“I love the process of learning a language. One word or grammatical structure unlocks a whole array of thoughts and feelings that can be expressed,” he said.��

An aspiring physician, Amirneni believes an understanding of multiple languages and cultures will help him connect with a diverse range of patients, whether they speak Spanish, Hindi or his native language, Telugu, spoken in southern India.

Amirneni’s desire to provide compassionate medical care for people from different cultures drove him to complete his Bachelor of Arts in both Biology and Spanish from .��

Originally from Aldie, VA, Amirneni solidified the language skills he studied at UofL through study abroad programs in Mexico and India, as well as a medical Spanish immersion program in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His experience in a Spanish-speaking hospital environment while in Buenos Aires provided him with practical knowledge that will particularly apply to the medical field.

“Being in a hospital where people spoke only Spanish was crucial for understanding how words are used in real life.��Shadowing in another language would only be possible while abroad,” Amirneni said.��

The real-life application of his language skills in a medical setting allowed him to grasp medical terms and colloquial language that are essential for effective patient care. The chance to observe firsthand the benefits of public health initiatives in Buenos Aires also inspired Amirneni to pursue public health as well as medicine.��

“Being part of Argentina’s public health care system cemented my desire to work on health policy,” he said.��

As a result, Amirneni plans to earn a dual medical doctor and master of public health degree (MD/MPH) at the University of Miami. In fact, part of the reason he chose Miami was because of the city’s large and diverse population, which will offer additional immersive experience with multiple languages and cultures.

While at UofL, Amirneni shared his expertise in study abroad programs with other UofL students by working as a peer adviser in the . He also provided academic support for students in biology and chemistry as a structured learning assistant at .��

“It’s great to connect with younger students and converting complicated topics into an understandable form,” he said.��

He also worked as a substitute teacher for JCPS, where his favorite classes to teach were English as a Second Language. He said the Spanish-speaking students were always excited to chat with him in their own language.

In recognition of his academic excellence, campus activities and community service, Amirneni was one of two seniors who received the 2025 Cardinal Award from the Student Activities Board.��

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Two UofL College of Arts & Sciences winter graduates are looking to their hometowns for guidance in their professions and hope to serve the people who shaped them. Chloe Hale and Emmy Walters, studying anthropology and biology respectively, plan to continue their education in graduate school with the goal of utilizing their advanced degrees to support communities like those in which they grew up.

Documenting home

Moving to a city from a rural county can be a culture shock. Coming from Martin County, Hale quickly realized she had a different experience growing up in Kentucky than many of her classmates. Hale’s quiet anxiety around drinking tap water is something few could understand.

“It makes me sad to see on the internet when a place in my home county doesn’t have water and it’s not gonna be back on for two weeks or something like that,” Hale said. “Just the fact that I can drink the water here in Louisville from the tap makes me feel guilty, in a way, because my family members are there, and they can’t drink the water.”

Hale grew up in an Appalachian community where clean drinking water was not a guarantee or to be taken for granted. Martin County lost its regular access to safe water due to infrastructure, resource access, mining contamination and environmental destruction.

“I think when you can’t drink the water there’s this little piece of trauma in the back of your mind every time you drink from the tap,” Hale said. “It’s like, ‘Is it clean? Can I? Is this drinkable?’”

For an independent study, Hale chose to document how hairstylists back home struggled to work without guaranteed access to clean water. She asked her sister and fellow hairstylists to take pictures throughout their workday anytime they encountered the need to use water.

“I decided that it would be a good idea to examine water access through a group of women that rely on water for an income,” Hale explained. “Hairstylists need water for absolutely everything: to clean, to wash hair, to rinse hair, to make different cleaning solutions.”

The project used these pictures as a “photo voice” to document and display the obstacles the Martin County hairstylists encounter every day due to the lack of access to consistently safe tap water.

While returning home is a complicated option with the ongoing water crisis, Hale hopes to continue her education in Appalachian studies at UofL with her sights set on a future PhD to continue to document and uplift her hometown and other communities.

“I definitely love my hometown, but think I’ve been able to curate what it means to be Appalachian a little bit more just because it is its own culture and it is an identity I’m proud of,” Hale said.

A better vision for Kentucky’s future

Emmy Walters’ first connection to optometry was through her love of reading and an early vision assessment at school. She was one of the only members in her family to need glasses and this sparked a curiosity about the relationship between her vision and the biological mechanisms that supported her eyesight and her favorite hobby. As she aged, her curiosity for vision only grew as she understood the obstacles to both eye assessments and literacy in her community.

“Growing up, our access to eye care was sufficient, but then you get in surrounding counties where there won’t be an optometrist for 45 minutes,” Walters said.

Walters early childhood love for reading was protected by her access to an optometrist, and an early assessment allowed her natural curiosity toward books to go uninterrupted. Walters still reads regularly and will attend optometry school next year. After shadowing an optometrist in Campbellsville Kentucky, her hometown, she hopes to practice in a similar rural area.

“I felt like I was home, like I was talking to my own family members; the way that they approached me and talked about things is something I’m used to, and it was comforting,” Walters said.

While shadowing in the practice, Walters began to see the personal impact she could have as an optometrist practicing outside of a major city.

“At least a third of the people that came in had never been to an eye doctor or hadn’t been in a very long time, and most of the time those were people from surrounding areas,” Walters said.

Walters hopes to one day combine her interest in optometry with her love for reading by supporting literacy through eye exams and philanthropy.

Interested in pursuing a degree or certificate program with UofL? Check out the  to find a program.

In a study examining how insects respond to gaps in the forest canopy, Lawhorn collected ant nests and brought them into the lab. He soon noticed tiny specs crawling around on the ants. Once placed under a microscope, he and his colleagues realized they had just rediscovered an extremely rare beetle, one that has not been observed alive since 1933. The beetles are only one millimeter in length. Arizona and the border of Ohio and Kentucky are the only two places these beetles are known to live. Lawhorn and his fellow students now get to be one of the first teams to study this beetle in multitudes while in its natural environment.

These small but mighty beetles appear to have a mutually beneficial relationship with the ants whose nests they also call their home: while the ants provide a virtual “taxi” service letting the beetles ride them for transportation within the nest, the beetles clean the ant brood (the immature larvae and pupae of the ants) of potentially deadly fungi.

From a research perspective, this study perfectly demonstrates the ability to test ecological hypotheses by controlling an ecosystem in a lab. Beyond research, it is a reminder of how much there is still to discover. The most biodiverse animal group in the world, there are around 400,000 currently described beetle species—meaning one in every four described species is a beetle. The patch of land that UofL has preserved reveals the importance of conserving remaining habitats.

“When we preserve and manage forests, species that we don’t even know exist or haven’t seen in a while will inhabit that land, and it’s important to protect them” said Lawhorn.

The team’s findings are published in . “Not many undergraduate students get to author a paper,” Lawhorn remarked, “and without UofL’s programming and funding, this work would not be possible.”

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.”

“Once [stiltgrass] is in a system … native plants cannot regenerate,” said Kimberly Koenig, graduate teaching assistant in the Department of Biology. “So, we’re not getting our oak and our hickory trees regenerating. We’re not getting maple trees regenerating.”

Koenig is comparing the amount of fungi in soil where stiltgrass is growing versus what is in the soil of traditional grasses.

Several UofL biology majors are participating in the study and gaining valuable experience for their future careers.

“I have done research projects last summer, and last semester, and lots of cool trips,” said senior biology major Jessica Raley. “It’s prepared me, I think, more so than someone who hasn’t had any experience.”

Check out more about their research below: 

“Where there is nothing growing, we can turn this soil that’s not useful into something that we can use for crops,” Himes said.

Himes’ students, who are undergraduates, have dug up soil samples from a plot on university property where hemp and kenaf plants are growing. The samples are then taken to a lab to see if they can determine which helpful bacteria might grow under certain conditions. The research could prove to be an economic boon.

“We can make use of land that is right now not useable and hopefully that can be an economic boost for the state” Himes said.

Check out the full story below.��

Industrial hemp and marijuana are two different strains of the Cannabis sativa plant. Industrial hemp seeds and leaves contain very low levels of delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive agent in Cannabis.

Industrial hemp is a highly renewable resource with applications for food, medicine, chemicals and energy. Stalks, seeds, flowers and oils all have potential uses with established markets.

“Hemp research for renewable energy technologies is highly useful for local and regional industry, even those not related to renewables,” said Mahendra Sunkara, director of Conn Center. “The theme of our biomass work is that we do not let anything go to waste.”

Conn Center scientists and engineers have harvested about 2,000 pounds of hemp and kenaf since the project began in anticipation of industrial hemp’s legalization in Kentucky. The UofL crop is one of eight at Kentucky colleges and universities grown as part of the state’s pilot program into field-scale industrial hemp, but the only one being used for energy research.

“Our students and faculty really enjoy working on this initiative,” said biology professor Mark Running, a faculty member of Conn Center contributing plant development expertise. “The opportunity to work on a timely challenge to improve our economy and society is exciting.”

“The growing plants have been embraced by students at UofL, who frequent the hemp patches next to the Eastern Parkway viaduct for selfies,” said Andrew Marsh, assistant director of the Conn Center. “We appreciate how passionately people support legalization and exploration of hemp as a renewable resource while also bumping up their Insta game.”

The Conn Center fosters the development of transformational concepts and accelerates transition from lab to pre-commercial scale. The center maintains unique, state-of-the-art facilities for advancing scalable manufacturing R&D of solar, energy storage, biofuels, value-added chemicals and energy efficiency solutions.��                

Here are five things we learned during the workshop about making syrup:

1. Sugar maples aren’t the only trees used for syrup, at least for the home hobbyist. Trees such as sycamores and red maples can also be tapped. Sugar maples are preferred by large producers for their higher sugar content and longer sap-running season, but the real secret to making delicious syrup is in the processing, when the excess water is boiled from the sap.
2. Boiling the sap is always done over a wood fire. The No. 1 job during the off season for syrup makers is (you guessed it) chopping wood. It takes a cord of firewood wood (about 85 cubic feet) to make just one gallon of syrup.
3. Barker has helped students tap trees on Belknap Campus, but he has also been given permission to tap trees on Shelby Campus for his own use. He has tapped about 70 trees on Shelby Campus and the surrounding neighborhood, and he uses metal buckets to keep things aesthetically pleasing.
4. in Auburn, Kentucky, (near Bowling Green) is the southernmost commercial producer of maple syrup in the United States.
5. Sap is between 1 percent and 3 percent sugar and looks like water. “If you drink it, it is very delicious,” Barker says. “It’s very refreshing.” These days, is sold in grocery stores like Kroger, Whole Foods and Walmart.

The tapping project was part of a curriculum unit in a special section of Biology 104, taught by Melissa Michael. Michael, who is working on a PhD at UofL in curriculum and instruction in science and early childhood elementary education, hoped the maple syrup project would inspire her students to pursue STEM careers. UofLNews had the chance to talk to Michael about the project.

UofLNews: Briefly describe your background?

Melissa Michael: I’ve taught for about 10 years: four years in south Atlanta (elementary school), three years in rural Kentucky (elementary school), one year private school, one year undergraduate biology at UofL and graduate assistantship in the education department. I have a bachelor’s of science in elementary education and a master’s degree in teacher leadership and environmental education endorsement, both from Georgetown College.

Teaching is my passion. I’ve taught and worked in some pretty tough areas. South Atlanta was no exception—kids throwing furniture, unsupportive administration. Teaching is hard. I’ve lived and breathed the pain and heartache of knowing that your students aren’t getting fed at home, that their basic needs aren’t being met, and I’m supposed to help them pass a state-mandated standardized test. I wanted to get my PhD to help teachers. To really help teachers.

I’m not quite sure how to do that yet as there are so many issues in education. Teachers are amazing, hardworking people and I wish that they got even a fraction of the praise and pay as movie stars and athletes.

UofLNews: How did you come up with the idea to teach this class in order to attract more women to the STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) fields?

Melissa Michael:  Growing up I spent a lot of time outside. I would play in creeks and my backyard with my brother. My family and I, we would go camping. I would inspect and dissect insects. My mom would teach me about all of the plants and their benefits. We would take walks and she would teach me about trees. I soon learned to identify many trees. Any bug or plant we came across that we didn’t know about, we would look through our field guides and learn as much as we could about the specimen.

At the time, I did not know that I was doing science. I did not realize that was science until my master’s program where I found out about an environmental education certification program under Dr. Emily DeMoor at Georgetown College.

Through the program, I realized that I loved science. I soon wondered if there were kids and adults who were doing science but did not realize that they were doing science. I wondered too if there were many kids who would love science if only they were given the chance.

I started looking into the literature about science education and I found out that mostly Caucasian men are in science and not many women or minorities. With my background of working with kids from the inner city and as a woman, this news was disconcerting and I wanted to do something, but where do I start?

Through networking, I met Dr. Linda Fuselier in the biology department at UofL. She was very intrigued by my research interests and asked me if I wanted to teach a special section of a biology lab for non-science majors. I completely jumped at the chance.

I credit Dr. Fuselier for coming up with the idea of tapping the maple trees on campus. This project was a hope to motivate non-science majors to develop a love for science and for the outdoors. I taught this class without being paid. I did get course credit for teaching the class. However, I taught this class out of a love for education, for science and for students.

The hope was that undergraduate students would see that they do not have to be science majors to do science, and that science can be a part of their lives outside of the science classroom. That’s why we called in Dave Barker, a man whose job is with computers but has chosen to take on the hobby of tapping maples, to help us tap the trees. Dave provided the taps, buckets, drills, and all the supplies that we needed to collect the sap. In addition, Dave processed our sap into syrup at his . There’s about 30 to 50 gallons of sap to equal 1 gallon of syrup.

UofLNews: How many students are in the class?

Melissa Michael: 27 students

UofLNews: How did the maple syrup project work into the class. What else are you doing/studying in this class?

Melissa Michael: There were some frustrating parts with tapping the maple trees.��Two of our drills stopped working the day we tapped the trees and then a day of syrup collection, one of our buckets got run over by a car. And we actually got stopped by campus police the day we tapped the maple trees. At first I was upset, but I was quickly thankful that students and staff were keeping an eye out for suspicious activity and that they were concerned about the trees.

In January, we did a lot of research about how to tap maple trees to make sure that we did not harm the trees and that we tapped correctly. We measured the dbh (diameter at breast height) of the maple trees on campus to see which ones were big enough to tap. In February, we tapped maple trees by drilling a hole 5/8 inches deep into the sapwood or xylem of the tree. This does not harm the tree. Then we used a rubber hammer to tap the spouts into the tree. We hung a bucket on the spout and covered the bucket with a lid. Then we waited for sap to flow.

Some of the trees began producing sap as soon as they were tapped. We used a refractometer to do a Brix test to see the concentration of sugar in the sap. We noticed that the sugar concentration was slightly higher in the sugar maples as opposed to the red maples. Six students checked the buckets every weekday for sap.

If there was enough sap to dump, the measurement of sap was recorded and the sap was dumped into larger barrels. We also had a temperature probe on one of the trees to record the temperature for the duration of the experiment.

Greg Schetler, UofL’s grounds superintendent, and Mickey Paul, grounds foreman, were very helpful at the outset of the project and even came to speak to the biology class about the trees on campus and different environmental factors that affect tree health.

We got about 2 quarts of syrup (1/2 gallon). I’m not sure if the project will be done again. The class will be taught again but will probably go back to a regular undergraduate biology lab curriculum. This was a special section of Biology 104.