Research & Creative Activity
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Environmental Studies Majors Analyze Water at Dairy
Students from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, are putting their environmental studies to work monitoring groundwater quality at the UT dairy research unit in Blount County. Ethan Parker, director of the East Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center – Little River Unit approached Lecturer Amy Robinson about the project in June 2024. While the Walland, Tennessee,…
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New Book Examines the Legacy of Beauford Delaney and James Baldwin
UT Professor Amy J. Elias brought together a community of writers to create the first major book about the historic creative and personal relationship of Knoxville-born painter Beauford Delaney and writer James Baldwin. Elias, director of UT’s Denbo Center for Humanities and the Arts, edited Speculative Light: The Arts of Beauford Delaney and James Baldwin,…
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Naturalist Club Presents Photo Gallery
Undergraduate Vols of the UT Naturalist Club assembled a gallery of photos from club events as to present as part of the Scopes Trial Centennial. The gallery is on display now through February in the Mary Greer Room of the Hodges Library, adjacent to the library’s Starbucks location. A reception for the gallery exhibition will…
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Native American Art Tells Ongoing Story at Museum
Starting in January 2025, visitors to the McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture will see new representations of Native Nations that use contemporary art to tell the stories of people who are still alive now and not relics of the past. Homelands: Connecting to Mounds through Native Art involved co-curators from four Native Nations…
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Mikucki Digs Deep for Space-Bound Microbiology
The smallest Earth-bound organisms can inspire technology that will someday reach far across the solar system in the search for extraterrestrial life. UT Microbiology Professor Jill Mikucki studies how microbial life forms interact with their environments—and helps fellow scientists and engineers test the tools to detect the microbial impact throughout entire ecosystems. Mikucki’s field work…
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UT Team Studies Legal Aid in Knox County Evictions
The Russell Sage Foundation (RSF) has awarded UT’s Appalachian Justice Research Center (AJRC) a $74,800 grant to support its study of a legal aid program for tenants facing evictions in Knox County. Amid rising rents and evictions, Knox County increased the availability of counsel at various stages of the eviction process in late 2023, through…
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Justice Studies Program Adds Insight to Any Major
UT’s interdisciplinary justice studies program launched in 2024 to offer students an enhanced understanding of social and economic justice issues across a variety of fields and career paths. “It’s an interdisciplinary approach to the study of justice and injustice,” said Tyler Wall, associate professor in sociology and chair of the program. “It’s justice broadly construed—we’re…
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Research Seeks Noninvasive Study of Brain Chemicals
Currently, there are only invasive methods to monitor neurochemicals in the brain. Researchers in the Department of Chemistry are developing methods to change that. “We’re trying to develop a noninvasive spinal tap,” providing information on neurochemicals without having to use needles, explained Associate Professor Bhavya Sharma. The project in the Sharma Raman Lab is in…
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New UT Institute Leads Climate Studies for Community Concerns
The Institute for Climate and Community Resilience (ICCR) launched in July 2024 along with a set of new collaborative research initiatives for the UT College of Arts and Sciences and partners across the university. The ICCR builds on the skills and expertise of UT faculty to advance climate science and create equitable solutions for climate…
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Chemistry Researcher Studies Human Health at the Molecular Level
Courtney Christopher started college as a pre-med major but realized chemistry could hold answers to complex human health questions. Now as a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Chemistry, she’s uncovering novel links between a microbial derived metabolite, the gut microbiome, and conditions ranging from systemic inflammation to Alzheimer’s disease. Most of her postdoctoral…