In a recent study , researchers Khushboo Patel, Judith Danovitch, and Nick Noles showed 257 preschool and elementary school-aged kids pictures of different adults and asked them who would know more about science and from whom they would want to learn.

While other factors, such as the adults’ race, didn’t seem to play any significant role in the kids’ opinions, gender did — they overwhelmingly chose the adult who had the same gender as them. That is, boys thought the men would know more about science, and girls thought women would.

“This marks a significant shift in children’s thinking, where girls are starting to see women as knowledgeable about science and want to learn science from them,” said Patel, a fourth year Ph.D. student in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, part of UofL’s College of Arts and Sciences. “This may eventually help girls envision themselves as doing science, too.”

Understanding the cause of that shift could help address the gender gap in STEM — or, science, technology, engineering and math. Although that gap has narrowed significantly over the past decade, as of 2021, . For reference, Patel said, past studies done around a decade ago found most kids saw men as more capable of doing science than women, regardless of their own gender.��

Representation is likely a critical factor in driving that shift, Danovitch said. Young girls and boys alike are seeing more examples of female scientists in their lives and in popular culture — think Doc McStuffins and Ada Twist Scientist.

“It used to be that STEM was seen as being just for boys,“ said Danovitch, a professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences. “You could see that in media or walking down the toy aisle. But today, girls are starting to see women as knowledgeable about science.”��

For parents and educators, Patel said, this shift presents an opportunity to help girls engage in STEM if they wish to. That might mean providing examples of different kinds of people who are scientists, introducing girls to women in science careers, and avoiding even well-intentioned gendered language when talking about science.��

“For example, saying ‘girls are just as good as boys at science’ just affirms that boys set the standard,” she said. “Overall, we hope this research serves as a reminder of the importance of representation in science education. Anyone can be a scientist if they want to be.”��

With this funding, UofL will launch the Louisville Clinical and Translational Research Center (LCTRC) — a statewide effort that will transform the university’s clinical research infrastructure and find meaningful solutions to combat chronic conditions like cardiac disease, stroke and cancer that disproportionately affect Kentuckians in urban and rural areas alike. The goal is to foster the seamless transition of research findings from the laboratory to patient care.

“UofL has a long-standing commitment to improving the lives of Kentuckians,” said UofL President Kim Schatzel. “This grant represents significant progress toward that commitment, engaging researchers and community members in developing new treatments and training the next generation of experts who will improve lives for years to come.”

LTCRC is funded through the , meant to help institutions build research expertise and infrastructure to support research on diseases and health challenges faced by the populations they serve. CTR-D grants are considered highly competitive.

“CTR grants are a unique resource that are awarded to only a small number of institutions,” said Jon Klein, UofL’s interim executive vice president for research and innovation, a Bucks for Brains endowed researcher and LCTRC’s principal investigator. “UofL’s success in securing this award shows our strength as a research institution and academic medical center, and will drive significant, positive impact throughout the Commonwealth.”

That impact will be far-reaching. LCTRC will enable UofL to launch a series of $75,000 to $125,000 research grants aimed at kickstarting new research projects that help early career and established researchers gather the data needed to secure more NIH or other agency investment.

To train highly competitive, next generation clinical and translational researchers, LCTRC will develop two key programs: Dean’s Scholars, which will pay medical students to spend a full year doing research, and Presidential Scholars, which buys six months of faculty members’ time to do research. These programs will also provide them with additional professional development opportunities, including partnering those researchers with experienced mentors who can help them take their work to the next level.

“The work that this funding will allow us to do is truly transformative,” said Jiapeng Huang, a professor of anesthesiology and perioperative medicine and deputy director for the LCTRC. “LCTRC will develop top notch clinical and translational researchers who cannot only secure more NIH funding, but also develop new therapies and technologies which will benefit our patients and communities in Kentucky. They will shape the future of Kentucky in a very meaningful way. “

LCTRC will also work to expand clinical and translational research infrastructures and develop essential research tools. This includes enhanced research relationships with major health systems, including UofL Health in Louisville and Owensboro Health in western Kentucky. UofL has a long-standing academic partnership with the latter, including a ACGME accelerated family medicine residency program based at Owensboro Health, and an Accelerated Second-Degree Bachelor of Science in Nursing program, where UofL resident physicians and students engage in hands-on clinical experiences in Owensboro.

The new LCTRC funding will double UofL’s clinical trials staff, enabling the university to support more clinical trials at UofL Health, its Owensboro Health rural affiliate, the Louisville Robley Rex VA Medical Center and Norton Healthcare. It also will support ‘citizen science’ projects, giving regular people an opportunity to engage in research backed by grant funding and with mentorship from academic experts.

“Just because you’re not in a lab doesn’t mean you’re not a scientist,” Klein said. “By working collaboratively with our neighbors — with the people who actually live and experience the health problems we’re trying to solve — we can build a bright new future for everyone.”

While the LCTRC builds a bright future for Kentucky, Klein said it wouldn’t be possible without a strong foundation. UofL has been working to secure clinical translational research center funding since 2008, with efforts first being led by Craig McClain, associate vice president for health affairs and research, who worked with Klein to submit this successful proposal. Both are endowed through the Bucks for Brains program, which brings world-class researchers to UofL.��

“The conditions for this grant had to be just right — we had to have an outstanding academic medical center, experience translating research into medical treatments and the talented people who could bring this to life,” McClain said. “With LCTRC, we want to pass the torch. We will use this funding to build the infrastructure and next generation of talent that will help bring even more success to Kentucky researchers and drive new technologies that will save and improve lives.”��

, offered through the as part of the Mid-South NSF I-Corps Hub, is an intensive course focused on , which helps innovators and entrepreneurs test their ideas or products in the real world and see if they have what it takes to stick. The regular eight-week program is hybrid and offered in spring and fall, while the new three-session ‘short course’ is offered virtually and in summer.��

“Entrepreneurs and innovators are nimble — they need to move fast to get their ideas from mind to market,” said Jessica Sharon, UofL senior director of innovation and new ventures. “With this new, shorter program, we’re able to offer training and coaching through a more flexible format that helps them move quickly and fits into busy schedules.”��

LaunchIt’s curriculum, taught by experienced and successful entrepreneurs from both the Office of Research and Innovation and UofL College of Business, includes coaching, mentoring and lessons on customer discovery, product validation and other considerations when preparing for market launch. The program is open to anyone in the region working to develop a technology-focused product or company.

UofL piloted the short course in summer 2024. A total of 13 teams participated, including 11 from UofL and one each from Northern Kentucky University and University of Kentucky. Connor Centner, a post-doctoral researcher in the UofL J.B. Speed School of Engineering, used the course to help further a cutting-edge therapeutic ultrasound technology meant to destroy cancer cells and unlock the body’s immune system to fight tumors.

“The LaunchIt Short Course was an incredibly unique experience—it gave me the opportunity to dive into customer discovery and product-market fit with guidance from experienced entrepreneurs who’ve been through it all,” Centner said. “It wasn’t just about learning the basics; it was about gaining real-world experience that offered valuable insight into the market and helped me truly understand customer needs to determine how my idea or product could succeed.”

From the short course, some teams may choose to go on to the more comprehensive eight-week course offered twice a year, or some may choose to focus on additional customer discovery. All participating teams are eligible for microgrants to support customer discovery once they graduate the short course or the full course.

LaunchIt course director, Jamie Rush, said everyone can benefit from entrepreneurial training. With this new short course, the team hopes to expand access to people who may not be able to attend otherwise. For example, the short course is now offered to UofL students in a partnership with the new Bluegrass Biodesign program, where multi-disciplinary teams work to develop innovations that save and improve lives.��

“Whether or not you plan to launch a startup, you’re an entrepreneur and can use LaunchIt tools like customer discovery and market research to focus your research or idea and make it impactful,” Rush said. “We want to equip everyone — students, faculty, staff, entrepreneurs, corporate business leaders — with tools that help them advance not only important new products, but new community projects, business initiatives and more.”��

The next full session of LaunchIt, beginning in spring 2025, is now enrolling through Jan. 24, 2025. More information and registration is available at . The next short course will be offered in summer 2025.��

Both will serve as entrepreneurs in residence, or EIRs, through the UofL Office of Research and Innovation. In this role, they will work with inventors to connect UofL technologies to industry and startups.

Phillips is a seasoned health care investor and startup operator, and spent the better part of the last decade building startups and leading early-stage investment and accelerator programs in partnership with some of the world’s leading corporations and international governments. He now is the CEO of Mandos Health Inc., a venture-backed men’s health care startup, where he is focused on scaling the nationwide digital clinic.

“There’s a ton of innovation happening in the health care space,” Phillips said. “I’m excited to leverage my own experience and work with the researchers and innovators at UofL to further new treatments, diagnostics and more that can help people lead healthier lives.”

Gora is a dynamic entrepreneur with more than 15 years of experience across industries including medical device manufacturing, retail, education and technology. From scaling innovative startups to leading customer-centric retail ventures, Jeff has a proven track record of driving growth and innovation.��

“I’m so excited and proud to support the work happening here at UofL to launch and grow startups,” Gora said. “This is an opportunity to be part of something that could make a big impact here and across the Commonwealth.”

Gora and Phillips join a class of EIRs that currently includes seasoned founders Tendai Charasika (software) and Bill Dawson (biotech). Charasika joined as an EIR in 2021 and helped lead the reimagining of UofL’s Launchit startup bootcamp, while Dawson joined in 2023.

The EIR program is led by the����team, which focuses on launching startups around research-born tech. The EIR program is in partnership with Amplify, an organization working to grow ���dzܾ�������������’s entrepreneurship ecosystem, with funding from the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development.

“Jeff and Nick bring a lot of knowledge and experience as founders, and we’re excited to have them join the team,” said Will Metcalf, a UofL associate vice president for research and innovation. “They’ll make our already strong team even stronger, and I’m looking forward to partnering with them to advance our technologies and startups to the next level.”

The program is a nine-month training course where students gain hands-on experience creating and testing their ideas in the real world. The curriculum includes opportunities to prototype new designs while participating in workshops and lectures led by faculty at the UofL School of Medicine, College of Business and J.B. Speed School of Engineering.��

“This is about training the next generation of innovators in health care and medicine,” said In Kim, a professor of pediatric medicine and program lead. “With Bluegrass Biodesign, we hope to equip UofL students with the tools they need to launch technologies that can save lives.”��

Students complete the program in multidisciplinary teams, each blending undergraduate and graduate students in medicine and engineering. The idea is that they each bring insights from their own area of expertise that could help them solve problems and innovate.

“What we find is that innovation is a team sport,” said Beth Spurlin, an associate professor and co-director of the program. “The best solutions come from different people with different perspectives working together. With Bluegrass Biodesign, we give students the opportunity to experience that before they even leave campus.”

Eight teams — a total of 58 students —participated in the 2024-2025 cohort.��Logan Davis, an M.D./MBA student, said the experience taught him just how much work goes into developing the innovations his patients will one day rely on. His team worked on a device to help patients who struggle with both urinary control and motor tremor and/or dexterity. The solution for the former is to self-catheterize, which can be difficult without full control of your hands or arms.��

“We wanted to target this set of problems to give back some comfort and autonomy to these patients,” said Davis, who also was co-president for the 2023-2024 cohort. “This is a process I am so thankful to have been a part of, and I plan on using the biodesign process Bluegrass BioDesign is based on for the rest of my career to design/improve care for all of my patients.”

The student teams also complete business training via , the office’s accelerated entrepreneurial bootcamp that is part of UofL’s National Science Foundation program, housed in the . In the 2024 cycle, all eight teams received $3,000 in funding, along with mentorship and training, via the I-Corps program.

“We are thrilled to formalize the collaboration between Bluegrass Biodesign and UofL’s I-Corps program,” said Jessica Sharon, senior director of innovation programs and new ventures, who leads I-Corps and LaunchIt. “We are proud of these students’ hard work in the program to identify and validate market needs they are working to solve!”

Applications for the next cycle of Bluegrass Biodesign will be open for submission at the beginning of the spring 2025 semester. Learn more and apply .

FASD is caused by alcohol exposure during pregnancy, but some pregnancies are higher risk than others and not all babies exposed to alcohol will develop symptoms. The UofL researchers believe that understanding what genes might increase that risk could lead to better therapeutics and help mothers make safer, more informed choices.��

“This condition can be harmful to both mom and baby,” said Ben Lovely, the study’s principal investigator and an assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular genetics in the . “Our goal is to help both by gaining insight into not just the surface-level risk factors, but also the genetic risk factors that haven’t really been explored.”

Symptoms of FASD vary, but can include problems with behavior, learning and physical development, including craniofacial malformations, such as a thin upper lip or small eye openings. According to the U.S. , one in 20, or 5% of school-aged children in the U.S. may be affected.

For mothers, Lovely said, it may be more complicated than just avoiding alcohol during pregnancy. The most sensitive window for FASD exposure is before many women even know they’re pregnant, and .

“Part of this is removing the stigma so we can talk about these things and find solutions that prevent or help mitigate the risks and effects of FASD,” Lovely said. “And the good news is, there may be some ways to do that.”

To explore genetic risk factors of FASD, researchers are looking to an unlikely source: zebrafish, which share 82% of the same genes as humans. Early studies have shown there may be some relatively simple ways to protect against FASD, such as by tweaking the formula of prenatal vitamins to lessen risk or developing therapeutics that address the birth defects that do happen.

“FASD is a complicated issue, and we need to address it from many angles,” Lovely said. “This isn’t as simple as saying ‘don’t drink.’ We need to develop more ways to help both mom and baby stay safe.”��

The vast majority — — of those athletes came from American colleges and universities, including several from the University of Louisville who traded their Cardinal red for red, white and blue.��

This month, several Cardinals will also head to Paris to compete in the summer games.��

So why do so many Olympic athletes come from academia? According to UofL researcher Meg Hancock, who studies college athletics, it comes down to the unique environment and resources available to college athletes that allow them to achieve an elite level of competition.��

“It’s a formula for success that starts with these bright, talented, ambitious students — they’re driven, both on the court and in the classroom, ” said Hancock, an associate professor at the UofL . “When you take a great athlete, and support them with coaches, mentors, health experts and other resources only universities can offer, they become more and more competitive, even on an international stage.”

That ‘formula’ is likely why more than 170 U.S. colleges and universities have produced Olympians, with UofL alone producing around 40 — and some Olympic-level coaches — since 1980. Those athletes, representing 20 different countries, competed in events as wide ranging as rugby, swimming and diving and track and field.

“I think it’s phenomenal that we have folks who are competitive across that breadth,” Hancock said. “It’s an incredible opportunity for these student athletes to compete on a world stage and represent their home countries.”��

UofL, she said, has taken a leading role in supporting student athletes and working to help them improve their Olympic chances. UofL and have been on the forefront in taking a holistic approach to athlete performance, including looking at players’ physical, mental and nutritional health and that helps them minimize risk and improve their technique.

“That holistic approach is part of UofL’s strong commitment to the health, safety, and performance of all of our student athletes,” said Pat Ivey, associate athletic director for student athlete health and performance. “We want to ensure that they’re firing on all cylinders and on all fronts — that we’re helping them achieve not only their athletic or Olympic aspirations, but overall wellbeing.”��

UofL also offers student athletes access to a suite of trainers, health care experts and clinicians via its official care provider, . That care is unique among universities, Hancock said, because it puts heavy focus on mental and emotional health, with UofL Health for student athletes.��

“We have built the nation’s largest team of mental health professionals with a focus on student-athletes. This commitment is directly enhancing individual and team performance in UofL sports,” said Kate O’Bryan, director of the UofL Athletics Mental Health and Performance Team, a partnership with UofL Health. “The integrated approach, alongside our other services in sport science, nutrition, athletic training, and sport performance, positions UofL Athletics as a leading model of high performance for other universities to emulate

Mental health has been a big part of the recent public discussion around Olympic athletic performance, especially since gymnast Simone Biles famously withdrew over concerns at the 2020 Tokyo Games. But even so, some surveys show think mental health is a priority for their athletics department.

“They’re under a lot of pressure,” Hancock said. “UofL has worked to address that, and now, other colleges are seeing this as a model and thinking about the role mental health and mental performance play in athletics at this level. To compete in the Olympics, you have to consider the whole athlete.”��

Arsenic is highly poisonous and occurs naturally in some rocks and soil. As a result, of exposure is drinking contaminated water, particularly ground water from private wells. More than get their water from private wells, including many in areas of Kentucky that may be contaminated from previous coal mining.��

“What people don’t realize is that private wells and even public water supplies serving smaller numbers of people are not regulated,” said , a UofL researcher who’s been studying arsenic’s role in cancer for more than 25 years. “People using private wells for their water are on their own to test for toxic chemicals.”��

Chronic exposure to low doses of arsenic, as from drinking water, can cause a host of serious health concerns, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes and several cancers, including skin, lung and bladder cancer. In high doses, arsenic can also be fatal.��

States and collaborator, , backed by two new grants from the National Institutes of Health and American Cancer Society totaling $3.6 million, are working to discover what specifically about arsenic exposure can cause and accelerate the development of those conditions. Understanding this cause and effect could help researchers and public health officials find ways to keep people safe and healthy.

States and Banerjee believe it may all come down to how arsenic binds with proteins that help the body regulate the expression of genes. When gene expression isn’t properly regulated, your cells can begin to behave abnormally, mutating and multiplying out of control and not dying when they should. In other words, they become cancer cells.��

Many proteins need zinc to do their jobs properly. When arsenic binds with these proteins instead, it takes the place zinc would normally fill. This disables these regulatory proteins and accelerates dysregulation.

Even worse, Banerjee said, is that there’s significant overlap between the communities who drink potentially contaminated well water and those who are more likely to have a zinc deficiency. If the body doesn’t have enough zinc to bind with the regulatory proteins in the first place, it can increase your risk of some of the same health concerns as arsenic exposure — including heart disease and cancer. An of the global population is zinc deficient.��

“It’s a double whammy,” said Banerjee, an assistant professor of pharmacology. “The populations we’re talking about are largely impoverished and rural, who are already more likely to be zinc deficient because they don’t have access to healthy, nutritious foods. So, you have a lack of zinc in the diet exacerbated by arsenic preventing what zinc they have from doing its job in the body.”��

There isn’t currently any medication that treats chronic arsenic exposure. However, Banerjee said, there may be a simple, over-the-counter solution — if the problem is a lack of zinc, it may be treatable with a zinc supplement. His research has shown zinc supplementation can mitigate or even regress some of the worse effects of arsenic exposure.��

“Zinc is over-the-counter, which makes it cheaper and readily accessible,” Banerjee said. “But I don’t think a lot of people are even aware of the potential danger of well water or what it can cause. We really hope this work can help those people.”

Suspended in a pediatric therapy harness, the boy’s feet moved across the treadmill. Each foot strike represented new hope for kids living with neurological conditions – to regain motor function, improve trunk control and even take steps on their own.������

That technology, invented by UofL researchers, is helping patients thanks to UofL’s unique suite of programs aimed at moving biomedical research from lab to market as products that can save and improve lives. Now, via a new partnership called the MidSouth Hub, UofL is offering its expertise to researchers across the four-state region of Kentucky, Virginia, Mississippi and Tennessee.����

“Seeing how the technology we’d worked so hard to support could impact that boy’s life was one of the proudest moments of my career,” said Jessica Sharon, senior director of innovation programs and new ventures at UofL. “That’s when I knew we were building something special here at UofL. With the MidSouth Hub, we can expand that impact and ensure even more potentially life-changing technologies make it out of universities and help patients.”��

PROOF OF CONCEPT��

UofL’s focus on innovation begins with the belief that good ideas shouldn’t stay in the lab — they belong out in the world, where they can make a positive impact as new diagnostics, treatments and therapeutics. To that end, the university has spent the past decade aggressively growing its support for biomedical innovation, helping researchers develop, test and refine their ideas before launch.��

UofL secured its first biomedical product innovation grant, the Wallace H. Coulter Translational Partnership, in 2011. Building on that success, UofL landed two more programs a few years later: Kentucky’s first NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps) site and NIH Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hub (REACH), led by now retired professor, Paula Bates.����

Those were quickly followed by another award, then another, then another, and today, UofL holds a robust suite of programs unique from its peers across the country.�� With each new round of funding UofL forged�� new partnerships that expanded the impact first across the Commonwealth, and now, to the four-state region. The result is the MidSouth Hub, a multi-institution partnership led by Vanderbilt University, with UofL providing its original programming and leading efforts in Kentucky.��

“UofL has developed strategies that can help anyone to create healthcare solutions, whether you are a professor at a large university or a student at a technical college,” said Matt McMahon, Director of the NIH’s SEED (Small business ����ֱ�� and Entrepreneurial Development) Office, which supports REACH. UofL is the only university to succeed in all three rounds of REACH funding.��

“And in the end,” he said, “it’s patients and communities that benefit. We’re very excited to see UofL offer their leadership and expertise in scaling their approach across a broader part of the country.”��

That approach is key to developing technologies like the pediatric therapy harness, which provides partial body weight support as therapists help the kids move their feet over the treadmill. The idea is to slowly and safely turn on muscles and gain control. Designed by researchers Andrea Behrman and Tommy Roussel, that technology has since been licensed and units are in-place or on their way to facilities in Pennsylvania, Texas and New York, as well as Kentucky.��

“I don’t know a university that supports faculty more for innovation and biomedical design than UofL,” said Behrman, a professor of neurological surgery and director of the Kosair for Kids Center for Pediatric NeuroRecovery. “It’s a massive help in moving good ideas down the path, and getting them out where they can actually help patients.”��

THE RIGHT STUFF��

When it comes to good ideas, UofL has plenty to choose from. A Carnegie Research-1 university with a robust academic medical center and affiliated health system, UofL’s clinicians and researchers work to discover, invent, test and implement cutting-edge medical innovations that ultimately are commercialized.����

“This kind of direct impact just isn’t possible without those ingredients,” said Jon Klein, UofL’s interim executive vice president of research and innovation and vice dean for research at its School of Medicine. “That intersection of medicine, research and our suite of innovation programs — that mix is driving positive patient outcomes here and beyond.”��

Those positive outcomes cover a range of potentially devastating diagnoses. Take the�� cancer-fighting technology invented by researchers Geoffrey Clark, Joe Burlison and John Trent, which works by targeting the RAS protein. When mutated, RAS turns into a stuck accelerator pedal, with cells suddenly growing very fast and penetrating other tissue, just like a tumor cell.������

Stopping that process has long been considered a ‘holy grail’ that could shut down at least a third of human tumors. Thanks in part to support from UofL’s innovation programs, that technology is now in development with Qualigen Therapeutics, Inc., a publicly traded California-based biomedical company, and moving down the long pathway to FDA approval.����

“UofL is in a unique position to develop technologies like this because you not only have actual clinicians and cutting-edge research, but programs to assist industry partners to drive the resulting innovations to market,” said Michael Poirier, the company’s Chairman and CEO. “We look forward to continuing work with UofL and to advancing these important clinical technologies with the goal of developing an effective treatment for this unmet need.”��

READY TO LAUNCH��

Over the past decade, UofL’s I-Corps and REACH programs have supported hundreds of innovators, dozens of new products and licensing agreements, millions in follow-on funding and the launch of at least 16 new companies.��

One of those companies is led by School of Medicine researcher Matthew Neal, who participated in UofL’s Economic Development Administration-backed PRePARE program for developing pandemic-related technologies, along with the I-Corps site before going on to the prestigious national NSF program to develop his VR technology for patients with hearing deficiencies.��

Neal’s technology aims to help patients program their hearing aids and test out different models in realistic virtual environments, such as a noisy restaurant, all without leaving the comfort of the clinical setting.��

That led to a startup, Immersive Hearing Technologies, which Neal co-founded with former university entrepreneur-in-residence, Jeff Cummins. Together, they’ve already secured non-dilutive follow-on funding and are on their way to improving the clinical processes behind a widespread problem – hearing loss – affecting one in eight Americans over the age of 12.����

“The innovation programs were invaluable in understanding who our customers are, what they needed and how we might get this technology to market,” Neal said. “It’s no good if an idea like this just sits on a shelf. This is a technology that can help people, and it needs to be out in the world to do that.”����

And that’s the goal, Sharon said.����

“We don’t want good ideas to stay on our campus or any campus,” Sharon said. “With these programs, we’re going to keep growing, keep pushing, to move these innovations from lab to market. And with this new MidSouth Hub, I know we can do that on an even bigger scale.”��

Through community-engaged research, the city becomes a sort of ‘living, urban lab,’ allowing researchers to collaborate with their neighbors on important issues such as health, economic development, education and more.����

It’s a special focus for UofL, one of only 84 universities nationwide to hold both the top-tier Research 1 and Community Engaged designations through the Carnegie Classifi cation of Institutions of Higher ����ֱ��. The goal is to improve the quality of research by talking to people who know the problem best — because they live it — to create mutual benefit and positive impact.

“We have to work together to create that road map, agree on the kinds of questions that we’re trying to answer and have a shared understanding of the challenges,” said Ted Smith, associate professor in the School of Medicine and director of the UofL Center for Healthy Air, Water and Soil within UofL’s Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute. “We’ve had projects where everybody could be involved in the science and I think Louisville is particularly good at this; we’re curious people and there is a service mentality.”��

Smith is one of many at UofL conducting community-engaged research. All across campus, researchers are partnering with the community to make discoveries about the environment, equity, aging, workforce development and more.��Douglas Craddock, Jr., UofL’s vice president for community engagement, said that while community-engaged research has direct tangible benefit here, what we learn from it can have a positive impact far beyond.��

“It’s important that the community is involved in the research,” said Craddock, whose office works broadly with local organizations to build and sustain community relationships and trust. “Not just simply involved, but impacted by the research in the way that changes lives for years to come.”��

Here are just a few ways UofL researchers are making meaningful impact by working with the community.��

PLANTING A SEED��

They say you should stop and smell the roses. But what if you look around your��neighborhood, and there are no roses … or any plants at all?����

Scientists can make educated guesses about what kind of impact a neighborhood’s greenness — or lack thereof — might have on the people living there, including on physical, mental and emotional health. But to really know, you have to go meet your neighbors, roll up your sleeves and get your hands a little dirty. So, that’s exactly what UofL researchers did.��

In an effort known as Project Green Heart, the UofL Envirome Institute led the planting of thousands of trees and shrubs across South Louisville as part of a first-of-its-kind interventional study on how greenness effects health outcomes. Neighbors picked up shovels, filled out surveys and worked with the researchers to study and improve their community.����

“It was great to see the trees planted in my neighborhood,” said Toni Smith, who lives in an area covered by Project Green Heart. “Not only did they provide screens from pollution, they offered privacy and helped to beautify our homes. As a participant in the study from the beginning, I am excited about the research on our neighborhood air pollution.�Ũ�į��

As the first large-scale interventional clinical trial of this kind, this study will have significant value as cities around the world seek to mitigate the health risks from a changing climate though green infrastructure. The results could also reveal new public health approaches to improving heart, psychological and other health outcomes.  ����

Working with the community can take some of the guesswork out of research and ensure it has real-world impact, said Luz Huntington Moskos, director of the community-engagement core in the Envirome Institute’s Center for Integrative Environmental Health Sciences. As a result, community engagement is required by many of the National Institute of Health’s largest grant programs, including ones supporting projects through Envirome.��

“We, as scientists, can have very educated guesses about what’s happening,” she said, “but really understanding how people are impacted in their daily lives and the priorities of the community members is very important.”��

GETTING TO WORK��

We rely on technology for everything these days — to keep us connected, to find our way and even to make our morning cup of coffee. But technology has also had a deep and lasting impact on the way we work, with many jobs now requiring an entirely new skillset than even just a decade ago.��

“How do you — as a member of the workforce, an employer or a student — prepare for these changes?” said Jeff Sun, a professor and dean of research in the UofL College of ����ֱ�� and Human Development. “That’s the question for a number of industries.”��

Sun and UofL teammates Annika Bennett and D’Neika Lopez are working to better understand these changes through their U.S. Department of Labor-funded Modern Apprenticeship Pathways to Success (MAPS) program. They’ve also enlisted community partners, including ���dzܾ�������������’s newly created WestEnd Apprenticeship Collaborative, the Kentucky Primary Care Association and eastern Ky.-based Mountain Comprehensive Health Corporation (MCHC). ��

The idea is to study this evolving ‘future of work’ in different settings and industries, each with its own unique workforce needs. In health care, for example, the providers of tomorrow are expected to work with new tools like AI-driven diagnostics and electronic medical records systems. ��Teresa Dotson, director of financial affairs at MCHC, said the research done with UofL – and resulting training – has helped fill the system’s talent pipeline while preparing people for jobs they might not have otherwise had.

“This is my community, and I believe that life shouldn’t be a barrier to education or a career,” said Teresa Dotson, director of financial affairs at MCHC. “I can honestly say that this is my favorite project I’ve ever worked on in my career.”��

Ultimately, the researchers hope to create industry-specific training and apprenticeships that connect what students learn in class with their eventual careers. The apprenticeships will also give them field experience with disruptive, cutting-edge technologies that can change how work is done.��

Sun said preparing a future tech-ready workforce is especially important now. According to a 2019 report from the Brookings Institute, automation will be most disruptive in the Heartland, and especially in Kentucky and Indiana, with hundreds of thousands of jobs susceptible to automation. Meanwhile, new jobs will be created and others will evolve to require new tech skills.��

“It’s absolutely critical that we’re ready for the workforce needs of tomorrow,” he said. “By partnering with the employers and workers who see those needs in the real world, we can better predict and prepare for them.�Ũ�į��

BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS��

Thump. Thump. Your heart is racing, and you feel a sharp pain pierce your chest. You need help, but can’t go to the hospital. You never applied for insurance — well, you tried, but the forms were confusing and in a language you don’t understand.����

“A lot of our first-generation immigrant neighbors, especially aging Asian immigrants, face barriers like this in accessing health care,” said Dee Antimisiaris, an associate professor in UofL’s School of Public Health and Information Sciences. “If you don’t know the culture, language and the complex U.S. health care system, it’s going to be incredibly difficult to navigate.”��

But you can’t really understand those difficulties unless you’ve experienced them. So, Antimisiaris and researchers from UofL’s Kent School of Social Work teamed up with ���dzܾ�������������’s Asia Institute Crane House, a non-profit organization working to expand understanding between the peoples of Asia and the U.S.����

Together, they held focus groups with health care providers, aging Asian American immigrants and their children, who often act as translators, navigators, social workers and advocates when their parents seek care. Kiran Kaur, a first–generation Punjabi, Sikh immigrant who participated in the study with her parents, said it felt empowering to work with researchers on problems that affect the people she cares about.��

“Working on an initiative that centered toward Asian health was able to give me an additional voice that helped share the seriousness of health to my Asian family, friends and community,” said Kaur, a pharmacy technician. “This type of work contributes to the foundation of creating a future for the Asian generations to come.”��

The problem is not only complex, but growing. According to the Pew Research Center, Asian American is the fastest-growing ethnic or racial group in the U.S., representing some 22 million people — 57 percent of which are first–generation immigrants. They come from more than 20 countries, each of which has its own culture, history, language and relationship with health and health care. That is, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution.����

The researchers now are working to disseminate their findings and explore ways to best reach and support the diverse members of this community. Currently, backed by a Humana Foundation Community Partners Grant, they’re piloting a volunteer, peer-to-peer support program and partnering with UofL’s J.B. Speed School of Engineering to build a digital tool for immigrants struggling to navigate the U.S. health care system.��

“Community-engaged research is critical to helping us understand the unique and complex needs of this diverse community,” Antimisiaris said. “As communities grow and become more global, the way we do research and implement care and policy must modernize accordingly. Without community engaged research, we can only guess about how to meet population health needs.”��

Betty Coffman in the Office of Communications & Marketing contributed to this article.