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. In its inaugural year, the endowment has made $160,000 in funds available for distribution, with a priority on faculty and research scholar support.

The Lighthouse Beacon Foundation Endowment created three areas of opportunity for faculty and post-doctoral scholars. Lighthouse Beacon Foundation Eminent Scholars, senior faculty researchers who are selected based upon sustained superior performance, can receive five-year term-limited funding of up to $50,000. Lighthouse Beacon Foundation Scholars, promising junior faculty, can receive five-year term-limited funding of up to $25,000. For post-doctoral scholars, to be known as Lighthouse Beacon Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellows, up to $20,000 of annual funding is available for stipend enhancement or other research-enabling endeavors.

This year, eight Pigman College of Engineering faculty have been named Lighthouse Beacon Foundation Scholars:

• Martha Grady, associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, supporting the project titled, “Laser Shock Peening of Additively Manufactured Metals.”

• Hyun-Tae Hwang, associate professor in the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering (Paducah campus), supporting the project titled, “Fabrication of a Hydrogen Generator Prototype Using New Approach.”

• Ali Moradi, assistant professor in the Department of Mining Engineering, supporting the project titled, “Intelligent Surface Mining - Integration of Cyber-Physical System and Metaverse.”

• Alexandra Paterson, assistant professor in the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, supporting the project titled, “Equipment for Organic Electrochemical Transistor Stability Tests.”

• Savio Poovathingal, assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, supporting the project titled, “Predicting Thermal Runaway in electric Batteries.”

• Christine Trinkle, associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, supporting the project titled, “Advanced Artificial Lung Research.”

• Samantha Zambuto, assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, supporting the project titled, “Female Reproductive Tissue Engineering.”

• Jonathan Zuidema, assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, supporting the project titled, “Biomaterials for Nervous System Repair.”

The endowment also provides up to $10,000 per year in stipend enhancement or other research-enabling endeavors for talented graduate students, known as Lighthouse Beacon Foundation Graduate Fellows. This year, eight graduate students were selected to receive this supplementary support.

The inaugural Lighthouse Beacon Foundation Graduate Fellows include:

• Rosemary E. Alden, Ph.D. student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

• Ifteher Alom, Ph.D. student in the Department of Computer Science

• Mohammad Dehghan Banadaki, Ph.D. student in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

• Chowdhury Azimul Haque, Ph.D. student in the F. Joseph Halcomb III, M.D. Department of Biomedical Engineering

• Donovin D. Lewis, Ph.D. student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

• Steven Poore, Ph.D. student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

• Ariel Robinson, Ph.D. student in the Department of Civil Engineering

• Pegah Safavi, Ph.D. student in the F. Joseph Halcomb III, M.D. Department of Biomedical Engineering

In addition, the Lighthouse Beacon Foundation Endowment provides support for RCTF-compliant cost-sharing for externally funded programs targeted at high-consequence, high-impact research that has a potential to stimulate socioeconomic benefits including job creation, higher standards of living and expansion of the knowledge-based economy. The endowment also allows for research infrastructure support, like equipment, materials and supplies and other University-permittable research related expenses.

“The research portfolio of the Pigman College of Engineering has expanded significantly in recent years,” said Rudy Buchheit, the Rebecca Burchett Liebert Dean of the College of Engineering. The Lighthouse Beacon Foundation Endowment is further accelerating the positive impact we are able to make for Kentucky and beyond through the discovery and innovation happening in our laboratories.

The endowment will grow over the coming years, with annual allocations growing to over $550,000 per year.

The Lighthouse Beacon Foundation Endowment is a part of the RCTF’s Endowment Match Program, which creates research support and opportunities at Kentucky universities. The RCTF is administered by the Council on Postsecondary Education and is designed to advance the economic success of Kentucky and its citizens through education and research. To qualify for the program, an endowment must support initiatives in STEM and health sciences and relate to one of UK’s eight Research Priority Areas.