The Cardinal Commitment Grant is a last-dollar scholarship that pays for the remainder of a student’s UofL tuition after they have received and applied federal and state grant awards and additional institutional aid.

“Kentucky students deserve a high-quality and life-changing education, and the Cardinal Commitment Grant allows us to provide that while eliminating the stress of wondering where the money to pay the bill is coming from,” said interim President Lori Stewart Gonzalez. “College affordability is a priority for our university and we are continuously looking at ways to increase access to education.”

To be eligible for the Cardinal Commitment Grant, students must be Kentucky residents with at least a 3.25 weighted GPA who are first-year students enrolled full time at UofL for the fall 2022 semester. Students must have filed the 2022-2023 (FAFSA) and be eligible for a Pell Grant.

“We are proud to serve many Pell-eligible and first-generation students,” said interim Provost Gerry Bradley. “The Cardinal Commitment is another chance for us to redefine our students’ success and do our part to improve social mobility.”

The Cardinal Commitment Grant is renewable until a student earns their first bachelor’s degree; however, the initial award amount is locked in for that time frame regardless of changes to state or federal aid.

Eligible students should by May 1 to be automatically considered for the Cardinal Commitment Grant. Additional details on the scholarship are available at .

Last-dollar scholarships are designed to award additional aid to cover the cost of tuition. The award amount is calculated by taking the cost of tuition minus all federal and state grant awards minus all university/institutional aid. The Cardinal Commitment Grant will cover tuition and bundled fees.

Two doctoral students in the University of Louisville Department of Anatomical Sciences and Neurobiology, Zach Whiddon and Kyle Whyland, have received funding from the NIH to support their research projects. The highly competitive F31 predoctoral training awards help set the researchers on a path to a career in research, requiring the same rigorous application process that seasoned investigators must go through to obtain NIH funding for their research.

“The receipt of an F31 award is an excellent credential and is an important part of building a career in science,” said Robin Krimm, a professor of anatomy and neurobiology and Whiddon’s mentor. “The award of an F31 also enables the student to be become more independent; their salary is paid from their own grant and they are responsible for reporting their research progress to the NIH.”

Whiddon, who moved to Louisville to pursue his PhD after completing his master’s degree in cell and molecular biology at Eastern Michigan University, is working in Krimm’s lab to capture images of nerve cells within taste buds using a specialized technique Aaron McGee, another faculty member in the department, brought to UofL.

Neurons send long projections from the base of brain to the taste buds on the tongue, where terminal arbors, or branches, undergo rapid structural change. Using the technique McGee introduced, two-photon laser scanning microscopy, Whiddon developed a method to capture high resolution images of the branches as they connect to taste buds in live animal models and to document how those branches change over days and weeks.

“Taste bud cells have a very short life span, maybe 10 days. How do these neurons connect with replacement taste cells? To answer that we needed to be able to watch the neurons over time,” Whiddon said. “No one in the taste field has even attempted to look at the neurons over time. They did not think it was possible – until now.”

Already the research is showing that structural change happens much more rapidly than previously thought.

“We saw that in just a 12-hour period the arbors can add or subtract new branch ends, as much as 10 microns in length, which is very quick in terms of neural plasticity,” Whiddon said.

He plans to continue this field of research after he completes his PhD.

“Not a lot of people are doing this work, which is what makes it so exciting,” Whiddon said. “I think this research will be a good basis for a career – to adapt it and answer more questions. I’m interested in the plasticity aspect and what is controlling the structural rearrangements.”

Whyland’s research is focused on describing poorly understood brain circuits related to vision. The Jeffersonville, Indiana-native earned a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University, majoring in psychology. Now working toward his PhD with Professor Martha Bickford, Whyland is investigating how two specific parts of the brain, the superior colliculus and the parabigeminal nucleus, work together to process visual information and to control motor reflexes and defensive behaviors such as freezing or fleeing.

“We are trying to reverse engineer a little piece of wiring in the brain to give a model for how that might work in similar areas of the brain,” Whyland said.

Whyland’s research also takes advantage of specialized techniques being used in the labs at UofL.

“During the completion of his project, Kyle will receive training in a variety of neuroanatomical techniques, in vitro physiology and a technique called optogenetics in which specific brain cells can be activated with light pulses to interrogate brain circuit function,” Bickford said.

Both Whyland and Whiddon are grateful for the funding provided by the NIH – about $32,000 per year each – as well as the opportunity to learn the ropes of funding applications.

“If Kyle and Zach continue as research-active faculty members, they will be applying for grants throughout their careers,” Bickford said. “The F31 application gives students their first in-depth exposure to the NIH application process, including stringent reviews by a panel of experts.”

As with any competitive process, success is validating. For Whyland, however, the opportunity to revise and resubmit a project that initially was rejected was one of the most rewarding aspects of the experience.

“The first time I submitted it, it wasn’t even scored. By addressing the NIH reviewers’ specific concerns, I was able to resubmit it and get it funded,” Whyland said. “It was very satisfying to know that if you don’t get discouraged and try to address the criticisms, you can be rewarded. It was really motivating.”

The competitive federal grant was announced by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a UofL grad.��

​The UofL Modern Apprenticeship Pathways to Success (MAPS) program is funded through the DoL’s “” initiative. UofL was one of just 28 public-private partnerships funded under this federal program in its most recent round, and is the only one in Kentucky.

​Through MAPS, UofL will create 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.

​“At UofL, we recognize that many people entering such industries as advanced manufacturing, healthcare and information technology require new skill sets or retraining in order to be successful,” said UofL President Neeli Bendapudi. “The apprenticeships created by the university and its private-sector partners through this grant program will help to form the workforce of the future.” ​

UofL will also work with three academic partners — Webster University, Jefferson Community and Technical College and Elizabethtown Community and Technical College. These institutions will help MAPS create transfer opportunities for associate’s degree holders who want to earn a bachelor’s degree, and connect with underrepresented minority students and those who are, have been or depend on a member of the military. ​

Principal investigator Dr. Jeffrey Sun, of the UofL College of ����ֱ�� and Human Development (CEHD), said preparing students for high-skilled jobs is especially important now, at a time when the world of work is increasingly disrupted and evolving due to technologies like artificial intelligence and automation. ​

According to a from the Brookings Institute, automation will be most disruptive in the Heartland, and especially in Kentucky and Indiana. In the Louisville Metropolitan Statistical Area alone, the report says some 670,000 jobs are susceptible. ​

But while automation may replace some jobs, some reports show it creates others — ones companies can’t seem to fill due to the skills gap. According to a from Deloitte, advanced technologies in the manufacturing industry will cause an estimated 2.4 million positions to go unfilled between 2018 and 2028.

​“The workforce in the Heartland is underemployed, mostly due to manufacturing layoffs and the unpreparedness of workers for higher-skilled jobs,” said Sun, associate dean for Innovation and Strategic Partnerships at the CEHD. “We want our students at UofL to be prepared when new technologies, such as robotics and AI, alter our work or the market shifts, perhaps from 3D printing, change our business model.”

“By equipping job seekers with the training they need for good, 21st-century jobs, we can help close the skills gap and build upon Kentucky’s growing economy,”��McConnell said in a release.��“I applaud President Trump for his administration’s focus on apprenticeship programs, and I’m proud to work with him to promote investment in the future of Kentucky’s workers and their families. As Senate Majority Leader, I’m in a better position than ever to deliver for Kentucky communities, and I was proud to partner with UofL to give Kentucky workers every opportunity to succeed.”

Project PURPLE (Preparing Urban and Rural Personnel as Leaders in ����ֱ��), a joint effort between the UofL College of ����ֱ�� and Human Development and the UK College of ����ֱ��, will fund five doctoral-level scholars from each institution beginning in the fall 2020 semester.

It is funded by the U.S. Department of ����ֱ�� Office of Special ����ֱ�� Programs.

Ginevra Courtade, UofL associate professor and chair of the Department of Special ����ֱ��, is co-director of the project.

“We look forward to using our partnership to recruit and support a diverse group of scholars and to implement a comprehensive program focused on evidence-based practices for students with disabilities in urban and rural high-need schools,” she said.

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Participants will work with nationally recognized faculty from both institutions.

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“The current special education faculty is aging, and projections indicate that retirements will continue to increase by as much as 50%. Without special education faculty, institutions of higher education cannot prepare adequate numbers of special education teachers, an area that has a critical shortage in Kentucky and nationwide,” said Melinda Ault, the project’s director and an associate professor of special education in the UK College of ����ֱ�� Department of Early Childhood, Special ����ֱ��, and Rehabilitation Counseling.

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“The project takes advantage of the strengths of the faculties at both UK and UofL,” said Kera Ackerman, the project’s co-director at UK and an assistant professor in the UK College of ����ֱ�� Department of Early Childhood, Special ����ֱ��, and Rehabilitation Counseling.

The grant will be used for a three-year, campus-wide initiative called Advancement Through Healthy Empowerment, Networking, and Awareness (ATHENA), to help promote success for women faculty in STEM fields.

“This grant will help the University of Louisville meet its strategic goal of promoting equity for all faculty,” said UofL President Neeli Bendapudi. “The STEM fields play such a critical role in the future of our commonwealth. We must ensure that our female faculty have every opportunity to progress in their careers so they can inspire the next generation of leaders and innovators.”

ATHENA is a broad initiative supported by the J.B. Speed School of Engineering, Office of the Executive Vice President for Research and Innovation, College of Arts and Sciences, College of Business, School of Medicine, Vice Provost Office for Faculty Affairs, Human Resources, the Office of Diversity & Equity and others.

Together, they will implement five key interventions:��

• Changing the search, recruitment and hiring practices to increase diversity and excellence;
• Creating a faculty mentoring program with an emphasis on improving opportunities for mid-career promotion;
• Establishing a program to support the career progress of faculty experiencing major life events;
• Implementing data collection to support evaluation and monitoring efforts;��
• Educating faculty about gender and ethnicity biases that affect the advancement of women in STEM disciplines through theatre-based workshops.

“The hope is that these interventions will help, not only women faculty in STEM, but everyone to grow, advance and succeed,” said Olfa Nasraoui, a professor in the computer science and computer engineering department and principal investigator on the grant. “We have people working on diverse subjects related to equity research all across campus. ATHENA brings them together.”

ATHENA is funded by NSF’s ADVANCE program. UofL is one of only two schools in Kentucky to be awarded under this program.