By Clark Bellar

(March 24, 2015) — University of Kentucky Association of Emeriti Faculty (UKAEF) presented fellowship awards to three UK graduate students at a ceremony Feb. 10. Each award includes a stipend of $2,500.

Since 1996, 59 fellowships have been awarded totaling $84,500. Three or four fellowships are presented annually to full-time graduate students. These awards are made possible through donations from UKAEF members as well as from the Commonwealth of Kentucky Research Challenge Trust Fund.

This year's UKAEF Fellowship awards are named in honor of

By Lydia Whitman

(March 12, 2015)   The University of Kentucky Gaines Center for the Humanities has chosen 12 outstanding undergraduates as new scholars for the university's Gaines Fellowship Program for the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 academic years. Gaines Fellowships are given in recognition of outstanding academic performance, demonstrated ability to conduct independent research, an interest in public issues and a desire to enhance understanding of the human condition through the humanities.

Gaines Fellowships are awarded for the tenure of a student's junior and senior years,

By Whitney Harder

(Feb. 26, 2015) — Melissa Keinath, a graduate student in the University of Kentucky Department of Biology, has been awarded a Genome 10K fellowship to attend the 2015 Genome 10K Conference and present her research poster, "Characterization of a Large Vertebrate Genome Using Shotgun and Laser Capture Chromosome Sequencing." The conference will take place March 1-5 in Santa Cruz, California.

A relatively exclusive event, the Genome 10K Conference will explore critical topics essential for assembling a "genomic zoo" of some 10,000 vertebrate species. The zoo will help understand how complex animal life evolved through changes in DNA and create a resource for worldwide conservation efforts.

by Whitney Harder

(Dec. 18, 2014) — Thirteen University of Kentucky students took home top honors at the Kentucky Academy of Science 100th Annual Meeting in November, where hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students from Kentucky colleges and universities participated in research competitions.

Winners included graduate and undergraduates from the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment, College of Arts and Sciences, Gatton College of Business and Economics, College of Health Sciences and College of Public Health.

Graduate oral presentations:

by Jenny Wells

(Dec. 17, 2014) — The University of Kentucky Office for Undergraduate Research has presented 17 students with the Oswald Research and Creativity Program awards.

"There is so much high quality research being done by UK undergraduate students," said Diane Snow, director of the Office for Undergraduate Research. "We're very grateful for funding through the Oswald Awards to be able to recognize and reward these exceptional individuals!"

Established in 1964 by then-UK President John Oswald, the Oswald Research and Creativity Program encourages research and creative activities by undergraduate students at UK. The objectives of the program are to stimulate creative work by undergraduate students and to recognize individuals who demonstrate

(Nov. 20, 2014) — As University of Kentucky freshmen settle into life as college students, a new resource on campus has been helping them adjust to STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) programs, known for difficult coursework. Undergraduate instructional assistants (UIAs) within one of the university's newest Living Learning Programs, STEMCats, use their past experiences to mentor incoming UK students.

The College of Arts and Sciences recently produced a podcast about the STEMCats community, featuring many STEMCats UIAs explaining what they enjoy about the program and their connections with younger STEM students.

"You get to help them succeed

by Keith Hautala

(Oct. 1, 2014) — Helen Blau, director of Stanford University's Baxter Laboratory for Stem Cell Biology, will deliver the sixth annual Thomas Hunt Morgan Lecture, presented by the University of Kentucky Department of Biology. 

Blau's lecture, titled "Reprogramming Stem Cell Fate and Function," will take place at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 2, in Room 116 of the Thomas Hunt Morgan Building. Blau will give a second talk, "Extended Healthspan Through Regenerative Medicine," at 10 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 4, in the William T. Young Library Auditorium.  

Blau’s research is focused on the regulation of cell fate. In the 1980s her lab challenged and changed the dogma that the mammalian differentiated state was "terminal

by Jenny Wells

(Aug. 26, 2014) — The University of Kentucky Chellgren Center for Undergraduate Excellence honored its newest class of Chellgren Fellows this past weekend.  Benefactor Paul Chellgren, along with Chellgren Endowed Chair Philipp Kraemer, recognized and congratulated the students on being named Fellows.

The Chellgren Fellows Program is for students with exceptional academic potential and aspirations, who are eager to participate in a special learning community designed to cultivate extraordinary achievement. Outstanding faculty members from across campus serve as individual mentors for the Fellows.

The students selected as 2014-15 Chellgren Fellows include:

by Keith Hautala

(Aug. 13, 2014) — University of Kentucky biologist Jeramiah Smith studies salamanders and sea lamprey to find genetic clues to regeneration. Smith works closely with colleague Randal Voss on sequencing the salamander genome. Both are in the Department of Biology in the College of Arts and Sciences.

"It’s 10 times bigger than the human genome, even though it probably contains essentially the same genes as the human genome," he said. "So there are lessons that can be learned about how organisms deal with all the DNA they have by looking at sort of this extreme example in salamanders. It can provide an important perspective on what the ancestral genome looked like."

Like salamanders, sea lamprey can regenerate

Video by UK Research Media

by Keith Hautala

(July 23, 2014) — University of Kentucky Biology Professor Ashley Seifert, whose research is focused on skin regeneration, is studying the African spiny mouse, a tiny mammal with some amazing regenerative abilities.     

"What’s phenomenal is that they’re able to regenerate complex tissue structures," Seifert said. "They can regenerate all of the components of their skin including hair follicles, sebaceous glands and the underlying dermis, the structural component which gives the skin strength. And then, in the ears, amazingly, they can regenerate cartilage. Any orthopedic surgeon will tell you what a huge advance it would be if we could figure out how to regenerate cartilage in a mammal." 

Video produced by Alicia P. Gregory, videography/direction by Chad Rumford.

by Keith Hautala

(July 14, 2014) — Regeneration is one of the most tantalizing areas of biological research. How are some animals able to regrow body parts following injury? Why can't humans do the same thing? Can scientists learn the secrets that imbue certain animals with this amazing ability? Could that knowledge someday be used to develop new therapies to help people heal? 

Four professors in the University of Kentucky Department of Biology — Randal Voss, Jeramiah Smith, Ann Morris, and Ashley Seifert — are undertaking the basic scientific research needed to begin to answer these and other questions. Each of them approaches the problem from a different angle, focusing on different aspects of regeneration,

By Mary Venuto

The Ecological Research and Education Center (EREC) has reached an important milestone in becoming a recognized field station.

For eighteen years the Ecological Research Facility (ERF), located on the north side of town, was used as a site for controlled experiments. Four years ago the University of Kentucky bought a former library building that was adjacent to ERF. With financial assistance from LexMark, ERF was able to become a field station.  

University of Kentucky biology faculty and undergraduate students have since used the Ecological Research and Education Center for a broad range of ecological environmental and genomic research. In addition to research, EREC is also involved in furthering the education of undergraduate

by Keith Hautala

(June 3, 2014) — The University of Kentucky has been awarded a $1.9 million grant to improve retention of students in the STEM disciplines: science, technology, engineering and mathematics, through a collection of initiatives dubbed "STEMCats."

UK is one of 37 research institutions selected by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) to receive an award, from among 170 institutions competing for a share of $60 million in total funding. The five-year awards, ranging from $1.2 to $2.4 million, are intended to enable schools to focus on "significant and sustained improvement in retaining students" in the STEM disciplines.

Although the need for STEM graduates is growing nationally, fewer than half of all students who enter college with the intention of majoring in

This story originally ran in the Herald-Leader on Saturday, May 31, and appears courtesy of Linda Blackford and the Lexington Herald-Leader.

by Linda Blackford

In 1976, Geoffrey Manley dropped out of Lafayette High School. He was only a sophomore, but money was tight and he felt like he needed to help support his mom and brother. He'd always enjoyed working with his hands, so he got a job as an auto mechanic at a Texaco station in Gardenside.

"No one in my family had gone to college, so growing up in Lexington, I don't think there was an expectation for me to go to college," Manley, now 53, said recently. "My mom was a single mom and there was a lot of financial burden on our family. I felt a need to go out there and make some money."

He began to specialize

by Buck Ryan

(April 14, 2014) ― A local business owner with 30 years of public service focusing on social justice issues and homelessness, the founder of a service-dog training program to assist people with disabilities, and a student leader who expanded alternative spring break service trips globally are the recipients of the University of Kentucky's 2014 Algernon Sydney Sullivan Medallions for outstanding humanitarian service.

They will receive their medallions this evening at UK's annual Honors and Recognition  Awards Program in the Student Center Grand Ballroom. A 6 p.m. reception will be followed by the formal program beginning at 7 p.m.

The citizen recipient of the Sullivan Award this year is Debra Hensley, owner of the Hensley Agency of State Farm Insurance Companies in Lexington. She has worked in insurance and financial services since 1974.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 21, 2014) — The axolotl may look like a creature from a science fiction movie, but researchers at the University of Kentucky say these strange little salamanders have a lot to teach us.

On Monday, Feb. 24, the university will host a daylong symposium, titled "How Mexican Axolotls Promote Science, Conservation, and Creativity," sponsored by the UK College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Biology, and Department of Hispanic Studies.

The axolotl (rhymes with "tax a bottle") is unusual in that it does not undergo a metamorphosis between its juvenile form and adulthood, as do most salamanders, a trait known as paedomorphism, the retention of juvenile traits by adults.

"Axolotls are the most famous paedomorphic

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 18, 2014) — Three University of Kentucky authors will present recent books about mountaintop removal mining, and the treasured landscapes and Appalachian communities that lie in its midst, at a book talk and signing Thursday, Feb. 27.  

Erik Reece, of the Department of English, and Jim Krupa, of the Department of Biology, will discuss their book, "The Embattled Wilderness: The Natural and Human History of Robinson Forest and the Fight for its Future" (University of Georgia Press, 2013). Shannon Elizabeth Bell, of the Department of Sociology, will discuss her book, "

by Whitney Hale

(Feb. 14, 2014) — In celebration of the University of Kentucky's upcoming sesquicentennial in 2015, the 71st of 150 weekly installments explores the university's connection to the adoption of evolutionary theory.

Kentucky students were introduced to evolutionary theory as early as 1900. A photograph from campus of an early zoology class has written on the chalkboard, "The Evolution of Evolution Theories." This was long before the controversy regarding teaching evolutionary theory in the 1920s would erupt.

William Jennings Bryan, who had visited with campus leaders in 1912, would become the leading antievolutionist of the time.  In 1922, Bryan returned to Kentucky to further his beliefs speaking to large audiences in Lexington, Paris, Danville, as well as the legislature in Frankfort in favor of the antievolution bill.

An

by Keith Hautala

(Feb. 10, 2014) — A Harvard professor will deliver a special lecture at the University of Kentucky about the earliest forms of life on Earth.  

"The Deep History of Life: What Kinds of Life Characterized Earth During the Precambrian?" will be presented by Andrew H. Knoll, of the Harvard University Departments of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Earth and Planetary Sciences. Knoll's talk is free and open to the public and will take place starting at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 13, at Memorial Hall. Free parking will be available at Parking Structure No. 2, on Hilltop Avenue. 

The Precambrian period refers to the time when only primitive life forms existed on Earth, before about 545 million years ago.

"Fossils of shells, bones, tracks, and trails record a history of animal evolution more than 600 million years in duration," Knoll