The University of Kentucky launched its 2003-04 academic year August 23 with a number of events, including the 2003 Kentucky Welcome and UK FUSION (For Unity and Service in Our Neighborhoods), a new program enabling faculty, staff, and students to perform service projects in Lexington. Classes began August 27.
Research grants and contracts from out-of-state sources resulted in a $433.3 million contribution to the Kentucky economy, including $142.7 million in personal income, for fiscal year 2003, according to the UK Center for Business and Economic Research. Externally supported research accounted for a total 7,633 jobs in the Commonwealth — 5,825 jobs at UK and additional jobs throughout the state due to spending for supported research activities. Each dollar of out-of-state external funding for research generates an additional 80 cents in indirect expenditures.
UK researchers brought in a record $222.7 million in the competitive arena of grants and contracts for fiscal year 2003, up 5 percent over the previous year. Federal agencies funded nearly 60 percent of these new sponsored projects and totaled $131.1 million. The major sponsors of UK research are the federal Department of Health and Human Services (including the 21 National Institutes of Health); the National Science Foundation; U.S. departments of Agriculture, Education, Energy and Defense; NASA; and the Small Business Administration. UK also received grants and contracts from state agencies and organizations totaling $53.1 million and $38.5 million from businesses, industries, and foundations.
The UK Hospital Trauma Center has been verified again as a Level I Trauma Center by the Committee on Trauma of the American College of Surgeons. The achievement recognizes the center’s dedication to providing optimal care for injured patients. The UK Hospital Trauma Center is one of only two Level I centers in Kentucky and the only such center providing tertiary trauma care for Central and Southeastern Kentucky. Level I trauma centers offer 24-hour, in-house coverage by general surgeons and care in specialties such as neurosurgery, emergency medicine, internal medicine, and critical care.
Thirty-four rising ninth-graders participated in the UK Chandler Medical Center and Outreach Center for Science and Health Career Opportunities Science Camp for Rural and Appalachian Middle Students. Students were selected based on their academic achievement, recommendations, and application essays. The competitive program, funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, provided each selected student the opportunity to gain appreciation for science and health and elevate his or her self-image and confidence. The pre-college initiative also gives students an early perspective on the college experience through working and living on campus during the two-week summer program. Each student attended classes focusing on organs and systems of the human body. In addition, students participated in hands-on experiments, workshops, seminars, and evening activities in an interesting, stimulating atmosphere.
The Educational Psychology Program in the UK College of Education has been ranked 19th among peer programs at 342 national and international institutions for research productivity, a study in the July issue of Contemporary Educational Psychology states. The scholarly journal examined the authorship of research articles published from 1997 through 2001 in the five leading educational psychology journals: Journal of Educational Psychology, Cognition & Instruction, Educational Psychologist, Contemporary Educational Psychology, and Educational Psychology Review. In all, 699 educational psychology articles written by 1,228 researchers were examined. Among the 342 institutions ranked in the survey, UK rated higher than Yale University, University of Texas at Austin, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Notre Dame, and Columbia University. A similar productivity study conducted in 1996, which reviewed the period from 1991 to 1996, ranked the UK program 23rd.
Four UK experts on the lean manufacturing production philosophy and a community education expert from Madisonville Community College traveled to Moscow, Russia, in early August. The UK Center for Manufacturing in the College of Engineering sent industrial extension specialists Dave MacDuffee and David Veech, lecturer Jim Price, and facilitator Bill Cooper to the Center for Business Skills Development in Moscow. Mike Davenport, liaison for community education and workforce development at Madisonville Community College, accompanied the group. The five specialists conducted lean manufacturing simulations designed to show how to eliminate wasteful production procedures for employees of York International Corp., a supplier of air handling systems with facilities in Russia, and other industries in Moscow.
UK has established a new award recognizing individual and organizational efforts to support and promote diversity within the university. The President’s Award for Diversity will be presented by President Lee T. Todd Jr. Nominations were accepted in four categories: administrator or faculty member; UK staff member; UK student; and a Kentucky agency, company, organization or individual (non-student and non-employee) that has assisted the university in diversity efforts.
Losing her son, Michael, in a campus residence hall fire at Murray State University in 1998 made Gail Minger determined to see that his tragic death would not be in vain. Since that time, she has worked tirelessly in Kentucky and nationally for the cause of campus fire safety. As part of UK’s fire safety awareness training before the beginning of the academic year, Minger addressed UK student residence hall directors and advisers, together with other staff and students.
Thirty of Louisville’s brightest high school students got a jump start on college life as part of the UK Office of Multicultural and Academic Affairs’ Lincoln Foundation’s Whitney M. Young Scholars Program. The scholars program recruits academically talented and socio-economically disadvantaged seventh grade students from the Louisville area. Over a six-year period, they become prepared for high school graduation and a successful career in higher education. Young Scholars are provided structure to their personal environment, assistance in maintaining academic excellence, enhancement of the scholar’s self-esteem, and education about cultural awareness among many other life skills. Upon completion of the program, scholars are provided assistance in obtaining financial aid for college.
The Center for Applied Energy Research’s Carbon Materials Group, under the direction of Rodney Andrews, has been successfully producing pure, aligned multiwalled carbon nanotubes continuously at a rate of more than 1 kilogram per day. Carbon nanotubes, lighter and stronger than steel, were discovered only 10 years ago and represent a new class of materials that may find broad use in electronic, thermal, and structural applications. Scaling up from milligrams to kilograms has presented unique problems in the past, and the lack of large quantities of high-purity nanotubes has inhibited applications research and the eventual commercialization of nanotube technology.
Rockefeller Humanities fellows for this fall will include Eastern Kentucky activists Joan Robinett from Harlan County and Teri Blanton from Berea. Richard Hasler, a South African scholar, will also be a fellow at the Appalachian Center. The three will be featured in several radio talk show interviews on Morehead State Public Radio and will appear on the Front Page, a daily news talk show hosted by Chuck Mraz.
UK is preparing a new “graduation contract” for students that may be implemented as early as the fall semester 2004. Richard Greissman, assistant dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, is working on the project, which will help ensure timely graduation for the students who participate. The voluntary contract will focus students’ attention on the “task at hand” and will be accompanied by a “curricular road map” to guide students through their studies.
A researcher at the UK College of Pharmacy is developing an innovative skin patch using synthetic cannabinoids to treat the pain, depression, nausea, and loss of appetite often experienced by patients with AIDS, cancer, and other diseases. Three years ago, Audra Stinchcomb received a $361,000 grant from the American Cancer Society to study ways to safely and legally administer beneficial chemicals found in marijuana without inhaling the illegal plant. Smoking marijuana for medicinal purposes is outlawed in most states.
The UK Staff Senate celebrated its first year of operation and elected new officers at its July 10 meeting. President Todd addressed the meeting and expressed appreciation for the Staff Senate’s input regarding staff issues.
A team led by Bhupendra Parekh, Center for Applied Energy Research (CAER), has received combined awards of over $252,000 from the Kentucky Science and Engineering Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy Center for Advanced Separation Technologies to investigate a novel paste-thickening technology for managing coal slurry wastes. CAER will partner with EIMCO Inc., a Utah-based company that manufactures mining equipment, to evaluate the technology for de-watering and thickening coal slurries stored in ponds at Kentucky coal preparation plants. The waste ponds are under increasing scrutiny because of potential safety and environmental risks.
The Kentucky Geological Survey has released the “Geologic Map of the Louisville 30 x 60 Minute Quadrangle, Central Kentucky,” which will help planners in Louisville, Jefferson County, and surrounding counties. The new map was produced by KGS geologists Thomas Sparks and Qinhua Zhang. Representing a 1,443-square-mile area of Central Kentucky, the map illustrates all or parts of nine counties.
A UK team’s archaeological excavation in Louisville may show for the first time that two prehistoric cultures that lived near the Falls of the Ohio River may have had substantial interaction. Senior staff archaeologist Andrew Madsen and his team unearthed thousands of artifacts from both the Mississippian and Fort Ancient cultures at the site, which is being prepared as an entrance road to Louisville’s Eva Bandman Park. The artifacts date from about 1350 A.D.
The UK United Way campaign begins Wednesday, September 17, with a kick-off luncheon in the Student Center Grand Ballroom for nearly 500 volunteers. The six-week campaign has a fund-raising goal of $420,000. UK is the third largest organizational contributor to United Way of the Bluegrass, which funds a variety of service agencies in eight Central Kentucky counties. It is estimated that one out of every four UK employees receives services from a United Way agency.
UK has launched a program that pays employees to become more involved in improving their health. UK has contracted with the national firm Healthtrac Inc. through the university’s health benefits carrier CHA-Health. Healthtrac provides a Web-based program of health assessment, education, and resources for disease prevention and management. UK Healthtrac Rewards is available to UK employees and retirees who are enrolled in a university health plan. Participants visit their personal health page on the Internet once a month and complete the Healthtrac questionnaire when it is available. They can earn $10 each month, up to $120 a year, with quarterly checks sent directly to their homes. This program is part of the UK Health Literacy Project, an overall effort to limit the cost increases in health insurance and improve the health of employees.
The President’s Commission on Women has established several goals for the 2003-04 academic year, including creating a climate of valuing women; increasing leadership in governing and decision-making; improving economic opportunities and equity, scientific and professional advancement, and safety and well-being. More information about the goals and work of the commission is available online at www.uky.edu/PCW.
The Tri for Sight committee, a group of Lexington area athletes, UK ophthalmologists, ophthalmology staff, and other volunteers will hold Tri for Sight
September 21 to benefit research conducted by the UK Department of Ophthalmology. The event includes an 800-meter swim, a 20-mile bike ride, and a 4-mile run at the UK Lancaster Aquatic Center. Individuals, aged 15 and up, and teams are eligible to register.
UK has joined the National Stroke Association in a national, multi-year stroke education campaign in the southeastern United States with the inaugural year’s theme “Ask Your Doctor: Am I at Risk for Stroke.” The campaign is designed to encourage increased communication between physicians and their patients regarding stroke prevention, treatment, and recovery in the area of the country known as the “stroke belt.” Every year, 750,000 Americans suffer a stroke, with up to 3,000 Kentuckians dying from strokes annually. Up to 80 percent of strokes are preventable.
The UK College of Agriculture and its Cooperative Extension Service have joined forces with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture to develop and market an educational cookbook. Called Pride of Kentucky: Great Recipes with Food, Farm and Family Traditions, the book showcases Kentucky’s great foods, rich rural heritage, and interesting tourist destinations. Published by the Kentucky Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences, the book can be purchased at local Cooperative Extension offices or ordered online at www.prideofkybook.com.
UK’s Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute recently co-sponsored Kentucky’s first watershed roundtable “Solving the Watershed Puzzle” for citizens, government officials, and business and industry representatives to discuss problems and potential solutions in their watersheds. Topics included storm water, planning and zoning (smart growth), agriculture, urban and rural forestry, construction, and drinking water supplies.
UK College of Medicine researcher Phillip W. Landfield is leading a study using new technology to help match gene activity with actual age-related behavior and thinking. The study, published in the May issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, examines the role of 146 genes in aging, impaired memory, and learning, offering insights in how we think as we get older. The report found that declines in the way a cell utilizes its energy, changes in nerve cell activity, and the ability of those cells to make new connections all play a part in the aging brain.
Ninety-nine students in the UK College of Medicine’s Class of 2007 marked the beginning of their medical education in early August with the White Coat Ceremony at UK’s Singletary Center for the Arts. During the ceremony, UK medical students received the short white coats that they will wear while seeing patients. The first-year students took a “Pledge of Professionalism for Students of Medicine,” promising a relationship of compassion and respect with patients, teachers, and colleagues. UK’s Medical Alumni Association co-sponsored the annual ceremony, which is designed to encourage humanism in medicine.
UK Libraries is part of a cooperative virtual reference service that will offer Web-based services supported by research library staff across the southeastern region of the United States. The project, launched by the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries, will allow patrons to use chat software to get reference help from research library experts 12 hours a day, seven days a week, with service hours added according to demand. The project will be tested in a pilot project this fall and goes into full operation in January. Other participating universities include the College of William and Mary, Florida State University, University of Alabama, University of Louisville, and Wake Forest University.
The Appalachian Math and Science Partnership and Appalachian Research Systemic Initiative held its summer academy in mid-July, focusing on “Building Capacity ... New Federal Programs’ Impact on Mathematics and Science Education.” The sessions provided conference participants an array of plenary sessions on federal initiatives affecting mathematics and science reform in the central Appalachian region. Science and mathematics teachers, principals, counselors, curriculum supervisors, district level administrators, and higher education faculty participated.
The UK Markey Cancer Center will offer free screenings for prostate cancer, the second most common cancer in men, Sept. 17. Because of their increased risk for the disease, men with a family history of prostate cancer and African-American men between the ages of 40 and 70 are eligible for the free screenings. The screenings are made possible in part through the support of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky Inc.
A UK landmark found a new home in late July when the bronze statue of James K. Patterson, UK's first president, was moved from its place beside the UK Administration Building to a new location in front of the Patterson Office Tower. The relocation was part of the restoration of the Administration Building, which was heavily damaged by fire in 2001.
James W. Anderson, Endocrinology, says a recent study indicates that managing diet is the key to treating all common lipid disorders. His observations were published in an editorial in the July 23-30 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. The editorial accompanies the results of a short-term study by researchers at the University of Toronto, Canada. It suggests that a specific type of low-saturated-fat diet may reduce cholesterol levels as much as cholesterol-lowering medications.
Hundreds of people attended a July 9 commemoration of the 100th birthday of noted historian Thomas D. Clark at the William T. Young Library. UK First Lady Patsy Todd, who was a student in the last class Clark taught at UK, said Clark was a man whose reputation preceded him. During the celebration, the University Press unveiled a new book, Thomas D. Clark of Kentucky: An Uncommon Life in the Commonwealth.
A new “supercomputer,” built with personal computer parts, has broken the $100-per-gigaflops cost barrier, making supercomputing capacity more affordable. The Kentucky Asymmetric Zero, or KASY0, supercomputer was built by Henry Dietz, the James F. Hardymon Endowed Chair for Networking, and his doctoral student, Tim Mattox, this summer. The two had used their previous supercomputer – the KLAT2 machine, which broke the $1,000-per-gigaflops cost barrier – to produce the design of KASY0. The new supercomputer was assembled by 50 faculty and students in mid-July.
UK Children’s Hospital received a new look in August thanks to a donation from the Makenna Foundation. A 30-foot ceramic tile wall designed by Lexington artists Jill and Richard Stofer now greets patients and visitors entering UK Children’s Hospital. While a patient at Texas Children’s Hospital, Makenna David of Lexington found joy in touching a three-dimensional ceramic tile wall. After Makenna passed away in December 1998, it became a goal of her mother, Sheila David, to build a similar wall at UK Children’s Hospital, where Makenna also received treatment. In early September, a Makenna Foundation fund-raiser, “The Art of Making Miracles,” was held to benefit the UK Children’s Hospital.
Clair Anderson, Center for Applied Energy Research, presented a paper at the 15th Annual Symposium of the American Coal Ash Association titled “Mercury Distribution on Coal Combustion By-products as a Function of Particle Size and Type.” Anderson, an intern at CAER from Paul Lawrence Dunbar High School in Lexington, has interned with CAER since the 11th grade as part of the center’s effort to attract under-represented groups to science and engineering.
Crystal Collins-Camargo and Blake Jones, Social Work, co-authored an article with Pat Litzelfelner titled “Models for Involving Citizens in the Child Welfare System in Kentucky: An Overview” published in the Kentucky Children's Rights Journal.
Emily R. Hagedorn, Journalism and Telecommunications, received two awards at William Randolph Hearst Foundation’s National Writing, Photojournalism and Broadcast News Championships. She was one of five runners-up in the writing championship and will receive a $1,500 scholarship check and a $1,000 award for best reporting technique for her article in the Kentucky Kernel titled “Surviving, Grieving, Healing.”
Sarah Mardon, Department of Geology and Center for Applied Energy Research, presented a poster paper in Frankfort. The poster was titled “Impact of Coal Properties on Coal Combustion By-product Quality: Examples from a Kentucky Power Plant.” Mardon was this year’s recipient of the Tarr Award, given by the Department of Geology to an outstanding student for contributions to the department.
Rebecca Neal, Journalism and Telecommunications, was one of 12 students selected nationwide to report for The Working Press, the official newspaper at the Society of Professional Journalists convention in Tampa, Fla., earlier this month.
Xuejun Peng, Statistics, won a national award from the American Statistical Association for his research on microarray expression in gene research.
Robin Petroze, Center of Membrane Sciences, published an article titled “The Role of Oxidative Stress in Alzheimer’s Disease” in Kaleidoscope, the University of Kentucky Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship. A chemistry major, Petroze was a Beckmann Scholar under the aegis of Allan Butterfield, director of the Center of Membrane Sciences.
Sara Poston, Pharmacy, received an award from the AACP Merck Research Scholar Program for a project, “Innovative Ways of Incorporating Quality of Life Data into Health Economic Evaluations.” Poston performed the project under the direction of Karen Blumenschein, Pharmacy.
Tom Barnes, Forestry, received the Norma and Bruce Poundstone Award for Outstanding Volunteer from the Kentucky chapter of Nature Conservancy.
Dwight Billings and Elgin Mannion, Appalachian Center, wrote a chapter titled “Poverty and Income Inequality in Appalachia” for inclusion in a book on U.S. rural demographic issues as reflected in the 2000 census. The Population of Rural America: Demographic Research for a New Century will be published in the Rural Studies Series by Penn State University Press.
Jim Boling, Animal Sciences, received the Fellow Award in Administration from the American Society of Animal Science at its June meeting in Phoenix.
Carolyn S. Bratt, Law, was among the 14 men and women inducted into the Kentucky Human Rights Commission Hall of Fame this summer.
Darrin Burchell, College of Medicine Academic Affairs, was named Employee of the Year for Administration at the UK College of Medicine. He is a computer lab manager.
Jonathan Cardi, Law, presented the paper “Double-Dipping and the Hydra: Why Copyright Falters in the Face of New Music Technology” at the Southeastern Association of Law Schools conference in July.
Steven Cordiviola and Brandon Nuttall, Kentucky Geological Survey, were honored by the American Institute of Professional Geologists as the joint recipients of the Kentucky Geologist of the Year award. The award was given in recognition of their outstanding contribution to the Commonwealth resulting from their work in the development of an electronic format and Web-accessible database for the vast collection of oil and gas records and geophysical logs archived by the KGS.
Gary Cromwell, Animal Sciences, received the Fellow Award in Research from the American Society of Animal Science at its June meeting in Phoenix.
Mary Davis, Law, was elected associate member of the International Academy of Comparative Law and presented “Complex Litigation in the Torts Curriculum” to the Association of American Law Schools Torts Conference in June.
Patti Deitsch, Institute on Women and Substance Abuse, received the Pathways Inc. “2003 Woman of the Year Award” recognizing outstanding achievement and contribution to women and children.
Mickie DeMoss, Women’s Basketball coach, was elected as vice president of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association. In the fall of 2005, she will assume the presidency of the organization for two years.
Holly Divine, Pharmacy, and Laura Jones, Community Pharmacy, along with Kroger Pharmacy representatives, were recently honored with the Kentucky Pharmacists Association’s Professional Promotion Award for their efforts in promoting flu vaccinations at Kroger stores last year.
Fran Feltner, Center for Rural Health, testified at a July 17 congressional briefing in Washington, D.C., about the effectiveness of lay health worker programs such as Kentucky Homeplace and Southeast Kentucky Community Access Program. Her testimony was in support of the proposed Patient Navigator, Outreach and Chronic Disease Prevention Act of 2003.
Eugene R. Gaetke and Rutheford B. Campbell, Law, had their article, “The Ethical Obligation of Transactional Lawyers to Act as Gatekeepers After Enron,” accepted for publication in the Rutgers Law Review. The article also was chosen for presentation at the 2003 annual meeting of the Association of Law Schools in Washington, D.C.
Joseph E. Gaugler, Behavioral Science, received the 2003 Springer Early Career Achievement Award in Research on Adult Development and Aging, presented annually by the American Psychological Association, Division 20 (Adult Development and Aging).
Kay Hoffman, Dean of Social Work, was elected president-elect of the Council on Social Work Education, the national organization representing all accredited social work programs in the United States.
Jim Hower, Center for Applied Energy Research, received the International Committee for Coal and Organic Petrolog’s highest award, the Reinhardt Thiessen Medal.
Cynthia S. Iten, Arts and Sciences Advising, received an Academic Advising Summer Institute Scholarship from the national Academic Advising Association and ACT Inc.
Carl Leukefeld, Social Work, Psychiatry, Oral Health Sciences and Behavioral Science, received the National Association of Social Workers Foundation 2003 Knee/Wittman Lifetime Achievement Award for exemplary contributions in health.
Russ McGuire, Nursing, received the 2003 Best Dissertation Award, from the American Organization of Nurse Executives’ Institute for Patient Care Research and Education for his dissertation, "Critical Elements of Organizational Capacity and Resource Needs for Successful Clinical Information Systems Implementation.”
Brenda Mullins and Melanie Tyner-Wilson, Interdisciplinary Human Development Institute, presented two sessions at the Paraeducators conference: “Preparing Children for the Next Environment” and “Working with Children with Autism.”
Frank Romanelli, Pharmacy, received the Class of 2003 Honorary Professor of the Year Award from the College of Health Sciences Physicians Assistant Program.
Nancy Schoenberg, Behavioral Science, co-authored an award-winning paper, “The Severity of Food Insufficiency Is Greater Among Homebound Black Participants in Older Americans Act Nutrition Programs.” Schoenberg and her co-author, Joseph R. Sharkey of Texas A&M University, received the 2003 Betty J. Cleckey Minority Issues Research Award from the American Public Health Association.
Jerry Skees, Agricultural Economics, is working on a World Bank project, advising the Indian government on crop insurance programs.
M. Scott Smith, Dean of Agriculture, Walter Walla, Cooperative Extension, Janet Kurzynske, Extension Specialist, and Wendy Stivers, Extension Specialist, were among honorees from several land-grant universities who received a Secretary’s Honor Award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for their efforts in creating CYFERnet, a national multi-university network serving at-risk youth and families.
Ginny Sprang, Social Work, has been appointed a visiting professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado Health Science Center.
David Terry, Regulatory Services, was elected secretary of the Association of American Plant Food Control Officials at its annual meeting in Denver.
Salvatore J. Turco, Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, along with colleagues at Washington University Medical School and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has created a new platform for probing particular parasite factors and their role in disease and immunity. The findings were published in the August 29 issue of Science.
Larry Turner, Cooperative Extension, received the 2003 Henry Giese Structures and Environment Award from the American Society of Agricultural Engineers. Turner was honored for his dedication to the profession and his outstanding contributions to animal growth modeling and livestock housing design.
Allan Vestal, Dean of Law, presented the paper, “Real Partnerships and Real Problems: Conforming Business Entity Law to Fiscal Realities and Popular Conceptions,” at a symposium hosted by the Delaware Journal of Corporate Law. He also published “Today the Administration Building Burned Down . . . Notes From My First Year as Dean” in the University of Toledo Law Review (2002).
Richard Westin, Law, has published two books, Basic Federal Income Taxation of Individuals and Tax Management Portfolios 109 and 601. He also wrote four chapters in BNA Federal Tax Service on taxation of mining operations, being published serially in 2002-2003.
Tim Woods, Agricultural Economics, is conducting an entrepreneurship development workshop in Cherkassy, Ukraine. Woods, Mike Reed, and Valerie Askren, all of UK’s agricultural economics department, are collaborating with colleagues from Alabama A&M on a three-year project to develop training programs for entrepreneurs in Ukraine.