Research & Creative Activity

UT Professor Shines Light on Virginia Woolf

UT Professor Urmila Seshagiri’s scholarship provides context for Virginia Woolf’s first fully realized work of fiction in The Life of Violet: Three Early Stories. A century after Virginia Woolf became a leading modernist writer, a professor from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is showing the world a new side of her, through three of the…
Radicals in Early Christian Conflict Redefined

A new book by religious studies Professor Tina Shepardson examines religious devotion and polarization within Christianity during late antiquity. Examining conflicts over Christian doctrine in the fifth and sixth centuries might provide a case study for thinking about religion and violence today, a University of Tennessee, Knoxville, scholar suggests. Tina Shepardson, UT Distinguished Professor in…
Burghardt Paper Earns Biosemiotics Award

Burghardt paper on interpreting animal behavior earns Biosemiotics Award for 2024. Professor Emeritus Gordon Burghardt received the 2024 Biosemiotics Achievement Award for his contribution to a special issue of Biosemiotics, titled “Jakob von Uexküll, heterophenomenology, and behavior systems I: Core ethology and Merleau-Ponty.” In the special issue, Umwelt Theory and Phenomenology, Burghardt’s winning paper compares…
Multi-Lab Collaboration Unites Math and Biology

Researchers from math and molecular biology collaborate for a new analysis method. Photo by Erik Campos An interdisciplinary team of University of Tennessee researchers recently published in Biophysical Journal on their development of a new statistical method that improves analysis in single-molecule fluorescence experiments, which are used to study important protein complexes in cells. The…
Chemistry Faculty Presents Machine Learning in Switzerland

Vogiatzis leads international workshop in computational catalysis and machine learning. Associate Professor Konstantinos Vogiatzis, Department of Chemistry, received a senior fellowship for 2024–2025 from Collegium Helveticum, a Swiss institute for advanced study. The fellowship is supported by ETH Zurich, the University of Zurich, and the Zurich University of the Arts. As part of the fellowship,…
‘Earth System Engineering’ Examines Impact of Life

An international team including UT Professor Alycia Stigall offers a new way to examine the long-term impact of humans and other living organisms on the planet. An international team including a professor from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has developed a new approach for understanding how living organisms—including modern humans—fundamentally change Earth’s ecosystems. The researchers…
Primate Research Reveals Unexpected Insight on Grip

A study by UT Assistant Professor Michael Granatosky suggests species such as lemurs evolved grasping hands and feet for versatility rather than strength. New research led by Assistant Professor Michael Granatosky suggests some primates’ hands and feet are built for versatility, not just strength to grip branches as they move through trees. Although lemurs and…
Good Research Neighbors: Measuring Innovation in Urban Areas

A UT research center team published a new study in npj Complexity that challenges conventional wisdom on how city size fuels innovation. Researchers with UT’s Center for the Dynamics of Social Complexity (DySoC) published a new study in npj Complexity revealing that the method by which cities are measured—and not just their size—profoundly shapes patterns…
UT Part of Mars Team Finding Possible Sign of Life

Professor Linda Kah is among the researchers working with NASA to capture images and data that may show ancient microbial life on the Red Planet. A professor from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is part of the scientific team that has identified a potential sign of early life on Mars. Linda Kah, the Kenneth R.…
Crowded Conditions Muddle Frogs’ Mating Choices

New animal research shows female treefrogs may not get the mate they likely want in crowded environments, and those conditions may hamper evolution. Female treefrogs prefer a mate with an impressive call, but the crowded environments give unattractive males an edge, according to a new international study led by Assistant Professor Jessie Tanner of the…