The cohort includes eight graduate students and four undergraduate students who will each receive a $6,000 fellowship to support their research, either during the summer or the 2026-27 academic year.
The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) has announced the induction of Guoqiang Yu, Ph.D., Jack and Linda Gill Eminent Professor in Science and Engineering in the F. Joseph Halcomb III, M.D. Department of Biomedical Engineering, to its College of Fellows. Election to the AIMBE College of Fellows is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to medical and biological engineers, comprised of the top two percent of engineers in these fields.
As Artemis II prepares to lift off — marking the first crewed mission to the moon in more than 50 years — researchers at the University of Kentucky are celebrating a milestone years in the making and their role in helping bring astronauts home safely. An Orion capsule seated atop a 322-foot rocket will blast off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida as early as 6:24 p.m. ET Wednesday, April 1. Its mission: carry four astronauts around the moon and back — sending humans the farthest they’ve ever been from Earth.
Access to safe drinking water depends not only on infrastructure, but on the people who operate and maintain it. At the University of Kentucky, Diana Byrne, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Civil Engineering in the Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering, is addressing long-standing challenges facing small water utilities. Byrne received the prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award with $547,471 over five years for her work.
Last month, 40 University of Kentucky Department of Mining Engineering students attended MINEXCHANGE 2026, the Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration (SME) Annual Conference & Expo in Salt Lake City, Utah. UK mining engineering faculty and students also presented 27 papers.
As self-driving vehicles and drones become more common, a University of Kentucky researcher is working to ensure these technologies can communicate and coordinate reliably in real time. Yang Xiao, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science in the UK Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering, received the prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award with $534,264 over five years for his work.
Martha Grady, Ph.D., a Lighthouse Beacon Foundation Scholar and an associate department chair in the Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, is leading a multidisciplinary team to investigate how 3D-printed titanium can be engineered to resist harmful bacteria.
Kelly G. Pennell, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Civil Engineering and director of engineering research endowments in the Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering, has been named editor-in-chief of Reviews on Environmental Health.
University of Kentucky researchers — along with collaborators from across the United States — gathered at Buckhorn School in Perry County last month to work with high school students on a water-testing device developed at UK. The ESCAPE research is part of the NSF’s Predictive Intelligence for Pandemic Preparation program. Berry is principal investigator of the nearly $18 million NSF award, shared by the four institutions.
Kelly G. Pennell, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Civil Engineering and director of the UK Superfund Research Center, has been named the inaugural director of engineering research endowments in the Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering.
