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9/7/2023

A record 10 Neuroscience majors/minors selected for the Undergraduate Research Ambassador program!! If you see these students, please take a moment to congratulate them for receiving this distinction!

Abraham Alhamdani, Honors neuroscience major, College of Arts and Sciences, from Frankfort, Kentucky Artin Asadipooya, Honors neuroscience major, biology and chemistry minor, College of Arts and Sciences, from Lexington Kaitlyn Brock, Honors neuroscience and psychology major, College of Arts and Sciences, from Lexington Lauren Depa, Honors neuroscience major, biology minor, College of Arts and Sciences, from Georgetown, Kentucky Ashley Glover, Honors neuroscience major, psychology minor, College of Arts and Sciences, from Independence, Kentucky Chloe Lucido, biology major,
9/5/2023

By Jesi Jones-Bowman 

The Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) at the University of Kentucky has selected 26 outstanding undergraduates for the 2023-24 Undergraduate Research Ambassador program.

The program’s mission is to increase awareness and create opportunities for students to actively engage in research. Ambassadors must demonstrate academic excellence, leadership potential and be involved in mentored research. This year's ambassadors represent six colleges, 21 disciplines and 18 research areas.

The student leaders’ goal is to make undergraduate research more accessible. Ambassadors will promote undergraduate research involvement and opportunities through student outreach and program events, such as tabling,

5/8/2023

By Jesi Jones-Bowman 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 8, 2023) — The University of Kentucky Office of Undergraduate Research  has chosen 20 undergraduates for the 2023 Commonwealth Undergraduate Research Experience Fellowship program.

Sponsored by the Office of Undergraduate Research and the Office of the Vice President for Research, the CURE Fellowship program helps undergraduates to become leaders for their respective communities by providing opportunities to develop knowledge and skills through research within six of UK’s Research Priority Areas: cancer, cardiovascular health, diversity and inclusion, energy, neuroscience and substance use

3/30/2023

By Ryan Girves 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 30, 2023) — The University of Kentucky Gaines Center for Humanities has selected 12  undergraduates as scholars for the university's Gaines Fellowship Program for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 academic years.

The Gaines Fellowship is presented in recognition of outstanding academic performance, demonstrated ability to conduct independent research, an interest in public issues and a desire to enhance understanding of the human condition through the humanities. Founded in 1984 by a gift from John and Joan Gaines, the Gaines Center for the Humanities is designed to enrich the study of the humanities at UK and functions as a laboratory for imaginative and innovative education on

3/27/2023

By Jesi Jones-Bowman

 Mar 23, 2023Beckman ScholarsResearch SpotlightFaculty MentorStudent Success

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 23, 2023) — Two undergraduates have been selected as recipients of the University of Kentucky’s Beckman Scholars Program, titled Scholars United by Chemistry: Cultivating Excellence through Science Stewardship (SUCCESS).

The Beckman Scholars — Kaitlyn Brock, a neuroscience and psychology major in the College of Arts and Sciences and the 

3/23/2023

By Jesi Jones-Bowman 

Kaitlyn Brock, left, a neuroscience and psychology major, and Hena Kachroo, a chemistry major, are the recipients of UK's Beckman Scholars Program.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 23, 2023) — Two undergraduates have been selected as recipients of the University of Kentucky’s Beckman Scholars Program, titled Scholars United by Chemistry: Cultivating Excellence through Science Stewardship.

The Beckman Scholars — Kaitlyn Brock, a neuroscience and psychology major in the College of Arts and Sciences and the Lewis Honors College, and Hena Kachroo, a chemistry major in the College of Arts and Sciences and the Lewis Honors College — will begin their

2/13/2023

Neuroscience community outreach is a core component of the Neuroscience B.S. Program at UK. Undergraduate students, graduate students and faculty share our neuroscience resources (human brains, experiments in electrophysiology, etc) in classrooms all over the Commonwealth of Kentucky and beyond !

Cognitive Neuroscience graduate student Sam Malone went home to Greenville, TN last week and took our collection of human brains to North Greene Middle School. 

Come to UK as a Neuroscience Major and come with us to share everything that is amazing about the central nervous with Kentucky school children !

 

2/10/2023

By Richard LeComte 

A NeuroCATS student shows a brain to schoolchildren.

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Everybody knows University of Kentucky students use their brains. What some people may not know is that a group of UK students keep their brains in a College of Arts & Sciences cabinet — and they frequently take them out to show at area schools. Spinal cords, too. 

Meet the NeuroCATS: These students are on a mission to spread the word about the excitement of neuroscience to kids, one lobe at a time. The club has reached out to more than 5,000 students in the Fayette County area and about 1,700 students each year.  

“There's a bit of a shock factor, but the kids tend to really enjoy it,” said Lilly Swanz, a senior neuroscience major and psychology minor from Paducah, who’s the club’s president. “They love to take pictures and show their friends and family. They’re

1/12/2023

By Jesi Jones-Bowman 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 12, 2023) — The University of Kentucky Office of Undergraduate Research recently announced the 21 undergraduate winners of the 58th annual Oswald Research and Creativity awards. Chad Risko, faculty director of the Office of Undergraduate Research, and Research Ambassadors were on hand to congratulate the winners and distribute the awards.

Established in 1964 by then-President John Oswald, the Oswald Research and Creativity Competition encourages undergraduate research and creative activities across all fields of study.

Categories are:

Biological Sciences. Design (architecture, landscape architecture and interior design). Fine Arts (film, music, photography, painting, and sculpture), Humanities (from
10/21/2022
Lyman T. Johnson Award Recipient

Each year, UK’s academic colleges and units select one African American alum whose faith, hard work and determination has positively affected the lives of people on the UK campus, the city, state or nation. These individuals receive the Lyman T. Johnson Torch of Excellence Award. These units also choose an African American student within their respective colleges/departments whose academic achievement and ability to impact the lives of others warrant them the Lyman T. Johnson Torch Bearer Award.

  College of Arts and Sciences

Alexa Halliburton 
 Torch Bearer 
Alexa Halliburton is from St. Louis, Mo., and first toured the University of Kentucky when she was 16. She graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience with a minor in pharmacology. Halliburton is attending Roosevelt University in Chicago, Ill.,

9/2/2022

By Hillary Smith Friday 1 of 2         The multimillion-dollar award exemplifies team science, helping to support about 35 researchers across six different labs who will be working on four main projects, all with a common theme. Arden Barnes | UK Photo.   The multimillion-dollar award exemplifies team science, helping to support about 35 researchers across six different labs who will be working on four main projects, all with a common theme. Arden Barnes | UK Photo.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 2, 2022) — A team of researchers at the University of Kentucky’s Sanders-Brown Center on Aging (SBCoA) has been awarded a $20.5 million grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA)

8/31/2022

By Jesi Jones-Bowman

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 31, 2022) ­— The Office of Undergraduate Research at the University of Kentucky is honored to announce that 22 students have been selected for the 2022-23 Undergraduate Research Ambassador program.

The program’s mission is to increase awareness and create opportunities for students to actively engage in research and creative scholarship. Ambassadors must demonstrate academic excellence and  leadership potential and be involved in mentored research. This year’s ambassadors represent six colleges, 15 disciplines and 18 research areas.

The student leaders’ goal is to make undergraduate research more accessible. Ambassadors promote undergraduate research involvement and opportunities through student outreach and program

8/19/2022

Psychology and Neuroscience major Abigail Wilcox has worked in the laboratory of Dr. Mark Prendergast, Professor of Psychology and Director of the Neuroscience B.S. Program, since the 1st year of her studies at UK. Working closely with graduate student Caleb Bailey, Abby and Caleb received a pilot grant from the UK Substance Use Priority Research Area (SUPRA) to investigate a new possible biochemical mechanism involved in the development of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders.

 

This worked confirmed that exposure of newborn brain to high doses of alcohol causes abnormalities in brain "tau" activity, much like that seen in Alzheimer's Disease. Congratulations to Abby ! Abby graduated in May of 2022 and is off to a career in applying her Psychology training in the Marketing field.

 

The University of Kentucky Department of Psychology is home to Internationally

7/25/2022

By Jesi Jones-Bowman

LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 25, 2021) — Eight University of Kentucky students have been selected for the Sustainability Summer Research Fellowship program, a high-impact learning experience that contributes to the students’ academic growth as well as sustainability-focused research initiatives at UK and within the community at large.

The Sustainability Research Fellowship is a collaborative program coordinated by the Office of Undergraduate Research and sponsored by the UK Student Sustainability Council and UK Sustainability. The fellowship’s goal is to support and promote sustainability-related undergraduate research endeavors. The program, which launched in 2014, has supported 48 undergraduate sustainability summer projects.

“Sustainability Research Fellowships have been

6/23/2022
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6/23/2022

By Jesi Jones-Bowman

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 23, 2022) — The Office of Undergraduate Research has selected 16 undergraduates for the 2022 Commonwealth Undergraduate Research Experience Fellowship program.

The new CURE Fellowships, sponsored by UK Office of Undergraduate Research and the Office of the Vice President for Research, empowers undergraduates to become leaders for their communities by providing opportunities to develop new knowledge and skills through research within UK’s seven research priority areas: cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes & obesity, diversity and inclusion, energy, neuroscience and substance use disorder.

“Conducting summer research will provide me with valuable experience that

6/20/2022

A key priority for the Neuroscience B.S. Program at the University of Kentucky is to help our undergraduate students get hands-on Neuroscience research experience in the laboratory of a UK faculty member.  The Neuroscience curriculum itself requires majors to take at least 8 lab-based courses for course credit. With more than 200 faculty conducting research in many areas of Neuroscience, we are thrilled to report that more than 10% of the Neuroscience B.S. students at UK are working, for pay, in faculty laboratories this summer !!!

Many of these summer research students have just finished their 1st year at UK ! That's right, you can get hands-on Neuroscience research working with graduate students and a professor as early as you wish !!!  

For more information on the many opportunities for undergraduate students to work in faculty labs, click 

6/14/2022

By Jenny Wells-Hosley

The University of Kentucky Office of Nationally Competitive Awards has announced that 10 students and recent graduates have been selected to receive government-funded National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowships. In addition, a UK doctoral student and two alumni received honorable mention recognition from the NSF. 

As part of the five-year fellowship, NSF Fellows receive a three-year annual stipend of $34,000 along with a $12,000 cost of education allowance for tuition and fees for a research-based master's or doctoral degree in a STEM (science, technology, engineering or mathematics) field. In 2022, the NSF awarded approximately 2,200

4/28/2022

By Hillary Smith

LEXINGTON, KY. (April 28, 2022) — It started as an idea during the 2021 spring semester. The goal behind the idea being discussed by the student group, Minority Students in Neuroscience, was to bring together all neuroscience majors, faculty and staff for an event celebrating the study they all enjoy. The group’s faculty mentor at the time, Patrick Walker, the first Ruth Jones Lewis Faculty Scholar in Entrepreneurship & Free Enterprise, an endowed position in the Lewis Honors College, helped them develop a vision for a Neuroscience Gala.

“I remember thinking that is a great idea but having no idea how to put it together,” said Alexa Halliburton, MSN president.

Months later, the group’s mentor died unexpectedly.

“We really wanted to honor him by continuing this