Have you ever wondered what Dia de los Muertos is all about? As part of the Viva Mexico events and activities, all are invited to participate in several opportunities to experience Mexican culture and celebrations.

Learn more about the cultural significance of this day by making plans to attend a slide show that explains the Day of the Dead on Wednesday, October 23, at 5:00 p.m. in the Student Center Theater.

Build a Day of the Dead altar with local artists Jacobo and Janice Aragon on Thursday, October 24 from 3:30 – 5:30 p.m. Anyone interested is invited to meet in Room 122 of the Whitehall Classroom Building to learn more and help create an altar.

On Friday, November 1, The Living Arts and Science Center will be hosting a Day of the Dead Festival. Join the Lexington and UK community at 362 Martin Luther King Boulevard from 5:00 – 9:00 p.m. for this celebration

by Grace Liddle, Whitney Hale

(Oct. 17, 2013) — The University of Kentucky Libraries will present several events in celebration of Open Access Week, Oct. 21-27. Now in its seventh year, the global event celebrates open access as an effective and efficient means of disseminating research and scholarship.

The first panel discussion “#Altmetrics: Demystifying the Link between Research Impact and Social Media,” will take place from 3-4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 22, in the UK Athletics Auditorium in the William T. Young Library. This event is free and open to the public.

As social media is becoming a widely used

by Allison Elliot-Shannon

(Oct. 21, 2013) — Prominent evolutionary biologist John Avise will deliver two lectures at the University of Kentucky this week, as the featured speaker for the fifth annual installment of the prestigious Thomas Hunt Morgan Speaker Series sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences Department of Biology.

Avise will offer two talks, the first a technical and scientific talk titled "Clones, Hermaphrodites, and Pregnancies." This talk will take place at 4 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 24, in Room 116 of the Thomas Hunt Morgan building on Rose Street. The second talk, titled "Genetics in the Wild," will take place at 10 a.m. Friday, Oct. 25, in the auditorium of William T. Young Library. The second talk will be appropriate for a general audience. Both lectures are free and open to the public.

By Benjamin Kandt

The work of Dr. Andrew M. Byrd was recently featured in an on-line article for "Archaeology Magazine," in which he reads two fables constructed in the language known as Proto-Indo-European (PIE). PIE is the prehistoric ancestor of hundreds of languages, including English, Spanish, Greek, Farsi, Armenian, and more. The language is typically thought to have been in use around 7,000 years ago, though some suspect it was spoken at an even earlier time. According to certain archaeologists and the majority of linguists like Byrd, people who spoke PIE were located just to the north of the Black Sea and were likely the first to tame horses and perhaps even invented the wheel. The

by Cheyenne Hohman

Publishing audio and video to support and feature academic content is fairly commonplace in universities and colleges these days, but higher learning institutions haven’t always shared so freely. Many have eased their attitudes on intellectual property in recent years, recognizing that sharing information may be more important than hoarding it. Some have gone so far as to add Creative Commons licenses to their work, so that they can be used for educational, collaborative or derivative purposes.

A decade ago, web technologies didn’t support fast, high-quality audio or video, and the term “podcast” wasn’t in the vernacular just yet.  As technology has developed and technological infrastructure has continued to grow, the potential for posting and sharing media files has grown along with it. In the mid-

by Jenny Wells

(Oct. 17, 2013) — The call for abstract submissions for the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR), which will be hosted at UK this April, is now open and will remain open through Dec. 6. UK undergraduates involved in research or creative activities on campus are strongly encouraged to submit abstracts of their work for this highly valuable opportunity that will take place on their own campus.

NCUR will bring nearly 4,000 additional students from across the country to the UK campus April 3-5, 2014. The conference will give these students a unique opportunity to present their research and creative endeavors, while meeting other like-minded students. They not only promote their individual work, but improve communication and presentation skills through poster, oral and

by Mallory Powell

(Oct. 16, 2013) – The University of Kentucky Center for Clinical and Translational Science will host the 2nd Annual UK Clinical Research Education Day on Friday, Oct. 25, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the UK Chandler Hospital, Pavilion H North Lobby (outside of the administration offices). The free, public event will feature a variety of informational tables for patients, students, faculty, staff and visitors to learn about clinical research activities and opportunities at UK.

Several departments and centers will showcase their clinical research activities, including the Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS); the departments of psychology, behavioral science, pediatrics, and neurology; Markey Cancer Center; Sanders-Brown Center on

by Claudia Hopenhayn

(Oct. 15, 2013) — Shoulder to Shoulder Global recently led 49 University of Kentucky students, faculty, staff and community members in a multidisciplinary health brigade experience to Santo Domingo, Ecuador.

STSG is a UK-based organization that strives to improve the health and well-being of impoverished communities while offering learners the opportunity to work in a multicultural and interdisciplinary setting.

The brigade, which took place Aug. 2-11, was the culmination of months of preparation that included the credit-bearing course, "Interprofessional Teamwork in Global Health." Throughout the course, students learned about Ecuador, how to work in an interprofessional environment and how to apply basic

by Nathan Owen

(Oct. 14, 2013) — The University of Kentucky Appalachian Center this month will host musician, scholar and activist Sue Massek as an artist in residence. 

During her residency, Oct. 23-25, Massek will visit with classes on campus, provide two free public performances in Lexington, and travel to Eastern Kentucky to perform her show “Precious Memories” at schools in Floyd and Pike Counties.

The one-woman musical traces the life of Sarah Ogan Gunning, an unsung hero of American folk music history. It was written by Si Kahn during his residency through the Appalachian Center in October 2012, using materials in UK’s Special Collections,

“It is wonderful that Sue Massek will be able to perform the work at the University of Kentucky during her residency this year," said Ann Kingsolver, director of the UK Appalachian Center. "She is a

By Guy Spriggs

Every year talented and driven students are drawn to the University of Kentucky for its emphasis on research. This summer, biology students Taylor Shackleford and Sarah Whelan – who came to UK to pursue research – were given a unique opportunity to continue their lab work after spring classes came to a close.

Shackleford and Whelan are the first awardees of the Ribble Undergraduate Summer Research Internship, a new program for outstanding biology majors supported by the Gertrude F Ribble Fund. Both are not only excellent students, but also invaluable contributors to exciting biological research taking place here at UK.

“Taylor is intelligent and curious, which has enabled him to engage with the scientific

(Oct. 11, 2013) — While pursuing undergraduate degrees in political science,history and philosophy at the University of Kentucky, Ryan Pitts was recently accepted into the Dual Degree Program at Duke University in hopes of earning a J.D./LL.M in international and comparative law.  Pitts also received a substantial scholarship in order to pursue this program. He plans on attending in May 2014.

A particularly involved student with a 4.0 GPA, Pitts was one of the select 200 of over 5,000 applicants to be admitted into this “Top 14” law program. 

"This has been a surreal time, a dream come true," said Pitts. "I cannot thank my family, friends, or the faculty at UK enough for helping accomplish

(Oct. 10, 2013) — When you eat could have as much impact on your health as what you eat. That's the conclusion reached by researchers in an ongoing series of papers and studies funded as part of a major grant from the National Institutes of Health.

Vincent Cassone, University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences professor and chair of the Department of Biology, has published more than 100 papers in leading academic journals on the internal timekeeping functions of the body.

"Biological rhythms are a fundamental property of all living things," said Cassone, who has extensively studied biological clocks in animal models and cites high rates of gastrointestinal illnesses and cancer that can be impacted by, among other things, eating patterns and digestion.

Cassone began working on body clocks and digestion as part of a collaboration with a gastroenterologist

By Victoria Dekle

Salamanders, one of the oldest lineages of extant animals, are beloved by biology Ph.D. student, Paul Hime. Some of Hime’s research subjects, however, may not be on the top of everyone’s cute animal list. Take, for instance, the North American hellbender salamander – an aquatic amphibian, largely unchanged since before the age of dinosaurs, that can grow over two feet long. “They’re in the water. They’re slimy. They’re big,” Hime said with a grin.

These large and nearly endangered amphibians live in many of Kentucky’s cool rivers and Hime is working with his laboratory director and adviser,

By Allison Elliot-Shannon 

(Oct. 2, 2013) — The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has launched the Juvenile Justice Translational Research on Interventions for Adolescents in the Legal System (JJ-TRIALS). Seven research centers, including the University of Kentucky Center on Drug and Alcohol Research (CDAR), will work together to determine how juvenile justice programs can effectively adopt science-based prevention and treatment services for drug abuse and HIV.

According to recent estimates, approximately half of all teens who enter the juvenile justice system need treatment for substance use disorders. The remaining half would benefit from a drug abuse prevention intervention.

Many evidence-based interventions targeting adolescent substance abuse and HIV screening, assessment, prevention,

by Allison Elliot-Shannon, Allison Perry

(Sept. 30, 2013) — Manasi Malik has just begun her junior year at the University of Kentucky, but the 19-year-old biology major has already been published as a lead author on a paper in a prestigious scientific journal.

A native of Massachusetts, Malik came to UK with the intention to become involved in research, and has found success working in the lab of Alzheimer's disease researcher Steve Estus of the UK Sanders-Brown Center on Aging. Malik's paper, written in conjunction with Estus and other researchers, is titled "CD33 Alzheimer's Risk-Altering Polymorphism, CD33 Expression, and Exon 2 Splicing," and 

by Allison Elliot-Shannon, Mallory Powell, Allison Perry

(Sept. 27, 2013) -- The "Triple Crown" is a term reserved for the greatest accomplishment in thoroughbred racing -- winning the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes. It's a feat that has been achieved only 11 times in history.

The University of Kentucky recently accomplished the equivalent of “triple crown” in the academic medical world, becoming only the 22nd medical center in the country to have a National Cancer Institute (NCI) designation (at the Markey Cancer Center), a federally funded Alzheimer's Disease Center (ADC, at the UK Sanders-Brown Center on Aging), and a Clinical and Translational Science Awards grant (at the Center for Clinical and Translational Science ).

With the new NCI designation and the existing ADC and CCTS federally-funded programs, UK joins a truly

by Victoria Dekle

(Sept. 27, 2013)  — It was an excellent summer for the Department of English as six faculty members published books in highly-regarded presses. “The English Department had an exceptional summer, but hardly an unprecedented one,” said Professor and Chairman of the English Department, Jeff Clymer. “Faculty from all areas of our department – Creative Writing, Literary Studies and Linguistics – routinely publish in the most prominent and visible presses.”

And these scholars use their knowledge and research skills to the benefit of their students. “We push our research directly into our courses,” said Clymer. “As professors at a large university, it’s the fusion of our teaching and research that we find especially exciting.”

by Guy Spriggs

(Sept. 27, 2013)  — For almost a decade, UK philosophy professor Natalie Nenadic worked with feminist pioneer Catharine MacKinnon to coordinate a legal response to the sexual atrocities committed in the Bosnian genocide. Her efforts were integral in world recognition of such atrocities and their criminalization under international law.

After being awarded a grant from the American Association of University Women (AAUW), however, Nenadic is returning to her original research on understanding today’s proliferation of pornography and sexual violence and the role of technology in this development.

The AAUW grant won by Nenadic assessed not only the quality of projects

by Mike Lynch

(Sept. 27, 2013) — Homes and other structures that have been built on certain types of shale containing pyrite can suffer severe damages when the shale expands and heaves, according to research conducted at the University of Kentucky.

The problem of pyrite oxidation and shale expansion can be found worldwide, including East-Central Kentucky, where geochemist Warren Anderson of the Kentucky Geological Survey at UK has studied its effects.

A variety of organic and inorganic materials, such as clay, silt, trace metals and iron sulfide minerals, mainly pyrite, are found in the Chattanooga Shale formation across the state. When pyrite is exposed to moisture — during construction, excavation and rain — pyrite and other minerals oxidize and sulfate crystals form, growing to many times their original size. The result can be an acidic