Research & Creative Activity

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…
Advantages Uncovered in Blue-Green Algae Colonies

UT microbiology research into cyanobacterial blooms reveals that colonies take on metabolic functions and resistance to viruses. An international team of researchers led by a visiting scholar at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is shedding light on the dynamics in cyanobacterial blooms that can threaten freshwater safety. By analyzing Microcystis spp. in single cells and…
NIH Grant Supports UT Research on Chronic Wounds

Assistant Professor Carolyn Ibberson is investigating the interaction of microbes to discover what might prevent infection and promote healing. Assistant Professor Carolyn Ibberson at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has received a four-year, $1.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to support research on infections in chronic wounds. The R35 Maximizing Investigators’ Research…
Cormac McCarthy Scholar Analyzes Author’s Language

Associate Professor Bill Hardwig’s new book, How Cormac Works, explores the author’s unique literary style and experimentation with words. Associate Professor Bill Hardwig recalls being spellbound when he first read Cormac McCarthy’s descriptions in a novel, and for nearly two decades he has been introducing students at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, to the author’s…
Mead’s Quarry Research Reveals Toxic Algae Drivers

UT research into a pink algae bloom that closed the popular swimming area at Ijams Nature Center in 2024 is providing insight into how the organisms thrive. Researchers from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, who quantified high toxin levels during a 2024 pink algae bloom at Mead’s Quarry Lake have published a new study identifying…