Research & Creative Activity
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Giving Voice to Untold Stories
Bella Thomas-Wilson curated professional skills to carry her personalized Volunteer light forward. Bella Thomas-Wilson’s lifelong fascination with storytelling in visual and performing arts inspired her to create her own unique major through UT’s College Scholars Program: “Public Art and Media with an Emphasis on Underrepresented Communities.” With an added minor in museum and curatorial studies,…
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Social Play by Adult Primates Is Linked to Social Style
UT Professor Emeritus Gordon Burghardt is part of an international team of researchers that has identified the strongest predictor of why only some primate species continue to engage in social play past their juvenile years. Although about half of primate species play as adults with other adults, a team of international researchers has just unlocked…
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Molecular Lock Helps Power Life on Earth
Barry Bruce and colleagues shine new light on the mechanisms of photosynthesis. Professor Barry Bruce, Associate Professor Rajan Lamichhane, both of the Department of Biochemistry and Cellular and Molecular Biology (BCMB), and colleagues co-authored a paper that newly reveals the dynamics of photosynthesis at the cellular level. The team, which included graduate student Sree Kavya…
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Deeper Investigations
New building and lab expand capabilities for forensic anthropology training and identification services at UT. UT’s Forensic Anthropology Center (FAC) took a substantial leap forward this spring with the opening of the new Forensic Anthropology Laboratory, adding much-needed space and capability that strengthens its already renowned international legacy of research, teaching, and service. The laboratory…
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Undergraduate Symposium Expands to Student Union
Arts and sciences students step forward with professional research and creative presentations during ASUReS. ASUReS Awards Reception Date: Monday, April 27, 2026 Time: 3:30–5:30 p.m. Location: Student Union, Room 262 The Arts and Sciences Undergraduate Research Symposium (ASUReS) went big in its third year with a move from meeting spaces in Ayres Hall to large…
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Scholar Spotlight: Chelsea Mackaman-Lofland
“I study rocks that have been folded, faulted, crumpled up, and otherwise deformed to understand the forces that create mountain ranges and shape Earth’s landscapes.” Chelsea Mackaman-LoflandAssistant ProfessorDepartment of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences As an expert in structural geology and tectonics, my research combines a variety of field, analytical, and numerical modeling-based approaches. I…
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Hunter Seeks Answers Through Political Science Research
Kevin Hunter’s curiosity about American political behavior led him to UT courses in not only political science but history, sociology, psychology, and Africana studies. Growing up in a military family that moved every few years, Kevin Hunter observed the world around him and became curious about what shapes people’s political behavior. As an undergraduate at…
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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…
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Scholar Spotlight: Cecily P. Bernard
“I introduce students to and broaden their knowledge of the American world beyond North America, including South and Central America and the Caribbean.” Cecily P. BernardTeaching Assistant ProfessorDepartment of World Languages and Cultures I equip them with new lenses to view and interpret the world they inhabit, building language skills and cultural competencies relevant to…
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Justice Studies Builds in First Two Years
The interdisciplinary justice studies program celebrates a successful first academic year. The interdisciplinary Justice Studies Program (JUST) offers UT students the opportunity to integrate social sciences, humanities, and law to gain an enhanced, real-world understanding of social and economic justice issues across a variety of fields and career paths. The program launched in 2024 as…