February 2025

Choice Overload

Does it get overwhelming? UT faculty team investigates how animals react to overwhelming options. Humans can have a lot to consider when working out the best choices for their needs: buying a car, choosing a home, or just shopping for groceries. An overwhelming number of options can give a person pause. Animals experience this same…
Monteith Lab tracks immune response

Assistant Professor Andrew Monteith’s lab in the Department of Microbiology is documenting how key immune cells detect infection and how that fails to happen in people with lupus. Research Associate Ashley Wise led a study focused on neutrophils, the most abundant type of immune cell, and how their mitochondria function as sensory organelles to detect…
Defense Scholarship Supports Microbiology Student

While pursuing a PhD in microbiology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Meaghan Adler knows exactly where she’ll be starting her career. The Department of Defense (DoD) awarded her a scholarship for service, providing financial support for her studies in exchange for future employment with the DoD. Adler joined the Department of Microbiology in 2023…
Video Games Offer New View for Religious Studies

The study of religion is taking some students to the gaming lab at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, allowing them to simulate field work and actively engage with questions about mythological narratives, transformations, and more. For 20 students enrolled in the first offering of Religious Studies 310 Religion and Gameworlds, the week starts with a…
We Were Here Film and Talk

Filmmaker Fred Kudjo Kuwornu will present his documentary We Were Here and host a question-and-answer talk after. Acclaimed Afro-Italian filmmaker Fred Kudjo Kuwornu will present his documentary We Were Here: The Untold History of Black Africans in Renaissance Europe at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, March 6, and engage in a question-and-answer session afterward in the Lindsay…
Expanded Douglass Day Involves Community in History

At the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, celebrating Black history lifts the topic out of the textbook, highlights current scholarship on campus, and engages the community in further research. The activities are very much in the spirit of “sankofa,” a word from the African Twi language that refers to looking to the past to inform the…
Math Teacher Honored with Presidential Award

The White House recently honored Emily McDonald (MM ’24) with a Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST). A Hamilton County Schools teacher since 2015, McDonald completed her Master of Mathematics degree in 2024 through an online program at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and is pursuing a PhD in math education…
Huang Named Fellow of Mineralogical Society

A Vol researcher who studies the geochemistry of rocks and meteorites to understand the deep interior of Earth and the early history of our solar system has been named a Fellow of the Mineralogical Society of America (MSA). Shichun Huang, the Gerald D. Sisk Associate Professor in the Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences,…
Military Historians Delve into the Declaration

The Military History of the Declaration of Independence Symposium 9:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. | Saturday, March 1, 2025Baker School of Public Policy and Public AffairsThe event is free and open to the public, but registration is limitedRegister here With the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on the horizon, nine military historians from…
Factions Unite in Ukraine

Data-driven research by UT faculty shows the dramatic shift in Ukrainian attitudes after invasion. A new study published by an interdisciplinary team of Tennessee researchers sheds light onto the dynamics of national unity experienced by Ukrainians following the 2022 Russian invasion. While a nation would be expected to rally against an aggressive foreign army crossing…