Junior Academy
KJAS traveled to AJAS!
In February, KAS sponsored 11 delegates and their chaperones from our Junior Academy to travel to Boston, MA in attendance of the National Association of Academies of Science: American Junior Academy of Science annual meeting. Students represented KY Districts 1-3, 5-6 as well as their high schools: Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science, DuPont Manual High School, Model Laboratory School, and Craft Academy.
View photo highlights from the trip and our scholars' presentations!
Recruiting for KJAS
Help us expand the reach of our Junior Academy! Share this flyer in your region to help promote this valuable experience for Kentucky's future science community!
Research
Congratulations to 2025 KAS Grant Awardees
KAS is awarding $27,332 to support our members' research this year.
Athey Science Education & Outreach Grant
Exploring Nanotechnology: Kentucky High School Chemistry Outreach Program
Morgan Balabanoff, University of Louisville
Marcia Athey & Botany Grants
Do climate change intensified temperature regimes impact amphibian growth and development?
Shayna Earl, University of Louisville
At the edge of defense: Investigating the use of native plant endophytes against a novel pathogen of industrial hemp
Drew Nisip, University of Louisville
Special Research Grants
Do mating signals indicate the parasitism status of the host?
Oliver Beckers, Murray State University
Assessing disturbance-mediated microclimate quality for thermally-sensitive ectotherms
James Carroll, Murray State University
Enhancing the Ionic Conductivity of Inorganic Oxide Solid Battery Electrolytes Via Element Doping
Jasminka Terzic, Western Kentucky University
Undergraduate Research Supply
DNA bend angles induced by non-traditional cisplatin analogs measured by atomic force microscopy
Kevin Williams, Western Kentucky University
Undergraduate Summer Research
Assessing the influence of genetic database enrichment on eDNA-based metagenomic biodiversity monitoring
Ben Brammell, Asbury University
Education
Podcast Training for Scientists March 28
Do you wish more people understood what scientists really do? Would you like to share YOUR science with a wider audience? KAS wants to help you! Join us for this online training, where Dave Robinson, the wizard behind Bench Talk: The Week in Science, will walk you through how to start with as little as 5 minutes of audio, and get it on to a radio show or podcast.
No experience necessary!
This training is one hour, from 12 noon - 1pm. Anyone interested in a follow up training to learn more advanced audio editing skills can sign up for additional training.
Register Here for Podcast Training
Real Science PD opportunities for teachers this summer
Kentucky Teachers,  we don't want you to get left out of all the science fun this summer. We have assembled a few STEM PD opportunities for you, to get experience side by side with scientists this summer.
Check KAS' List of Real Science PD for teachers for summer 2025
Send us details about other Science PD opportunities and we can add them to our list - Thank you!
This was a terrific program, and we appreciate our presenters sharing their insights & wisdom! Thank you to Dr. Iuliana Popescu for organizing it! We have ~20 minute recordings of symposium presentations, so if you want to learn about:
We got inspired, and got tips about best practices from our amazing symposium presenters on March 7. KAS is looking for help managing our Mentor Match program for students, K12 teachers, and professional scientists. Would you like to help build more mentorship opportunities within KAS? Please get in touch! We'd love to foster your expertise.
Speaking of Mentoring....
Our Education & Engagement team makes connections with K-12 Teachers, Kentucky field stations, supports the Junior Academy, and connects with other partners around the state. We're assembling a summer camp directory again this year
E&E meets on the 4th Monday at 10am ET. All are welcome! Email our Executive Director Amanda Fuller to get added to the list.
The Center for Scientific Collaboration & Community Engagement (CSCCE) now has two related trainings that are focused on project management – an Introduction to Project Management for Scientists Mini-workshop (PMI) and the Project Management for Scientists Bootcamp (PMB). Both trainings draw upon a core text, The Harvard Business Review Project Management Handbook by Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez, with materials contextualized for STEM scenarios and applied to custom STEM case studies by CSCCE staff.
Policy
March General Assembly Update
The General Assembly has been busy lately! Over 1100 total bills were introduced in the House and Senate, and our policy committee ranked nearly 300 as they related to health, science, education, and the environment. We are closely following approximately 100 bills. You can keep up to date with the latest happenings in Frankfort via our bill tracker ( https://www.kyscience.org/2025_state_legislative_issues.php) or our daily legislative update page ( https://www.kyscience.org/daily_legislative_update.php). You can contact your legislators about any of these bills by dialing the legislative message line at 1-800-372-7181. If you’d like more information about what we’re working on, come to our next science policy committee meeting on March 12!
Science Advocacy Workshops
We recently finished our 2025 Science Advocacy Workshops! Our twelve participants put in a lot of work to learn about lawmaking in Kentucky, including researching current bills, developing one-pagers, and practicing how to pitch their bills to a variety of audiences. On February 28, some participants from our 2025 Science Policy Training cohort visited legislators in Frankfort and shared scientific research relevant to several bills. We met with Rep. Kim Moser, Rep. Joshua Watkins, Rep. Nima Kulkarni, and Rep. George Brown, Jr. Our scientists shared one-pagers about Parkinson's Disease, milk pasteurization, the WHO, cancer screening, PFAS, and more. We had a lot of really great conversations that we will continue to follow up on, and we are really proud of all of the participants for investing in the future of science policy in Kentucky!
Science Policy Committee Invites your Participation!
What A.I. Safety measures Does the U.S. Need
ACTION ITEM
After rescinding the Biden administration Executive Order on AI safety, the Trump administration has issued a request for information seeking input on what should be the “highest priority policy actions” to include in an action plan for advancing AI in the U.S. Examples of topics under consideration include: “hardware and chips, data centers, energy consumption and efficiency, model development, open source development, application and use (either in the private sector or by government), explainability and assurance of AI model outputs, cybersecurity, data privacy and security throughout the lifecycle of AI system development and deployment (to include security against AI model attacks), risks, regulation and governance, technical and safety standards, national security and defense, research and development, education and workforce, innovation and competition, intellectual property, procurement, international collaboration, and export controls.” T he deadline for public comments is March 15. For reference: Biden administration Executive Order on AI safety
National Science Policy Network
Build your skills! NSPN offers training in:
- Science Diplomacy
- Science Policy Writing
- Science Policy Skills
- Science Policy Communication
https://www.scipolnetwork.org/education
Posters at the Capitol
Collegiate scientists from across the state presented their work in a poster session at our state's capitol building on March 6. KAS' Executive Director, Amanda Fuller, spoke at the opening ceremony as well as a representative from the Council on Postsecondary Education, and a selected poster-presenter from each college. Make sure you are following us on social media - we have lots of great photos and videos that we'll be sharing soon!
Photo credit: Western Kentucky University Facebook.
Stand Up for Science 2025
This rally to defend science as a public good and central pillar of social progress was held all across the US on Friday, March 7. Our very own Policy Chairman, Dr. Trent Garrison, spoke at the KY rally in Frankfort! Check out #StandUpforScience2025 on social media for stories and accounts from these rallies across the country.
From AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science:
NSF To Reinstate Probationary Employees
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has begun reinstating probationary employees who are veterans, military spouses, or have identified disabilities, based on new guidance from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). In addition, after a judge ruled last week that OPM does not have the authority to direct other agencies to lay off employees, NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan “ordered the immediate reinstatement of terminated probationers with backpay and no break in service based on updated guidance from OPM and the federal courts,” which amounts to about half of the employees originally laid off.
Meanwhile, other research programs are being cut. NSF has begun downsizing its Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program, and the Department of Defense (DOD) has terminated grants for dozens of researchers in its Minerva Research Initiative, which since 2008 has supported social science research with important implications for national security, such as disinformation and violent extremism.
Funding
New NSF award announced for Kentucky
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded the Kentucky Science & Engineering Foundation (KSEF), an initiative of the Kentucky Science & Technology Corporation (KSTC), $8M to improve Kentucky’s ability to predict, mitigate and respond to climate-related natural disasters by establishing statewide climate data infrastructure. Through E-CORE RII: Technology for Innovative Visualization, Aggregation & Training in Environmental Preparedness and Resilience for Kentucky (CAPTIVATE KY), KSEF and partners will equip the commonwealth with the data needed to save lives, reduce economic losses and create a more resilient future.
KAS Funding Available
Did you know?
We have funding available for our members on our website!
Check out our Funding Opportunities today - some deadlines are quickly approaching!
Community
Soak up some science over Spring Break
Lights Out Kentucky
It's spring migration season for millions of north American birds. Many of them never make it to their destinations because they collide with buildings. Turn out building lights at night, and ask your campus facilities managers to turn out lights in spring & fall to prevent bird- building collisions. Learn more
Louisville Science Pathways seeks summer mentors for young scientists
LSP is a paid summer research internship for Jefferson County high school students, at U of L, paid for by Kentuckiana SummerWorks. Applications are open until April 1. This is a great opportunity for graduate students to gain mentoring experience.
From our Science Partners
Upcoming Events
Bench Talk: The Week in Science Podcast
Every Mon 7:30pm ET, Tue 11:30am ET, Wed 7:30am ET, at 106.5FM and online anytime
KAS Science Policy Committee meeting
03/12/2025 and every second Wednesday at 12:30pm ET
Energy Workshop for K12 teachers
03/12/2025,
03/13/2025,
03/18/2025
03/20/2025
Wham, Bamb, Earth in a Jam? Near Earth Asteroids and a Close Shave for 2032
03/13/2025
Total Lunar Eclipse!
03/13/2025- 03/14/2025
Webinar: Getting Started with Undergraduate Research: A Workbook for First-Year Students
03/18/2025
Discovering, Exploring, and Sharing Climate Resources Webinars- for Educators
03/19/2025
KAS Education & Engagement Committee
03/24/2025 and every 4th Monday at 10am ET
80th Joint Annual Meeting of Beta Kappa Chi and the National Institute of Science
03/26/2025- 03/29/2025
Podcast Training for Scientists
03/28/2025
Professional Environmental Educator Certification course
03/28/2025- 03/29/2025
Discovering, Exploring, and Sharing Climate Resources Webinars- for Educators
04/01/2025
KAS Science Policy Committee meeting
04/09/2025 and every second Wednesday at 12:30pm ET
Kentucky Psychological Association Student Conference
04/12/2025
Discovering, Exploring, and Sharing Climate Resources Webinars- for Educators
04/14/2025
KAS Education & Engagement Committee
04/28/2025 and every 4th Monday at 10am ET
|
