On April 30, the Pigman College of Engineering gathered at the Manchester Fountain Hall to honor its 2026 Faculty Awards recipients for their outstanding contributions to the college and beyond. Awards were given in the areas of research, service and education. This year, in addition to individual research awards, the college added a new award category to honor the work of a research team. The winners in each area are listed below.
Last week, the 2026 American Society of Civil Engineers Indiana-Kentucky Student Symposium was co-hosted in Lexington by the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville chapters. Twelve ASCE student chapters from Indiana and Kentucky, including Western Kentucky University, Notre Dame and Purdue University, traveled to Lexington to compete.
Access to safe drinking water depends not only on infrastructure, but on the people who operate and maintain it. At the University of Kentucky, Diana Byrne, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Civil Engineering in the Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering, is addressing long-standing challenges facing small water utilities. Byrne received the prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award with $547,471 over five years for her work.
B.S. in civil engineering, 1977 Ruth Coleman is a pioneering civil and structural engineer whose nearly five-decade career advanced infrastructure resilience across the nation and around the world — while breaking barriers for generations to follow.
B.S. in civil engineering, 1994 | M.S. in civil engineering, 1995 JoAnn Browning is a nationally recognized leader in civil engineering whose career reflects an unwavering commitment to resilient infrastructure, research excellence and transformative academic leadership.
B.S. in civil engineering, 1980 | M.S. in civil engineering, 1982 Greg Heitzman is a nationally respected civil and environmental engineering leader who has strengthened drinking water treatment, infrastructure renewal and utility management across Kentucky.
Last fall, more than 300 faculty, staff and students gathered in the Gatton Student Center for the second University of Kentucky Teaching Excellence Symposium, a university-wide event organized and hosted by the UK Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching (CELT).
Diana M. Byrne, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering, has been honored with the 2026 Best Reviewer Award for the Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management. The Best Reviewer Award is selected by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Environmental & Water Resources Institute (EWRI) awards committee and Byrne will be honored at the 2026 World Environmental and Water Resources Congress in Mobile, Alabama in April.
Kelly G. Pennell, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Civil Engineering and director of engineering research endowments in the Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering, has been named editor-in-chief of Reviews on Environmental Health.
Kelly G. Pennell, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Civil Engineering and director of the UK Superfund Research Center, has been named the inaugural director of engineering research endowments in the Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering.
