Faculty Mentor of the Month

Mentors make a difference.

The Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) officially launched the Research Faculty Mentor of the Month recognition program in August 2017 and have since recognized 82 faculty mentors.

Each month the OUR office will highlight one of UK's outstanding and very much appreciated research faculty mentors who offer leadership and support to undergraduate student researchers.

Matthew Springer

Week 12 Mar 16, 2020

Dr. Matthew Springer is an Assistant Extension Professor of Wildlife Management in the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources. Dr. Springer's research interests include wildlife damage management, human wildlife interactions, wildlife ecology, habitat use and management, and conservation biology.

Robyn Brown

Week 11 Nov 11, 2019

Dr. Robyn Brown is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of the Health, Society, and Populations (HSP) Program. Dr. Brown's research interests lie primarily within the social determinants of health and connect in significant ways with the fields of social psychology, disability studies and psychiatric epidemiology.

Ann Kingsolver

Week 10 Nov 4, 2019

Dr. Ann Kingsolver is a Professor of Anthropology in the UK College of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Kingsolver's research interests include globalization and how people talk about it shaping their work and identities. Dr.

Dr. Clare Rittschof

Week 9 Oct 28, 2019

Dr. Clare Rittschof is an Associate Professor of Entomology in the UK College of Agriculture, Food and Environment. Dr. Rittschof's research interests include the evolutionary consequences and mechanistic underpinnings of behavioral plasticity, particularly in the context of social interactions. Her lab's website states, "Current research projects are primarily focused on honey bee behavior and health, but past projects have utilized a number of different arthropod species, and the lab thrives on a broadly comparative scientific framework."

Michael Samaan

Week 8 Oct 21, 2019

Dr. Michael Samaan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Health Promotion in the College of Education. Dr. Samaan received his Ph.D. from Old Dominion University in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering in 2014. His research interests include the use of biomechanics and musculoskeletal imaging to better understand the mechanisms and effects of lower extremity joint diseases such as osteoarthritis on joint health and function.

Jeffrey Seay

Week 7 Oct 14, 2019

Dr. Jeffrey Seay is a PJC Board of Trustees Engineering Professor and a Professor of Chemical Engineering at the UK College of Engineering's Paducah campus. Dr. Seay's research interests include biofuels, computer-aided process engineering, energy conversion, environmental sciences, green engineering, process design and safety, sustainability, and transport processes and molecular modeling.

Natalie Pope

Week 6 Oct 7, 2019

Dr. Natalie Pope is an Associate Professor, Director of Doctoral Programs, and Otis Professor in Gerontology and Intergenerational Social Work in the UK College of Social Work. Dr. Pope’s program of research broadly focuses on older adults and their family caregivers. Specifically, her scholarship aims to address the following areas: 1) planning for future caregiving needs, 2) behavioral health of community-dwelling older adults, and 3) family caregiving across the life span. With more than 10 years of experience as a family social worker, Dr.

Dr. Jillienne Haglund

Week 5 Sep 30, 2019

Dr. Jillienne Haglund is an Assistant Professor of Political Science in the UK College of Arts & Sciences. Haglund’s research and teaching interests fall broadly in the fields of international relations and comparative politics. More specifically, she is interested in human rights, international organizations, international law, and comparative political institutions. Her work seeks to illuminate the extent to which international law constrains state human rights behavior.

Miriam Kienle

Week 4 Sep 23, 2019

Dr. Miriam Kienle is an Assistant Professor of Art History and Visual Studies in the UK College of Fine Arts, specializing in modern, contemporary, and American art. Kienle’s teaching and research interests include gender & sexuality, critical theory, new media, curatorial studies, and the digital humanities.

Nathan Vanderford

Week 3 Sep 16, 2019

Dr. Nathan Vanderford is an Assistant Professor of Toxicology and Cancer Biology in the UK College of Medicine. Dr. Vanderford is also the Director of the Appalachian Career Training in Oncology Program. His research interests include epidemiology and molecular etiology of lung cancer, research administration, technology transfer and entrepreneurship, and science pedagogy and career development.

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