fbpx Research & Faculty | University of Kentucky College of Engineering
Brent Seales

Beyond the breakthrough: How Brent Seales is pushing the boundaries of discovery through new heritage science lab

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.

David Lu, Ph.D candidate and US Department of Energy Scholar brings internship experience to Paducah, Ky.

David Lu, completed his summer internship at the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) headquarters in Washington, D.C. in August. Lu was able to arrange a tour of a cleanup site near his hometown in Western Kentucky.

Scott Berry inside a mobile research unit.

Prestigious NSF award to advance UK research to track emerging pathogens

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.

Brent Seales

Beyond the breakthrough: How Brent Seales is pushing the boundaries of discovery through new heritage science lab

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.

David Lu, Ph.D candidate and US Department of Energy Scholar brings internship experience to Paducah, Ky.

David Lu, completed his summer internship at the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) headquarters in Washington, D.C. in August. Lu was able to arrange a tour of a cleanup site near his hometown in Western Kentucky.

Scott Berry inside a mobile research unit.

Prestigious NSF award to advance UK research to track emerging pathogens

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.

UK Pigman College of Engineering recommends the formation of the Institute for Decarbonization and Energy Advancement (IDEA)

UK Pigman College of Engineering recommends the formation of the Institute for Decarbonization and Energy Advancement (IDEA).

Anastasia Hauser is a lecturer in the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering in the UK Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering. Carter Skaggs | UK Photo

The 2024-25 Outstanding Teaching Awards: Anastasia Hauser

Anastasia Hauser, Ph.D., a lecturer in the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering in the University of Kentucky Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering, is one of nine winners to receive UK’s 2024-25 Outstanding Teaching Awards.

The NSF will support Khamfroush with $624,716 over five years for her work involving pre-processing data so that it can be trained for use in machine learning models for smart cities applications. Jeremy Blackburn | Research Communications

Artificial Intelligence computer systems Control Systems Machine Learning

UK researcher receives NSF CAREER award to develop data-driven, smart technologies for sustainable living

Using groundbreaking artificial intelligence (AI) technology, a University of Kentucky researcher is developing a machine learning pipeline with the goal of improving our quality of life.

Left to Right: Lisa Cassis, UK vice president for research; Rudy Buchheit, dean of the UK Pigman College of Engineering; UK Provost Robert S. DiPaola; U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell; and I.S. Jawahir, principal investigator.

Machine Learning Machine Systems Engineering Machinery Mechanics & Materials Signal Processing and Machine Learning Sustainable Manufacturing

UK celebrates opening of engineering lab designed to advance US manufacturing

On May 29, the University of Kentucky’s Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering held a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of the Next Generation Additive Manufacturing Research Laboratory (NextGen AMRL), the newest addition to the Institute for Sustainable Manufacturing (ISM).

Sheng Tong, Xiaoyue Yang and Zhongchao Yi pose in laboratory.

Biomedical Engineering

Tong, Yang and Yi winners in NIH TARGETED Challenge

Sheng Tong, associate professor, Xiaoyue Yang, post-doctoral scholar and Zhongchao Yi, graduate student in the F. Joseph Halcomb III, M.D. Department of Biomedical Engineering awarded $75,000 for winning proposal in NIH Targeted Genome Editor Delivery (TARGETED) Challenge. 

Pigman College of Engineering researchers among top 2% of world’s most-cited

143 current UK scientists and scholars were included on the list compiled by Stanford University in a partnership with Elsevier, and 22 of those included are UK Pigman College of Engineering faculty. 

Yaser Chulaee, PhD student, is shown on the left in the photo taken after the awards ceremony during this year‘s ECCE edition, together with co-authors Donovin D. Lewis, PhD student, and Dr. Dan M., Ionel, PhD advisor, ECE Professor, L Stanley Pigman Chai

PEIK and SPARK Researchers Receive IEEE EMC ECCE Paper Award

Power and Energy Institute of Kentucky (PEIK) and SPARK Lab researchers received from the IEEE Industry Applications Society Electric Machines Committee (EMC) the Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition (ECCE) Second Prize Paper Award for the article: “Winding Losses in Coreless Axial Flux PM Machines with Wave and Spiral PCB Stator Topologies”.

The NSF will support Yang Xiao with $300,000 over four years for his research on anonymous mobile access architecture. Jeremy Blackburn | Research Communications.

UK Researcher Developing Anti-tracking and Robocall-free Architecture

Assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science Yang Xiao and his team are tackling a long-standing privacy challenge faced by many people who use cell phones — mobile tracking and automatic voice calls, commonly known as robocalls.

Photo from Electrical and Computer Engineering Research Lab

Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering Awarded Millions Over Five Months

Since May 2023, UK Pigman College of Engineering Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering faculty have received millions in grants and awards from the Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, Office of Naval Research and more.

Caigang Zhu, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, develops new optical technology to provide personalized radiotherapy for head and neck cancer and breast cancer.

UK Bioengineer Designs Tools to Improve Treatment for Head and Neck Cancer

Caigang Zhu, assistant professor in the F. Joseph Halcomb III, M.D. Department of Biomedical Engineering, is working to develop new techniques for radiation treatment to improve survival rates of patients with a specific type of cancer.

Left: Headshot of Ashbey Manning Right: Headshot of Sydney Chapman

Engineering Students Named Finalists at 5-Minunte Fast Track

The University of Kentucky Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) named its ten finalists in the 5-Minute Fast Track Competition last week. Among those, were Sydney Chapman, a senior, majoring in computer science and Ashbey Manning, a senior, majoring in chemical engineering.

Herculaneum scroll with red laser lines being scanned at Institut de France by Brent Seales and his team. Photo Credit: EduceLab.

BREAKTHROUGH: Discovery made from within 2,000 year-old Herculaneum scrolls

The Herculaneum scrolls are among the most iconic and inaccessible of the world’s vast collection of damaged manuscripts, but since being burned and carbonized by the catastrophic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 CE, they’ve been deemed “unreadable.” 

Until now. 

He Receives NSF Funding to Develop Digital Twin Predictive Reliability Models for Solid State Transformers

JiangBiao He, associate professor and endowed L. Stanley Pigman Faculty Fellow in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, serves as PI on the project, which will receive $480,000 over three years. 

Headshot of Caigang Zhu

Caigang Zhu Receives 5-year NIH R01 Grant

Caigang Zhu, an assistant professor in the F. Joseph Halcomb III, M.D. Department of Biomedical Engineering, has been awarded $2,067,823 over five years from the National Institutes of Health for his work on optical metabolic spectroscopy and imaging tools for cancer research.

Sean Bailey being interviewed in his lab

Bailey Takes Flight to Tackle Turbulence

Sean Bailey, associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, is working to get ahead of the increasing threat of clear air turbulence. 

Herculaneum scroll undergoing digital scanning

Herculaneum scrolls: A 20-year journey to read the unreadable

Restoring an ancient library from the ashes of Mount Vesuvius is now closer to a reality. To highlight the progress, this is the first in a four-video series featuring Brent Seales, University of Kentucky Alumni Professor in the Department of Computer Science

Edward Wang looking over railing into courtyard.

NSF CAREER Award advancing UK researcher’s work integrating AI in manufacturing

Peng “Edward” Wang, Robley D. Evans Faculty Fellow and an assistant professor with a joint appointment in the Electrical and Computer Engineering and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering departments, has received the a prestigious NSF CAREER award for his research on AI in manufacturing. 

Grady Lab Publishes Manuscript in Biofilm

Rising senior, postdoctoral fellow and Grady publish research on biofilm formation on dental implants. 

Biomedical Researchers' Paper Selected as June Feature in Transactions on Biomedical Engineering

The paper titled, "A Wearable Fiber-Free Optical Sensor for Continuous Monitoring of Cerebral Blood Flow in Freely Behaving Mice," was authored by eight UK researchers in the colleges of engineering and medicine. 

YuMing Zhang honored as a 2023-24 University Research Professor

YuMing Zhang, Ph.D., James Boyd Professor in Electrical Engineering and UK Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering director of International Partnerships, is one of 16 University Research Professors for 2023-24. 

Great Teachers 2023: Dibakar Bhattacharyya helps students realize their full potential

Dibakar Bhattacharyya, Ph.D., is one of this year’s Great Teacher Award recipients. For the UK College of Engineering professor known across campus as "DB," there is nothing more exciting than that “aha!” moment when a student realizes their full potential. Teaching students continues to drive Bhattacharyya, now in his sixth decade at UK.

Martha Grady One of Four to Receive Excellent Undergraduate Research Mentor Award

The University of Kentucky Office of Undergraduate Research recently honored four professors for their dedication to mentoring with the Excellent Undergraduate Research Mentor Award during the 17th annual Showcase of Undergraduate Scholars.

Kentucky, Tennessee GAME Change team wins NSF Engines Development Award

The University of Kentucky, as lead organization, together with partners across Kentucky and Tennessee, has been awarded $1 million from the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Regional Innovation Engines, or NSF Engines, program.

Faculty Awards

2023 College of Engineering Faculty Awards

The annual College of Engineering Faculty Awards ceremony was held on April 27 at Malone's Prime and Events. Awards were given in the areas of research, service and graduate studies.

Seven UK Engineering students, alumni awarded NSF Graduate Research Fellowships

Four engineering students and three engineering alumni have been awarded the coveted five-year fellowship. 

How UK research team is proving human hair can be used to repair Kentucky bridges, buildings

A research team in the College of Engineering is leading the charge on utilizing recycled human hair to help repair bridges and buildings across Kentucky and beyond.

LG&E's natural gas combined cycle facility, CR7, has been in operation since 2015 and is one of just two NGCCs in the country awarded DOE research funding.

LG&E and KU, EPRI, UK Engineering begin industry-leading research

Groundbreaking energy research that could lead to the first-of-its-kind deployment of carbon capture technology at a natural gas combined-cycle power plant is underway in Kentucky.

L to R: Bertucci, Dailey and Lycans.

Chemical Engineering Students Present at 2023 Posters at the Capitol

Three engineering students were selected to present their research at the Kentucky State Capitol on March 2. 

UK College of Engineering Hosts International Ablation Workshop

The Ablation Workshop took place on the University of Kentucky's campus on November 9-10, 2022. An international research community of scientists, engineers and students working on ablative thermal protection systems attended the event.

Center of Membrane Sciences Receive NSF EPSCoR Grant to Develop a Membrane Purification Platform

The goal of the project is to create a membrane-based downstream purification platform for large-scale continuous biomanufacturing of viral vectors and virus-like particles (VLPs).

Stewards of Infrastructure, the Environment and Communities

Kelly Pennell alongside Anna Hoover collaborated with researchers at Purdue University and Ohio State University on a recent publication titled: “Bystander Chemical Exposures and Injuries Associated with Nearby Plastic Sewer Pipe Manufacture: Public Health Practice and Lessons”.

Graduate Students Present Work at Global Conference on Sustainable Manufacturing

Four graduate students in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering traveled to Berlin, Germany to present their work at the Global Conference on Sustainable Manufacturing in October, 2022.

KRUPS Team Receives ISSRDC Award

The University of Kentucky team that developed the Kentucky Re-entry and Universal Payload System (KRUPS) project received an Innovation and Technology Demonstration award at the International Space Station Research and Development Conference (ISSRDC) in July 2022.

SPARK and PEIK EE Researcher Receives Poster Award at IEEE 2022 PES GM Conference

This is the third consecutive year with such success for SPARK Lab students advised by Dan M. Ionel, ECE Professor and L. Stanley Pigman Chair in Power.

FABRIC will connect U.S. universities and labs to collaborators across the globe in Europe, Central America and Japan. Map provided by FABRIC.

UK, NSF-funded Partners Complete Phase 1 to Reimagine Global Cyberinfrastructure

The NSF-funded FABRIC project, launched with a $3 million grant in 2020, has completed Phase 1 in its work to establish a groundbreaking network testbed cyberinfrastructure to reimagine the way large amounts of data are generated, stored, analyzed and transmitted across the world.

Biyun Xie Receives NSF Foundational Research in Robotics Award

Biyun Xie, an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, received a three-year $499,365 award from the NSF Foundational Research in Robotics program for her project titled, “Autonomous Fault-Tolerant Operation of Redundant Robotic Arms.” Xie is the PI, and Jiangbiao He is the Co-PI.

NSF-Funded Engineering Research to Combat Medical Device Infections

Martha Grady, associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, is the recipient of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) prestigious Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award for her recent project, “Mechanical Mechanisms of Biofilm Survival on Implant Surfaces."

 

Savio Poovathingal Receives DEPSCOR Award to Model Hypersonic Environments

Savio Poovathingal received a three-year $600,000 award from the Department of Defense Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (DEPSCoR) for his project titled, “Fragmentation and melting of ice particles subjected to hypersonic aerothermodynamic environments.” 

Caigang Zhu receives NIBIB Trailblazer Award

Caigang Zhu, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering, has received a National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering Trailblazer R21 Award for developing novel optical metabolic strategies to provide personalized radiotherapy for breast cancer patients. 

LG&E and KU and PEIK Renew Multi-year Collaboration Focused on Integration of Renewables

Louisville Gas and Electric and Kentucky Utilities (LG&E and KU), part of the PPL Corporation family of companies, and the Power and Energy Institute of Kentucky (PEIK) at the University of Kentucky have renewed their multi-year research-sponsored agreement.

Graduate Students Present Research at AIAA Aviation Forum

A group of University of Kentucky College of Engineering students and postdoctoral scholars presented their research at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Aviation Forum and Exposition, in Chicago, IL.

NSF-funded Surface Engineering Research to Contribute to Air Safety

Did you know, in 2019, the Aerospace Industry Association (AIA) reported nearly 30% of uncontained engine failures are caused by machining and finishing process-induced abnormalities?

Isaac Oluk wins Dr. Rengao Song Water Research Scholarship

Isaac Oluk, a graduate student in the Department of Civil Engineering, was awarded the Dr. Rengao Song Water Research Scholarship at the KY/TN Water Professionals Conference.

Update on Developing a Mask that Captures and Deactivates COVID-19

A team of University of Kentucky researchers led by College of Engineering Professor Dibakar Bhattacharyya, Ph.D., and his Ph.D. student, Rollie Mills, have developed a medical face mask membrane that can capture and deactivate the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein on contact.

Stephen Ware’s NSF-funded Research Trains Police in De-escalation

For police officers, de-escalation training is critical — greatly reducing the use of force and the likelihood that anyone will be hurt during a confrontation. But preparing for a peaceful end can be challenging when officers can find themselves in a variety of scenarios. That’s where Assistant Professor Stephen Ware comes in.

Aerospace

Research in Their Own Words: Jesse Hoagg on Control Theory

Jesse Hoagg, Donald and Gertrude Lester Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, has advanced controls research at UK since arriving in 2010. In this piece, he explains how his research in control systems and control theory can advance a wide array of applications in science, engineering, and technology.

Simone Silvestri to Give Keynote at WiSARN 2022

Simone Silvestri, associate professor in the Department of Computer Science, is the keynote speaker at the 15th IEEE International Workshop on Wireless Sensor, Robot and UAV Networks (WiSARN 2022).

Mechanical Engineering Graduate Trainees Speak at the Society for Experimental Mechanics Annual Conference

Maria Hessin, a graduate student, J.D. Boyd, a postdoctoral scholar, and Laura Waldman, a postdoctoral scholar, all in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, gave talks at the Society for Experimental Mechanics (SEM) annual conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

UK Hosts Carbon (CO2) Capture Research and Deployment Forum

A forum on Carbon (CO2) Capture Research and Deployment was held on the University of Kentucky’s campus on June 8, 2022. The forum served as a platform for collaborators to review the current status of CO2 capture technologies and the gaps to be bridged for widespread application.

Headshot of Caigang Zhu

Caigang Zhu Awarded Awarded Cancer Center Support Grant Pilot

Caigang Zhu, assistant professor in the F. Joseph Halcomb III, M.D. Department of Biomedical Engineering, was awarded $50,000 through the Cancer Center Support Grant Pilot award at the Markey Cancer Center to develop personalized radiotherapy for breast cancer patients.

Electrical and computer engineering assistant professor JiangBiao He

JiangBiao He Awarded Three-year Office of Naval Research Grant

JiangBiao He, assistant professor and L. Stanley Pigman Faculty Fellow in the University of Kentucky Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, has been awarded a three-year competitive grant from the Office of Naval Research (ONR).

CAER project

UK Research Project Seeks to Capture CO2 and Produce Hydrogen

The University of Kentucky has received $2.4 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) to develop a cost-effective system that will capture carbon dioxide (CO2) and produce hydrogen at natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) power plants.

Research Group Wins NASA Johnson Space Center Director’s Innovation Team Award

The UK Computational Electromagnetics (CEM) Group was awarded the 2022 NASA and Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) Director’s Innovation Award. The CEM team members are Rob Adams, John Young, and Cai-Cheng Lu. The three team members are faculty in the UK Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

I. S. Jawahir Awarded the 2022 Frederick W. Taylor Research Medal

The SME Frederick W. Taylor Research Medal honors significant published research leading to a better understanding of materials, facilities, principles, operations and their application to improve manufacturing processes. Each year since 1957, one researcher is selected for this award.

Manh Nguyen Receives Two Prestigious DOE Awards

Manh Tien Nguyen, a graduate student in Chemical Engineering, was selected for the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) Program and the Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (EERE) Energy Storage Internship Program.

Lauren Mehanna Receives Poster Honor from the Society for Biomaterials

Lauren Mehanna, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Chemical Engineering, was awarded an honorable mention for the 2022 Dr. Rena Bizios Poster Award.

UK, Nucor Steel Gallatin Partnering on Unique CO2 Capture Project

The University of Kentucky has received $4.9 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) to provide its carbon dioxide (CO2) capture system a new challenge: to capture carbon dioxide at a low concentration from the Nucor Steel Gallatin process flue gas stream.

Ramkumar Annamalai Receives NIH R21 grant

Ramkumar T. Annamalai, assistant professor in the F. Joseph Halcomb III, M.D. Department of Biomedical Engineering, is awarded $350,322 through the competitive NIH Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Program (R21) to develop a nanomedicine-based therapy for nonunion fractures.

UK to Collaborate on $10 Million NSF Cyberinfrastructure Initiative

The University of Kentucky will collaborate on a five-year, $10 million National Science Foundation (NSF) initiative, led by the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder), to reimagine cyberinfrastructure user support services and delivery to keep pace with the evolving needs of academic scientific researchers.

Graduate Student Justin Cooper Wins David Weaver Thermophysics Best Student Paper Award

Justin Cooper, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering mentored by Professor Alexandre Martin, won the 2022 AIAA David Weaver Thermophysics Best Student Paper Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).

Civil Engineering Graduate Student Awarded W.L. Matthews, Jr. Fellowship

Ariel Gold-McCoy, a graduate student in the Department of Civil Engineering, has received a University of Kentucky W.L. Matthews, Jr. Fellowship.

Two Biomedical Engineering Graduate Students Received Awards in VACA's "60-second Poster Pitch" Competition

Samanah Rabienia Haratbar and Mehrana Mohtasebi received awards in the Von Allmen Center for Entrepreneurship’s 5th Annual "60-second Poster Pitch" Competition on April 5th, at the 17th Annual CCTS Spring Conference.

Graduate Student Nathaniel Hudson Named Diverse Rising Graduate Scholar

Nathaniel Hudson, a Ph.D. candidate in computer science, has been named a Diverse Rising Graduate Scholar by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, a newsmagazine that focuses on matters of access, diversity, inclusion and opportunity in higher education. Nominations were from all over the country, and only ten graduate students are chosen for the distinction each year.

Graduate Student Laura Waldman was Awarded a University Research Postdoctoral Fellowship

Laura Waldman, a doctoral student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, was one of four individuals awarded a University Research Postdoctoral Fellowship. 

UK Makes History With Successful Space Capsule Experiment

It’s not often that seeing something you built set ablaze is cause for celebration. However, for a team of University of Kentucky students and scientists, triumph was found in seeing their work survive a fiery entry and safely land in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. 

UK's Disease Detectives Use Wastewater Testing to Monitor COVID Infection Trends

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers from the University of Kentucky’s College of Medicine and College of Engineering have joined forces to track the virus’ presence in the community using wastewater testing.

Superfund Research Featured in SRP e-Posted Notes

The UK Superfund follows a multidisciplinary scientific approach to understanding how environmental contaminants harm the body and explore effective interventions to protect the health of communities.

Ramkumar Annamalai Receives Research Grant from Orthopedic Trauma Association

Ramkumar T. Annamalai, assistant professor in the University of Kentucky F. Joseph Halcomb III, M.D. Department of Biomedical Engineering, has been awarded a two-year competitive grant in the basic research category from the Orthopedic Trauma Association (OTA).

Makram Bou Hatoum Receives Poster Award at the Transportation Research Board 2022 Conference

The Transportation Research Board is a division of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, formerly the National Research Council of the United States.

UK PEIK and EE Team Selected by NASA for ULI Aviation Research Project

Jiangbiao He and Dan M. Ionel, ECE and PEIK faculty, to serve as PI and Co-Po for the UK project.

Molly Frazar received the Karen Wetterhahn Memorial Award

Molly Frazar is the 24th recipient of the Karen Wetterhahn Memorial Award, which recognizes one outstanding graduate student or postdoctoral researcher who exemplifies qualities of scientific excellence.

Caigang Zhu Featured as a Thought Leader by Photonics Media

Caigang Zhu delivered an invited talk at Photonic Media to introduce his work on a point-of-care metabolic platform for cancer research. 

Research Collaborations with Surgery at Special Grand Rounds

Faculty from the UK Departments of Surgery and Biomedical Engineering provided general reviews of past and ongoing collaborative research initiatives at a special Surgery Grand Rounds presentation in November.

The UK Superfund Research Center hosted a Science Visualization Workshop

The UK Superfund Research Center’s Research Experience and Training Coordination Core hosted a one-day ‘Science Visualization’ workshop.

Yuan Liao Awarded a Department of Defense DURIP Award

This award will be used to purchase critical research equipment that will enable investigators to pursue more future defense related grants and educate more undergraduate and graduate students.

JiangBiao He Granted Department of Energy Award

JiangBiao He, assistant professor and L. Stanley Pigman Faculty Fellow in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, has received a new award from the US DOE Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy.

Cheung Receives Equipment Grant from Oracle

Sen-ching “Samson” Cheung, Blazie Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, has been awarded an Oracle for Research Cloud Grant for the projected titled “Privacy Preserving Video Machine Learning on Autism Risk Prediction.”

Chapelin receives American Cancer Society Institutional Research Grant

Fanny Chapelin's proposal titled “Magnetic Resonance imaging of tumor-associated macrophage changes with therapy” was selected for an Institutional Research Grant by the American Cancer Society (ACS-IRG).

CAER will be developing an intensified, cost-effective and scalable process using aqueous potassium hydroxide (KOH) as capture solvent for direct air capture.

CAER Project Seeks to Capture Carbon Directly From the Atmosphere

In addition to developing direct air capture technology, this collaborative research team will also look at the engineering design systems for utilization and storage of carbon dioxide from air.

Sayed Ahmad Salehi

Salehi Awarded $400,000 for Three-Year NSF Project

The project is called, "FET: SMALL: New Abstraction and Design Automation for Complex Computations with DNA Using Fractional Coding.”

The SPARK Laboratory is affiliated with the Power and Energy Institute of Kentucky

SPARK Lab Extends Research on Innovative Electric Machines with QM Power Company

Dan M. Ionel, ECE Professor and L. Stanley Pigman Chair in Power, director of the SPARK Lab and of the PEIK Institute, will serve as UK's principal investigator for the project.

Peng Wang

AISM Lab Wins Outstanding Paper Award at NAMRC 49

The honor was awarded to the top paper related to manufacturing systems presented during the virtual conference.

Makram Bou Hatoum and Alyssa Donawa

Bou Hatoum, Donawa Named SEC Emerging Scholars

The program provides professional development and networking opportunities for current doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers who are considering careers in higher education.

Racecourse grading in process. Photo by Katie Pratt.

Racecourse Managers Learn Ways to Make Their Tracks Safer During UK Grading School

Mick Peterson and leading racecourse managers are showing racetrack employees how to improve safety by properly grading the surface.

Electrical and computer engineering assistant professor JiangBiao He

New NSF Sponsored Project to Research Smart Electric Motor-Drive Systems

The project is titled “Collaborative Research: Smart Coils for AC Motors,” and will be a collaboration with Kansas State University.

Ishan Thakkar Receives New NSF Award

The grant is in the amount of $300,000 and funding will span two years.

Fanny Chapelin, Ph.D. (left) and Aman Khurana, M.D. (right)

Chapelin, Khurana, Join TILT Alliance

The “TILT” alliance was recently created to support translational and clinical research in transplant/immunology related to the use of cell immunotherapy.

Reynolds Frimpong, senior research engineer at CAER, works on a carbon dioxide capture experiment.

LG&E and KU, UK CAER Collaborate to Create Net-Negative CO2 Emissions

In addition to capturing CO2, the system will produce two value-added streams, hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2,) which can be sold to offset the cost of CO2 capture.

Akinbode Adedeji

Adedeji receives prestigious John Clark Award from Canadian Society of Bioengineering

The award is given to a society member who has produced outstanding work in food engineering through industry, research, teaching or extension.

Bourbon is Kentucky's signature spirit.

James B. Beam Institute Collaborates on Spent Grains Solutions

Faculty with the institute will serve as judges in an upcoming contest to find innovative solutions for using spent grains.

Aerospace

UK Partners With NASA to Help Launch $15 Million Space Technology Research Institute

Researchers at the University of Kentucky are working with NASA to advance key technologies for exploring the moon, Mars and beyond.

Aerospace

UK Hosts 1st Event at New WAARP Flight Facility

Researchers from the University of Kentucky Department of Mechanical Engineering hosted collaborators from Virginia Tech and Oklahoma State University for a series of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) flight experiments June 21-24 at the new Wildcat Agricultural and Atmospheric Research Pavilion (WAARP) flight facility. WAARP is located at North Farm off Ironworks Pike, a 971-hectare agricultural research facility operated by the University of Kentucky.

Sustainable Manufacturing

UK, UT-Knoxville, Army Collaborating on $50 Million Project to Advance US Manufacturing

The University of Kentucky, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT) and the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Army Research Laboratory (DEVCOM ARL) have announced a five-year, $50 million collaboration directed toward improving manufacturing capabilities in the United States.

Electrical and computer engineering assistant professor JiangBiao He

JiangBiao He Awarded 2021 Zucker Faculty Grant

Contributions from this project will establish a cost-effective, accurate and robust reliability improvement framework for modern electric propulsion systems.

Rare earth elements are a series of 17 chemical elements found in the Earth’s crust.

UK to Partner with MP Materials on Department of Energy Award

The project seeks to extract rare earths from fossil fuel waste streams to diversify the supply base and provide economic opportunity for depressed communities. 

Biosystems and agricultural engineering assistant professor Tiffany Messer

Tiffany Messer Receives NSF CAREER Award

NSF CAREER awards are presented to young faculty members who have the potential to serve as leaders in research and education in their area of study. 

Professor I.S. Jawahir (right), conducting cryogenic material processing experiments with Daniel Caudill (left), Mechanical Engineering graduate research assistant. Pete Comparoni | UK Photo.

UK, UT-Knoxville, Army Collaborating on $50 Million Project to Advance US Manufacturing

Under this three-way partnership, UK’s project will receive approximately $23.8 million from the U.S. Department of Defense

The uncrewed HiDRON stratospheric glider from Stratodynamics is designed to release from a sounding balloon at near-space altitude, enabling a controlled descent for technology payloads aboard. Credits: Stratodynamics, Inc./UAVOS

Hybrid Balloon/Glider System Tests NASA-Supported Turbulence Detection Technology

Sean Bailey, associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, is principal investigator for a wind probe from the University of Kentucky.

Electrical and computer engineering assistant professor Luis Sanchez Giraldo

Luis Sanchez Giraldo Awarded Department of Defense DEPSCoR Grant

Nathan Jacobs, associate professor in the Department of Computer Science, will serve as co-investigator and senior mentor.

Fanny Chapelin, Ph.D. (left) and Aman Khurana, M.D. (right)

Chapelin, Khurana, Co-Author Paper in Ultrasound Quarterly

Chapelin and Khurana saw their original work on Ultrasound Liver Imaging Reporting And Data System awarded third place for early-career research award at "Society of Radiologists in Ultrasound" 2020.

Damien Lawhorn

Damien Lawhorn Completes NASA Graduate Fellowship Research and Receives Ph.D.

Upon graduation, Lawhorn will work as part of the Space Exploration Systems Group within Jacobs Engineering in Houston.

Five of UK's ten NSF Graduate Research Fellows are from the College of Engineering

Five Engineering Students and Recent Graduates Awarded NSF Graduate Research Fellowships

The NSF GRFP is the country’s oldest graduate fellowship program directly supporting graduate students since 1952.

J. Todd Hastings, co-PI on the Kentucky NNCI

Kentucky NNCI Node Renewed through 2025

The program was renewed by the National Science Foundation with an additional $3.5 million of support. Professor J. Todd Hastings serves as co-principal investigator.

Carson Joseph Labrado: 2021 Outstanding Ph.D. Student Award Winner

Carson Labrado Receives Outstanding Ph.D. Student Award

Carson Labrado has made several outstanding contributions to research concerning cybersecurity for Internet of Things (IoT) devices and smart vehicles.

Abheetha Peiris (left) and Issam Harik (right) holding a roll of CatStrong carbon-fiber panels

Harik and Peiris Win ACI Design Award

The award recognizes advanced concepts and techniques applied to a specific design project.

Mehrana Mohtasebi Wins Prestigious National Predoctoral Fellowship

The American Heart Association fellowship is given to enhance the integrated research and clinical training of promising graduate students.

Kristen Price Selected as a NASA Space Technology Graduate Researcher

Price also received a 2021 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship, which she declined in favor of the NASA doctoral fellowship.

Paper from Corey Baker’s Research Group Selected as Top Paper

The paper will be fast-tracked to publication in a special issue of Elsevier Computer Communications Journal.

Ramkumar Annamalai Named Project Lead Investigator on NIH COBRE grant

Annamalai’s project titled “Immunomodulatory Therapy for Bone Regeneration" has been awarded approximately $809,586 for up to three years.

Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning/Data Science

National Endowment for the Humanities to Help UK Build One-of-a-Kind Lab for Imaging, Restoring Ancient Artifacts

Brent Seales is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant to create EduceLab — a cultural heritage imaging and analysis laboratory.

SPARK Lab Extends Research on Electric Machines and Drives with Regal Beloit Company

Dan M. Ionel, ECE Professor and L. Stanley Pigman Chair in Power, Director of the SPARK Lab and of the PEIK Institute, will serve as PI for the project leading a team of researchers. 

Biomechanics

Martha Grady Receives NSF CAREER Award

Martha Grady, assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering with a joint appointment in the F. Joseph Halcomb III, M.D. Department of Biomedical Engineering, has received a National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award. Grady's project is titled, "Mechanical mechanisms of biofilm survival on implant surfaces" and will be funded in the amount of $599,796 over five years. 

Polymers and Soft Materials

Jonathan Pham Receives NSF CAREER Award

Jonathan Pham, assistant professor in the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, has received a National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award. The award will fund his project "Wetting and dynamics on soft and swollen polymeric surfaces" in the amount of $570,000 over five years. 

BBC Publishes Article on UK Researchers' Work with Drones and Cattle

Jesse Hoagg, Michael Sama and Josh Jackson have been developing a way for farmers to autonomously monitor cattle using drones.

William Ford Receives New NSF Grant

The project is titled, “RII Track-4: Elucidating Controls of Sediment Phosphorus Delivery to Tile-Drains” and will be funded in the amount of $226,757.

Guigen Zhang Receives New Patent

The patent is titled, “Electrical Double Layer in Nanopores for Detection and Identification of Molecules and Submolecular Units.”

Zach Agioutantis Named Associate Editor of Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration Journal

Agioutantis is the first faculty member to represent the University of Kentucky on the editorial board of the publication. 

Sidrah Liaqat Receives First Place during CCS Poster Competition

Liaqat’s poster was titled, “Predicting ASD Diagnosis in Children with Synthetic and Image-based Eye Gaze Data.”

Simone Silvestri Co-PI on $1.5 Million NSF Award to Form Smart and Connected Farms

The project contributes to Silvestri's work in applying novel communication technologies to cyber-physical systems towards solving interdisciplinary research problems.

Metals and Alloys

Brazing Aluminum Alloys in Space with Dusan Sekulic

Since 2017, Dusan P. Sekulic, Secat J. G. Morris Aluminum Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, has been leading an estimated $1 million international research project funded by NASA and the Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities in Russia. 

Networking

Reimagining the Internet on a Global Scale

A new $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) will expand FABRIC, a project to build the nation’s largest cyberinfrastructure testbed, to four distinguished scientific institutions in Asia and Europe. Jim Griffioen, a professor in the Department of Computer Science is a co-principal investigator on the NSF project.

Annamalai Receives Igniting Research Collaborations Pilot Grant

Annamalai's project is titled “Effect of mechanical strain on myokine secretion and its role in diabetic bone disease.”

Sridhar Sunderam Involved in Two New Grants

A major focus in Sunderam’s lab is how sleep is affected in disorders of the brain--specifically epilepsy and Alzheimer’s disease--and whether improving sleep can produce beneficial outcomes.

Dusan Sekulic Part of NASA Teleconference on Next Space Station Resupply Mission

Since 2017, Sekulic has been leading an estimated $1 million international research project funded by NASA and the Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities in Russia.  

UK Researchers Advancing Wastewater Testing to Track COVID-19

Faculty members Scott Berry and Shakira Hobbs are testing a new technology to evaluate wastewater to track community presence of COVID-19.

Stratodynamics and the University of Kentucky to Conduct Test Flight at Spaceport America

Sean Bailey, associate professor of mechanical engineering, is the project’s Principal Investigator.

Paul Rottmann Publishes Paper in Science

Rottmann worked on the paper, titled, "Multiplicity of Dislocation Pathways in a Refractory Multi-Principal Element Alloy," with a team from the University of California at Santa Barbara. 

Leading Horse Racing Organizations Partner With UK to Improve Surface Safety

Mick Peterson, director of equine safety and BAE researcher is nationally and internationally recognized for a career in track surface safety research and testing.

Studying Sulfur Variability in Biofuel Feedstocks with Jian Shi

Through a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, the research team led by Jian Shi, an assistant professor in the UK College of Agriculture, Food and Environment, will work to identify the reasons behind the sulfur variability in pine feedstocks by studying byproducts collected from across the nation. With the DOE grant and cost-share dollars from universities and the industry, the project will total more than $2 million.

UK researchers launch a $2 million project to study sulfur variability in biofuel feedstocks

Jian Shi, assistant professor in the Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, is leading the research team.

UK Researchers Collaborate on NSF Project to Reimagine the Internet on Global Scale

Jim Griffioen, a professor in the Department of Computer Science is a co-principal investigator on the NSF project.

Aaron Cramer Receives Grant from U.S. Navy Office of Naval Research

The project will be funded in the amount of $358,976 and span three years.

UK CAER, Mining Collaborate to Launch New, Sustainable Electronics Recycling Program

Mining engineering professor Jack Groppo is spearheading an effort to turn domestic electronics waste into a Kentucky industry.

Silva and Agioutantis Receive $543,000 Alpha Foundation Project for Underground Mine Seals Integrity Assessment

The project is expected to start on November 1, 2020, and will span two years.

Engineering Better Mental Health Solutions with Sarah Wilson

Engineers are often tasked with solving complex problems, and one of their most important tools in finding a solution is their own creativity.

Ingenuity — that’s exactly what Sarah Wilson would need when confronted with a public health issue in her field.

Multi-Million Dollar Multidisciplinary Grant Supports Advancement of Epilepsy Research

The collaborative project includes biomedical engineering associate professor Sridhar Sunderam.

UK Researchers Awarded NSF Grant to Engineer Better Mental Health Solutions

Chemical engineering lecturer Sarah Wilson became interested in research on engineering student mental health while attending an engineering education conference.

UK Physics, Engineering Team Uses AI to Study Galaxy Clusters

Nathan Jacobs, Yu Zhang and Gongbo Liang are exploring ways of using techniques from machine learning and computer vision to analyze astronomy images.

UK’s James B. Beam Institute Prioritizing Environmental Stewardship

UK scientists, including professor and KWRRI director Lindell Ormsbee, are partnering with Beam Suntory to study water sustainability.

Five College of Engineering Graduate Students Named Bridge to Doctorate Fellows

The Kentucky-West Virginia Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (KY-WV LSAMP), spearheaded by UK, is responsible for the program.

Machine Human Cooperative Welding System

YuMing Zhang Receives New NSF Grant for Intelligent Co-Robotic Welding

Peng Wang, assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Department of Mechanical Engineering, will serve as co-PI.

CAER, ORNL Research Partnership to Turn Coal Into High-value Carbon Fiber

The collaboration will allow two of the world’s leading carbon fiber research and development organizations to maximize their respective expertise in the field.

Dual-purpose Hemp Cultivars Have Best Biofuel Potential

In the study led by BAE assistant professor Jian Shi, the dual-purpose cultivars that had the best biofuel potential, which uses the stalk, also produced grain.

Kentucky Part of New Tier 1 University Transportation Center

Gregory Erhardt, assistant professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, is the PI for UK.

Hala Nassereddine Receives ELECTRI International Early Career Award

The purpose of the Early Career Award is to initiate a relationship with young researchers who will bring a new focus into the ELECTRI “research family.”

Martha Grady Leading Major Research Project through NIH COBRE Grant

Assistant professor Martha Grady will lead the project titled "Quantitative Mechanical Phenotyping of Bacterial Biofilms on Implant Surfaces."

Researchers Publish Study Looking at Approaches to Better Treat Alzheimer's Disease

Ai-Ling Lin is an associate professor at UK's Sanders-Brown Center on Aging and College of Medicine with a joint appointment in BME.

Reading the Unreadable: Seales and Team Reveal Dead Sea Scroll Text

Brent Seales, professor and chair of the Department of Computer Science, is considered the foremost expert in the digital restoration of damaged and unreadable manuscripts.

Dibakar Bhattacharyya to Receive 2020 AIChE Separations Division Founders Award

Bhattacharyya recently received a Rapid Response Research (RAPID) grant from the NSF to develop a mask that will deactivate COVID-19 on contact.

Medical Imaging

Guoqiang Yu's Novel Noncontact Imaging Device Could Change Healthcare

In 2020, his team has been awarded four grants from the National Institutes of Health that total nearly $5.7 million. 

Microfluidics

Developing a Mask that Captures and Deactivates COVID-19 with Dibakar Bhattacharyya

University of Kentucky engineering professor Dibakar Bhattacharyya recently announced he had the concept and the means to develop a medical face mask that would capture and deactivate COVID-19 on contact. Now, the director of UK’s Center of Membrane Sciences, along with collaborators from two different disciplines, has received a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to make these masks a reality.

Guoqiang Yu Awarded Two NIH Grants Totaling Nearly $4.7 Million

Yu researches near-infrared diffuse optical spectroscopy/tomography through his Biomedical Optics Lab.

Simone Silvestri Wins NSF CAREER Award

The award is given in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization.

Software Engineering

Software Engineering with Tingting Yu

In August 2019, computer science assistant professor Tingting Yu received a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation in the amount of approximately $500,000. The project involves collaboration between University of Kentucky and Stevens Institute of Technology, and the goal is to improve the quality of modern software systems. Yu researches the broad field of software engineering, which largely boils down to creating better software. The goal of her research is to engineer techniques that help developers create more dependable, secure and user-friendly software systems. 

Nanobiotechnology with Sheng Tong

Associate professor Sheng Tong joined the F. Joseph Halcomb III, M.D., Department of Biomedical Engineering this past fall. Prior to arriving in Lexington, Tong was a research associate professor in the Department of Bioengineering at Rice University.

Tong’s research synergistically combines nanobiotechnology, drug and gene delivery, and cancer therapy. He is currently focusing on developing genome editing approaches for cancer immune checkpoint blockade therapies. 

Fluid Mechanics

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Measuring Atmospheric Turbulence with Sean Bailey

Sean Bailey, associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, joined the UK College of Engineering faculty in 2010 after receiving his Ph.D. From the University of Ottawa and subsequently completing his postdoctoral work at Princeton University. In this interview, he discusses the advantages of using unmanned aerial vehicles to measure atmospheric conditions, his various projects that use UAVs and how UAVs may prove vital in the event of an airborne disaster. 

Construction Engineering & Project Management

Disruptive Technology in Construction Management with Hala Nassereddine

Civil engineering assistant professor Hala Nassereddine joined the UK College of Engineering faculty this past fall as the newest member of the Construction Engineering and Project Management Program. Nassereddine teaches the introduction to construction management course and will teach a new course on lean systems in construction management in the spring. She is also involved with the Kentucky Transportation Center on multiple highway research projects.

Last summer, Nassereddine won the 2019 Construction Industry Institute (CII) Academic Showcase at the CII Annual Conference in San Diego, California. The project for which Nassereddine won the showcase is detailed below in a recent conversation we had about her research focus. 

$24 Million Partnership to Advance Next Generation Manufacturing Technologies in Kentucky

Rodney Andrews, professor of chemical engineering, is PI on the project.

UK Researchers Studying Better Ways to Detect Worms in Apples

Faculty members Akinbode Adedeji and  Kevin Donohue are developing ways to keep healthy U.S. apples in the supply chain.

Toxoplasmosis Research with Abhijit Patwardhan

A unique partnership between an engineer and a scientist at the University of Kentucky has produced data that is challenging prevailing wisdom about a potentially life-threatening parasite's behavior and revealing possible targets for treatment.

Hoagg Awarded $1.2 Million Grant for Applied UAV Research

The National Science Foundation grant will allow a research team to use unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the event of airborne contaminant dispersion.

Bioengineering & Biomechanics

The Connector: Mark Suckow

When Mark Suckow (pronounced SOO-koh) interviewed with University of Kentucky vice president for research Lisa Cassis for the position of attending veterinarian, he posed a simple question: could he do more? 

Brent Seales Awarded $2 Million Mellon Foundation Grant

Thanks to a prestigious grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Brent Seales can continue his quest to solve a 2,000-year-old mystery: reading the elusive texts within carbonized Herculaneum scrolls.

Artificial Intelligence

Explainable Artificial Intelligence Systems with Brent Harrison

"I think it’s essential that we bring technology up to human standards, rather than forcing humans to adapt their ways of thinking to fit the AI system." - Brent Harrison 

Transportation

Understanding the Impacts of Transportation Network Companies with Greg Erhardt

Transportation Network Companies like Uber and Lyft promised to solve traffic congestion in major cities. Greg Erhardt, assistant professor of civil engineering at UK, says not so fast.

Surfaces and Interfaces

Soft Materials and Interfaces with Jonathan Pham

Last summer, materials engineering assistant professor Jonathan Pham received two National Science Foundation grants totaling $525,000. Pham, who joined the UK College of Engineering faculty in 2017, researches soft materials and interfaces and liquid-surface interactions, among other interests. Basically, he explores how solid materials…well, sometimes liquids…depending on the size, of course…well, probably better if he explains it.

Bioengineering & Biomechanics

Computer Modeling for Heart Health with Jonathan Wenk and Kenneth Campbell

Combining physiology and engineering, UK’s Jonathan Wenk and Kenneth Campbell are developing computer software to deliver better therapies for patients with life-threatening heart failure. The National Institutes of Health recently awarded the team a $3 million five-year grant to create a computer model of the heart that can be customized to individual patients and predict long-term results.

Brehm Receives Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award

The honor is given to academic scientists and engineers who have shown exceptional promise for doing creative research early in their career.

Brehm’s project, “Numerical Investigations of Particle Interactions with Navy Relevant High-Speed Flows,” addresses the significant gap in knowledge for particulate-laden, high-speed flows, employing one-of-a-kind numerical investigations to study the interaction of particulates with high-speed flows for geometries and flow conditions relevant to the Navy.

Cui Awarded Two Grants Totaling over $650,000

Funding from the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health will further Cui's work in debugging large ontologies and customizing data collection systems.

Agioutantis Receives New Alpha Foundation Grant

The $223,000 award will support Agioutantis’ investigation into pillar design and stability with integrated pillar load and opening convergence in mines.

UK Researchers Receive $500,000 Grant for Next-Generation Batteries

A new study by University of Kentucky researchers is examining whether peach pits and walnut shells can be used to create cheaper, longer lasting lithium ion batteries.

Yu Receives Two-Year NIH Grant for Neonatal Intensive Care Device

Professor Guoqiang Yu (Ph.D.) of the F. Joseph Halcomb III, M.D. Department of Biomedical Engineering has been awarded a two-year, $420,750 R21 grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).