By Jenny Wells

This summer, the University of Kentucky Dr. Bing Zhang Department of Statistics will host its first Statistical Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) workshop for students and their faculty mentors.

This all expense-paid program will take place June 3-5 at General Butler State Park in Carrollton, Kentucky. The event will offer a real data analytics workshop and information on careers and graduate school opportunities in the areas of data science, analytics and statistics/biostatistics.

“With funding from the National Science Foundation and the American Statistical Association, we’re excited to host the first ever SURE workshop, where undergraduates can learn about statistical programming and options for careers in statistics," said Arnold Stromberg, chair of UK Statistics. "We especially

By Jenny Wells

Travis (TJ) Schuyler (left) with Gary Pundsack, CEO of Stratodynamics Inc., hold the HiDRON glider. Schuyler, with UK chemistry Professor Marcelo Guzman, engineered the atmospheric-sensing equipment that was integrated into the glider.

A University of Kentucky doctoral student and chemistry professor have measured environmental variables during high-altitude, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flights for the first time, reaching a better understanding of meteorological conditions to enable the next generation of weather forecasting models.

Travis Schuyler, a doctoral candidate in the UK Department of Chemistry in the College of Arts & Sciences, working with Marcelo Guzman, built a system for

By Hannah Edelen

Laura DeMarco, a professor in the Department of Mathematics at Northwestern University, will deliver the 2018-19 Hayden Howard Lecture. Hosted by the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences' Department of Mathematics, the lecture will take place 3:30 p.m. Thursday, April 11, in 106 White Hall Classroom Building. DeMarco will deliver a lecture titled “Complex Dynamics and Arithmetic Distribution.”

“I will explain a notion of arithmetic equidistribution that has recently found application in the study of complex dynamical systems,” DeMarco said. “It was first introduced about 25 years ago by Szpiro-Ullmo-Zhang to analyze the geometry and arithmetic of abelian varieties. In 2011, Matt Baker and I used the theory to study periodic points of maps on P^1. In this talk, I will explain some dynamical questions that were inspired by

By Aaron Porter and Jenny Wells

Today and tomorrow, people from all around the world are coming together on the University of Kentucky campus to explore the global impact of the #MeToo movement.  

This two-day, international symposium, "Comparative Perspectives on #MeToo," will feature scholars, students and activists from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America discussing the impact, scope, connections and challenges associated with #MeToo and similar movements. 

"The issues behind #MeToo and similar movements have affected women and others in higher education and other settings for a long time, yet we rarely have the opportunity to discuss these issues across nations, languages and other differences," said Cristina Alcade, associate dean of inclusion and internationalization in the UK College of

By Aaron Porter

G.R.F. (John) Ferrari, a distinguished professor of classical literature at the University of California, Berkeley, will be speaking on campus Monday, April 8. The event, hosted by the Department of Philosophy and the Department of Modern and Classical Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences, will be held at 7 p.m., in the UK Athletics Auditorium at William T. Young Library. Ferrari will be discussing his book, "The Messages We Send: Social Signals and Storytelling."

Ferrari is an expert on Greek philosophy and has written several books on Plato. This particular piece of work marks a departure in his research.

"The book offers a new framework for understanding different ways in

It is well past time to celebrate and give recognition to the place African American women have created within the U.S. political history. As we celebrate the victory of Lori Lightfoot becoming the first African American woman mayor of Chicago, we also remember that it was half a century ago when Shirley Chisholm became the first African American woman to serve in the U.S. Congress. Let us not overlook the local African American women who are adding to the foundation of the political landscape. On March 7, 2019, five of these outstanding women were recognized for their contributions at the University of Kentucky, Black Women in Politics Celebration Luncheon.

ANGELA C. EVANS

Angela C. Evans is a native of Lexington, KY.  In 2015, she was elected to the Lexington-Fayette Urban City Council. She has served as a public defender in Lexington, KY, and

How does a journal unravel the threat of violence against women and the many forms of violence in women's lives throughout the world?

The Violence Against Women journal tackles this complex topic by shedding light not only on the forms of violence that are widely discussed, but also on the lesser known forms of violence. After 25 years of publications, this international journal is now ranked ninth among journals focusing on women's studies and cited more than 3,400 times.

Claire Renzetti, chair of the Department of Sociology and Judi Conway Patton Endowed Chair in the UK Center for Research on Violence Against Women, founded the

A team of researchers from the College of Arts and Sciences Department of Physics and Astronomy has made a discovery that has changed the "elementary textbook" description of protons.

Professors Keh-Fei Liu and Terrence Draper, along with postdoctoral scholar Jian Liang, are co-authors of a study titled "Proton Mass Decomposition from the QCD Energy Momentum Tensor" that was published this past fall in Physical Review Letters. Since then, the study has gained national attention in the world of physics, as its results have opened doors for more calculations and theoretical understanding.

The team recently explained to UKNow exactly what they learned and what it means for their scientific community.

Protons are made up of quarks, but according to your study,

By Whitney Hale

The Kentucky Women Writers Conferencehas named three finalists in its Prize for Women Playwrights, which honors new theatrical work. Now in its fifth biennial cycle, the prize seeks to bring more plays by women to the stage, through a collaboration among the Kentucky Women Writers, partnering producer and director Eric Seale, and guest judge Ifa Bayeza. The winner receives a world premiere production for a paying audience in November 2019 at the Pam Miller Downtown Arts Center, with royalties, plus a cash prize of $500.

Finalists are:

“Bite the Apple” by Linda Manning, of Bronx, New York. Cinderella, in a

By Carol Lea Spence

The University of Kentucky is hosting the third annual Expanding Your Horizons Conference for middle school girls and their parents or guardians from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. EDT Saturday, April 20. This day of hands-on workshops will inform young Kentucky girls and their parents about exciting career opportunities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Women continue to be underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields, and they hold a disproportionately low share of STEM undergraduate degrees, particularly in engineering, according to a study from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

“Many higher education institutions like UK struggle against the problem of poor retention of female undergraduates in a lot of science, engineering and math majors,” said Ellen Crocker, assistant professor in the

By Ellie Wnek

Although separated by thousands of miles, an ocean and most of continental Europe, the Appalachian-Carpathian International Conference will bring scholars together to discuss important issues that affect both Appalachian and Carpathian mountain communities.

The 2019 conference will take place in Brasov and Petrosani, Romania, Oct. 7-11, 2019. The conference is titled "Making Place: Transitional and Post-Industrial Development in Mountain Communities." The program committee is currently accepting proposals for plenary and concurrent sessions. Topics range from cultural preservation and folklore to sustainable agriculture and forestry to community development and economic diversification.

Possible formats include:

By Mack McCormick and Whitney Hale

By Nate Harling

Students in Jeff Rice’s WRD 300: Introduction to Writing, Rhetoric and Digital Studies class presented on the week’s reading, “Made to Stick.” Rice is chair of the Department of Writing, Rhetoric and Digital Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Everyone hears it at some point. Whether it is across the table from a relative at Thanksgiving dinner, on a quiet car ride home with a parent or while out for coffee with an old friend from high school. When a student majoring in the arts and sciences informs someone else of their field of study, they will be met with the same question, often accompanied by a slight lift of the eyebrows: “So what are you going to do with that?” This kind of skepticism is indicative of the widespread social perception that students of the liberal arts are less prepared for careers than their peers

By Whitney Hale

Virginia Clay McClure's senior photo from the university's yearbook. Photo courtesy of UK Special Collections Research Center.

The University of Kentucky community is celebrating Women’s History Month. Throughout March, UKNow will feature the women — past and present — on whose shoulders we stand and whose hard work has made our achievements possible. With a combination of fierce resolve and deep compassion, UK women have left indelible marks on our university. Join us as we highlight these #WomenOfUK.

The first woman who received a Ph.D. from UK said that her department chairman did not "want a woman to get a doctor's degree." Despite those words, Virginia Clay McClure, a native of Mt. Sterling, Kentucky, received her doctoral degree in American history in 1934.

By Hannah Edelen

Tara Holm, a mathematician and professor at Cornell University, will deliver the 2018-19 J.C. Eaves Lecture. Hosted by the University of Kentucky Department of Mathematics, the lecture will take place at 5 p.m. Thursday, March 21, in 208 White Hall Classroom Building.

Holm, a 2012 Fellow of the American Mathematical Society and former Visiting Fellow at both Oxford and Princeton, will deliver a lecture on “Understanding Symplectic Geometry Through Polytopes and Lattice Points.”

“Symplectic geometry, the natural geometry of classical mechanics, is floppier than Riemannian geometry, but more rigid than topology. I will give an overview of this floppy/rigid spectrum,” Holm said. “I will conclude with how some of my recent work, joint with Daniel Cristofaro-Gardiner, Alessia Mandini and Ana Rita Pires, comes to feature continued

By LIndsey Piercy

Jeffrey Matthews, author and distinguished alumnus of the University of Kentucky, will discuss his new book, "Colin Powell, Imperfect Patriot: National Intelligence, Torture, and the Afghan-Iraq Wars" on March 18. The event, hosted by the Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce and co-sponsored by the Department of History in the College of Arts and Sciences, will be held at 5 p.m., in Room 331 of the Gatton Student Center.

Matthews will give a talk on his biography of Powell, who is an American statesman and a retired four-star general in the United States Army. During his military career, Powell also served as national security adviser, commander of

By Madison Dyment and Jenny Wells

Buss is the Detachment 290 (DET 290) commander and aerospace studies department chair in the UK College of Arts and Sciences.

The University of Kentucky community is celebrating Women’s History Month. Throughout March, UKNow will feature the women — past and present — on whose shoulders we stand and whose hard work has made our achievements possible. With a combination of fierce resolve and deep compassion, UK women have left indelible marks on our university. Join us as we highlight these #WomenOfUK.

Coming into a new state, a new school and a new position may seem a daunting task for many, but Lt. Col. Katie Buss of the U.S. Air Force is far from the average person.

Following a fulfilling career in the U.S. Air Force, Buss has recently found her new perch at UK’s ROTC program, where she is the

By Amy Jones-Timoney, Kody Kiser, and Lindsey Piercy 

The University of Kentucky community is celebrating Women’s History Month. Throughout March, UKNow will feature the women — past and present — on whose shoulders we stand and whose hard work has made our achievements possible. With a combination of fierce resolve and deep compassion, UK women have left indelible marks on our university. Join us as we highlight these #WomenOfUK.

Sue Roberts, the University of Kentucky’s associate provost for internationalization, is aware each day how much smaller the world seems than the day before.

As a professor of geography in the UK 

By Jenny Wells-Hosley

Erin Calipari, an assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University, recently visited the University of Kentucky to give a talk about her work in addiction research.

The neuroscientist (who also happens to be the daughter of UK Men's Basketball Coach John Calipari), met with students and faculty in the UK Department of Biology before presenting her lecture. UKNow caught up with Calipari to get her thoughts on UK's focus on fighting the opioid epidemic. She noted that UK is a leader in opioid addiction research.

"UK is one of the biggest places for this kind of drug addiction work," Calipari said. "And one of the things that's kind of nice is that UK has a name for itself in sports, which gives these researchers a platform to communicate with people they wouldn't be able to

By Aaron Porter and Jenny Wells

Next month, the University of Kentucky will bring people from around the world to campus to explore the global impact of the #MeToo movement.

The two-day, international symposium, "Comparative Perspectives on #MeToo," will be held April 8-9, in Room 330AB of the Gatton Student Center. The event will bring together scholars, students and activists from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America to discuss the impact, scope, connections and challenges associated with #MeToo and similar movements. 

"The issues behind #MeToo and similar movements have affected women and others in higher education and other settings for a long time, yet we rarely have the opportunity to discuss these issues across nations, languages and other differences," said