The following annual awards were presented at the recent Spring 2012 Earth and Environmental Sciences Awards Luncheon.

For more click on the link

By Sarah Geegan

The University of Kentucky’s Appalachian Center and Appalachian Studies Program will feature a panel discussion about hydraulic fracturing (or “fracing”) as a way of extracting natural gas in Kentucky. The event, part of the Appalachian Forum series, will take place from 7-9 p.m Thursday, Feb. 23, in Room 106 of UK's White Hall Classroom Building.

Panelists at the event will represent a variety of relevant areas of expertise, and after brief introductory remarks by each panelist, Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism

By Mike Lynch

Feb. 7, 2012, marks the 200th anniversary of the last and possibly strongest event of a series of very strong earthquakes that shook eastern North America in the winter of 1811-12. The events occurred on what became known as the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ), located along the Mississippi River in northeastern Arkansas, southeastern Missouri, northwestern Tennessee, and western Kentucky.

Because seismic instruments were not available at that time, today's seismologists can only estimate what the likely magnitudes might have been, based mostly on eyewitness accounts and newspaper reports from that time. The magnitudes of the three largest shocks ranged between 6.8 and 7.7 on the Richter scale, which also didn’t exist at the time of these events.

Two departments at the University of Kentucky, the Kentucky

By Erin Holaday Ziegler

The University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences will host a trailblazing American diplomat next week to continue the college's Year of China initiative.

Former U.S. Ambassador Julia Chang Bloch will speak on “Leadership and Education in a Globalizing World: China’s Challenge” at 5 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 10, in Room 118 of the White Hall Classroom Building on UK's campus.

Bloch’s talk, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the "Passport to China: Global Issues & Local Understanding" course taught by UK sociology Professor Keiko Tanaka.

Ambassador Bloch, the first Asian-American ambassador in American history, has had a broad career in U.S. government service. She is currently president of the U.S.-China Education Trust, a nonprofit organization working to

By Guy Spriggs

University of Kentucky's Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences (EES), in partnership with UK alumnus Tom Spalding (’80, ’82), accepted a $600,000 gift from Pioneer Natural Resources Company today.

Spalding is vice president of Pioneer, a large independent oil and gas exploration company based in Dallas, with operations in Texas, Colorado, Alaska and South Africa.

“Pioneer really went to bat for us,” said David Moecher, associate professor and director of undergraduate studies of EES in the College of Arts & Sciences. “Tom [Spalding] and Pioneer want to make sure that we have faculty in these fundamental fields to maintain a pipeline of future earth scientists.”

UK’s Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences (EES) has partnered with Dallas-based Pioneer Natural Resources Company to secure a $600,000 gift through UK alumnus (’80, ’82) and Pioneer Vice-President Tom Spalding.

The gift, which is intended to be spread out over the next 3 years, will fund the Pioneer Natural Resources Research Professorship in Stratigraphy. The money will not only support the new faculty member’s research program, but will also fund graduate and undergraduate student research.

“Pioneer really went to bat for us. This professorship really is the icing on the cake,” said David Moecher, professor in the Department of EES. “Tom [Spalding] and Pioneer want to make

University of Kentucky geologist and cave diver Stephanie Schwabe recalls her 1997 dive into the Mermaid's Lair, on the south side of Grand Bahama Island quite plainly.

Schwabe is not one to embellish or exaggerate. A simple account of her late August dive is captivating of its own accord.

Schwabe, a renowned cave diver of international acclaim, will share the story of her nearly fateful dive on National Geographic Explorer's Angel Effect at 10 p.m. Tuesday, April 26, on the National Geographic Channel.

Angel Effect delves deep inside the mysterious phenomenon of the "Third Man Factor," as detailed in John Geiger's bestselling book of the

An exhibition on the results of the excavations by University of Kentucky faculty of an ancient Greek fort will debut at the Lexington Public Library - Central Library before moving to Italy, where it will remain on permanent display.

"A Greek Mountain Fort in Southern Italy. University of Kentucky Archaeological Investigations at Monte Palazzi (Passo Croceferrata, Grotteria, Calabria)" will be on exhibit March 26 through May 1, in the library’s gallery.

Paolo Visonà, adjunct associate professor of art history in UK’s Department of Art, will give a lecture on the Monte Palazzi archaeological project at 6 p.m. Monday, March 28, in the library's theater. A gallery reception will also be held from 5 to

When the University of Kentucky's Environmental Studies program director position opened up last summer, chemistry Professor David Atwood enthusiastically submitted his application.

But UK's resident expert on the removal of metal contaminants from water wanted to see something more.   "In working with others across campus, I was hearing more and more about the need for an interdisciplinary environmental studies major at UK," Atwood explained. "I thought that in order to really make the director position worth it, we should expand what we already had."   So, Atwood met with Dean Mark Kornbluh with argument in hand.   But to Atwood's surprise, Kornbluh "basically described exactly what I had hoped to do," Atwood laughed. "I guess you don't really have to do much convincing if it's a good idea."   And so the collaborative