By Christian Honce 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 14, 2026) — On Feb. 17, 2025, after a weekend of heavy rainfall, a hillside in Fleming-Neon, Kentucky, suddenly gave way. A wall of earth and debris tore downhill, straight toward a cluster of houses. Those houses were occupied, families inside. Tons of material thundered down — and thankfully stopped before completely burying the homes. 

This was not an isolated incident. Landslides cause an estimated $10 million to $20 million in damage across the Commonwealth annually, impacting everything from private residences to critical infrastructure and roads. That problem is particularly concentrated in Eastern Kentucky, where a maze of hills, hollers, creeks and human

By Rebekah Frazier 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 16, 2025) — The Kentucky Geological Survey received a $182,961 grant from the U.S. Geological Survey to advance geological understanding and hazard preparedness for Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati. 

The project will produce landslide inventory maps and landslide susceptibility maps for the region that will benefit city planners, local governments and landowners. 

“There is currently no published landslide inventory for the city of Cincinnati and only an incomplete landslide inventory for Northern Kentucky, despite

By Lindsay Travis 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 30, 2025) — Kentucky NSF EPSCoR’s CLIMBS project will hold a screening of two documentaries that show how communities have endured weather-related catastrophes and the ongoing work to be better prepared for future disasters.

Climate Resilience through Multidisciplinary Big Data Learning, Prediction & Building Response Systems seeks to advance Kentucky’s climate resiliency by bringing together researchers across the state to address this issue.

“CLIMBS - Kentucky Climate Resilience - The Documentary” highlights the effort from more than 50 multidisciplinary researchers from eight universities and colleges across Kentucky.

“All Is Not

By Richard LeComte

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Frank Ettensohn, Ph.D., P.G., C.P.G., University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences  professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, has received two awards from the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. 

He received an honorary membership, which is given to participants who distinguished themselves in their service to the association. He also received the Eastern Section John T. Galey Award, the highest honor the group gives. The award recognizes geoscientists whose accomplishments and contributions to the profession have been directed toward the betterment of society. 

“The geological community generally and our department specifically have collectively benefited from the remarkable contributions professor Ettensohn has made during his nearly five decades

By Rick Childress 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 13, 2024) — When people breathe in radon gas, they are more likely to develop lung cancer, particularly when they also breathe tobacco smoke. Radon, a radioactive gas, occurs naturally when uranium breaks down in rock and soil.  

Radon is invisible — you cannot smell, see or taste the gas, and there are no immediate symptoms. Most exposure to radon occurs in the home after it seeps in through gaps and cracks around service pipes and in foundations. Because of Kentucky’s geologic makeup,

By Dave Melanson 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 11, 2024) — Longtime University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy Research investigator Jim Hower, Ph.D., has contributed a chapter to the recently published book, “Rare Earth Elements: Sustainable Recovery, Processing, and Purification.”

Hower, who also has an appointment in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences in the UK College of Arts and Sciences, is one of the world’s top coal petrographers and rare earth element researchers.

Rare earth elements are among the critical materials that are considered the building blocks for modern society. These elements are used in the development of all the

By Jennifer T. Allen

What do battery-powered devices (phones, computers and electronic vehicles), air travel, wind-generated power and power transmission have in common? 

They all rely on critical minerals derived from the Earth. 

In fact, all battery-powered devices rely on these minerals and the reality is that they’re not readily available in the United States. According to two University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences professors, the United States relies heavily on foreign sources for these critical minerals, especially those containing the rare-earth elements (REEs). 

Dave Moecher and Ryan Thigpen, professors in the Department of Earth

By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Alan Fryar, professor of earth and environmental sciences in the University of Kentucky’s College of Arts and Sciences, will serve as the James B. Thompson Jr. Distinguished International Lecturer for 2024-2025 with the Geological Society of America. 

The lectureship funds a researcher who will present stimulating and cutting-edge geoscience research on world tours. Fryar will give his first lecture at the GSA annual meeting in Anaheim, California, on Sept. 24. He will travel to India in March 2025 and to Turkey and Kyrgyzstan in May and June 2025.  

His lecture topic is “Checking the pulse and taking the temperature: how do springs respond to environmental stresses?” His presentation provides an

A Q&A with Michael M. McGlue, professor in the Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences, and Sebastian Bryson, chair of civil engineering in the Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering, about the $20 million collaborative project to build climate resilience in Kentucky 

By Jennifer T. Allen

University of Kentucky faculty are part of a team leading a recently announced five-year Research Infrastructure Improvement (RII Track-1) award from the National Science Foundation’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research.  

The foundation is investing $20 million in advancing

By Dave Melanson

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 9, 2024) — Two University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences professors are co-leading a climate research project in the state. 

A five-year Research Infrastructure Improvement (RII Track-1) award from the National Science Foundation’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research has established the “Climate Resilience through Multidisciplinary Big Data Learning, Prediction & Building Response Systems.” The foundation is investing $20 million in advancing Kentucky’s climate resiliency, using a collaborative, statewide approach.

The leadership team includes Mike McGlue and Edward W. Woolery in the College's

By Rebekah Frazier 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 20, 2023) — Geologist Matt Crawford, a landslide researcher at the Kentucky Geological Survey and recipent of a doctorate in geological sciences from the University of Kentucky, took discoveries from Kentucky landslides to international collaborators in Sri Lanka last month.  

Crawford was part of the U.S. Geological Survey Landslide Disaster Assistance Team,

By Lindsay Travis 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 12, 2023) — A researcher at the University of Kentucky is helping to solve the mystery of where the coal found on Blackbeard's shipwrecked Queen Anne’s Revenge came from. 

James Hower,a distinguished fellow and a research professor at the UK Center for Applied Energy Research (CAER) and Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences, is part of the research team. He took a closer look at samples of coal pulled from the site and came to some surprising conclusions.

About 300 years ago, a band of pirates captured a French slave ship. Among

By Alan Fryar and Jenny Wells-Hosley

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 15, 2022) — As a child, Elizabeth Avery was inspired by that verse, and this week she will receive a Ph.D. in geological sciences from the University of Kentucky, based on her Fulbright research in Ukraine.

Avery’s path to a doctoral degree was nontraditional. After earning bachelor's and master's degrees in English at California State University, East Bay, she explored different career options. An undergraduate course in oceanography awakened her interest in geology and hydrology, which led her to a second master’s degree at the same institution. She worked more than three years as an environmental consultant before deciding to pursue a

By Jenny Wells-Hosley

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 27, 2022) — Kevin M. Yeager, a professor in the University of Kentucky’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, has received a major transdisciplinary award from the National Science Foundation for research on coastal wetland methane dynamics. Yeager is part of a multi-institutional team, led by Annette Engel at the University of Tennessee, who received the $2.9 million award to study methane emissions in coastal wetlands, which play an increasingly important role in ongoing and rapid climate change.

The team will focus on marshes in southern Louisiana and study methane emissions from coastal soils as sea-level rises and test natural

By Richard LeComte

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Wendell Overcash has one great collection – a collection of minerals that wow fellow enthusiasts and competition judges alike. Most recently, he won the Geofair Gem, Mineral, Fossil and Jewelry Show of Greater Cincinnati; it’s part of his collecting strategy to impress and impress big. He also recently received the Best of Species cabinet at a mineral show in Denver.

“I want viewers’ eyes to fall on the ground,” said Overcash, who honed his interest in minerals as he earned his bachelor’s degree in geology at the University of Kentucky in the 1970s. “And I can make them do that.”

Overcash also earned a law degree from UK and worked as an attorney in land acquisition and other areas for a variety of companies in Arizona, Pennsylvania and Kentucky, including the Exxon Mineral Co. He eventually returned to Kentucky and performed

By Kent Ratajeski

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 15, 2022) — Dave Moecher, a professor in the University of Kentucky Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, recently returned from Ireland, where he spent five months studying the erosion of the Appalachian Mountains and exploring the culture and history of the Emerald Isle.

While collaborating on research with two Irish geoscience professors, Moecher and his wife, Amy Luchsinger (recently retired from UK), lived in suburban Dublin during their stay, traveling widely throughout the country.

The experience was made possible by the Fulbright Scholar Program, which supports immersive experiences in other countries for researchers, teachers, artists and professionals with the aim of producing mutual understanding of other cultures. The Fulbright

By Jenny Wells-Hosley

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 29, 2022) — A study led by the University of Kentucky has been selected for funding by the National Science Foundation’s “Biodiversity on a Changing Planet” program, an international, transdisciplinary effort that addresses major challenges related to climate change. The five-year project has been awarded nearly $2.5 million.

Led by Michael McGlue, associate professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences in the UK College of Arts and Sciences, the study seeks to understand how aquatic biodiversity in Africa’s Great Rift Valley is affected by climate change.

The award marks a major milestone for climate research at UK — something McGlue and faculty hope to see even more support.

By Elizabeth Chapin

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 24, 2022) — The first cohort of interns in a new Kentucky Geological Survey program are spending their summers contributing to statewide research projects focused on geologic resources, environmental issues and natural hazards affecting Kentucky.

The new Paul Edwin Potter Internship Program is giving University of Kentucky students interested in geoscience research the opportunity to engage in a hands-on research project for 10 weeks throughout the summer. Although the program was limited to UK students during its first year, it will be expanded in future years to include students from other universities.

Supported by a gift from the

By Olaoluwapo Onitiri

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- The University of Kentucky has a high-quality environmental geoscience program and has produced excellent geologists like Rachel Nally, who is using the skills she developed through the program in her work as the environmental and sustainability manager at Heaven Hill Distilleries.

“As an undergraduate, the geoscience program provided me with a strong knowledge base of the breadth of natural sciences,” she said. “Because geology brings together concepts from chemistry, physics, geography — and even biology — and applies them to the Earth, it’s important to understand all the processes at play. I rely on this knowledge every day as I work to evaluate and reduce the consumption of natural resources by Heaven Hill’s distilleries and facilities. My graduate work in the

By Alicia Gregory

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 14, 2020) — The University of Kentucky Center for Clinical and Translational Science will hold its 17th Annual Spring Conference on April 5, 2022, focusing on “Climate and Health.”

Join nearly 1,000 researchers, clinicians, students and community members for this free, day-long, in-person event at the Gatton Student Center exploring the relationship between the environment, our health and how we live. 

This year’s keynote speaker is Robert Bullard, distinguished professor of urban planning and environmental policy and director of the Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice at Texas Southern University. 

Widely regarded as the