This year鈥檚 honorees, representing nine UofL schools and colleges, include researchers, scholars and artists, along with those who provide critical support as administrators.听Their work over the past year helped to advance health, grow our technology workforce, improve equity and more.

鈥淚 continue to be impressed by the bold and dauntless sense of curiosity and exploration that鈥檚 so foundational to our campus and what it means to be a Cardinal,鈥� said UofL President Kim Schatzel, speaking at the event. 鈥淓ach and every one of you here tonight brings a passion and energy to that work, and it鈥檚 just incredible.鈥澨�

At the event, hosted by the , several major awards were presented to:听

• • , of the College of 成人直播 and Human Development, who won Researcher of the Year for his work to shape mental health practice, especially for adolescent trauma-informed care and treatment;
  • , of the Schools of Dentistry and Medicine, which won Center of the Year in part for its recent $12 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study links between the human microbiome and disease, which could lead to better treatments for a range of conditions;听
  • , of the College of Arts and Sciences, who won the inaugural Creative Works Award for her innovative work to marry technology and art, via an artificially intelligent painting collaborator;
  • Cheri Hildreth, of , who won the Unsung Hero Award for leading the launch and growth of the environmental health and safety programs over her 30-plus years of service to UofL;
  • Natalie Christian, of the College of Arts and Sciences, who won Early-Career Researcher of the Year for her work to harness plant-associated microbiomes to improve crop health;
  • and , of the Kent School of Social Work, who won the Grand Challenger Award in Empowering our Communities for their work to create supports for youth and their families most impacted by community violence and racial trauma;
  • , of the J.B. Speed School of Engineering, who won the Grand Challenger Award in Advancing our Health for work to integrate biological and clinical information, paving the way for personalized medicine;
  • , of the College of Eduacation and Human Development, who won the Grand Challenger Award in Engineering our Future Economy for her commitment to workforce up/re-skilling in the field of technology, including via innovative badging programs; and
  • Joan Scott, of the School of Dentistry, who won Research Administrator of the Year for providing integral research support to her school and department for more than 20 years.听

In the past year, UofL researchers and scholars submitted 1,075 proposals and received nearly $176 million in external grant funding to support groundbreaking discovery and exploration.听

鈥淚 believe what we celebrate is what we value as an institution,鈥�听 said Kevin Gardner, UofL鈥檚 executive vice president for research and innovation. 鈥淲ith awards like these, we show that we value research, scholarship and creative activity. And, that we value you. The work you do is the backbone of UofL鈥檚 knowledge enterprise.鈥�

This year鈥檚 Fiscal Year 2023 government funding bill contains significant resources to support important Kentucky institutions and programs. Utilizing his role as Senate Republican Leader and as a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Sen. McConnell advocated on behalf of the University of Louisville in this year’s government funding process. That includes his support of the NSA鈥檚 cyber workforce training initiative, which has funded educational programming at the University of Louisville.

鈥淚t鈥檚 an honor to return to my alma mater and announce that NSA鈥檚 cyber workforce training initiative, which has made landmark investments in educational programming at UofL, will once again receive robust resources from this fiscal year鈥檚 government funding bill. UofL is at the center of the growing cybersecurity field, benefitting the Commonwealth鈥檚 economy and our country鈥檚 national security. I look forward to more students taking part in this program and entering the workforce with the skillset needed to succeed in the 21st century,鈥� said Sen. McConnell.

UofL launched its Cybersecurity Workforce Certificate in 2020 thanks to $6.2 million in funding from the NSA as a pilot for a national program supported by Sen. McConnell to train a qualified cybersecurity workforce. The UofL program so far has enrolled more than 200 students, with an emphasis on training military veterans and first responders in health care cybersecurity and logistics.

鈥淭he need for highly skilled cybersecurity professionals to protect our information systems is increasing rapidly. The University of Louisville is leading the way to meet this need in developing our innovative cybersecurity workforce training program and assembling a coalition of universities to support and replicate this training on a national level,鈥� said Lori Stewart Gonzalez, interim president of UofL. 鈥淲e are grateful to Sen. McConnell for supporting this and other programs with additional funding, and for his advocacy on behalf of UofL and Kentucky.鈥�

UofL鈥檚 cybersecurity certificate program includes online learning, hands-on applied learning labs at all levels and gamification components, along with online technology industry badging from Microsoft, IBM and Google. Students gain expertise in artificial intelligence, robotics process automation, blockchain, internet of things (IoT), machine learning and other areas to earn individual badges throughout the certificate鈥檚 24 modules.

鈥淲ith technology continuing to become more of an integral piece of our everyday lives, a strong cybersecurity industry and workforce are the most important protections we have to ensure secure businesses and critical infrastructure across the Commonwealth and nation,鈥� said Kevin Gardner, UofL鈥檚 executive vice president for research and innovation. 鈥淎s a top research institution, UofL is proud to lead the charge on this important work through groundbreaking and unparalleled research, innovation and academic programs. We appreciate Sen. McConnell鈥檚 support for advancing cybersecurity technology and growing our cybersecurity workforce.鈥�

UofL is partnering with corporations, including logistics companies, health care providers and others, as well as other colleges and universities to create a national cybersecurity training coalition. UofL鈥檚 university partners include Kentucky Community and Technical Colleges, University of North Florida, University of Arkansas – Little Rock, City University of Seattle, Kentucky State University, Simmons College, City University of New York, Kennesaw State University, Hood College and Northwest Missouri State University. The University of West Florida and Purdue University Northwest also are building university coalitions for cybersecurity workforce training.

鈥淭his new funding can allow UofL and the other lead universities to leverage resources and initiate cooperation for the good of the entire cybersecurity national community,鈥� said Sharon Kerrick, associate professor and assistant vice president, UofL Digital Transformation Center.

Following the initial $6.2 million in funding to launch the UofL program in 2020, the university received an additional $2.3 million to expand it to include logistics and train-the-trainer components in which students are trained to instruct others in their organizations.

The UofL provides future-focused curricula and educational tools to help train the workforce in fast-growing technology areas by integrating the best features of industry and academic institution relationships.

UofL is one of seven Microsoft Academic Research Consultants, or MARCs, that will study how researchers might leverage the technology to, for example, sift through large data sets and glean insights. The idea is to understand needs and develop next-generation tools and training that could generate more groundbreaking research here and around the world.听

鈥淯ofL is home to a rich pool of top researchers in high-tech, cutting-edge fields,鈥� said Sharon Kerrick, an assistant vice president at UofL and head of the , which will lead the on-campus Microsoft effort. 鈥淲e at the DTC are proud to be among the other top schools to partner with Microsoft to enable groundbreaking research that鈥檚 engineering our future economy.鈥澨�听

The other MARC schools are Duke University, the University of Rochester, the University of Central Florida, the University of South Florida, Texas A&M, Oregon State University and Washington University 鈥� St. Louis. The MARCs will serve as liaisons between Microsoft and researchers, seeking to better understand how AI is being and could be used.听听

UofL has significant earned expertise in this kind of tech-enabled education and research; some researchers are already using computing, big data and artificial intelligence to screen potential drugs and compounds against and , to analyze medical images and more.听听

UofL also was recently selected by the U.S. Department of Defense to work on research and education to strengthen the country鈥�s cyber defenses. UofL was the only school selected from Kentucky for both networks and one of only a handful to hold the competitive Research-1 classification from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher 成人直播.鈥齍ofL also recently received significant funding to develop cybersecurity education and conduct cutting-edge biometrics research.听听

“UofL has a strong record of researching the digital frontier, artificial intelligence and other technologies,” said Kerrick. “Through this new partnership with Microsoft, we hope to find new ways leverage those same technologies to benefit researchers.”鈥�听

UofL is one of just 23-member universities nationwide of the Federal Academic Alliance. At UofL there are currently over 50 online undergraduate, graduate, certificate and doctoral programs offered. UofL鈥檚 online programs achieved several distinctions in the U.S. News and World Report 2021 ratings, including; Best Online Programs 鈥淏achelors鈥� and Best Online Programs 鈥淕rad 成人直播.”

Through the Federal Academic Alliance, colleges and universities provide educational opportunities to the federal workforce. It was created to help the federal government address critical skills gaps and mission critical occupations such as economics, human resources, cyber security, auditors, acquisition and science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

As a Federal Academic Alliance member institution, UofL Online Learning will host a booth at the Virtual Federal Government 成人直播 and Professional Development Symposium on Sept. 14. Sharon Kerrick, Assistant Vice President of the Digital Transformation Center, will present 鈥淗ow Data Analytics and Digital Literacy Can Propel Your Career.鈥� This symposium is an event to assist federal employees with workforce skills and development enhancement.

To learn more about UofL鈥檚 Federal Academic Alliance member benefits, view UofL鈥檚 FAA .

To ensure the UofL community is prepared to engage in the evolving global market, the university has undertaken a broad array of digital transformation projects designed to provide the digital and mobile on-demand solutions and services required to efficiently work, learn and create, as well as training opportunities for applications in high demand in the workforce.

One prime example is the use of the virtual meeting application Teams and other Microsoft 365 applications for virtual collaboration. These applications quickly became part of daily life for nearly everyone on campus in 2020, replacing in-person meetings, classes and presentations made impossible by the COVID-19 pandemic. Because these tools already were available to the UofL community, the move to remote work and learning was accomplished quickly, reducing the impact of the pandemic.

Several other key platforms also are available to the Cardinal community, including . Beginning in September 2020, every active UofL student, faculty member and employee was provided access to the Adobe suite at no cost thanks to a university enterprise license. Creative Cloud is an industry standard platform for creating documents, videos, audio, graphic design, photos, illustrations, websites and mobile apps. It includes more than 20 popular applications such as Acrobat, Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, Dreamweaver and others. The suite is accessed using a UofL email and password.

To help students, faculty and staff become proficient, training for Microsoft 365 and Adobe Creative Cloud applications is available virtually through the Center (DTC).

The DTC is UofL鈥檚 portal for technology research, innovation and learning, providing access to free or low-cost training for Microsoft, the IBM Skills Gateway, Google Analytics Academy, Adobe and Cisco, as well as artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing, machine learning and other technologies. Nearly all training courses are available at no cost for UofL students, faculty and staff, and many come with badges, certificates or other credentials upon completion.

Sharon Kerrick, assistant vice president of the DTC, estimated that more than 4,000 people have accessed the digital transformation web portal, 600 users have accessed Adobe Creative Cloud training and the center has facilitated nearly 1,000 badges or other credentials in Microsoft, IBM and Google since their launch last year.

More than just providing the applications and enabling learners, the DTC created the Digital Transformation Team to work with faculty and staff to expand the use of these resources in teaching and learning, research and innovation, faculty and staff development and civic and partner engagement. For example, the team works with the Cardinal Core Curriculum Committee to encourage faculty and staff to intentionally integrate the applications into the learning environment, reinforcing the core set of digital skills needed by graduates in the workforce.

Jason Zahrndt, program manager of the Digital Media Suite in Ekstrom Library, said that in the last two years, that program has consulted on the creation and use of media for classroom instruction and activities more than 1,100 times and at least 100 courses have included media assignments, involving more than 2,400 students and faculty members in every college and unit. In 2020-21, 13 instructors used Adobe products in Cardinal Core courses.

Instructors are incorporating other applications into courses as well. The Cardinal Core class LEAD 256, 鈥淭echnology in our world today,鈥� for example, incorporates five technology industry badges from IBM, Microsoft and Google. These are customized to each student鈥檚 career path (analytics, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, etc.) or can be a mix of topics to provide broader exposure to different technologies. Students in the class also must complete an applied learning project using their newly acquired skills.

To increase digital literacy for staff and faculty, the DTC partners with the to present virtual Tech Tip Tuesdays, and Taste of Technology events have highlighted key applications from Adobe and Microsoft and opportunities through the DTC.

In support of the 2019-2022 Strategic Plan to ensure UofL is a great place to work through professional development, the Employee Success Center and the DTC announced in March that UofL employees and students have . The platform includes more than 16,000 virtual courses designed to refine and develop technical, business, software and creative skills. As of the end of June, more than 1,200 Cardinals had taken advantage of courses through LinkedIn Learning.

Brian Buford, executive director of the Employee Success Center, said digital resources such as LinkedIn Learning and others allow people to work and learn together more efficiently whether they are on Belknap Campus, the Health Sciences Center or in other locations.听

鈥淲e are learning new ways to work and connect with one another and technology is at the heart of all of it,鈥� Buford said.听鈥淲hether it鈥檚 meeting on Teams, developing our teams with LinkedIn Learning modules or editing shared documents online, it鈥檚 just amazing how much we鈥檝e been able to do remotely.鈥�

The skills learned by using these technologies within university life also will transfer to students鈥� and employees鈥� future professional work.

鈥淎dobe, Microsoft, DocuSign and LinkedIn learning are all great resources for faculty and students to use for learning and accomplishing tasks, assignments and efficient work,鈥� said Rehan Khan, vice president and chief information officer for UofL. 鈥淭hese digital resources and platforms are the essential tools required for today and the future. As society continues to transition to digital services and engagement mastering these tools will enable greater productivity and success.鈥�

To improve administrative functions, the university鈥檚 information infrastructure also is undergoing digital transformation. Projects include upgrading human resources management with , enhancing internal and external web resource through the web improvement project and implementation of Cayuse, a new electronic administration tool for university researchers.

This broad effort in digital transformation aligns with the university鈥檚 commitment to ensure UofL is a great place to learn and a great place to work, as well as supporting the Grand Challenges of Engineering Our Future Economy and Empowering Our Communities.

The initiatives support the growth of future tech talent in Louisville, which recently was ranked 13 among the Next 25 emerging tech talent markets in , with 19,290 people employed in technology and an increase of 31% in tech talent employment in the last five years.

The resources of the DTC are made available to the wider community through projects such as the Louisville Future of Work Initiative, the Louisville Central Community Center鈥檚 Analytics Track and the Digital Transformation Academy for high school students. These projects empower individuals in nearly any field to take advantage of emerging technologies in their chosen industry, prepare employees to fill vital technology jobs and encourage lifelong learning in the community at large.