By Richard LeComte

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Sometimes it’s a question of context – or, in this case, the context of questions.

Jennifer Cramer, associate professor of linguistics at the University of Kentucky’s College of Arts & Sciences, specializes in sociolinguistics – the study of how social factors, including race, gender and class, affect language. She’s studied differences in language in Southern regions of the United States in particular.

Over the past five years, she’s found a practical outlet for her research: evaluating questions on an exam given to certify family physicians. She uses her skills to determine if a particular question might be confusing to test-takers because of cultural contexts.

“When we look at an assessment tool, we have to know what we're assessing,” Cramer said. “Linguists work with educational groups all the time when they’re

By Jacqueline J. Greene

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 19, 2021) — The University of Kentucky’s Office of Technology Commercialization recognized and celebrated UK innovators at its Patent Palooza! event Nov. 9. The in-person event brought almost 100 attendees to celebrate the accomplishments of UK innovators and recognize special award recipients.

The event covered accomplishments over the last three fiscal years and recognized more than 100 UK innovators for 82 patents issued, 86 licenses and options executed, 10 SBIR/STTR (Small Business Innovation Research-Small Business Technology Transfer) awards received and 17 accelerator program participants.

Ian McClure, associate vice president for research, innovation and

By Carlie Laughlin

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 11, 2021) — University of Kentucky students, faculty and staff from every area of campus are leading exciting, sustainability-focused programs. These programs provide high-impact research and learning opportunities for students and faculty, have significant positive environmental and economic impacts on operations, and provide resources and support for a foundation of justice, equity, diversity and inclusion at UK and across the Commonwealth. 

The 2021 Sustainability Showcase, hosted in the innovative and community-facing Cornerstone Exchange, highlighted the university's accomplishments in student engagement, athletics, health care, campus operations and interdisciplinary scholarship. A brief award presentation also honored the recipients of

By Akhira Umar

LEXINGTON, KY. (Nov. 11, 2021) — Combining their expertise in communications, the beauty industry, medicine and women’s health, two University of Kentucky alumnae are using their passion for helping women to change the skincare industry.

Cecil Booth (photo left), a 1984 advertising graduate (now integrated strategic communication) from the College of Communication and Information, left behind a 20-year career in a Fortune 500 global beauty company to start her own company. In 2006, she started Beauty Booth with her sister, gynecologist Rebecca Booth (photo right), a 1981 general studies graduate from the College of Arts and Sciences. The sisters are equal co-founders and owners, but Cecil Booth serves as president and CEO, while Rebecca Booth serves as vice president and scientific

By Jenny Wells-Hosley

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 11, 2021) — For more than 100 years, Veterans Day (originally known as Armistice Day) offers an opportunity for those across the United States to come together to honor those who have served in the U.S. military, and show gratitude for their service and sacrifice.

Today, the University of Kentucky is honoring its own veterans, which include hundreds of students, faculty and staff.

“Each year on Nov. 11, we pay tribute to all American veterans and express our deep appreciation for their love of country and willingness to sacrifice,” said UK President Eli Capilouto. “At the University of Kentucky, our faculty, staff and student veterans enrich the lives of those around them and contribute to our community in profound ways. Our veterans are

By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Pick an integer -- any integer -- between zero and 15. Then look through the special cards Richard Ehrenborg has up his sleeve. Not only can he use the cards to figure out what number you picked, but he can do it even if you lie once, through mathematical principles. 

Doesn’t add up? Oh, but it does. To explain the trick, Ehrenborg takes readers back to code corrections in transmitting data over communication networks. He uses his cards to explain key mathematical concepts to his students.  

“I teach math majors and computer science majors about this math, so I wanted to show them these applications,” Ehrenborg said. “All this information technology, number theory and

By Richard LeComte

LEXINGTON, KY – The U.S. Air Force sent these two University of Kentucky grads around the nation and the world, and now they’re back in Lexington. Cadets in UK’s Air Force ROTC Detachment 290 are getting the benefit of these alumni’s experience.

Maj. Lindsey Phillabaum (bottom photo) and Capt. Nichole Nicholson (top photo) are assistant aerospace professors in Aerospace Studies, part of UK’s College of Arts & Sciences, and they’re delighted to have returned. Phillabaum has been at UK for two years, and Nicholson started in July.

Before coming to UK, Nicholson was stationed at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where she was a leader in logistics. Before that, she was stationed in Korea and Alaska. She appreciated her experience at UK so much that she decided to come back.

“When I was going through AFROTC, I absolutely loved the program

By Richard LeComte

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Sierra Heimel has an award-winning passion for hanging out in low places: caves.  

“I enjoy this sub-field of geology for the fieldwork,” she said. “Caves are like visiting another planet, and if you're lucky, you can discover a place or a thing that literally no other human has seen before. Caves are not only a great natural laboratory; they are also an explorer's dream.” 

Heimel, a master’s student in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Kentucky’s College of Arts & Sciences, recently received the John W. Hess Research Award in karst studies from the Geological Society of America.  The award supports graduate student research into cave and karst studies; karst is a 

By Ryan Girves

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 8, 2021) — Firsts can be scary. The first time riding a bike or learning how to drive, or a first job — all scary. Being the first in your family to do something — even scarier. 

Austin Huff, a first-generation University of Kentucky senior from Topmost, a small town in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky, knows this all too well.  

With a dream of making a change in his small town, Huff came to UK to make his dreams reality, despite his hesitations.

“My hometown has some of the highest poverty rates in the nation, and some of the worst health conditions in the nation,” Huff said. “My inspiration for coming to college was making a change for the place I call home. After graduation, I want to attend law school and I want to return to my

By Lindsey Piercy, Alicia Gregory, and Ben Corwin

It’s the signature on a bourbon barrel — it's the ancient footprints in Mammoth Cave.

Heritage science is all around us and has deep roots in the Commonwealth.

Kentucky’s story begins in prehistoric times, when mammoths roamed the Ohio River Valley at Big Bone Lick.

Now, thanks to a $14 million infrastructure grant from the National Science Foundation, the University of Kentucky is poised to tell that story in new, groundbreaking ways through the lens of heritage science.

“We are at a turning point,” Brent Seales, UK Alumni Professor in the Department of Computer Science, said. “Science and technology

By Lindsey Piercy

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 2, 2021) — Robyn Lewis Brown, associate professor in the Department of Sociology in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky, has been awarded a Switzer Fellowship from the National Institute of Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research.

She is one of only four recipients nationwide to receive the prestigious fellowship for the 2021-2022 academic year.

“It is a privilege and honor to receive this award," Brown said. "And I look forward to the research it will allow me to pursue."

Brown will use the funding to expand on her research concerning the effects of the

By Danielle Donham

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 29, 2021) — The 40th annual Kentucky Book Festival returns to Lexington with a mix of virtual and in-person events scheduled from Monday, Nov. 1, to Saturday, Nov. 6. This year’s celebration features 140 authors, culminating in a daylong celebration at Joseph-Beth Booksellers on Saturday, Nov. 6. The weekdays events are a mix of in-person and ticketed events available at http://kybookfestival.org/2021-events. 

These signings, conversations, trivia, meals, presentations and activities serve to celebrate the literary heritage within the Commonwealth. The University of Kentucky is the Main Stage sponsor of the festival on Nov. 6.

By Jesi Jones-Bowman

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 28, 2021) — The University of Kentucky Office of Undergraduate Research has announced the fourth annual 5-Minute Fast Track student research competition finalists. These undergraduates competed in the competition’s two preliminary rounds and were selected as Top 10 finalists to present their research during the final round on Thursday, Oct. 28, in the Gatton Student Center Worsham Cinema.

Finalists will present their research in five minutes in front of a panel of five judges and a live audience using only a single static slide. This challenges students to develop their academic, presentation and research communication skills while also allowing them to showcase their research in a captivating way.

The

By Jenny Wells-Hosley

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 26, 2021) — This Saturday, the University of Kentucky Appalachian Center and the Sunup Initiative will present a virtual panel titled “Advocacy in Southeastern Kentucky.” The event is in recognition of the anniversary of the 1919 expulsion in Corbin, Kentucky.

Advocates from various locations around the Corbin region will gather to share tips and discuss the challenges and successes of being an effective advocate.

The panelists include Sherry Tinsley from Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College, Venus Evans from Kentucky Native American Heritage Commission, John Stewart

By Richard LeComte

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- A volume co-edited by University of Kentucky sociology professor Thomas Janoski has received the International Lean Six Sigma Institute’s Best Book Award for 2021. The book was recognized at the group’s October conference. 

“The Cambridge International Handbook of Lean Production,” was published in May. Janoski and his co-editor, Darina Lepadatu of Kennesaw State University, feature a series of essays that explore both the business advantages and human costs of lean production. The management theory stresses eliminating waste, synchronizing delivery of parts to be “just-in-time” for use, rotating workers through a series of jobs and productivity – also known as the Toyota system. Janoski contrasts lean production with “Fordism,” as in Henry Ford, which features assembly-line mass

By Haley Evans

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 22, 2021) — Four University of Kentucky faculty members have been named Southeastern Conference Academic Leadership Development Program Fellows during the 2021-22 academic year. They represent the 13th cohort of SEC ALDP Fellows.

Established in 2008-09, the program seeks to identify, prepare and advance academic leaders for roles within SEC institutions and beyond. Main features of the program include a university-level development program designed by each institution for its own fellows and two SEC-wide three-day workshops held on specified campuses for all program participants.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, members of cohort 13 will participate in virtual sessions and in-person workshops. The University of Georgia hosted a virtual

By Jenny Wells-Hosley

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 25, 2021) — The University of Kentucky will welcome Emily Hudson, community activist and founder of the Southeast Kentucky African American Museum and Cultural Center, to campus next week as part of the Appalachian Forum series.

The lecture, titled “Yes, You Can Come Home Again,” will take place 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 1, in the William T. Young Library UK Athletics Auditorium, and on Zoom. The presentation is sponsored by the UK Appalachian Center and Appalachian Studies Program, African American and Africana Studies (AAAS), and the Commonwealth Institute for Black Studies (CIBS) at UK.

Hudson will share excerpts from her book, “Soul Miner,” and discuss her journey in search of her identity as an Appalachian and an African American. She will

By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. –Julie Pendergast, assistant professor of biology in the University of Kentucky’s College of Arts & Sciences, has received a five-year CAREER award for junior faculty researchers from the National Science Foundation. The award is for $875,000. Pendergast’s project, "Deciphering the nueral network orchestrating sex differences in metabolic circadian rhythms“, will help scientists gauge how daily patterns affect obesity. 

CAREER awards are the NSF’s most prestigious awards for early career faculty “who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization.” The grants contain both a research and an educational component to supplement the recipients’ teaching duties. 

“The circadian

By Haley Evans and Pedro Fernandes

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 19, 2021) — Two international students were awarded the 2021 Viji Jeganathan Scholarship for Cross-Cultural Understanding during the Global Impacts Awards Ceremony, recognizing their leadership and ability to bridge cultural differences and promote communication between diverse nationalities at the University of Kentucky.

The $1,000 scholarship is awarded annually in memory of former UK student Viji Jeganathan who lost her battle with cancer while attending the university. Originally from Sri Lanka, Jeganathan’s family created the scholarship with funding raised by the community.

Two students were selected as the 2021 recipients:

Alvaro Gonzalez

By Jenny Wells-Hosley

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 18, 2021) — Three alumni and one faculty member were inducted into the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame at a ceremony on campus Oct. 15. 

Now in its 22nd year, the hall of fame recognizes College of Arts and Sciences alumni and faculty who have made meaningful contributions to the university, the Commonwealth and the nation in their respective fields. 

“The Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame honorees’ life stories reflect the power, the breadth, the longevity and the purposefulness of a liberal arts education," said Christian Brady, interim dean of the college. "This year’s inductees’ lives have enriched our community and our nation, and it was