By Kody Kiser, Amy Jones-Timoney, Whitney Harder

(June 4, 2015) — In the 18th century, researchers attempting to read the writings of ancient, charred scrolls picked and pulled at the fragile artifacts, destroying many. Fast forward to 2015 and researchers are developing a superior method, one that never unrolls or even attempts to open the scrolls.

Leaving it intact almost exactly as it was 2,000 years ago, scanning methods and a new first-of-its-kind computer software tool are currently working to reveal text from a Herculaneum scroll. The scroll, carbonized by the A.D. 79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius, was preserved with hundreds of others in the only library from antiquity to survive.

The "Volume Cartographer" software tool, built by Brent Seales, professor

By Whitney Hale

(June 2, 2015) — The University of Kentucky Office of Nationally Competitive Awards has announced that five A&S students have been selected as recipients of Fulbright U.S. Student Program scholarships. The UK recipients are among more than 1,900 U.S. citizens who will travel abroad for the 2015-2016 academic year through the prestigious program.

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. The primary source of funding for the Fulbright Program is an annual appropriation made by the U.S.

By Staff Reports

After taking first place in the Global Health Case Competition at UK, sociology's Ryan McElhose (pictured second from the right) and his teammates took to the road to compete in an international competition against 24 other universities at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Emory Global Health Case Competition is a unique opportunity for students to come together to promote awareness of and develop innovative solutions for 21st century global health issues. In 2010, EGHI opened the competition to students from other U.S. universities, and in 2012 the competition welcomed student teams from international universities.

By Blair Hoover, Rebecca Stratton

(June 1, 2015) — Today the student-named facility, Bowman’s Den, opens its doors to the campus and Lexington community. As construction on the Student Center begins, Bowman’s Den will house many University of Kentucky dining and retail facilities for the duration of the Student Center construction: June 2015 through January 2018.

Located adjacent to the Singletary Center for the Arts, Bowman’s Den is close to north campus, central campus, the academic neighborhood, and the Greek Park. It is home to dining venues including Starbucks®, Chick-fil-A®, Panda Express®, Subway® and Greens to Go, as well as the UK Dining Office. 

Click here to see a list of summer

By Gail Hairston

(June 1, 2015) — There is a surplus of summer camps available for local children, but the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences offers a summer day camp experience beyond the norm — camps focusing on linguistics, geography, creative writing and philosophy that not only keep kids occupied, but engaged, active and informed.

UK Department of Geography's summer MapCamp is a weeklong day camp for children in middle school that includes exercises in map making and outdoor geo-challenges. Attendees will participate in the ancient craft of cartography, build digital interactive maps to share with the world and conduct campus treasure hunts with GPS-enabled mobile devices.

MapCamp runs June 22−26 or July 6-10, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in UK's state-of-the-art GIS and Cartography Lab (Room

by Rebecca Freeman

Director of Undergraduate Studies, EES

As competition for graduate school admission increases, we have come to realize that it is increasingly important for our top undergraduates in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences to have research experience before they graduate. With the generous (and we hope, ongoing) support of our alumni we have recently awarded the first round of the “Alumni Undergraduate Research Fellowships.” We hope to be able to award at least one or two every semester and summer session.

Even before the launch of this new internally-funded program, our undergraduates have been busy in the lab and in the field.

Sean Bemis’ NSF-funded research group has incorporated

Compiled by Tasha Ramsey

Three students of Japan studies have been accepted by the JET (Japan Exchange and Teaching) program, sponsored by the Japanese government. Mikayla Rogers (Japan studies minor), Naomi Hayes (Japan studies minor), and Samantha Warford (Japan studies major) will work full-time as Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs) in the public school system in Japan this fall. We caught up with two of the three participants for some questions as they prepare for their travels.

Naomi Hayes

Hometown: Louisville, KY

Major: Biology

Minor: Japan Studies

Year: Senior

Fun fact: President of Korean pop dance group on campus for four years

Mikayla Rogers

Photo: (L to R) Stuart Nealis (UK grad student), Dwight Cropper (Kentucky Native American Heritage Commission), Josh McConaughy (Archaeological Conservancy), Kary Stackelbeck (KHC), Charlie Holbrook (local attorney), Bruce VanHorn (President, Town Square Bank), Helen Danser (Chair, KNAHC), and George Crothers (UK anthropology professor) at dedication.

By Gail Hairston

(May 28, 2015) — University of Kentucky anthropology doctoral students and professors played an instrumental role in the donation of a prehistoric Native American mound in Greenup County to the Archaeological Conservancy, a national nonprofit dedicated to acquiring and protecting endangered archaeological sites.

Five acres of land — located within a rural subdivision in

By Whitney Harder

(May 28, 2015) — “I never really thought I’d be working on something like this,” said Michael Roup, who earned his bachelor’s degree in computer science and mathematics from the University of Kentucky earlier this month. Roup is referring to his work on unveiling text in ancient scrolls with computer software.

Roup, a UK Presidential Scholar from Crestwood, Kentucky, joined the ancient scrolls team led by UK Department of Computer Science Professor and Chair Brent Seales last summer. Roup has since been dubbed the “segmentation expert," and recently traveled to Paris, France, to present his work with the team at Google Paris.

The Department of Geography is proud to announce that Carolyn Finney will be joining the department's faculty this fall. She most recently was in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at the University of California-Berkeley.



“Her research interests are broad, and coalesce around questions of difference, identity, nature, and place. Her work is exciting in the way it challenges the academy’s traditional boundaries of research, teaching, and service; and her commitment to public engagement in a variety of guises and settings also requires a methodological attention to participation, partnerships, collaboration, and perhaps even entails a radical epistemology. Dr. Finney’s book, Black Spaces, White Spaces out last year, UNC press, widely noted and favorably received; and has drawn much attention, including in the popular

By Whitney Harder

(March 26, 2015) — The University of Kentucky Department of Biology welcomed researchers from Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky, as well as renowned Dutch scientist Serge Daan, as it hosted the 4th Biennial Conference of Rhythms in the Southeast Region (RISER) this past weekend.

At the UK/Lexmark Center for Innovation in Math and Science Education on Saturday, May 23, researchers presented their work in oral and poster presentations throughout the day. Daan, the Niko Tinbergen Distinguished Honorary Professor in Behavioural Biology at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, delivered a keynote speech on the history of the chronobiology. 

Chronobiology is

By Blair Hoover, Rebecca Stratton

(May 19, 2015) — Locally grown produce returns to the University of Kentucky for the Lexington Farmers Market's fourth season on UK's campus.

Through Aug. 12, a variety of local vendors will set up on Wednesdays from 3 to 6 p.m. in the lawn at E.S. Good Barn located on University Drive. The farmers market is open to the general public and the UK community.

The market will take place rain or shine. Free parking is available from 3 to 6 p.m. at the nearby

By Jenny Wells

(May 18, 2015) — May 9, approximately 3,000 students participated in the University of Kentucky May 2015 Commencement Ceremonies. Full videos of each ceremony are now available online (see below) and will also air on UKTV Channel 16 (on Time Warner Cable in Lexington) starting next week.

UKTV will air the ceremonies every Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 9 a.m., 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. beginning May 22 and continuing through June 7. The Graduate and Professional Ceremony will air during the 9 a.m. time slots, with the Undergraduate Ceremonies following at the 1 and 6 p.m. times. 

All ceremonies took place Saturday, May 9 in Rupp Arena. Read more about the May 2015 Commencement Ceremonies.

The 9 a.m. Graduate and Professional

By Sarah Schuetze

They conduct lab research and teach classes, but they are neither faculty nor graduate students. Postdoctoral scholars, or postdocs, serve an important role at UK, a research institution. However, they are scattered across various departments and have not always had an opportunity to meet and share their work.

Professor Susan Odom in Chemistry said, “Most postdocs don’t have any kind of formal gatherings that are specifically targeted toward them.“ In 2014, Odom collaborated with Matt Casselman, a postdoc in Chemistry, to organize UK’s Society of Postdoctoral Scholars (SOPS). SOPS offers weekly activities like professional development workshops or research presentations.  

On

By Eli Capilouto

The end of another academic year provides an opportunity to reflect on all that the UK family has accomplished together. It’s been a successful year, and I’ve been sharing several hallmarks of our progress with communities around our state.  

We’re a University of choice for an increasing number of students. Our enrollment passed 30,000 for the first time in Fall 2014. Among those students were 113 National Merit, National Achievement and National Hispanic Scholars, bringing the total to 289 in the last three years. This places us in the Top 10 among public institutions with these scholars.

This past weekend, we awarded degrees to a larger number of students than at any point in our history. During the May Commencement, the University conferred more than 4,500 undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees. This cohort of students is added

By Kody Kiser, Amy Jones-Timoney

(May 13, 2015) — The University of Kentucky continues to celebrate its 150-year history with a special video featuring the poetry of Frank X Walker.   

The UK English professor and poet, noted for coining the term Affrilachia and co-founder of the Affrilachian Poets, wrote “Seedtime in the Commonwealth” and presented it during the Founder’s Day Convocation in February.

The

By Jenny Wells

(May 8, 2015) — The University of Kentucky Board of Trustees today approved University Research Professorships for 2015-16 for four faculty members. The professorships carry a $40,000 award to support research. Funds for these annual awards are provided by the Office of the Vice President for Research.

Now in its 39th year, the University Research Professors program's purpose is to enhance and encourage scholarly research productivity, to provide an opportunity for concentrated research effort for selected faculty members, and to recognize outstanding research achievement by members of the faculty.

The 2015-16 University Research Professors are:

Lance E. De Long, a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy in the UK College of Arts and Sciences, has had a long and uninterrupted record of high

By Whitney Hale

(May 12, 2015) — The University of Kentucky Gaines Center for the Humanities and the UK College of Arts and Sciences are teaming up to present a series of workshops on violence and the human condition. The first of several events, a workshop on political violence and how it is measured, will take place Wednesday-Friday, May 13-15, at various locations across campus. This workshop is free and open to the public.

Arts and Sciences and the Gaines Center are sponsoring a year of programming around the broad theme of "Violence and the Human Condition."  Over the course of the 2015-16 academic year, faculty members from many different UK departments will collaborate with each other and with visiting experts from

By Whitney Harder

(May 11, 2015) — Dave Moecher, professor and chair of the University of Kentucky Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, has been named the Earth and Environmental Sciences Endowed Alumni Professor.

The Earth and Environmental Sciences Endowed Alumni Professorship is awarded to a tenured full professor who has made outstanding contributions to research and education in the field of earth and environmental sciences. The establishment of the professorship was driven completely by alumni; namely Ken Neavel, William Foley, Steve Sullivan and Jim Pear.  

"It is a profound honor to be awarded the Earth and Environmental Sciences Alumni Professorship because I have a high regard for and

By Blair Hoover, Rebecca Stratton

(May 8, 2015) — Three University of Kentucky students have received the Undergraduate Research Abroad Scholarship (UGRAS), which will support their international independent research projects during the 2015 summer session.

Annie Griggs, a biology major in the College of Arts and Sciences, Faith VanMeter, a psychology major in the College of Arts and Sciences and Marcel Roman, a political science and international studies double major in the College of Arts and Sciences are the recipients of the scholarship — chosen because they demonstrate the ability to explore exceptional academic undergraduate research abroad with the support of UK faculty mentors.  UGRAS is a result of funding from a collaboration between the