recent book, “Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts,” and participate in a moderated conversation with journalist and cookbook author Ronni Lundy. Published in 2024, “Praisesong” explores the legacy of Black Appalachians through storytelling alongside nearly 40 comforting recipes.

The Prichard Lecture is 5 p.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 14, 2025) — Two University of Kentucky students are playing major roles in the traditions leading up to the Kentucky Derby.

Maddie Duff, a Lewis Honors College senior majoring in neuroscience and Appalachian studies, and Elizabeth King, a senior Presidential Scholar majoring in finance and music performance, were selected as

By Erin Wickey 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 13, 2024) — Julie Pendergast, Ph.D., and a team of researchers are exploring how disruptions to our body’s natural circadian rhythms and sleep affect health.

“Overwhelming evidence suggests that irregular circadian and sleep patterns, such as inconsistent bedtimes, wake times and eating schedules, are linked to increased risks of cardiovascular disease, cognitive impairment, metabolic disorders, cancer and reduced longevity,” said Pendergast, associate professor in the University of Kentucky's Department of Biology

By Bailey Vandiver 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 7, 2025) — The Big Blue Book Club, hosted by Family and Consumer Sciences in the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service, is entering a new chapter for the club’s 10th book.

For the first time, the club will host meetings across Kentucky, exploring the state while reading “My Old Kentucky Road Trip” by UK alumni Cameron M. Ludwick and Blair Thomas Hess.  

Because “My Old Kentucky Road Trip” includes landmarks and history across Kentucky, taking the book club to some of those places is the “perfect solution to highlighting all that

By Lindsay Travis 
 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 4, 2025) — The University of Kentucky has been selected to lead a project with $2.3 million in funding over four years from the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) to develop next-generation materials critical to commercializing fusion power.

The award is part of the Creating Hardened And Durable fusion first Wall Incorporating Centralized Knowledge (CHADWICK) program. The goal is to discover or develop a class of first wall materials — materials that form the inner wall of a fusion reactor and contact the plasma — that will maintain

By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky, -- The University of Kentucky’s College of Arts and Sciences is presenting three SkyTalks in the upcoming weeks courtesy of the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the MacAdam Student Observatory.

SkyTalks feature UK faculty members delivering a 40-minute presentation followed by a chance to visit the MacAdam observatory, depending on the weather.

Here are three upcoming events: 

7 p.m. Thursday, March 13, Chem-Phys Room 287: “Wham, Bamb, Earth in a Jam? Near Earth Asteroids and a Close Shave for 2032," presented by Tom Troland, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. 

A recently discovered asteroid will make a close passage by Earth on December 22, 2032. Will it hit Earth? Very likely not, but it will be a close shave. This chunk of solar system debris,

By Meredith Weber and Steve Shaffer 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 5, 2025) — Through nominations and testimonials, the UK Alumni Association’s Great Teacher Award honors educators who inspire, challenge and support their students. 

Established in 1961, the Great Teacher Award is UK’s longest-running award recognizing teaching. To receive the award, educators must first be nominated by a student with final selections made by the UK Alumni Association Great Teacher Award Committee in collaboration with the student organization Omicron Delta Kappa. This year, six exceptional educators have been

By Meredith Weber and Steve Shaffer

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 5, 2025) — At the heart of every great university is great teaching. At the University of Kentucky, students play a vital role in recognizing faculty who make a lasting impact in their lives. Through nominations and testimonials, the UK Alumni Association’s Great Teacher Award honors educators who inspire, challenge and support their students.

Established in 1961, the Great Teacher Award is UK’s longest-running award recognizing teaching. To receive the award, educators must first be nominated by a student, with final selections made by the UK Alumni

By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Tom Marksbury, professor in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric and Digital Studies at the University of Kentucky’s College of Arts and Sciences, co-directed a documentary that was honored in 2024 at the San Francisco Docfest. 

The film will have its Lexington premiere at 6 p.m. Sunday, March 16, at the Kentucky Theatre. The event will be a fund-raiser for the Faulkner Morgan Archive. The Writing Rhetoric, and Digital Studies Department is presenting the event. 

The documentary, “Bob Morgan's Just Going to Tell Some Stories,” received the Grand Jury Prize for Excellence in Profiles. Co-directed by Grayson Tyler Johnson, “Stories” profiles

By Shawntaye Hopkins

Denis Fleming Jr., a 1983 graduate of the University of Kentucky J. David Rosenberg College of Law, has published a new book titled, "Thomas Jefferson and the Kentucky Constitution." He plans to donate all royalties from the book, with a matching gift, to the college for a scholarship fund.

A Louisville native, Fleming received his bachelor’s degree with distinction from the UK College of Arts and Sciences and then stayed at UK for law school. He said an undergraduate course in constitutional law taught by Professor Emeritus Bradley Canon in the College of Arts and Sciences helped ignite his interest in law school. 

In the book, Fleming examines Thomas Jefferson's connection to Kentucky’s constitution. The author uses firsthand accounts from Jefferson, John Breckinridge, and the papers of George Nicholas, who was a key figure behind

By Francis Von Mann and Avery Schanbacher

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 27, 2025) — For Alyssah Robinson, history is more than a major — it’s a calling. 

As a history major and African American and Africana Studies minor at the College of Arts and Sciences at University of Kentucky, Robinson is dedicated to uncovering and preserving Black history, particularly through digital research and theater. She combines her love for storytelling with historical preservation, ensuring that the voices of the past continue to

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 24, 2024) — University of Kentucky researchers have developed a new class of gold-based compounds that show promise in fighting various types of cancer.

The study, led by UK Markey Cancer Center researcher Samuel Awuah, Ph.D., and published in Dalton Transactions, showed that the compounds could kill cancer cells by disrupting their energy production.

The new compounds work by targeting and shutting down mitochondria, which

By Cassady Brockman 

LEXINGTON, Ky. —  The 30th Annual University of Kentucky  Black Women’s Conference presents “We are the Culture: A Symposium on Black Girls & Girlhood.”  

The conference is hosted by the UK College of Arts and Sciences along with the Commonwealth Institute for Black Studies, which will function as a two-day retreat from Friday, March 7, to Saturday, March 8, at the Campbell House. The conference is free for the UK community with registration.  

The conference includes keynotes from Black girlhood scholars, a film screening, workshops and editorial sessions. According to Aria Halliday, Ph.D,   Marie Rich Endowed Professor in Arts and Sciences and

By Jennifer T. Allen 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 24, 2025) — Plamedi Nsensele feels called to help others navigating their new life in the United States. 

“As an international student at the University of Kentucky, I see it as a blessing to pursue my education without the fear of needing help,” said Nsensele, a neuroscience and biology major from The Democratic Republic of the Congo. “Now, through the Step-Up Program, I’ve had the opportunity to work with immigrants from the same country as me, but with different circumstances.” 

Step-Up is an innovative service-learning program supporting high school students from immigrant and refugee families. The program helps them integrate into the United States. The program was recently awarded a Provost Impact Award for the 2024-25 academic year.

By Meredith Weber 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 19, 2025) — The University of Kentucky Women & Philanthropy Network has awarded $232,878.16 to six academic initiatives at UK. These programs were selected as the top proposals receiving votes from members at the recent symposium. Thes awards bring the network’s lifetime grant funding to more than $3.3 million.

The College of Arts and Sciences received $50,000 to enhance its First Generation Trailblazers program, which provides mentorship and scholarship support to first-generation college students. The program pairs 25 upper-

By Cassady Brockman 

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Large-scale tourism can benefit a region economically but have many negative effects on the destination’s people and environment.  

University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences student Abbey McNely is researching the impact on tourism in Bali, Indonesia, with Betsy Beymer-Farris, Ph.D., assistant professor of geography at UK, and Jeffrey Seay, Ph.D, professor of chemical engineering at UK’s Paducah campus. This project began two years ago and pushed her into the world of research.  

“Essentially what I’m doing is examining the economic, social and environmental impacts of tourism in Bali, Indonesia, and examining ways you can mitigate the disparities that tourism causes in indigenous populations,” McNely said.  

McNely, a Lexington native,

By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- “Hydrocarbon Biofuels” will not top the New York Times’ best-seller list for nonfiction books, but for Great C. Umenweke, it’s quite an opportunity, and one that could help humans turn waste into renewable energy. 

Umenweke, a doctoral candidate in chemistry in the University of Kentucky’s College of Arts and Sciences, has published the primer along with his adviser, Eduardo Santillan-Jimenez, Ph.D., adjunct assistant professor of chemistry and associate director of UK’s Center for Applied Energy Research. The e-book is published by the American Chemical Society (ACS) as part of its In Focus series of digital primers.  

By Ariel Arthur 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 11, 2025) — The University of Kentucky’s Students Participating as Ambassadors for Research in Kentucky (SPARK) Program has named its 2025 cohort.

Now in its sixth year, the SPARK program trains undergraduate students from a broad range of backgrounds, experiences and communities to conduct research on health disparities.

Students interested in the joining the program go through a rigorous application process. Accepted students complete a semester-long health disparities research course.

SPARK has supported 23 students since its inception. The 2025 students are: