by Whitney Hale

The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation (ASF) has selected University of Kentucky student Brandon Kulengowski, of Lagrange, Ky., as one of this year's 28 recipients of the prestigious $10,000 scholarship. The ASF Scholarship is presented annually to outstanding college students majoring in science, technology, engineering or math.

Astronaut Scholars exhibit motivation, imagination and intellectual daring, as well as exceptional performance, both in and outside the classroom. The foundation has awarded more than $3.5 million in scholarships to date, including $131,000 in scholarships to UK students alone.

Brandon Kulengowski, the son of Debbie and Timothy Kulengowski, attended Oldham County High School before coming to UK. At the university, he is pursuing a doctoral

by Sarah Geegan 

Three University of Kentucky faculty have lead the effort in establishing an important statewide initiative in the field of physiology. Robin Cooper from the Department of Biology, along with Michael Reid and Francisco H. Andrade, both from the Department of Physiology, have brought together physiologists from across the Commonwealth to form the Kentucky Chapter of the American Physiological Society (APS).

The APS is an international

by Kathy Johnson

WUKY's "UK Perspectives" focuses on the people and programs of the University of Kentucky and is hosted by WUKY General Manager Tom Godell.  Today's program features two UK students who excel in both the classroom and on the field. Freshman soccer midfielder Cailin Harris and sophomore decathlete Daniel Buckles are also in the UK Honors Program.

To listen to the podcast interview, from which "UK Perspectives" is produced, click here.

"UK Perspectives" airs at 8:35 a.m. and 5:45 p.m. each Friday on WUKY 91.3, UK's NPR station.

by Whitney Hale

Last spring, Teach for America selected 27 recent graduates of the University of Kentucky to serve in America's inner cities and rural communities. The UK group, the largest in school history, is among 5,800 new corps members selected for Teach for America, a national program in which outstanding college graduates commit to teach for two years in disadvantaged urban and rural public schools.

Teach for America places its recruits in the nation's highest-need elementary and secondary schools in many of the country's lowest income communities, both rural and urban, in an effort to close the achievement gap between economically advantaged and disadvantaged children.

This year’s corps is the largest in Teach for America’s history.

First photo: Jennifer Osterhage crosses the finish line as the women's winner of the 2011 Louisville Sports Commission Half Marathon.
Second photo: As the winner, Jennifer was asked to hold the women's finish line tape at the summer 2012 Louisville Ironman (standing right). 

Jennifer Osterhage is a lecturer in the Department of Biology at UK that specializes in molecular biology, phylogenetics, and biology education. In addition to teaching an introductory biology course (BIO 148) and coordinating the Genetics laboratories, she is continuing a collaboration with other geneticists and ecologists at other institutions investigating the evolutionary relationships among the Homalopsidae, rear-fanged water snakes found throughout Southeast Asia.

Outside of all her

by Sarah Geegan

Each year, more than 500 UK students get involved through UK Athletics, programs that carry rich tradition. However, freshman Cailin Harris and sophomore Daniel Buckles took their involvement one step further, engaging in a program that upholds another aspect of the UK tradition — the UK Honors Program.

Buckles, a decathlete on the Men's Track and Field team estimated that he spends at least 20-25 extra hours per week between the two

by Sarah Geegan and Fran LeFort

UK alumna Diana Wall, recognized as one of the world’s foremost experts on biodiversity, has been named the 2012 Mines Medalist, a national honor the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology awards annually to engineers and scientists who have demonstrated exceptional leadership and innovation.

Wall received her Ph.D. in plant pathology, from the UK College of Agriculture and her B.A. in biology from the

By Sarah Geegan

Ten students from colleges across the country came to UK this summer for a competitive research opportunity, unique in multiple senses.

Through a National Science Foundation (NSF) program called Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU), the students, the first cohort among a total of three over the span of three summers, spent 10 weeks studying suburban ecology and invasive species at or nearby UK's Ecological Research Facility (ERF). The facility, adjacent to The UK/Lexmark Center for Innovation in Math and Science Education (formerly Lexington's Northside Library), offers a unique setting for the study of invasive species; ERF consists of 54 acres nestled in the middle of a

Below is a Chinese newspaper article on Department of Biology professor Carol Baskin that originally ran in the Morning News and was written by Yankuang Su. There is also a letter attachment from Xinjiang Agricultural University inviting Baskin to give several guest lectures and congratulating her on her “Tianshan Award.”

Wearing a simple patterned shirt, light-colored pants and a pair of golden-colored glasses, this tall and scientific-looking woman is American professor Carol Baskin.

Carol Baskin is a professor at the University of Kentucky. In 2006, she and her husband Professor Jerry Baskin made their first academic visit to Xinjiang when they started

By Sarah Geegan

Biology professor James Krupa recently received his second major accolade from the National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) in the past two years. After taking home the NABT University Teaching Award last year, Krupa received the Evolution Education Award for 2012 — crediting famous UK alumnus John T. Scopes for much of his inspiration.

The award recognizes innovative classroom teaching and community education efforts to promote the accurate understanding of biological evolution. Sponsored by the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) and National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent), the honor will be officially presented to Krupa at the

At any given time, hundreds of salamanders are being bred at the University of Kentucky. "We have the only captive-bred salamander population in the world where people can call us up, and we can do the breedings, make those resources and ship them out nationally and internationally," says Randal Voss, a professor of biology and faculty associate of the Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center (SCoBIRC).

With funding from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Army Research Office, Voss is studying salamander regeneration—something that may one day help people with spinal cord and limb injuries. He is involved in sequencing the salamander genome, and says he has been able to identify genes that explain variation in the rate of

Biology Professor Ann Morris' lab contains approximately 200 individual fish tanks, but only one type of fish.

Having recently secured a $1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Morris will continue investigating zebrafish and the insight they offer in regard to solutions for human retinal degeneration. The NIH grant, titled, “The role of insm1 in vertebrate photoreceptor differentiation,” will be funded over five years and focuses on zebrafish to better understand genetic pathways that control the development of the retina.

"Mammals cannot regenerate photoreceptors, because the retina is part of the central nervous system, and like other neurons in the brain, when you damage them you can't replace them," Morris said. "So that means when people get genetic diseases where the neurons, particularly the

By Sarah Geegan

The University of Kentucky Biology, Physics and Astronomy, Chemistry, and Psychology departments are reaching out to area high school science teachers and teaching them something new: what's new in science.

The What's New in Science series, an outreach program aimed to strengthen UK's relationships with high school science programs, will engage teachers and youth in various scientific areas. It will focus specifically on emerging discoveries and developments in the realm of science.

"The university already has a strong history in supporting science teachers in Kentucky Schools," said Sally

By Sarah Geegan

In February, area high school teachers gathered twice at the University of Kentucky to learn about recent scientific discoveries and breakthroughs, specifically in the fields of chemistry, physics and astronomy. On Thursday, March 22, the College of Arts and Sciences will offer a biological perspective on "What's New in Science."

Biology professor Randal Voss will lead the third forum in the What's New in Science series, an outreach program aimed to strengthen UK's relationships with high school science programs.

The series engages teachers and youth in various scientific areas by focusing specifically on

The annual Darwin Lecture Series will feature Eugenie C. Scott, who will present a lecture titled "Darwin: Demon or Revolutionary?" Presented by the Kentucky Section of the American Institute for Professional Geologists, the lecture will be presented at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 16, at Singletary Center for the Arts Recital Hall.

Scott is the executive director at The National Center of Science Education at the University of Missouri. She has been a researcher and activist in the creationism/evolution conflict for over 25 years, and is able to address the variety of different aspects the conflict entails.

The sponsors for the lecture include:

By Whitney Hale, Photo by Matt Barton, UK College of Agriculture

The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation (ASF) has selected University of Kentucky senior Taylor Lloyd, of Union, Ky., as one of this year's 26 recipients of the prestigious $10,000 scholarship. The ASF Scholarship is presented to outstanding college students majoring in science, technology, engineering or math.

"Taylor is an extraordinary student who shows incredible success in her studies and undergraduate research," says UK President Eli Capilouto. "We are thrilled to see her hard work recognized by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation. We believe she will be a major contributor to her field in the future, and this scholarship will help make that possible."

Astronaut Scholars