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 !

By Richard LeComte 

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

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.

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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.

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

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 2, 2022) — A team of researchers at the University of Kentucky’s Sanders-Brown Center on Aging (SBCoA) has been

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

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

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

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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

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 

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 

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

Please join us for the 2022 Awards Ceremony for the Neuroscience B.S. Program

The achievements of our students will be highlighted at this ceremony.

The Sandra J. Legan Award for outstanding research by a Neurscience major will be given

The Donald T. Frazier Award for outstanding community outreach by a Neuroscience member will also be given

Join at 1 pm in 121 Jacob Science Building on, Friday, April 29th

By Elizabeth Chapin

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 19, 2022) — Two undergraduates have been selected as the first recipients of the University of Kentucky’s new Beckman Scholars Program, Scholars United by Chemistry: Cultivating Excellence through Science Stewardship (SUCCESS).

Elaf Ghoneim, a neuroscience major in the College of Arts & Sciences and the Lewis Honors College, and Parker Sornberger, a mathematics and chemistry major in the College of Arts & Sciences will begin their independent, laboratory research this summer.

The Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation’s 

McCubbin S, Harrison DA, Cooper RL. Glia Excitation in the CNS Modulates Intact Behaviors and Sensory-CNS-Motor Circuitry. Neuroglia. 2022; 3(1):23-40. https://doi.org/10.3390/neuroglia3010002

By Olaoluwapo Onitiri 

LEXINGTON, Ky. – In October 2021, The University of Kentucky announced the top 10 finalists for the fourth annual 5-minute Fast Track competition. Run by the Office of Undergraduate Research, the 5-Minute Fast cultivates students’ presentation and research communication skills and challenges them to describe their research within five minutes.  

UK College of Arts & Sciences students Lauren Hudson and Lexi Nolletti were among the finalists. They shared their experiences with the event and their research topics at UK. 

Q: Could tell us a little about yourselves? 

Hudson: “I am a senior neuroscience and biology dual degree with plans to attend UK College of Medicine in the fall. Living

By Kate Maddox

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 16, 2022) — Throughout March for Women’s History Month, the University of Kentucky is spotlighting Women Making History. These women are leading their fields of research, crossing traditional academic boundaries and impacting Kentucky’s most pressing challenges, including opioid use disorder treatment, aging and Alzheimer’s, water and air filtration, environmental impacts on health and suicide prevention.  

They are mentoring the next generation of women scientists and scholars, curating stories and creating artworks illuminating who we are. Their work and voice shape the University of Kentucky.  

On this “Wildcat Wednesday,” UK celebrates Lauren Hudson, a junior majoring in neuroscience and biology, from Villa Hills, Kentucky.  

By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- S-STEM, a new program funded by a $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation, will provide four years of scholarship support for up to 15 qualifying incoming biology or neuroscience majors a year in the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Kentucky. The average scholarship amount will be $5,000 a year, depending on financial need, going up to $10.000. 

“The goal of the project is to increase recruitment and retention of talented undergraduates majoring in biology and neuroscience at UK who have unmet financial need,” said Jennifer Osterhage, assistant professor in the Department of Biology and coordinator of the effort. “We will accomplish this goal by recruiting these students to actively participate in an integrated set of high impact curricular and co-curricular activities throughout

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 15, 2022) — Now in its third year, the University of Kentucky’s SPARK (Students Participating as Ambassadors for Research in Kentucky) Program gives an introduction to health equity research to students from backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in research. And there’s something extra special about its newest cohort of participants — it includes students not only from UK but also from Kentucky State University. Among the students selected are three majors in the College of Arts & Sciences. 

“From our first two cohorts, we had proof of concept and strong feedback on what was successful or not. We felt it was a good time to grow,” said SPARK