Department News

The SPARK Lab within PEIK Marks its 10th Anniversary

PEIK Institute

Apr 9, 2026

This semester, the SPARK Lab celebrates its 10th anniversary. The group was established by Dan M. Ionel, PhD, IEEE Fellow, shortly after starting at UK as ECE Professor and the inaugural L. Stanley Pigman Chair in Power, and welcomed its first postdoctoral researcher and PhD student in early 2016.

SPARK and PEIK Recently Graduated and Ongoing NSF Graduate Research Fellows

PEIK Institute

Apr 2, 2026

This semester yet another generational transition of electrical engineering (EE) PhD students takes place in the SPARK Lab, which is affiliated with the Power and Energy Institute of Kentucky (PEIK) at the University of Kentucky (UK) Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering.

21 Pigman College of Engineering researchers among top 2% of world’s most-cited

Mar 3, 2026

The University of Kentucky is well-represented on a list of the most-cited researchers in the world. In a database compiled by Stanford University in a partnership with Elsevier, 125 current UK scientists and scholars appear among the top 2% of the most-cited researchers across 22 disciplines. Of those 125 scientists and scholars, 21 are UK Pigman College of Engineering faculty.

Paterson wins prestigious Beilby Medal & Prize and Early Investigator Award

Jan 21, 2026

The annual Beilby Medal & Prize recognizes scientists and engineers for outstanding work of exceptional practical significance in materials, chemical or related engineering fields. The Early Investigator Award from the American Chemical Society, Division of Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering recognizes early career scientists who have had a significant impact on the field of polymer science and engineering.

Lau named IEEE Fellow

Jan 15, 2026

Daniel L. Lau, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the UK Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering, has been named a 2026 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Fellow, for his contributions to digital printing and 3D imaging.

Fall 2025 Dean's List includes 1,141 engineering and computer science students

Jan 9, 2026

The Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering is proud to announce 1,141 engineering and computer science students included on the University of Kentucky Fall 2025 Dean's List. Students are eligible for the Dean’s List by meeting these requirements during the fall or spring semester:

UK students and faculty gather in Norway to prepare their payload for NASA’s GHOST mission. From left: Alexander Barrera, Eric Adams, Carson Brown, Cannon Shields, Savio Poovathingal and Alexandre Martin. UK students and faculty gather in Norway to prepare their payload for NASA’s GHOST mission. From left: Alexander Barrera, Eric Adams, Carson Brown, Cannon Shields, Savio Poovathingal and Alexandre Martin.

Kentucky dream takes flight: UK joins NASA on Arctic space mission

Jenny Wells-Hosley

Nov 13, 2025

A team of students and faculty from the University of Kentucky Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering will make history in Norway, launching a UK-developed payload as part of NASA’s GHOST spaceflight mission.

2026 Lighthouse Beacon Foundation Scholars announced

Nov 3, 2025

Thanks to the generous support of Stanley and Karen Pigman and Kentucky’s Research Challenge Trust Fund (RCTF), engineering researchers are receiving additional annual funding to enhance the research priorities and programs of the Pigman College of Engineering. Established in 2024, the Lighthouse Beacon Foundation Endowment supports faculty, research, graduate students, facilities and research infrastructure in the Pigman College of Engineering. This year, the endowment made $235,000 in funds available for distribution.

NSF CAREER Award fuels UK researcher’s breakthroughs in robotics

Erin Wickey

Oct 9, 2025

Biyun Xie, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering, has received a prestigious U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award to advance research in human-robot shared control for robotic telemanipulation.

SPARK and PEIK researchers receive best poster award at IEEE ITEC 2025 for collaborative paper with PPL Corporation

PEIK Institute

Sep 22, 2025

SPARK Lab researchers within the Power and Energy Institute of Kentucky (PEIK) and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Kentucky Pigman College of Engineering received the best poster award for a paper at the 2025 Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) International Transportation Electrification Conference & Expo (ITEC) in Anaheim, California.