(Sept. 9, 2015) — This Sunday, the University of Kentucky community will tune in to see one of its own compete for the title of Miss America. Vocal performance and political science sophomore Clark Janell Davis is currently competing in preliminary competitions for the coveted title in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The pageant finals will air live 9 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 13, on ABC.

In addition to watching Davis compete for the crown, Big Blue Nation can vote for Davis to be selected as America's Choice in the pageant. Individuals can vote daily for one contestant to be named America's Choice through Sept. 10 via social media. On Facebook, type both Kentucky and

By Whitney Harder

(Sept. 9, 2015) — Founding project scientist for the Hubble Space Telescope, Robert O'Dell, will speak on the University of Kentucky campus Sept. 10.  He is the guest for Sky Talk, a series of astronomy related presentations organized by the UK Department of Physics and Astronomy and the MacAdam Student Observatory.

The presentation, "Traveling Through the Orion Nebula," will take place at 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 10, in Room 139 of the Chemistry-Physics Building.  The program will include a Japanese National Television documentary of O'Dell and his studies of Orion Nebula, followed by a question and answer period with O'Dell.

By Kathy Johnson

(Sept. 4, 2015) — 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 guest host is Julie Wrinn, director of the Kentucky Women Writers Conference, which is housed at UK and will take place Sept. 10-13. Wrinn chats with poet Kathleen Driskell, author of a new book of poetry published by University Press of Kentucky and a presenter at the Kentucky Women Writers Conference. 

To listen to the podcast interview from which "UK Perspectives" is produced, visit http://wuky.org/post/poet-kathleen-driskell-living-next-door-dead.

"UK

By Jenny Wells

(Sept. 3, 2015) — The University of Kentucky Office of Undergraduate Research invites students from all disciplines to submit research proposals for the 2016 Posters-at-the-Capitol event Feb. 25, 2016, in Frankfort, Kentucky. Abstracts are being accepted now through Oct. 14.

View the flyer

Posters-at-the-Capitol is a collaborative program where undergraduates from each of Kentucky's eight public universities and the Kentucky Community and Technical College System present the results of research they have conducted as part of their college experience before the state legislature in Frankfort.

Susan Bordo, a professor of gender and women’s studies, M. Christina Alcalde, an associate professor of gender women's studies, and Ellen Rosenman, Provost's Distinguished Professor of English, at the University of Kentucky are co-editors of a new book titled "Provocations: A Transnational Reader in the History of Feminist Thought."

Bordo, Alcalde, and Rosenman recently participated in a guest blog spot for University of California Press where they discussed the new book. To view this blog, visit http://www.ucpress.edu/blog/18835/provocations/. 

By Whitney Harder

(Sept. 1, 2015) — Kim Woodrum, a senior lecturer in the University of Kentucky Department of Chemistry, has been appointed as a committee member of the American Chemical Society (ACS) Division of Chemical Education Examinations Institute.

The committee is responsible for producing the 2017 General Chemistry Paired Questions Examination. This exam, and others prepared by the Examinations Institute, is used by many high school and undergraduate chemistry courses in the U.S. 

"The appointment to this committee is a significant recognition of stature in the chemistry education community and is an important creative and professional activity. I am sure that you are pleased to have outstanding

By Whitney Hale

(Sept. 1, 2015) — For centuries, African Americans in the United States have had to overcome a lack of resources chronicling individuals' lives and culture in the nation's early history based on bigotry and societal status. Today, the black community's LGBTQ* members face similar obstacles in capturing their story. Scholar Jennifer Jones will speak to these difficulties at a talk at the University of Kentucky beginning 4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 3, in the Great Hall of the Margaret I. King Library Building. The event is free and open to the public.

Jones' talk, "A Complicity of Silence: Aaron Henry, 'The Fire Ever Burning' and the possibilities of archiving Black genders/

By Katie Pratt

(Sept. 1, 2015) — Teaching science is one thing, experiencing it is another. Through a unique program, Kentucky science, technology, engineering and mathematics teachers spent this past summer experiencing the subjects firsthand on the University of Kentucky campus through the STEM PRIDE program.

Spearheaded by faculty and staff in the UK College of Agriculture, Food and Environment and UK College of Education, the two-year program focuses on providing teachers of middle and high school students and area technology centers broad experience in each area.

“The teachers get to see what happens in research labs at a university and in a related

By Alexis Simms

(Sept. 1, 2015) — The University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences is kicking off its annual Passport to the World initiative with an event Sept. 3. For the academic 2015-2016 year the focus will be "A Year of Europe." This will be a yearlong celebration of Europe through cultural events, public lectures, and travel opportunities.

“The college’s Passport to the World initiative began five years ago and enables the campus to embark on yearlong explorations of the culture and history of a particular region or country,” said Mark Lawrence Kornbluh, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “This year’s focus on Europe will integrate art, history, literature, political analysis, architecture, geography and so much more as we

By Whitney Hale

(Aug. 28, 2014) — One week remains for students to apply for the University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) Learning Lab internship. The SCRC Learning Lab is a center of primary research, experiential learning, and training targeted to UK undergraduates in various disciplines who want to enhance their studies through training in archival methods and theory. Applications for fall and spring internships are due Friday, Sept. 4.

Interns with the SCRC Learning Lab will be taught to arrange and describe rare or unique collections in their area of research interest, and enhance access to those collections through the broader academic community

By Whitney Harder

(Aug. 31, 2015) — Have you ever wondered if your vote actually counts? Is a drone or a dog more useful in a combat zone? How long has there actually been a war on Christmas? And why is it taking so long to elect a female president? Two University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences doctoral students want to answer these questions by talking with UK historians. The catch: they have to be brief.

"Long Story Short: A Brief History of History," a podcast produced by Department of History doctoral students Cody Foster and Dara Vance, premiered last week on the college's SoundCloud. In the first episode, Foster and Vance talk with history

By Whitney Harder

(Aug. 31, 2015) — The University of Kentucky Sustainability Challenge Grant Program is funding sustainability projects on campus for the second year and with double the funds. This year, $200,000 is available to interdisciplinary teams working on sustainability-driven projects.

The program is designed to engage multidisciplinary teams from the university community in the creation and implementation of ideas that will simultaneously advance economic vitality, ecological integrity and social equity, now and into the future.  

"The campus response to the Sustainability Challenge Grant Program was tremendous last year with outstanding proposals from nearly two dozen interdisciplinary teams and seven funded projects that utilized our

By Guy Spriggs

Because of incomplete or partial data, it can be hard to calculate accurate approximations important to scientific work such as medical research. When human subjects quit clinical trials, what do researchers and statisticians do with incomplete results when trying to estimate survival probability?

Statistics professor Mai Zhou’s new book, “Empirical Likelihood Method in Survival Analysis,” aims to answer these questions by applying a new principle to data approximation dealing with duration.

“Empirical likelihood is a relatively new method. I’ve been fascinated by this method since the terminology was invented in 2001,” Zhou explained. Since then, he has been on leave twice to collaborate with partners and been awarded two research grants from the National Science Foundation for work leading toward his book.

As Zhou explains, likelihood is

By Whitney Hale

(Aug. 27, 2015) — Kathleen Driskell, the Kentucky poet behind the new collection, "Next Door to the Dead," and award-winning poet Angela Ball are among the featured presenters at this year's Kentucky Women Writers Conference being held Sept. 11-12, in Lexington. A limited number of spaces still remain for workshops with Driskell and Bell at the celebrated literary festival.

Kathleen Driskell’s newest collection "Next Door to the Dead," published by University Press of Kentucky, was just released this month. In the book, the poet found

Kent Ratajeski, a geologist and professor of earth and environmental science at the University of Kentucky, was mentioned in an article on earthmagazine.com. Alongside another geologist, Ratajeski created the map, “The United States According to Geologists.” To view the full story, visit http://www.earthmagazine.org/article/hazardous-living-maps-according-geologists. 

By Jenny Wells

(Aug. 26, 2015) — The University of Kentucky Chellgren Center for Undergraduate Excellence honored its newest class of Chellgren Fellows Sunday, Aug. 23. Five Chellgren Endowed Professorships were also announced. 

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 2015-16 Chellgren Fellows include:

•  Sloan Ander, a

By Whitney Hale

(Aug. 25, 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 present the nation's fourth 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

By Carl Nathe

(Aug. 26, 2015) — "For a chapter which did not even exist six-and-a-half years ago, we're doing pretty well."

That quote about the University of Kentucky Phi Kappa Phi (PKP) Chapter from chapter President  Frank Ettensohn, professor of earth and environmental sciences and Jefferson Science Fellow, is best described as an understatement. Chartered in April 2009, the UK chapter of the nation's oldest, largest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines is doing more than 'pretty well.'

In its brief history, UK's PKP chapter has been selected as a 'Chapter of Excellence' by national headquarters in two separate years

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