Research & Creative Activity

UT Graduate Student Joins Researchers in Antarctica

Microbiology doctoral candidate Jason Olavesen sailed to the Southern Ocean with an international team investigating microscopic organisms that drive global carbon cycles. Microbiology research took a University of Tennessee, Knoxville, student on a voyage in the Southern Ocean for nearly seven weeks in early 2026. Jason Olavesen, a third-year PhD student in UT’s Department of…
National Geographic Supports UT Research on Hemlocks

Doctoral student Sonja Schmoyer is using drone-based hyperspectral imaging and AI to detect invasive pests that are endangering one of America’s keystone species. The National Geographic Society has awarded a grant to Sonja Schmoyer, a doctoral student at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, for research designed to help protect endangered hemlock trees. Schmoyer is one…
Center for the Study of Family Health and Well-being

Interdisciplinary UT researchers work directly with communities to tackle issues facing families and children. Guest Lecture “The Freedman’s Bank and the (Un)Making of Reconstruction” Monday, April 6, 20263:30–5:00 p.m. Justene Hill Edwards, associate professor of history at the University of Virginia The Center for the Study of Family Health and Well-being (CSFHW) is an interdisciplinary research…
The Fish Were Biting in Ancient Alabama

Research collaboration uses high-tech scanning technology to reveal a bad-luck day for an ancient undersea predator. Header Image: Paeloart by Miles Mayhall The oceans of the Cretaceous of North America teemed with life. Gigantic fish and enormous marine reptiles hunted the Western Interior Sea. A unique new fossil reported today demonstrates rare evidence of direct…
Keeping It Real with Artificial Intelligence

THRIVE AI initiative boosts projects that maintain the human touch in AI research. A new College of Arts and Sciences initiative launched this spring connects faculty innovators with active state-wide paths for developing artificial intelligence tools for impactful real-world applications. THRIVE (Tennessee Human–AI Readiness & Innovation: Ventures in Excellence) advances AI research and its practical…
Research Shows Warming Impact on Soil Ecosystem

Within only a few decades of higher temperatures, microbial systems change in ways that disrupt carbon and nutrient cycles. Long-term ecosystem warming changes not only plants but the fungi in the soil below, according to a new study including researchers from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. “Hidden mycorrhizal fungi below ground are much more vulnerable…
Endowment Boosts International Democracy Studies

An estate endowment by former history and political science faculty members supports student research on democracy in the Middle East. The Louay Bahry and Phebe Marr Middle Eastern Democracy Studies Endowment will establish a scholarship to reward the best undergraduate or graduate student essays on topics of democracy in the Middle East. Bahry served as…
Writing for The Conversation Adds to Scholarship ROI

Faculty from UT’s College of Arts and Sciences reach millions of people with their research by writing articles distributed through news organizations around the world. Faculty from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, are sharing their expertise with a wide audience through The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization with a vast global reach. During the 2025 calendar…
NEH Grant Supports Jackson Papers Project

A substantial new National Endowment for the Humanities grant helps continue and expand UT’s Papers of Andrew Jackson project. UT’s Papers of Andrew Jackson project received a grant worth over $2.8 million from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the largest grant ever awarded to the project, which launched in 1971. The goal of the…
UT Research Shows Viral Impact on Ocean Oxygen

An international research team unveils how viral lysis of blue-green algae in the Sargasso Sea enhances ecosystem-scale productivity. Newly published interdisciplinary research led by the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and University of Maryland shows viral infection of blue-green algae in the ocean stimulates productivity in the ecosystem and contributes to a rich band of oxygen…