The financial support comes from the , made possible through a gift from the recently retired president of HDR’s global water program, Glen Ellmers and his wife, Cherie. The funds will be used to add a new biology and sustainability curriculum to the INSPIRE program. , an acronym for “Increasing Student Preparedness and Interest in the Requests for Engineering,” is a summer enrichment program dedicated to introducing engineering to students from historically underserved populations across Louisville area schools.

The curriculum expansion aims to enhance the experience for approximately 20 students who attend the week-long camp each summer, providing them with a broader understanding of STEM fields and fostering their interest in engineering, biology and sustainability.

INSPIRE’s core objectives include exposing students to various engineering subfields, engaging them in hands-on activities and facilitating local site visits with community partners. Additionally, the program assists students in identifying their strengths and prepares them for the college transition process.

“With HDR’s generous investment, the INSPIRE Program will see significant enhancements, providing a holistic educational experience to our participants,” said Dayna Touron, dean of the . “This investment not only supports the expansion of the curriculum but also enables us to offer a real-life, on-campus experience to the students during the INSPIRE Summer Camp.”

The proposed enhancements include Biology and Sustainability Days, where participants will delve into disciplines such as drip irrigation, water research, composting, creating headphones, slime cell graphs, 3D printing, laser cutting and biomedical engineering demonstrations using real organs.

The collaborative effort of UofL’s departments of Biology and Urban and Public Affairs and the will produce two immersive days designed to combine interactive classroom learning with hands-on experiential activities. This innovative approach aims to bridge the gap between traditional academic disciplines, providing students with a holistic understanding of how biology and sustainability intersect with engineering issues.

The INSPIRE program will also introduce a residential aspect, allowing students to stay in a residence hall on UofL’s campus for the entire week of the camp. This immersive experience aims to familiarize students with college life and ignite excitement about pursuing degrees in STEM fields like engineering or biology.

“We believe that this investment will not only impact the participating students but also contribute to the broader goals of diversity and inclusion in STEM education,” added Kyle Guthrie, vice president and HDR’s Area Manager for Kentucky, Tennessee and Arkansas. “We look forward to witnessing the success stories that will emerge from the INSPIRE Program and its expanded curriculum.”

The UofL is part of the ground-based team for NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) program, which launched in spring 2018 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.��

The mission is to identify Earth-like planets revolving around nearby stars, with the UofL team helping verify results and figuring out the characteristics of the discovered planets.

The program has identified 20-some planets in its first year. According��, citing a study in that includes a “rocky super-Earth” and two “sub-Neptunes.”

These three help fill in��our understanding of how planets form, the article said, because they’re somewhere in between planets like Earth — rocky and small — and��Neptune — gaseous and big.

“There’s kind of a gap in examples between these two,” said��Dr. John Kielkopf, a professor of physics and astronomy at UofL and member of the TESS team.

The TESS satellite will search about 85 percent of the sky for planets over two years. The images will be somewhat low-resolution and cover huge sections of sky, so there will be some blending of stars with one another.��

The data and management for the TESS program are led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. The ground-based partners, including UofL and its Moore Observatory, in Crestwood, Kentucky, will help check the information collected by the satellite, and expand on it.

“The data come back to us, and we analyze it to measure the transit events precisely, or in some cases to show that the event does not happen, or is mimicked by some other event,” Kielkopf said.��“Our measurements improve on the precision of the satellite, and are used to find the radius of the planets and the exact times at which they pass in front of the star.��

Dr. Karen Collins, who is leading the TESS follow-up program through Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, helped develop the software behind this research as part of her doctoral studies in the department of Physics and Astronomy at UofL. The software she developed is now widely used for studying planet candidates identified by the Kepler satellite and for TESS followup.

In addition to UofL’s Moore Observatory, university researchers and students will work with UofL’s telescopes at the Mt. Lemmon (Arizona) and Mt. Kent (Australia) observatories. The telescopes will use photometry and spectroscopy to measure the brightness of the star and speed of the planet’s orbit, in collaboration with the University of Southern Queensland.

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Such a schism became evident to Metro Councilman Brandon Coan, who said, “I’m Louisville person, I’m not a Kentucky person.”

However, following Coan’s experience with the Rural-Urban Exchange, also known as RUX, his eyes were opened to the symbiotic relationship between the two.

, which was co-founded by alumna Savannah Barrett ’08.

The program involves connecting businessmen, artists and other Kentuckians to how the “other half” operates. It includes three intensive meetings where community members come together to exchange ideas and cultures.

Barrett noted that during the first session, participants came face-to-face with the indigenous people who still reside in areas of Kentucky that are well off the beaten path. It was an important discussion on how harmful it was to refuse to acknowledge the differences between groups.

Barrett along with Josh May, the former communications director of Appalshop, conceived the idea for RUX in 2014. They were motivated by the common misconceptions about the state of Kentucky and the lack of knowledge about the cultural nuances of the state. Together, they combined the efforts of Appalshop and Art of the Rural to form RUX, which is funded primarily through donations and grants.

Barrett, who earned a degree in humanities, is in works to expand education on the program outside of the state.

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Read the in the latest edition of��, along with other stories that illustrate UofL’s impact.�� ��

• : Engineering professors are disrupting life as we know it
• : Nico Thom is on a mission to teach young girls they can be whatever they want to be
• : Madison Kommor changed the way the medical students prep for disasters
• : Professor Hilaria Cruz created an alphabet so parents in one indigenous community could read books to their children

The awards ceremony recognizes high achieving graduates based on their merit and contributions to the community. Each year, one alumna or alumnus of the year is selected along with 13 Alumni Fellows from each of the schools, colleges, libraries, and student affairs.��

Alumna of the Year

• Jenny L. Sawyer ’78,��executive director of��admissions��at the University of Louisville.

Alumni Fellows

• Brandeis School of Law
  Edwin S. Hopson, Sr. ’67, ’69, partner at��Wyatt, Tarrant and Combs.
• College of Arts and Sciences
  George Nichols, III ’85,��president and chief executive officer of the American College of Financial Services.
• College of Business
  Raymond E. Loyd ’68, founder of Derby Industries and Derby Fabricating.
• College of ����ֱ�� and Human Development
  Linda F. Hargan ’71, ’73, ’93,��founder, president, and chief executive officer emeritus of CTL.
• J. B. Speed School of Engineering
  Gerald G. Hubbs ’64, ’76, retired vice president and director of engineering at the Brown-Forman Corporation.��
• Kent School of Social Work
  Ruby Gordon ’66, ’72, former social worker with JCPS and Hillebrand House.
• School of Dentistry
  Karen L. Pierce-West ’77, ’82,��dean and professor of biomedical sciences at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Dental Medicine.
• School of Medicine
  Shawn C. Jones ’82, ’86, ’93,��founder of Purchase ENT, an ENT-otolaryngologist specialty group in Paducah, Kentucky.��
• School of Music
  John M. Hoover ’63, ’69, former director of bands at the University of Louisville.
• School of Nursing
  Flora Ponder ’87, former head nurse at the Louisville and Jefferson County Health Department and director of nurses at the Park-Duvalle Community Health Center.��
• School of Public Health and Information Sciences
  Lewatis D. McNeal ’16,��assistant dean of administration of inclusive excellence and special projects at Northern Kentucky University.
• Student Affairs
  Todd A. Schmiedeler ’97,��Trilogy Health Service’s senior vice president of Foundation & Workforce Development and founder and president of Thumbprint Consulting.
• University Libraries
  Morris M. Weiss Jr. ’58, cardiologist with Medical Center Cardiologists and clinical professor of medicine in cardiology at the University of Louisville.

This year’s awardees will be honored at the 2019 Alumni Awards ceremony October 24.

Reynolds, the president and CEO of Louisville Urban League, earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from UofL.��

She has previously been named the 2017 Person of the Year by Louisville Magazine and one of 100 women to watch by BizWomen’s Business Journal.��

and stay connected with .��

Ali began at UofL in 2009 as a communication major and a member of the Cardinals baseball team. He left the university in 2011 when he had an opportunity to work for the Chicago White Sox.����

After spending some time working in Major League Baseball and coaching at the college level, Ali returned to UofL to finish his college career. He graduated May 11 with his bachelor’s degree from the College of Arts and Sciences.����

“I always knew I was going to end up back here … this is home for me,” he said. “I just have so much pride for Louisville.”

��and connect with other .��

Carter’s floor general skills also help her academically as she pursues a psychology degree from the College of Arts & Sciences. She wants to be a coach or a sport psychologist when she graduates.

The about her life off the court, her role models and more. Check it out:

What is it that drew you to your major?
Carter: As a basketball player I had to get help from the sport psychologist with controlling my thoughts. Because she helped me the way she did, I want to help others. I understand how much the mind can affect one’s ability to play their sport.

If you were to recommend your major to someone, what would you say about it?
Carter: I would say that it is very interesting because the mind is so powerful and has so many different and surprising aspects to it. I think once a person learns how to control their thoughts their chances of success in any field increase.

What has been your favorite college course that you have taken thus far? Why?
Carter: My favorite college course I’ve taken so far is The History of Psychology because I got to learn about some very important and interesting cases.

What is something you get excited or passionate about?
Carter:��I get excited and passionate about basketball and my loved ones.

When you’re not practicing/training or studying, what do you like to do?
Carter: I like to hang out with my friends and family members. We do things like play games, watch movies, go bowling, go out to eat and just talk

Who is your role model, and why?
Carter: My role models are both my mom and sister because they are two strong women who keep pushing through no matter what the circumstances are. They always try to find something positive in bad situations.

What’s your favorite thing about Louisville? Favorite thing about UofL? Why?
Carter: My favorite thing about Louisville is the support the fans show outside of basketball. My favorite thing about UofL is the feeling of family that I get when I’m around my teammates and faculty members. I am a very family-oriented person and with my family being so far away, it is important that I feel like I’m a part of a family here.

What’s your favorite spot on campus?
Carter: My favorite spot on campus is Cardinal Town, where all the food is!

What is one thing your classmates and teammates might not know about you?
Carter: One thing my classmates and teammates might not know about me is that I love poetry.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
Carter: I’ve received a lot of good advice. Advice that I concentrate on the most is “Control what you can control” and “Expect the expected.”

Grafton was born and raised in Louisville and earned her bachelor’s degree in English Literature from UofL in 1961. She is most known for her alphabet series of mystery novels featuring private detective Kinsey Millhone.

After a battle with cancer, Grafton passed away in 2017 before completing her series. “Y is for Yesterday” was the last book Grafton wrote.��

The 2019 Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony was held in January.��

For more on Grafton and what inspired her novels, visit .��

Dever, who is pursuing a master’s degree in Middle Eastern Studies with Arabic, is funding much of his graduate education through the — a UofL College of Arts and Sciences prize that provides up to $25,000 for graduate study in the United Kingdom.

A nontraditional student who discovered his interest in Arabic and Middle Eastern studies after taking a class, Dever’s academic journey follows an unusual path.

It began when the Washington, DC, native heard a certain composer during his senior year of high school. Fascinated by the composer’s work, Dever turned his full attention to music and, in particular, the piano.

“I ended up taking to the piano quickly and became very interested in classical piano and, eventually, music composition. While this is still a big part of my life, I found it a very difficult path to find a steady job in. For that reason, I decided to go to university with the general intention of studying Middle Eastern studies, which I had developed an interest in following a few trips to the (Louisville) region,” Dever said.

“As I was a non-traditional student and was looking for ways to save money. I entered and completed my AA there, while also pursuing Arabic language studies on my own with a private tutor.�� While at JCTC, I took a course through Metroversity at UofL with , whose Middle Eastern-focused comparative politics work got me interested in pursuing a political science major upon my eventual transfer to UofL,” he said.

It seems likely that Dever’s quest to explore Middle Eastern culture and language would have pleased Mary Churchill Humphrey, the benefactor of his UofL scholarship. Humphrey, who died in 1972, established the scholarship in memory of her parents and indicated that she wanted the prize to contribute to “broadening the holder’s mind.”

For nearly 70 years, the scholarship has done exactly that and is believed to be one of the most valuable and enduring university-awarded awards in UofL history.

For Dever, the award means he can give full attention to his studies.

“Thanks to this award, I will be able to make the most of my time at the University of Edinburgh and focus on my studies in a way which would not have been otherwise possible,” he said.