University of Kentucky Pigman College of Engineering

🫵 Do you know an outstanding alum who should be enshrined in the Pigman College of Engineering’s Hall of Distinction?

🗳️Nominate them at engr.uky.edu/HOD by Oct. 15th!

The Hall of Distinction recognizes and honors those alumni who have demonstrated distinguished engineering professional accomplishments, outstanding character and commitment to community service.

As greenhouse agriculture continues to expand to meet growing food demands, Biyun Xie, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is developing new technologies to produce healthier crops more efficiently, while also reducing the time and labor required to grow them.

Xie is the principal investigator on a nearly $1.2 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to develop an autonomous robotic system that could transform how greenhouse-grown tomatoes are monitored and evaluated. 🍅🦾

Read more: https://uknow.uky.edu/research/uk-researcher-developing-robot-grow-healthier-tomatoes

UK researcher developing robot to grow healthier tomatoes As greenhouse agriculture continues to expand to meet growing food demands, University of Kentucky researchers are developing new technologies to produce healthier crops more efficiently, while also reducing the time and labor required to grow them.

We have been engineering future innovators this summer! 🔧🧠☀️

Last month, middle school students explored the exciting world of smart manufacturing, robotics, automation and engineering at the Fujio Cho Smart Manufacturing Summer Academy.

Hosted by the Pigman College of Engineering, in partnership with Toyota USA and Bluegrass Community and Technical College, this immersive experience connected students with hands-on learning, industry leaders, and real-world manufacturing environments—including visits to Toyota and the UK campus!

Recently, students in the Departments of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering traveled to NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Virginia. 🧑‍🚀🚀

The students, along with Assistant Professor Dan Fries, were there to integrate the latest Kentucky Re-entry Universal Payload System (KRUPS) capsule into a sounding rocket, as a preliminary test for for a future orbital entry mission.

KRUPS is an innovative space capsule program developed by University of Kentucky Engineering students and researchers. Designed as an inexpensive and highly adaptable flying testbed, its primary mission is to gather critical flight data on atmospheric re-entry conditions and validate thermal protection systems.

Since its inception, KRUPS has been worked on by over 100 UK Engineering graduate and undergraduate students. In the maiden voyage from Earth to the International Space Station in December 2021, KRUPS capsules achieved three historic firsts:

1️⃣ The first university-built entry capsule to successfully transit a planetary atmosphere.
2️⃣ The first hypersonic vehicle flown by a university.
3️⃣ The first 3D-printed heat shield used in an entry mission.

Congratulations are in order for Scott Berry, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering! Berry has been honored as a 2026-27 University Research Professor. 👏

Berry’s research focuses on applying engineering principles to molecular diagnostics. Over the past 15 years, he has investigated how novel fluid mechanics phenomena can be applied to improve molecular assays, lab tests that use a sample of tissue, blood or other body fluid to check for genes, proteins or other molecules that are disease markers. In addition to reducing complexity and minimizing costs, these improvements unlocked fundamentally new functionalities, enabling clinicians and basic scientists to measure molecular and cellular analytical processes that were previously unobservable. This work led to the development of new technologies and platforms for diseases, including HIV, tuberculosis, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, influenza, cancer and most recently, SARS-CoV-2.

Read his Q&A here: https://uknow.uky.edu/research/scott-berry-2026-27-university-research-professor-qa

The has achieved a historic breakthrough in the recovery of the scrolls — revealing new texts, titles and authors unknown to history and ushering in a new era for the study of the ancient world.

“For nearly two millennia, many of these texts have been physically preserved but intellectually inaccessible,” Brent Seales, Vesuvius Challenge co-founder and the Stanley and Karen Pigman Chair of Heritage Science at the University of Kentucky, said. “Today — after years of interdisciplinary work combining advanced imaging, artificial intelligence (AI), academic research and an innovation contest — we are finally able to read them.”

Read More: https://uknow.uky.edu/research/day-herculaneum-scrolls-began-speaking-again

Brent Seales and team are sharing the newly uncovered works from the scrolls NOW! Join the livestream from Italy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96oTlQm0KBw

This event is a part of the CISPE 'Marcello Gigante' International Conference supported by the and hosted at the Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici dell’Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II and the Biblioteca Nazionale di Napoli “Vittorio Emanuele III.”

LA BIBLIOTECA ETERNA | I Papiri di Ercolano nei secoli e nel futuro digitale - 25 giugno 2026 *PROGRAMMA DELLA GIORNATA*9:30 Conferenza stampa11:30 Pausa...

The largest-ever Wildcat Pulling Team recently returned from the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers International Quarter Scale Tractor Student Design Competition in Bloomington, Illinois. The University of Kentucky has been participating in the competition for 25 years.

The entire team, made up of 19 undergraduates, two graduate students and four advisors, split into two teams for the competition. The A-Team created this year’s new tractor (Wildcat 3526) and the X-Team redesigned parts of the tractor built for last year’s competition (Wildcat 3525).

The A-Team received awards for best appearance, manufacturability and ergonomics. They won the heavyweight pull and placed seventh overall out of 24. Additionally, the A-Team ranked second in durability, fourth in the team presentation, fifth in overall design judging and sixth for their written report. The X-Team placed third overall and won both of their pulls, retiring the tractor with an undefeated record. The entire team remains undefeated in heavyweight pulls for the last three years.

Read more: http://uknow.uky.edu/uk-happenings/wildcat-pulling-team-remains-undefeated-heavyweight-pulls-international-tractor-team