By Abby Schroering and Sara Shehata

As a land grant university, the University of Kentucky is committed to the advancement of knowledge through research. Even undergraduate students contribute significantly to that mission.

Students of any major, background and skill level have the opportunity to work with professors from all over UK, whether in labs, on faculty projects or even on independent projects that they design themselves.

“For those undergraduates who are interested in building faculty mentorships, gaining critical thinking and presentation skills and deepening their understanding of the subjects that interest them, the UK Office of Undergraduate Research (UGR) is there to help them along the way,” said Evie Russell, assistant director of the UK Office of Undergraduate Research

By Whitney Hale

 The University of Kentucky Office of Nationally Competitive Awards has announced five of the university's undergraduate students pursued research in their fields of study this summer with funding from the National Science Foundation-Research Experiences for Undergraduates (NSF-REU) program.

The NSF funds many research opportunities for undergraduate students through its REU Sites program. An REU Site consists of a group of approximately 10 undergraduates who work in the research programs of the host institution. Each student is associated with a specific research project, where he/she works closely with faculty and other researchers. Throughout the NSF-REU program, students are granted stipends and, in many cases,

By Susan Odom

Yinan Wei, associate professor of chemistry at the University of Kentucky, has received an award to study membrane protein oligomerizations in bilayers. This award, supported by the Chemistry of Life Processes Program in the Chemistry Division of the National Science Foundation, investigates protein-protein interactions in the cell membrane that lead to the assembly of functional protein complexes.

Selective-permeable membranes, which define the boundaries of individual cells and cellular organelles, are essential for energy production to sustain life. Membrane proteins are gates on these highly impermeable barriers, allowing selective exchange of

University of Kentucky researchers participating in a Department of Energy-funded center have discovered a ground-breaking process that allows them to harness energy from chemical reactions that previously would have been dismissed as unusable. The process – which maximizes the efficiency of reactions at the molecular level – could affect everything from synthetic biology to fuel and chemical production. The authors are part of a multi-institutional team called the Biological Electron Transfer and Catalysis (BETCy) Energy Frontier Research Center. The Center is headquartered at Montana State University, and the key authors of the paper are at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colo., MSU, Arizona State University, the University of Georgia and the University of Kentucky. BETCy was launched in 2014 and is one of 32 Energy Frontier Research Centers throughout

Dr. Yinan Wei, associate professor of chemistry at the University of Kentucky, has received an award to study membrane protein oligomerizations in bilayers. This award, supported by The Chemistry of Life Processes Program in the Chemistry Division of the National Science Foundation, investigates protein-protein interactions in the cell membrane that lead to the assembly of functional protein complexes.

Selective-permeable membranes, which define the boundaries of individual cells and cellular organelles, are essential for energy production to sustain life. Membrane proteins are gates on these highly impermeable barriers, allowing selective exchange of substances and signals across the membrane. Understanding of the molecular recognition process leading to membrane protein

Dr. Kenneth Graham, an assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Kentucky, has been selected as a recipient of a CAREER Award from the Department of Energy. This award supports the development of individual research programs of outstanding scientists early in their careers and stimulates research programs in the disciplines supported by the DOE Office of Science.

Dr. Graham’s research funded under this award focuses on a promising set of emerging solution-processed semiconductors, organometal halide perovskites (OMHPs).  These low-cost semiconductors can be printed from solution to make solar cells with power conversion efficiencies equal to current state-of-the-art commercial solar cell materials, which require slower and more expensive processing methods. Furthermore,

By Gail Hairston

Peter Kekenes-Huskey, assistant professor of chemistry, is the first University of Kentucky faculty member to be awarded funding under the National Institutes of Health’s Outstanding Investigator Award (R35) activity code. The new grant will be made under the National Institute of General Medical Sciences’ (NIGMS) prestigious Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) program.

The $1.55 million MIRA grant will enable Kekenes-Huskey and his team of researchers to develop large-scale, computer-based models to study the role of calcium regulation at a subcellular level. The role of calcium in the body is paramount,

By Gail Hairston

A team of scientists at the University of Kentucky and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have been awarded a $200,000 National Science Foundation grant to develop a prototype of a battery utilizing chemical components prepared at UK.

UK chemistry professors Susan Odom and John Anthony synthesized new organic compounds as donors and acceptors for a type of battery called a redox flow battery (RFB), currently of great interest for large-scale energy storage. In collaboration with James Landon (UK Center for Applied Energy Research) and Fikile Brushett (MIT), the team will investigate the operation of the new materials in a prototype.

This PFI: AIR-TT (Partnerships for Innovation: Accelerating Innovation Research-Technology Translation) project focuses on incorporating high concentration organic electrolytes for redox

By Dave Melanson

Robby Pace, a chemistry graduate student, working at UK CAER.

The University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy Research’s (CAER) Biofuels and Environmental Catalysis Group has received a $2 million U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) grant to develop new emissions technology for low-temperature gasoline.

The project is titled “Research and Development of Novel Adsorber Technology to Address Hydrocarbon and Nitrogen Oxide Emissions for Low Temperature Gasoline Applications.” As part of the grant, UK CAER will be partnering with the University of California, Berkeley, Purdue University, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Ford Motor Company.

This research project seeks to solve a problem with vehicle emissions. As internal combustion engines become more efficient, their

A team of scientists at the University of Kentucky and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have been awarded a National Science Foundation grant to develop a prototype of a battery utilizing chemical components prepared at UK. Professors Susan Odom and John Anthony (UK Chemistry) synthesized new organic compounds as donors and acceptors for a type of battery called a redox flow battery (RFB), currently of great interest for large-scale energy storage. In collaboration with James Landon (UK CAER) and Fikile Brushett (MIT), the team will investigate the operation of the new materials in a prototype.

This PFI: AIR Technology Translation project focuses on incorporating high concentration organic electrolytes for redox flow batteries (RFBs) into functional, high-voltage, stationary batteries. RFB have advantages for electrical grid-scale energy storage options, including

By Lori Minter

The University of Kentucky has released its Dean's List for the spring 2017 semester.  A total of 6,412 students were recognized for their outstanding academic performance. 

To make a Dean’s List in one of the UK colleges, a student must earn a grade point average of 3.6 or higher and must have earned 12 credits or more in that semester, excluding credits earned in pass-fail classes.  Some UK colleges require a 3.5 GPA to make the Dean’s List.

The full Dean's List can be accessed by visiting: www.uky.edu/PR/News/DeansList/.

UK is the University for Kentucky. At UK, we are educating more students, treating more patients with complex illnesses and conducting more research and service than at any time in our 150-year history. To read more about the UK

UK Chemistry Researchers Develop Catalyst that Mimics the Z-Scheme of Photosynthesis

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 22, 2017) — A team of chemists from the University of Kentucky and the Institute of Physics Research of Mar del Plata in Argentina has just reported a way to trigger a fundamental step in the mechanism of photosynthesis, providing a process with great potential for developing new technology to reduce carbon dioxide levels.

Led by Marcelo Guzman, an associate professor of chemistry in the UK College of Arts and Sciences, and Ruixin Zhou, a doctoral student working with Guzman, the researchers used a synthetic nanomaterial that combines the highly reducing power of cuprous oxide (Cu2O) with a coating of

By Shana Hutchins and Jenny Wells

It’s a material world, and an extremely versatile one at that, considering its most basic building blocks — atoms — can be connected together to form different structures that retain the same composition.

Diamond and graphite, for example, are but two of the many polymorphs of carbon, meaning that both have the same chemical composition and differ only in the manner in which their atoms are connected. But what a world of difference that connectivity makes: The former goes into a ring and costs thousands of dollars, while the latter has to sit content within a humble pencil.

The inorganic compound hafnium dioxide commonly used in optical coatings likewise has several polymorphs, including a tetragonal form with highly attractive properties for computer chips and other optical elements. However, because this form is

Middle school students are awed when they get the chance to turn a banana into a percussion instrument at the 2017 Expanding Your Horizons STEM workshop for girls.

Sometime during the transition from middle school to high school, girls often find their early interest in science and math steered in other directions, often toward careers that fit comfortably into a box of more “traditional” women’s roles. A recent daylong workshop at the University of Kentucky sought to stem that tide by introducing 120 Kentucky middle school girls to a challenging STEM career.

A multidisciplinary project, Expanding Your Horizons, focused on countermanding some of the possible reasons that girls’ interest in the sciences flag at a certain age, such as peer pressure or a lack of female role models. During the workshop, the young students met many female undergraduate and

By Jenny Wells

The University of Kentucky’s #IAmAWomanInSTEM project has awarded scholarships to 11 UK students for project proposals that promote STEM education and careers for women.

Females are less likely than their male counterparts to pursue an education in the STEM disciplines, which include science, technology, engineering and math. The #IAmAWomanInSTEM initiative, which launched at UK last year, seeks to change that by recruiting hundreds of female student ambassadors who are encouraging the study of STEM and health care among women at UK, and empowering them to persist in those fields.

“As a public research institution and the state's flagship, UK has an important role in promoting graduation of women in STEM majors,” said Randolph Hollingsworth, assistant provost and advisor of the program

Two NASA Kentucky grants were awarded to support research in the Chemistry Department. Prof. Beth Guiton received funding for using single-atom resolution and in situ Imaging to determine the structure of thermoelectric materials in real-time. Profs. Susan Odom and John Anthony received funding for the development of a low temperature redox flow battery prototype for space applications.  Both projects were funded via NASA KY’s Research Infrastructure Development (RIDG) mechanism.

Aerosol particles suspended in the air of urban environments typically reduce visibility, interact with sunlight by scattering and absorbing radiation, and lower air quality. In addition, these tiny particles can also contribute large pollution plumes, called “brown clouds”, which have been observed to originate over South Asia in recent years and undergo long distance transport by the wind to reach other continents. The particles in brown clouds are composed by an unhealthy and variable mix including ozone and organic molecules found in smoke.

Artwork depicting the oxidation of aromatic molecules emitted during the combustion of fossil fuels. Photo Credit: Liz Pillar-Little

A laboratory study entitled “Oxidation of Substituted Catechols at the Air-Water Interface: Production of

By Shana Hutchins and Jenny Wells

The authors observed in real-time the transformation of a HfO2 nanorod from its room temperature to tetragonal phase, at 1000° less than its bulk temperature. Nanorod surfaces and twin boundary defects (pictured here) serve to kinetically trap this phase.

It’s a material world, and an extremely versatile one at that, considering its most basic building blocks — atoms — can be connected together to form different structures that retain the same composition.

Diamond and graphite, for example, are but two of the many polymorphs of carbon, meaning that both have the same chemical composition and differ only in the manner in which their atoms are connected. But what a world of difference that connectivity makes: The former goes into a ring and costs thousands of dollars, while the latter has

In recognition of his contributions to the field of environmental chemistry Kayvon Ghayoumi is honored with the Division of Environmental Chemistry 2017 Undergraduate award from the American Chemical Society. Ghayoumi earned a B.A. in Chemistry at the University of Kentucky this Spring. His interest in Environmental Chemistry started while taking CHE 565 taught by Dr. Marcelo Guzman, who later became his research supervisor. For his research in collaboration with Assistant Professor Marcelo Guzman and graduate student Evie Zhou, Ghayoumi tackled a current problem studying the photocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide on nanocomposites that operate under a direct Z-scheme mechanism. Ghayoumi will be starting law school this coming Fall at George Washington University and plans to apply his chemistry knowledge to specialize in both patent and environmental law.

At the Graduation Celebration & Student Awards Ceremony, held Friday, May 5, 2017, in the Jacobs Science Building, several undergraduate and graduate students were recognized.

Undergraduate Awards:

Freshman Chemistry Award: Jacqueline Kowalke

General Chemistry Excellence Award: Nathaniel Morgan, Grace Anderson

Hammond Leadership Award: Amir Kucharski

Hammond Undergraduate Service Award: Jumanah Mahmoud

William Meredith Riggs Award: Aaron Snell

Nancy J. Stafford Award: Sarah Gobel

Thomas B. Nantz Memorial Scholarship: Christian Powell

Paul G. Sears Scholarship: Ashley Weaver, Benjamin Stewart, Connon Rhodes

Dr. Hume and Ellen Towle Bedford Scholarship: Thuy Nguyen

David W. and Eloise C. Young Scholarship: Ebubechi Adindu, Cody Robinette

Paul L. Corio Scholarship: