By Gail Hairston

Dozens of high school students from all over Kentucky will converge on the University of Kentucky campus today (Thursday), Jan. 25, to test their logic and linguistic skills in the 2018 North American Computational Olympiad (NACLO), hosted by the UK Department of Linguistics.

No prior knowledge of linguistics or secondary languages is necessary as the students are tested on their ability to solve linguistics puzzles. Professionals in linguistics, computational linguistics and language technologies used dozens of languages to create the engaging problems that represent cutting-edge issues in their fields.

This week’s competition reflects open round contests with an invitational round scheduled March 8. This summer, NACLO will select 

Open Round: January 25, 2018 at 10:00am in William T. Young Library

The Open Round of the North American Computational Linguistics Olympiad (NACLO) will be hosted locally from 10:00am until 1:00pm on Thursday, January 25th in the Alumni Gallery of William T. Young Library on the main campus of the University of Kentucky.  Please register at the main NACLO web site if you are interested in participating!  The NACLO site also has many practice problems and sample problems from previous years to hone your skills on.  Driving (and parking) directions for visitors are available.  For visitors

By Jenny Wells

Three University of Kentucky professors and a postdoctoral researcher in the UK College of Arts and Sciences' Department of Physics and Astronomy were featured in the American Physical Society's (APS) "Physics Highlights of the Year" for 2017.

The research of UK faculty members Keh-Fei Liu and Terry Draper, together with UK postdoc Yi-Bo Yang and their collaborators, was featured for their recent breakthrough in understanding the origin of the proton's "spin."  Through theoretical calculations performed on supercomputing clusters, their work revealed for the first time that 50 percent of the proton's spin arises from gluons, the force carriers of the "strong interaction" that bind quarks

By Gail Hairston

Rachel Pagano studied snake fungal disease in Kentucky's ecosystem.

Without the added pressure of daily classes, summer research can be especially rewarding for University of Kentucky underclassmen.

The UK Office of Undergraduate Research has created a Summer Research Information Session to answer any questions that current freshmen, sophomores and juniors might have regarding undergraduate research programs, especially questions regarding financial support. There will be two identical presentations 4:30-5:30 p.m., Jan. 17. in Room 233 of Gatton College of Business and Economics, and 1:30-2:30 p.m., Jan. 24, at William T. Young Library UK

By Amaya DeVicente

While on a University of Kentucky Education Abroad and Exchanges (UK EA) program, UK student, Natalie St.Clair, immersed herself in her new community in Mexico, and giving back any way that she could.

St.Clair, a senior from Louisville, Kentucky, is a foreign language and international economics major and political science minor who studied abroad in Oaxaca, Mexico.

St.Clair’s two-month program in Oaxaca during summer 2016 was not enough. "I decided to return to Oaxaca to strengthen my relationships with friends and the community, and become more deeply involved," St.Clair said. She studied abroad again in fall 2017 on a UK EA partner program: Study Abroad and Spanish Immersion in Mexico – Intensive Language with Sol Education Abroad.

"The program and academic staff were a

By Carol Lea Spence

Amelia Baylon, NRES student, helps middle-school students measure a tree during 2017 Expanding Your Horizons STEM workshop. Photo by Carol Lea Spence.

Organizers of Expanding Your Horizons invite University of Kentucky undergraduate and graduate students to apply to be workshop leaders at this year’s conference. Expanding Your Horizons is a one-day conference on April 21 for middle school girls from across Kentucky. The purpose is to expose them to and create excitement for the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics by taking part in hands-on science workshops.

Women make up only 24 percent of the STEM workforce, and women hold a disproportionately low share of STEM undergraduate degrees.

“Many times, girls lack role models in those fields, so they don’t see women in a variety of different STEM

By Dominique Page

Six University of Kentucky students took honors at the Kentucky Academy of Science (KAS) Annual Meeting held Nov. 3-4, at Murray State University. With more than 500 scientists and students in attendance, hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students from Kentucky and regional colleges and universities participated in the research competitions.

The UK students who won awards in the KAS student competitions are as follows:

By Gail Hairston

Artist's rendering of Mill House at Glendower, the setting for new UK creative writing residency program.

Built more than 225 years ago, the Mill House at Glendower is a secluded, pastoral location to escape the bustle of daily life, a place to reflect, to create.

At least that’s what the University of Kentucky Department of English professors realized when they were surprised by an unexpected gift from UK alumni Joan and Greg Swanberg — a summertime four-week stay at the couple’s cottage at the Virginia retreat.

The generous gift allowed the department to create two new residency programs for aspiring authors — one two-week residency open to internal submissions from current UK students pursuing a master’s degree in fine arts in creative writing and a second two-week residency for external submissions from “emerging

By Jenny Wells

Martha Tillson (left) and Sarah Gossett will deliver speeches at the December 2017 Commencement Ceremonies Friday, Dec. 15.

In what has become a University of Kentucky Commencement tradition, two students have been selected to serve as speakers for the UK December Commencement ceremonies this Friday, Dec. 15. Because doctoral, master's and baccalaureate degree recipients are now recognized together based on their colleges, the selection committee accepted applications from students with all degree types, not just undergraduate students as in past years.

Martha Tillson will speak at the 10 a.m. ceremony and Sarah Gossett will speak at the 2 p.m. ceremony. Tillson and Gossett were selected among several candidates by UK President Eli Capilouto to represent the December

By Tatyanna Pruitt

Frank Ettensohn, professor in the University of Kentucky Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, has received the Grover E. Murray Memorial Distinguished Educator Award for 2018 from the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), an international association of petroleum geologists. The award is given in recognition of distinguished and outstanding contributions to geological education.

“This award has been given to some very prestigious educator/geoscientists. It is a veritable who’s who of geoscientists in the field of sedimentary geology,” said Dave Moecher, chair of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences. “Dr. Ettensohn has contributed significantly to the field and is definitely deserving of this recognition.”

Ettensohn

By Julie Wrinn

“Kentucky Is a Pretty Special Place”

The Transformation of Andrew Grotto from High School Underachiever to Cybersecurity Wonk

As a freshman entering UK’s Honors Program in 1994, Andrew Grotto (B.A. Philosophy ’99) was on academic probation from day one. Though he would go on to a glittering career on Capitol Hill, at the White House, and now at Stanford, with graduate degrees from Berkeley and Harvard, Grotto didn’t apply himself to academics until his last year of high school. “I figured out in my senior year that maybe I should go to class,” he joked. Grotto is not really sure why he didn’t take school seriously, other than “teenagers’ brains aren’t wired to think about risk and long-term consequences.”

Despite a mediocre cumulative GPA coming out of high school in the Chicago area, Grotto had unusually high ACT scores

By Gail Hairston

The University of Kentucky recently announced the 16 undergraduate winners of the 53rd annual Oswald Research and Creativity Competition.

Established in 1964 by former UK President John Oswald, the Oswald Research and Creativity Program encourages research and creative activities by undergraduate students at UK. The objectives of the program are to stimulate creative work by undergraduate students and to recognize individuals who demonstrate outstanding achievement.

Categories include biological sciences; design, including architecture, landscape architecture and interior design; fine arts, including film, music, photography, painting and sculpture; humanities, from creative and critical-research approaches; physical and engineering sciences; and social sciences. All submissions are sent anonymously to faculty reviewers in related fields and

By Whitney Hale

Ashley Judd delivers the UK College of Social Work Irma Sarett Rosenstein Lecture on campus Dec. 1. Mark Cornelison | UK Photo.

Watch a video above with "the silence breakers" created by Time magazine.

University of Kentucky graduate Ashley Judd is among the group of “silence breakers” that has been named Time magazine's Person of the Year for their efforts to shine a spotlight on sexual misconduct in America.

“The galvanizing actions of the women on our cover … along with those of hundreds of others, and of many men as well, have unleashed one of the highest-velocity

By Tatyanna Pruitt

Each month the National Residence Hall Honorary (NRHH) recognizes individuals who go above and beyond in their job with their “Of The Months” or “OTMs” awards. Jessica Pennington, academic living and learning success coordinator in the College of Arts & Sciences, won the campus level Institution Faculty/Staff member award for August 2017.

A large part of Pennington’s job requires crossover between the College of Arts and Sciences and the Office of Residence Life.

“Jessica is simply amazing at building a bridge between our academic colleges and residence life here at UK, as well as bettering the department of residence life and campus community,” said Tyler Priest, Champions area resident director who nominated Pennington for the award.

Every August, Pennington prepares for the return of

By Whitney Hale

Students examine materials at UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center.

University of Kentucky creative writing graduate students studying with English Professor and award-winning poet Frank X Walker will present a poetry reading of work they created throughout the semester based on research done at UK Special Collections Research Center. The free public reading will run 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 6, in the Great Hall of the Margaret I. King Library Building.

“This is the third time that we’ve done this, and the work they produce is absolutely astounding and very moving,” said

By Jenny Wells

John Postlethwait, a professor of biology from the University of Oregon, will deliver two lectures at the University of Kentucky this week as the featured speaker for the ninth annual Thomas Hunt Morgan Lecture Series. The series is sponsored by the UK College of Arts and Sciences Department of Biology.

Postlethwait will give two talks, the first a public lecture for a general audience titled "An Icefish is a Nice Fish: Antarctic Oceans and Global Climate Change" at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 6, in Room 121 of the Don & Cathy Jacobs Science Building. The second talk, a scientific lecture titled "Genetic Mechanisms of Sex Determination in Zebrafish," will take place at 4 p.m. Thursday, Dec, 7,

By Kathy Johnson

Ashley Judd. Mark Cornelison | UK Photo.

Ashley T. Judd, University of Kentucky alumna, feminist, and social justice humanitarian, will be on campus today, Friday, Dec. 1, to present the 15th annual Irma Sarett Rosenstein Distinguished Lecture at the Singletary Center for the Arts. All tickets for the event have been distributed and no general admission entry is available.

Hosted by the College of Social Work in partnership this year with the College of Arts and Sciences, the lecture is named for Lexington social worker and social justice advocate Irma Sarett Rosenstein.

“Irma Sarret Rosenstein's passion and life's work was

By Amaya DeVicente 

Last year, 18 percent of the University of Kentucky graduating class graduated with global experience. The university’s International Center has taken steps to increase that percentage.

The UK International Center’s Education Abroad and Exchanges program (UK EA) recently announced a new 2018-19 scholarship and program fee reduction initiative for selected UK exchange partners around the world, ranging from $1,000-$5,000.

UK students who participate in an exchange program have the opportunity to fully immerse themselves in the language and culture of a host university, city and country. They enroll in courses at the host institution for either a semester or an academic year and earn transfer credit, while still paying their regular tuition to UK.

Nicole Funk, a junior from

By Julie Wrinn

Judge Deborah Deweese grew up in a blue collar neighborhood in the south end of Louisville and remembers watching TV most nights with her parents and brothers. The family’s favorite show was Perry Mason, and one night her dad said to young Deborah, “Why don’t you be a lawyer like him?”

“That resonated with me,” remembers Judge Deweese, “and I can’t say that I ever wanted to do anything else.” It was typical of her father’s insistence that she could do anything, “that there was no difference between me and my two brothers”—not an ordinary viewpoint at the time.

A 1981 Political Science major at UK, Deborah Deweese came on the bench in 1994 when there were just five women judges on the District Court in Jefferson County out of 21 total. Now the majority of the District Court judges are women, the Circuit Court is about half women, and the Family

By Jennifer T. Allen

Alexis Abdullah came to the University of Kentucky from Atlanta with the goal of experiencing different cultures and gaining new perspectives. Ryan Thorn came to Lexington from his hometown of Mercer, Pennsylvania, to experience a new part of the country. As UK seniors, both traveled 8,241 miles last summer to the southwest coast of South Africa to engage in an immersive experience unlike any they had before.

“When I came to college, I knew I wanted to study abroad at some point,” said Abdullah, a senior environmental and sustainability studies major. “I wanted to experience a different culture and gain perspectives that expanded my own. The opportunity to study abroad in South Africa appealed to my interests because of the history of social injustice and human rights struggles that are associated