Our goal is to build upon recognized research strengths, including energy production and distribution; transportation and logistics; manufacturing and materials, and accelerate collaborative research in areas such as autonomous systems; sustainable systems and structures; engineering for human health; computing and information; and cyber-physical systems and security.
The University of Kentucky is one of only eight universities in the country with a major medical center featuring six health sciences colleges, and the full spectrum of academic colleges on one continuous campus. The close proximity of such a large range of programs is an incubator for inter- and transdisciplinary initiatives. Discoveries from these collaborations allow our researchers to address the needs of the citizens of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, our nation and our world.
John Balk, William T. Bryan Professor of Materials Engineering and associate dean for research and graduate studies, has established an outstanding record of research productivity, quality and impact that places him amongst our most distinguished faculty in the Pigman College of Engineering. Balk’s research focus is the elucidation of structure-property relationships in the behavior of metals, alloys and covalent materials, with current projects related to size effects and mechanical behavior, high-entropy alloys, and functional properties of thermionic dispenser cathodes. Balk has served as chair for the Gordon Research Conference on Thin Film and Small-Scale Mechanical Behavior, and in 2015 was elected one of five national co-chairs for the fall meeting of the Materials Research Society, the largest professional organization for materials scientists and engineers.
Dibakar Bhattacharyya, Ph.D., known as “DB,” has been named a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). DB is the University of Kentucky Alumni Chair Professor of Chemical and Materials Engineering in the UK Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering and director of the UK Center of Membrane Sciences.
Researchers at the University of Kentucky are exploring new ways to use nanoparticles in combination with other materials as an innovative approach to cancer therapy. The paper titled “Iron Oxide Nanozymes Enhanced by Ascorbic Acid for Macrophage-Based Cancer Therapy” was published earlier this year in Nanoscale, a high-impact journal in the fields of nanoscience and nanotechnology.
In November, University of Kentucky Pigman College of Engineering faculty provided a platform for experts to exchange ideas and innovations in hypersonic atmospheric reentry, materials science and space exploration technologies at the 14th Ablation Workshop at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.
Kelly Pennell, Ph.D., professor and Earl Parker Robinson Chair in the Department of Civil Engineering and director of the UK Superfund Research Center, discusses her research on pollution and its impacts on the environment and public health.
Faezah Akbari, a doctoral candidate in the F. Joseph Halcomb III, M.D. Department of Biomedical Engineering, has been named the 14th Halcomb Fellow. Akbari seeks to develop a novel technology to improve brain imaging in neonatal infants.
A group of UK researchers are partners on the four-year project, “The Flooding in Appalachian Streams and Headwaters Initiative: Mitigating impacts of climate change and flash flooding in Appalachia," which aims to better understand and be better prepared for future flooding events.
Seales has gathered a team of experts from the Pigman College of Engineering and the College of Arts and Sciences to create EduceLab — UK’s vision for next-generation heritage science.
Established in 2024, the Lighthouse Beacon Foundation Endowment supports faculty, research, graduate students, facilities and research infrastructure in the Pigman College of Engineering. In its inaugural year, the endowment has made $160,000 in funds available for distribution, with a priority on faculty and research scholar support.
PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL) announced today it has executed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) for an award up to $72 million to help fund a groundbreaking carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture research and development project at the company's natural gas combined-cycle generation facility in Louisville, Kentucky.
Scott Berry, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in the UK Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering, is the principal investigator of the six-year cooperative agreement projected to be nearly $18 million.
