Thanks to the generous support of Stanley and Karen Pigman and Kentucky’s Research Challenge Trust Fund (RCTF), engineering researchers are receiving additional annual funding to enhance the research priorities and programs of the Pigman College of Engineering. Established in 2024, the Lighthouse Beacon Foundation Endowment supports faculty, research, graduate students, facilities and research infrastructure in the Pigman College of Engineering. This year, the endowment made $235,000 in funds available for distribution.
Katelyn Straw, junior, took first place in the undergraduate category and Odianosen Ewah, doctoral candidate, took second place in the graduate category.
This fall semester, the University of Kentucky Pigman College of Engineering - Paducah Campus welcomed 54 new students — its largest class in program history. The Paducah Campus, which offers bachelor’s degrees in mechanical engineering, chemical engineering and computer engineering technology, was established 27 years ago to develop and retain engineering talent in the Western Kentucky region.
Lignin-Based Bioproducts: Creating Value from the Underutilized Portion of Biomass
On Sept. 12, the University of Kentucky will induct 20 alumni into the 2025 Hall of Distinguished Alumni, including five Pigman College of Engineering alumni. The alumni will be honored for their meaningful contributions to the Commonwealth, nation and the world.
The University of Kentucky’s Office of Transdisciplinary Educational approaches to advance Kentucky (TEK) has announced the TEK Faculty Fellows for the 2025-26 academic year. A critical mission of TEK is the development of new transdisciplinary courses and the reimagining of existing courses to emphasize one or more essential employability skills. To accomplish this, TEK is leveraging the expertise of a new cohort of TEK Faculty Fellows.
Six Pigman College of Engineering faculty members received National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) awards, the NSF’s prestigious award in support of early-career faculty, in the 2025 funding cycle. This was the Pigman College of Engineering's highest annual number of NSF CAREER awardees in the 30-year history of the program. In addition, the college boasted a 75% success rate for CAREER awards in the 2025 funding cycle.
Alexandra F. Paterson’s research paves the way for more reliable and innovative technologies that could benefit health care, manufacturing and everyday life. For her work, she has earned two prestigious national awards for early-career faculty: the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Young Faculty Award.
