Read about in the latest edition of��, along with other stories that illustrate how UofL’s alums, students, faculty and staff are making their mark.�� ��

• : Alumna Frankie Lewis ’11 returns from “Project Runway” to brighten up Louisville.
• : It’s The Thinker’s 70^th anniversary on campus. Find out where UofL students think the university will be in the next seven decades.
• : Cardinal connections litter the city’s revitalized waterfront

The stuffed animal looked exactly (down to her teeth) like Cuda, a Staffordshire bull terrier with an unusual appearance resulting from a rare condition called short spine syndrome, which left her with a sloped back, a short neck and an elongated face. Cuda was a social media darling who had overcome her condition to work as a certified therapy dog, traveling to schools, prisons, hospitals and group homes.��

“Cuddle Clones, thank you so much for the work you put into Cuda,” Leroy, of Tampa, Florida, wrote on her Facebook page, Cuda Cares, posting pictures for her 26,000 followers. “I can’t stop crying …”

The Cuda Cuddle Clone then joined its former housemate, Murphy, who died three years ago and was the first pet Leroy had made into a Cuddle Clone. Under a picture of the two plush animals facing each other, Leroy wrote, “Together again” and added the hashtag #foreverbesties.

That is the essence of Cuddle Clones, a Louisville based company that started in a UofL classroom in 2009 and in the past three years has rocketed to success. In 2018, the company reported $3.5 million in revenue and was recognized as the fastest-growing private company in Kentucky by Inc. 5000. Louisville’s Business First ranked it No. 1 in its 2017 list of the 50 fastest-growing companies in the Louisville area. It has gone from two employees in 20112013 to 55 employees (40 full time in China) in 2019.

The company is now looking to develop its online presence to be the first place pet owners go to express their feelings about their fur family.��

“Our goal is to be the No. 1 destination online for pet parents,” said UofL alum Adam Greene ’06, ’11, co-founder with fellow alum Jennifer Williams ’11.

Random pairing

Greene and Williams met when they were both in the entrepreneurship-focused Integrative Master of Business Administration (IMBA) program in 2009 and were randomly paired with each other. Williams told Greene about her idea, which she had come up with one day as she rested her head on her beloved Great Dane.����

When Williams and Greene started bouncing the idea around to come up with a business plan, they saw�� immense challenges. Neither had manufacturing experience, much less manufacturing experience in Asia, where most plush toys are made. They needed sophisticated market research. They would need product samples, which were expensive to make.

It was a lot. But when Greene was ready to give up at times, Williams kept going.

“We balance each other out,” Greene said.��

They started competing in student competitions and won enough prize money to add to their own personal financing for a good start. They found a consultant who had experience sourcing partners in Asia for American companies. Williams traveled to China — even lived there for several months — to do the detailed work of figuring out the manufacturing, a make-or-break task. Greene, meanwhile, worked on the company’s online presence and marketing.

The two graduated in 2011, and in 2013 Cuddle Clones became operational in both the United States and China. They started with their flagship plush Cuddle Clones and collars. Later came plush golf club covers, slippers, memorials, holiday stockings, jewelry and custom illustrations of pets on anything from blankets to socks.

“My little saying of my vision is … Chewy. com has everything for your pet; I want Cuddle Clones to be everything of your pet. So … we’re going to continue to add products throughout the years,” Williams said in a podcast with StartupCompetitors.com earlier this year.��

Keeping it local

Cuddle Clones’ second-floor headquarters on Baxter Avenue in Louisville is light-filled and cheerful with purple walls and a ping pong table. It was decorated by students from a UofL interior design class. On the first floor are packing and shipping offices, where employees bring their dogs to work and stacks of Cuddle Clones boxes wait by the door to be shipped out.

Greene said the company has been surprised to find its market expanded from about half pet owners who thought Cuddle Clones made fun gifts and half who were grieving the loss of their pets to include other groups of people who missed pets they were separated from: college students, deployed troops, nursing home residents. On a wall in the company’s headquarters and across the internet are thank-you notes from people the world over (In 2018, 18% of revenue was attributable to activities outside the U.S., according to the company’s Securities and Exchange Commission filing.).

Cuddle Clones also is dedicated to giving back, and the company has donated a percentage of every purchase to pet charities since its founding. It recently announced, in an effort to guarantee all donations are going to directly care for animals, that a majority of its donations would be given to The Arrow Fund, a Kentucky-based 501(c) (3) nonprofit that provides services for animals that have been victims of extreme torture, cruelty or neglect. The company also donates returns of plush clones to the Louisville Metro Police Department for victims of domestic abuse.

For Leroy, the company has truly helped ease her grief, even though she thought her Cuddle Clones might be “really creepy” at first. “But, oh, it’s been a nice comfort to look up and see them together on top of my dresser,” she said.

As models glided down the makeshift runway at the gym of the Cabbage Settlement House in everything from sleek black numbers to colorful avant-garde pieces to ethereal white gowns, every eye was on them.

Especially designer Frances “Frankie” Lewis’s.

Watching her creations pass by was another step in a design journey that began in the costume workshop at UofL’s Thrust Theatre nearly a decade ago.

Lewis, who graduated with a bachelor’s in theatre in 2011, took her wardrobing skills to Bravo’s “Project Runway” in 2018. Her time on the show was brief, but designing is a lifelong dream. As a way to give back to the community where it all started, she hosted “Frankie’s Fashion Experience” to benefit the settlement house.

When she needed help to make her show a reality, she returned UofL and turned to some of her favorite fashion influencers: Three of Lewis’s fellow designers from Project Runway and faculty members Zhanna Goldentul and Melissa Shepherd. Students from the UofL Costume Shop also got some life experience by assisting with many of the pieces for the event.

Buried beneath yards of flowing white fabric, mountains of assorted buttons and tendrils of colorful accents, Lewis’s team worked tirelessly to bring her vision to life.

Storytelling in style

The show took place on Oct. 12 and featured Lewis’s collection, “Resurrections,” which draws inspiration from a seed’s journey from the depths of the ground into the light.

“It’s not just clothes on the runway,” Lewis said. “This runway talks [the audience] through this process where things start out really dark. Where you feel like you’re stuck and don’t know which way to turn, but there’s always this burst of light that comes through.”

Among the moments of light in Lewis’s own life was her stint on “Project Runway,” a fashion designing competition where designers from across the country compete for prizes. “My ‘Project Runway’ experience was crazy, and it was like being struck by lightning,” Lewis said.

Lewis had just moved to California to pursue a career in the fashion industry when she was contacted by recruiters from the show. After multiple rounds of auditions, Lewis earned her place in the competition but ultimately was eliminated in the second week of the contest.��

“The thing that I’ve taken away from ‘Project Runway,’ and that I end up taking from almost everything that I do, is that people are most important. It didn’t matter about winning or how far I got, or any of that really. It’s the people that I met and the connections I made,” Lewis said.

Those valuable connections enabled her to convince fellow “Project Runway” designers Nadine Ralliford, Kovid Kapoor and Tessa Clark to showcase collections of their own at “Frankie’s Fashion Experience.” To get all of their designs executed, they turned to Lewis’s other inspiration: UofL.

Sewing more than clothes

A team of five theater students were hard at work in the costume shop the week of Frankie’s Fashion Experience. Some attached trims, some sewed buttons and others fit garments to their model’s dimensions. Lewis, Goldentul and Shepherd offered helpful tricks of the trade.

“It is super exciting to be working with Frances on this. She always has some really cool stuff,” said junior Lauren Moody. “We have been getting to do and learn so many things that we don’t normally get to do in the costume shop.”

Lewis is somewhat of a regular in the costume shop as an alumna. She has returned to visit students before to share her experiences working on P!nk’s Beautiful Trauma tour and with the Louisville Ballet.

“When Frances is here it’s extremely inspiring for us, for me personally and for my students,” Goldentul said. “It’s really beneficial every time she comes back with her new ideas and new experiences.”

In fact, some of Lewis’s most cherished memories are at UofL, especially her time with Shepherd and Goldentul.

“My relationships with Melissa and Zhanna are invaluable to me,” Lewis said. “Here I am, in need of a place to work and people to cheer me on so that I can keep going. And they have always been here to do that.”

No matter what she’s designing, Lewis takes inspiration from her alma mater. On her arm is a tattoo with wise words from Shepherd, one of her mentors. The tattoo offers Lewis a good reminder whenever she needs it: “You are made of magic.”

And now she makes it herself.

Auguste Rodin crafted the contemplative form in the 1880s, but The Thinker UofL knows and loves came to be in 1904. UofL’s statue holds rank as the first large-scale bronze cast ever produced.

Since 1949, students have treated The Thinker as a friend and comrade, often decorating him for the holidays or topping his head with a warm hat. It’s a tradition that has been passed from the oldest alumni to the freshmen walking campus today.

Christopher Fulton, associate professor of art history, views The Thinker as a fitting symbol for UofL’s campus and students “What it represents is the labor of thinking and education,” he said. “Especially because we are a public educational institution, and many of our students struggle or strive to receive an education.”

In celebration of his 70th anniversary on campus, we pay homage to The Thinker. It’s often said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery so we asked students to show off their best The Thinker pose as we ponder what the next 70 years will mean for UofL.

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The area took another hit with the great flood of 1937, which rendered the once-vibrant area useless. So profound was the damage, in fact, city administrators turned parts of the area into the Ohio Street Dump. The dump was initially filled with refuse from flood-damaged homes.

In 2009, a new vision for the land emerged. Matthew Kuhl ’90 was among those who saw beyond the fallow land to the potential.

Kuhl is the project manager and structural architect for the Waterfront Botanical Gardens, a 23-acre plot of land along the Ohio River just east of downtown. The gardens, once completed, will consist of carefully crafted landscapes and buildings designed to showcase natural beauty.

With Kuhl’s help, the space is being given new life as a beacon of sustainability and model of botanical potential.��

Bringing nature to the forefront

The project was started largely because of the generosity of a local gardener, Helen Harrigan, who established a trust that benefitted Botanica, an organization dedicated to educating the community about the botanical world. Harrigan wanted to see a botanical garden and conservatory built in Louisville. Many in Botanica — and beyond — agreed that such a project could only enhance the city since Louisville was one of the largest U.S. cities lacking a botanical garden, Kuhl said.

Perkins and Will was selected in 2014�� to lead the master plan for the massive green project. Kuhl has spent the past 12 years with the global architecture and design firm.

Now living in Chicago, he had been keeping tabs on the possible progression of the project for years. Kuhl joined forces with Zan Stewart, a former UofL student, native Louisvillian and landscape architect in Perkins and Will’s Atlanta studio, with the goal of becoming the designers for this project.

“Very early on, [Zan] as a landscape architect and I as an architect local to Louisville decided to really go after this project to win the bid, and we were successful,” Kuhl said.

Kuhl’s architectural designs hold to the principle that “responsible design means that both building and landscape are woven into the scale and texture of the city.” When planning for a project, he uses the surrounding area to further the impact of his vision.

Kuhl’s architectural fingerprint is prominently visible on the Graeser Family ����ֱ�� Center he designed, which will inform guests of all ages what they can do to benefit the environment and will serve as a venue for a variety of social functions.

“I think visitors will find this a jewel box of a structure nestled in a landscape that sits on top of an old (land)fill,” Kuhl said. “My hope is [the Center] will create a feeling in the landscape that cures this blighted area of the city to, in turn, create this place of beauty that everyone can enjoy.”

Bringing work home

Kuhl, who earned his degree in art history from the College of Arts and Sciences, was deeply influenced by Will Morgan, a former professor at UofL. It was in Morgan’s classes that Kuhl honed a passion for design, and he shaped this passion into a career in architecture.

“I had a group of mentors who really helped me,” Kuhl said. “Will Morgan taught architectural history and he took me under his wing. He probably knew what I wanted to do before even I did … He pushed me in all of the right directions and helped me get into graduate school.”

Following graduate school and five years of working in Louisville, Kuhl moved to Chicago in 1998 and eventually earned a position at Perkins and Will in 2007. Still, he has always kept his hometown in mind and jumped at the opportunity to work on something so close to home.

“I’ve always missed Louisville. I still have family and friends that live here,” he said. “I’ve been looking for a way to come back on a professional level.”

Stewart, who attended several summer classes at UofL, said, “It’s a big deal just to give back to the community that I was born and raised in … It’s just amazing to be back.”

Another positive to Kuhl’s and Stewart’s involvement in the project is that it allows them to help the city’s sustainability efforts. Kuhl designed the education center with the capability to one day be a net-zero structure, where the energy used is roughly equal to the energy produced, complete with a ground source heat pump and strategically placed windows to take advantage of natural light while also using the outside temperature to its best advantage.

The first phase of the project has been completed, but more work is set to begin in spring 2020, with Kuhl and Stewart continuing as key team members for the project that includes adding more landscaping and building additional structures. Future visitors can look forward to exploring the wild, natural beauty of the Pollinators’ Meadow, receive hands-on experiences in the Edible Gardens, and get a bird’s-eye view from atop a grand overlook. These are just a few of the many pieces planned for the coming years in an effort to bring beauty and purpose to a previously underutilized space.

The Louisville project garnered national attention when the U.S. Botanic Garden included it in its “Celebrating New American Gardens” exhibit showcasing 21 garden projects across the U.S. Renderings of the Waterfront Botanical Gardens were on display in Washington, D.C.�� from January 2019 through mid-October.

“We are here this morning to celebrate a grassroots effort spearheaded by regular, but extraordinary folks in our community,” said Jon Salomon, chair of the Botanica board of directors, during an Oct. 4 ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the completion of first phase of the project, including the Graeser Family ����ֱ�� Center. “Because of our committed believers, a landfill is being transformed into a landmark, one that will drive tourism, promote economic growth and further education and appreciation of our natural world.”

Devara, of Louisville, spent much of her undergraduate career as an executive member of the Indian Student Association (ISA) on campus. She served as freshman outreach officer, public relations officer and competition director for the student-organized group.

The group shares India’s cultural beauty through a variety of events and programs, including close affiliations with The Cardinal Bhangra dance group. Bhangra is a traditional Indian dance that combines Punjabi folk music with modern pop.

Once a Cardinal Bhangra dancer herself, Devara hung up her dancing shoes after graduating as a Brown Fellow in 2019 with a biology major and Spanish minor. Now in medical school, she stays connected as an adviser for the annual dance competition Derby City Dhoom, which will next take place Feb. 29, 2020. Her passions remain sharing her culture and promoting inclusiveness on campus.

“I think the biggest purpose [of ISA] is just trying to make the community more aware of the diversity that’s available at UofL,” Devara said. “We want to showcase our culture as Indian-American students and how we navigate the different backgrounds that we all share.”

In a study, J.B. Speed School of Engineering researchers Mohammad Nasser Saadatzi and Karla Conn Welch paired a human student with a humanoid robot — a little orange and-white artificially intelligent robot named NAO — in a mock classroom. The two took turns reading words presented on a computer screen by a virtual, simulated teacher.

The robot seemed to help the students adapt to group learning, which the researchers said can be difficult yet beneficial for kids with autism. As a result, the students learned more words — 100% of the ones taught to them by the virtual teacher and 94% of the ones taught to just their robot classmate.

“And that was significant as a part of the research,” said Welch, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering. “The children did seem to interact and engage and pay attention to the robot, as well as the computer teacher.”

Saadatzi said actively participating in class can sometimes seem over – whelming, especially for children with autism, plus there can be a fear of embarrassment or judgment. But NAO was friendly — kids would interact with him almost like a real classmate celebrating correct answers and saying “hello” and “goodbye” before and after class.

“The robot played the role of a peer for the student,” said Saadatzi, an engineering postdoctoral associate. “The student got to learn new academic skills but also had the opportunity to practice some of the social skills required for multi-student contexts without the negative feedback and teasing of their peers.”

That gave the students a chance to practice their social skills such as building friendships, paying attention when someone’s speaking, taking turns, tolerating intermittent attention by the teacher, and so on. Roland Bibb said those interactions have been a big help to his son, Jaryn, a seventh-grader who participated in the study.

“I noticed improvement toward the end, and it’s all pretty much carried over through school,” Bibb said. “I definitely think it opened him up more to communicate.”

Welch said part of the goal of this work is to show the value technology — like artificial intelligence, virtual reality and robotics — can have in helping young students with and without disability learn and succeed.

“We would like to see these more in school settings and more in home settings,” Welch said. “The cost is certainly a factor right now, but that’s what we want to show with the re – search – that this has … an educational piece or an interaction piece so that people can see how useful these are.”

It’s part of a joint project between the University of Louisville and Abu Dhabi University. Researchers are looking to robotics for new ways to de-litter our oceans — one piece of discarded trash at a time.

“Cleaner oceans means better marine life and overall human life,” said Ayman El-Baz, professor and chair of bioengineering at UofL’s J.B. Speed School of Engineering.

There are currently some 5.25 trillion discarded plastic pieces in the ocean, according to National Geographic. The drone, El-Baz said, can help find and remove roughly 269,000 tons of that garbage floating on the water’s surface.

��UofL researcher Ahmed Shalaby said drones, unlike humans, are capable of scanning large areas with great detail and in a short amount of time, thanks to their bird’s eye view and scanning technology.

“You get finer details with the drone compared to satellite images,” said researcher Ali Mahmoud. “You can use it at different altitudes at different areas, at any time, and it’s very inexpensive.”

El-Baz’s team is leading development on the drone’s data analysis, segmentation and imaging capabilities.

Initially, the UofL researchers used the algorithms to detect vegetation cover in the Louisville area. Their counterparts at ADU came up with the idea of tuning the algorithms for hunting water-borne litter.

The bots will be completely autonomous, patrolling the ocean on their own. But for now, the UofL researchers will test the algorithms tuned by Abu Dhabi University team over the Ohio River, and work on enhancing them.

Once their work is done, El-Baz said, these drones could have a big impact.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, discarded trash poses a huge threat to marine life. Plastic debris can injure or kill fish and birds by altering their habitat, through chemical contamination or through ingestion.

The EPA estimates that nearly 300 species around the world are negatively affected by plastic debris in the ocean. That includes about 86 percent of all sea turtles and more than 40 percent of all sea birds and mammals.

“Drones might be a small solution for this very, very big problem,” El-Baz said.