The University of Kentucky will receive more than $17 million for research projects under a spending plan Congress sent to President Bush in late November. The funding includes $16.7 million to study the nutritional value of new forages for livestock through the Forage-Livestock Systems Project; to supply equipment for the Neuroscience Research Institute; to provide dental care and facilities through the Consortium for Applied Oral Health Research and Treatment; to enable law students to work with Kentucky and U.S. attorneys through the Rural Drug Prosecution Assistance Project; to design an agricultural research service laboratory; and to fund other research and programs. Another $1 million goes to UK and the University of Louisville’s partnership called E-Cavern to pay for research into solutions to protect critical national financial data. The project will be housed in a three-million-square-foot limestone cavern under the city of Louisville.
Belcan Engineering Group will open a new engineering design center in Lexington in early January for Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation with up to 40 jobs initially and as many as 300 by the end of 2005 that could benefit UK engineering graduates, Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher announced earlier this month. UK President Lee T. Todd, Jr. and engineering Associate Dean for Economic Development and Innovations Management Bruce Walcott were instrumental in the negotiations. Belcan will perform targeted engineering activities in support of projected growth in Sikorsky Aircraft’s domestic and international development program requirements. In the Lexington center, Belcan plans to work closely with the UK College of Engineering to cultivate opportunities for graduates. Belcan already has provided the support for a Belcan laboratory suite in the Ralph G. Anderson Building, named for the founder of Belcan who also is a member of the college’s Hall of Distinction. The building houses the college’s mechanical engineering department. Belcan also participates in the college’s cooperative education program that gives students on-the-job experience at company facilities for a semester or longer.
A team of researchers led by Philip Landfield, professor and chair of Molecular and Biomedical Pharmacology in the UK College of Medicine, was awarded a $7.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to aid in the fight against Alzheimer’s Disease. The researchers have been working together for more than a decade to better understand and combat this debilitating neurodegenerative condition. D. Allan Butterfield, Chemistry, has uncovered new clues about how brain cells are damaged by Alzheimer’s disease, evidence suggesting vitamin E may help prevent the debilitating illness. Butterfield’s study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, focused on amyloid beta peptide, a compound known to contribute to the senile plaques seen in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. He found that both human and animal forms of the compound cause loss of connections between neurons and decreased cell viability as well as other damage associated with Alzheimer’s.
UK and several other Kentucky universities and technical colleges will perform research into homeland security issues, supported by $4 million in U.S. Department of Homeland Security grants. Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher and U.S. Representative Hal Rogers announced the grants in early November. The funded projects include $894,923 to UK, Eastern Kentucky University, and Murray State University to develop a testing and tracking system to provide early warnings of disease in beef cattle; $654,668 to UK, Western Kentucky University, and the University of Louisville to develop a high-tech surveillance and face-recognition system; $835,556 to UK, Murray State, and Morehead State University to simulate catastrophic events related to dam breaches; $318,048 to UK and WKU to develop portable command systems to use in emergency situations; $250,000 to UK and EKU to develop a community risk and vulnerability assessment tool; $285,000 to UK to demonstrate a three-dimensional simulation and training system for disaster scenarios; and $95,751 to UK to determine the best way to manage and disseminate information in time-critical situations.
During the annual Development Council and Fellows Society weekend, UK recognized 224 new Fellows, individuals who have given or pledged $10,000 or more to the University. Since the program began in 1966, more than 5,900 Fellows have made or pledged gifts in excess of $600 million. The program honors various levels of giving: University Fellows ($10,000 or more, individuals only); Barker Fellows ($50,000 or more); Bowman Fellows ($250,000 or more); Patterson Fellows ($500,000 or more); and Presidential Fellows ($1 million or more). The weekend also marked the official kickoff of The Campaign for the University of Kentucky, Phase II: Dream, Challenge, Succeed. The campaign’s goal is to raise $1 billion by the end of 2007. For a complete list of this year’s Fellows, visit www.uky.edu/PR/News/041112_fellows.htm.
The UK Area Health Education Center (AHEC) recently received a three-year federal grant totaling more than $1 million for its Health Careers Opportunity Program (HCOP) to increase the number of disadvantaged and underrepresented students pursuing education for careers in the health professions. Twelve rural and underserved counties in Eastern Kentucky and two urban counties with large Hispanic and African-American populations will receive the support. The funds will enable UK to expand existing programs of pre-professional preparation, broaden services for students with economic and academic disadvantages, and implement innovative programs to stimulate and encourage students to enter health professions. HCOP develops activities to build diversity in health professions, addresses identified risk factors for school failure, and explores ways to narrow achievement gaps and to assure students in the program remain in the educational pipeline. Students in the program may come from ethnically, geographically, and/or economically underserved backgrounds.
Administrators from UK and the Fayette County Public Schools announced a new partnership to raise student achievement by offering enhanced learning opportunities for music, foreign language, and health care services. President Todd joined Stu Silberman, Fayette County Public Schools superintendent, and UK Provost Michael T. Nietzel in making the announcement in November. The Provost’s Office will closely monitor student progress and make adjustments to the program as needed. The first phase of the program will focus on two schools, the Academy at Lexington and Booker T. Washington Elementary School. The long-range goal is to replicate the program in other Fayette County elementary schools.
Executive Vice President for Research Wendy Baldwin talked about energy research, environmental research related to energy, and UK’s outreach and cooperative extension initiatives at the first meeting of the Governor’s Commonwealth Energy Task Force on November 12. UK is involved in approximately $45 million in ongoing energy research, with $28 million from federal sources. Baldwin talked about the need for state support to leverage these federal dollars. UK’s Center for Applied Energy Research, College of Engineering, Kentucky Geological Survey, Center for Fossil Fuel Science, College of Agriculture, College of Arts and Sciences, Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute, and Tracy Farmer Center for the Environment are involved in energy research and energy-related environmental research. CAER director Ari Geertsema and Jim Cobb, state geologist and KGS director, also testified.
Oral Health Science professor Jeff Okeson in the UK College of Dentistry is studying how Botox® can treat temporomandibular disorders that afflict the temporomandibular joints which perform such functions as opening and closing the mouth, chewing, speaking, and swallowing. The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research of the National Institutes of Health indicate that at any given time 10.8 million people in the United States suffer from problems with how their jaws function. Okeson injects Botox into the appropriate muscle, which weakens the muscle and stops spasms.
Business leaders, scientists and entrepreneurs gathered in Lexington in early November for the Second Kentucky Conference on Natural Products Innovation. The conference, sponsored by the UK College of Agriculture’s Natural Products Alliance and Kentucky Tobacco Research and Development Center in collaboration with the Kentucky Life Sciences Organization, focused on identifying resources, building partnerships, and establishing successful enterprises in the life sciences industry.
UK Co-sponsors State Symposium on Innovative Treatments to Trauma
Health care professionals who care for emergency and critical care patients learned innovative approaches to trauma and emergency care at the Kentucky Statewide Trauma Symposium held in mid-November. Sponsored by UK HealthCare, Kosair Children’s Hospital, and University of Louisville Health Care, the symposium covered clinical management of the trauma patient, including pre-hospital care, resuscitation, acute care, and rehabilitation. The forum featured national and local physicians, nurses, paramedics, and other experts. Attendees included physicians, physician assistants, nurses, nurse practitioners, EMT/EMT-Ps, respiratory therapists, and other allied health care professionals dealing with emergency and critical care patients. Continuing education credits were offered.
A new online training program, titled “Preventing Sexual Harassment,” is now available to all employees and students at UK. The program is offered by UK’s Equal Opportunity Office and the President’s Commission on Women in coordination with the UK Office of Human Resource Development. The interactive, online course defines sexual harassment in accordance with state and federal law and UK policy. It illustrates what constitutes inappropriate or impermissible conduct and offers procedures for seeking help. The browser-based course can be used 24 hours a day on any desktop or laptop computer and meets all federal and state accessibility standards. New faculty and staff will be required to take the training, and current UK employees will be encouraged or required to complete the training, depending on the decision of their college deans or unit directors. The program is also available at no cost to Kentucky employers who have no more than 50 employees. In addition, UK alumni employed in or owning businesses with up to 50 employees and those with significant ownership in private companies employing up to 200 may use the tool free of charge for employee training.
The Lions Eye Bank of Lexington, an affiliate of the UK Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, dedicated a new facility in late October. Located at 3290 Blazer Parkway, Lexington, the 2,208-square-foot facility features a new laboratory and offices for technicians and staff. Staff of the Lions Eye Bank collect, screen, and oversee the distribution of tissue for vision-saving cornea transplants in Kentucky and beyond. The primary service area includes 51 counties in central and eastern Kentucky. However, when more corneas are available than are needed by Kentuckians, the tissue may be used for transplants in other states or even other countries. Annually, the Lions Eye Bank receives cornea tissue from over 200 donors and coordinates more than 400 transplants.
The UK Office of International Affairs celebrated International Education Week in mid-November when high school students and teachers joined the university’s faculty, administrators, and international and American students for a presentation on UK foreign language and area studies programs, study abroad, an Asian music session, cross-cultural exercises, and more. The OIA Bluegrass International Program (BIP) offered additional services to area teachers, including e-mailed lessons for elementary, middle, and secondary school students; a speakers bureau comprised of UK international students, returned Peace Corps volunteers, and other university and community members; and delivery of curriculum units and culture kits to teachers in Fayette and contiguous counties. This is the fifth year of a joint U.S. Department of State and Department of Education initiative to join others around the world “to highlight the benefits of international education and exchange.” Visit exchanges.state.gov/iew/statements/powell.htm for additional details.
The UK College of Education partnered for the fifth year with several community organizations to support the Books for Children holiday season drive, which ended last week. The program promotes literacy and a love for reading through the ownership of books. Several community agencies that serve children in Fayette and Jessamine counties distribute the books to children through a variety of literacy programs. Some organizations that have benefited are The Nest, Nathaniel Mission, Head Start, Step By Step, Hispanic Center, Grace Coleman Center, Early Learning Village, and Family Resource Centers affiliated with Fayette County Schools.
In support of regional research in cardiovascular disease and physiology, the UK Gill Heart Institute hosted its seventh annual Cardiovascular Research Day in October. The day-long event highlighted cardiovascular research and honored leading physicians and scientists for their contributions to cardiovascular care. The day featured presentations by Steven E. Nissen and Molly C. Carr, the respective recipients of the UK Gill Heart Institute Award for Outstanding Contributions and the Young Physician Scientist Award. Nissen, medical director of the Cleveland Clinic Cardiovascular Coordinating Center, and Carr, assistant professor at the University of Washington, each were honored for contributions in the field of cardiovascular imaging.
Eight students are taking advantage of a unique undergraduate certification program in nanotechnology at the UK College of Engineering. The Nanoscale Engineering Certificate Program, headed by mechanical engineering professor M. Pinar Mengüç, prepares students for emerging career opportunities in nanoengineering with courses in fundamentals and principles of nanomaterial engineering and fabrication. Twenty additional students are taking program courses. The program offers students the chance to work in laboratories with UK researchers as they explore ways to manufacture and use nanomaterials. Mengüç and a colleague received a patent in December 2003 for a proposed method to prepare a tiny platform that would house nanomachinery. His lab currently is developing a practical means of using his patent that eventually could be licensed to industry.
UK Hospital Nursing Services held its 15th annual Nursing Research Day in mid-November highlighting the power of nursing research to affect the health of the Commonwealth. Topics presented included the influence of family and culture on infant feeding practices; the effect of positioning and bed rest on patients having cardiac catheterizations; implementation of a program to standardize care to patients on ventilators; the effect of having a dedicated discharge nurse; information technology and its usability by nurses; and changes in discharge teaching documentation after intervention. This year’s keynote speaker was Kentucky’s First Lady Glenna Fletcher, who discussed the contributions of nursing to improving the health of the Commonwealth.
WUKY News Department Wins Two International Audio Communicator Awards
The news department of WUKY (FM 91.3), a UK public radio station, recently won two Communicator Awards in an audio competition. The Communicator Awards is an international awards program founded by communications professionals to recognize excellence in the field. “Voices from Keeneland” garnered a Crystal Award of Excellence, and “All the Queen’s Horses” won an Award of Distinction. “Horses,” produced by Alan Lytle, WUKY news director, took listeners on a walking tour of the Kentucky Horse Park’s 2003 “All the Queen’s Horses” exhibit. “Voices,” produced by writer/producer/reporter Bill Griffin, dealt with some of the lesser-known employees of Lexington’s landmark race course and their contribution to fans’ enjoyment of racing. Communicator Awards entries are judged by industry professionals who look for companies and individuals whose talent exceeds a high standard of excellence and whose work serves as a benchmark for the industry. There were 923 entries in The Communicator Awards 2004 audio competition. WUKY’s awards scored in the top 13 percent of all entries submitted.
The Kentucky Transportation Center at UK will collaborate with the Asphalt Institute on a $500,000 joint research project funded through the 2005 federal Transportation Appropriations Bill that awaits President Bush’s signature. The project will study the relationship between good pavement construction practices and the long-term durability of asphalt pavements. The American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials supported the proposal. The study by KTC, housed in the UK College of Engineering, and the Lexington-based Asphalt Institute has benefits for local, state, and federal transportation agencies nationwide.
H. Maelor Davies, professor of agronomy in the UK College of Agriculture and director of the Kentucky Tobacco Research and Development Center, was featured in the “Money and Management” section of the November 16 edition of the Chronicle of Higher Education. In an article titled “In the Life Sciences, a Sprouting Competition,” the center’s research in “trying to breed a tobacco plant that can save lives” and other biotechnology activities were examined by writer Goldie Blumenstyk. KTRDC’s research involves cultivating hybrid tobacco plants that it hopes will result in the development of disease-fighting drugs. The article discusses Davies’ and other scientists’ efforts to make northern Kentucky and nearby Cincinnati and southern Ohio into a nationally recognized center for biotechnology and life sciences.
The Kentucky Geological Survey, in partnership with Columbia Natural Resources, recently drilled a 1,000-foot continuous core well in Clark County to obtain samples of a rock type that is host to prolific deep natural gas reservoirs in the Appalachian Basin, in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York. Data collected from the core samples will help geologists predict where these porous “ordovician hydrothermal dolostones” occur in the eastern United States, thus improving exploration success. The research is being funded by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, Columbia Natural Resources, and the U.S. Department of Energy.
UK marked World AIDS Day on December 1 with several events designed to raise awareness and compassion. The UK Bluegrass Care Clinic hosted a luncheon for leaders in Central Kentucky's African-American community that focused on the continuing and growing risks of HIV/AIDS. Other activities included free, confidential testing for HIV/AIDS.
The International Federation of Medical Student Associations at the UK College of Medicine presented a Nuclear Disarmament Dialogue on November 12 at the UK Max Kade German House. Presenters included Rune Dahl, medical student from Norway; Martina Grosch, medical student from Sweden; Jay Augsburger, medical student from University of Cincinnati; and Chris Brubaker, medical student from the University of Cincinnati and president of UC's student chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility.
The Kentucky football team has nine nominees for the Academic All-America team sponsored by the College Sports Information Directors of America – a school record. The nine nominees rank second nationally this year among Division I-A schools, following only Nebraska, which has 11. To earn a nomination for Academic All-America, a player must have a cumulative grade-point average of 3.2 or higher, be a sophomore or higher in academic standing and athletic eligibility, and be a starter or key reserve. The nine players who qualified for nomination are kicker Taylor Begley, running back Alexis Bwenge, tight end Jeremiah Drobney, linebacker Justin Haydock, offensive guard Matt Huff, cornerback Antoine Huffman, offensive tackle Hayden Lane, wide receiver Gerad Parker, and punter Anthony Thornton. The first round of Academic All-America voting is on the district level. The UK players will go on the CoSIDA District IV ballot, comprised of student-athletes from the states of Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama.
UK graduate student Dee Hill has organized campus support for the downtown Catholic Action Center, which is seeking donations of blankets and heavy winter clothes to help the homeless. Hill, a second-year graduate student in the Marriage and Family Therapy Program in the College of Agriculture, and several other UK students decided to conduct a benefit drive over the holidays called “Blankets or Bucks” to help the center meet the needs of the homeless. Hill is president of the UK chapter of the Kentucky Student Association of Family Relations. Donors may call Hill directly at (859) 536-4011 to arrange delivery of blankets or clothing. Donations also may be dropped off at the Women’s Studies Office, 112 Breckinridge Hall, between 7:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. daily through Wednesday, December 15. Checks may be made payable to KSAFR and sent to Dee Hill, in care of KSAFR, 316 Funkhouser Building, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Ky., 40506-0054. Hill said the student organization will combine all proceeds into a lump sum and present it to the Catholic Action Center.
The 2004 College of Communications and Information Studies Awards and Recognition Ceremony recognized the following faculty, staff, alumni, and friends of the college. The Outstanding Alumnus Award was presented to Judy Clabes (’67) and Gene Clabes (’69), Friend of the College Award to Gifford Blyton, Faculty Teaching Excellence Award to Yvonne Cappe, Faculty Excellence in Research Award to Kevin Real, and the Outstanding Staff Award to Cathy Hunt.
The Kentucky Geological Survey’s “vertical strong motion array” near Sassafras Ridge, Ky., the deepest vertical array currently in operation in the central New Madrid seismic zone, recorded its first earthquake since being installed in late 2003. A small earthquake of 2.5 magnitude on October 21 triggered the instruments. The geological survey operates a strong-motion network in the central and northern New Madrid seismic zone, including four such vertical strong-motion arrays.