The article below is featured in the Summer 2025 edition of Kentucky Alumni magazine. ****
Alexandre Martin, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) in the Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering at the University of Kentucky, has been awarded the NASA Exceptional Public Service Medal — one of the highest honors given to individuals outside the agency.
What once started as a mission to test an aircraft on Mars has turned into research using drones at the University of Kentucky that now helps engineers predict tornadoes.
Researchers at the University of Kentucky are teaming up with researchers at Michigan State University (MSU) to develop cutting-edge simulations of heart disease progression. The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded UK and MSU a four-year, $1.2 million collaborative grant titled “SCH: Machine‑Learning Enhanced Computational Models of Cardiac Pathophysiology.”
The Pigman College of Engineering is proudly announces the establishment of the Clifford Cremers and Eric Cremers Chair in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. This endowment is made possible through a generous gift from mechanical engineering alumnus, Eric Cremers ’84 and his wife Laura, in honor of Eric’s late father, Clifford Cremers.
The University of Kentucky is well-represented on a list of the most-cited researchers in the world. In a database compiled by Stanford University in a partnership with Elsevier, 136 current UK scientists and scholars appear among the top 2% of the most-cited researchers across 22 disciplines. Of those 136 scientists and scholars, 20 are UK Pigman College of Engineering faculty.
The University of Kentucky Materials Science Research Priority Area (mRPA) has selected 11 researchers as recipients of multiple funding awards. Among the are four engineering faculty members.
As Paducah has emerged as the leader of Kentucky’s nuclear energy revival, the University of Kentucky Pigman College of Engineering – Paducah Campus is preparing to support the region’s workforce needs with the launch of a new course. Debuting this fall, EGR 599: Foundations of Nuclear Engineering: Principles and Applications, is designed to introduce students to the core principles of nuclear science and engineering, including nuclear reactions, reactor physics, radiation safety and nuclear fuel cycles.
A University of Kentucky Pigman College of Engineering alumnus is at the helm of one of the country’s most ambitious housing innovation projects. Eric Wooldridge, director of the Kentucky Community Technical College System (KCTCS) Additive Manufacturing Center, located at Somerset Community College (SCC), is spearheading the Floodbuster 1 project, reimagining how homes can be built to withstand disaster, reduce costs and speed up construction using 3D-printed concrete.
Recent University of Kentucky graduates Lucas Gastineau and Asa O’Neal have been awarded U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowships. The five-year fellowship provides three years of financial support, including an annual stipend of $37,000. The purpose of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) is to help ensure the quality, vitality and strength of the scientific and engineering workforce of the United States.
