2025 Sustainable Futures Design Lab Awardee Spotlights

Lindsey Fay, an associate professor in the University of Kentucky College of Design School of Interiors, focuses on health design research and the intersection of people, processes and the built environment.

Fay’s current research uses post-occupancy evaluation to assess the design of healthcare spaces and their impact on care delivery. She integrates this methodology as an immersive learning experience for interior design students, linking classroom learning to real-world challenges. Fay has collaborated with healthcare professionals, designers, patients and students on numerous funded research projects, sharing results through national and international conferences and publications in peer-reviewed journals.

With support from the Rapid Response Research Pilot Grant, Fay is advancing her work on healthcare environments by studying the design of intensive care units and their role in disaster preparedness. Her project evaluates how spatial design can strengthen resilience and adaptability in the face of public health crises, natural disasters and other emergency situations.

In addition to her faculty role, Fay serves as associate dean for research in the College of Design, where she has led initiatives to cultivate a culture of research and creative scholarship. She has advanced the college’s research enterprise by mentoring faculty, securing funding, strengthening interdisciplinary collaborations and organizing seminars and workshops to promote design research.

As director of graduate studies for the School of Interiors, Fay oversees recruitment, admissions, curriculum development and student engagement. Her leadership has enhanced the quality, organization and visibility of the graduate program while supporting the next generation of interior design professionals.

Leah Hamilton is an assistant professor in the Department of Arts Administration at the University of Kentucky College of Fine Arts. She directs the Arts Emergency Management Certificates and leads the Arts Emergency and Disaster Research Initiative, a research lab focused on strengthening disaster resilience and emergency readiness in the arts sector.

Hamilton’s work examines the intersections of arts administration, emergency management and disaster sociology. She serves as principal investigator (PI) or co-PI on several funded initiatives, including the Kentucky Heritage Emergency Response Network, the National Endowment for the Arts–supported project Between Two Rivers: Safeguarding the Future of Greenup County’s Arts and Culture and international research on cultural heritage in protected areas with partners in Italy through the UKinSPIRE fellowship program.

Hamilton received the 2024 Mulcahy Emerging Scholar Award from the International Social Theory, Politics and the Arts Conference and was a visiting researcher at the University of Perugia, studying crisis impacts on cultural tourism. Her scholarship has appeared in forthcoming volumes such as the “Routledge Companion of Arts Management and Innovative Pedagogy in Cultural Management Education.” She also authored disaster impact reports for the Kentucky Arts Council and SouthArts, and she developed Theory of Performative Preparedness, a new model for disaster readiness in nonprofit arts organizations.

Beyond research, Hamilton serves on the board of the Kentucky Museum and Heritage Alliance, as a network administrator for the Kentucky Heritage Emergency Response Network, as a crisis analysis and mitigation coach with the National Coalition for Arts Preparedness and Emergency Response, and as an advisor to the UK Cooperative Extension’s Community Arts Program. She earned her Ph.D. in arts administration from the University of Kentucky, a master’s degree in arts administration from Drexel University, a postgraduate diploma in music from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and a bachelor’s degree in voice performance from the University of Kansas.

Tad Mutersbaugh and Qinglu Ying, supported by the Sustainable Futures Design Lab, focus on advancing adaptable and low-impact agricultural solutions for Kentucky farmers.

Mutersbaugh is a professor in the Department of Geography in the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences. He conducts research spanning agriculture, organic product certification and rural development. Since earning his doctorate from the University of California at Berkeley, Mutersbaugh has studied crops such as coffee and basic grains. At UK, he is collaborating with a team examining high-tunnel and greenhouse access for growers across Kentucky, with particular attention to resilience in rural communities.

Qinglu Ying, an assistant extension professor in the Department of Horticulture in the University of Kentucky Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment, works directly with controlled environment agriculture producers. Her extension and research programs support current and emerging specialty crop systems with an emphasis on sustainability and resource efficiency. She explores strategies such as energy-efficient lighting, innovative soilless substrates, irrigation improvements and diversified crop production to help growers adapt to changing conditions.

Together, Mutersbaugh and Ying are developing scalable solutions that strengthen food resilience, improve farmer livelihoods and expand sustainable agriculture practices in Eastern Kentucky. Their project will trial new soilless substrate systems and create a mini-Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) toolkit to help small and medium-sized farms extend growing seasons, protect crops during extreme weather and increase access to fresh food. By advancing climate-adapted growing strategies, their work supports disaster preparedness and long-term resilience for farming communities across the region.

Susie Thiel is an associate professor and chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance in the University of Kentucky College of Fine Arts, where her work as a choreographer and performer often centers on feminism and women’s stories, blending personal narratives with collaborative movement projects.

Her choreography has been presented nationally and internationally, including at the Dumbo Dance Festival in New York, American College Dance Festival, Cincinnati Fringe Festival, Detroit Dance City Festival, Inner Mongolia Arts College and Hainan Normal University in China, and Kentucky’s Governor’s School for the Arts. She has also performed with New York-based modern dance companies including the New York Dance Collective, Genesis Dance Company, Sharon Fogarty Dance Theatre and the Impulse Initiative.

With support from the Rapid Response Research Pilot Grant, Thiel is working with an interdisciplinary team and the Fayette County Extension Office to expand her program Intergenerational Interactions: Mapping Women’s Mental Health through Movement and Creativity. The initiative equips Extension agents to use movement-based programming as a tool for mental health support, particularly in disaster-affected communities, and builds on her earlier work bringing together first-generation undergraduates and older women to foster social connection and well-being.

Thiel serves on the South Regional board of the American College Dance Association and has been recognized with the University of Kentucky’s 2016 Provost’s Outstanding Teaching Award and the College of Fine Arts 2020 Faculty Excellence Award. She earned a bachelor’s degree in dance from Western Michigan University and a master’s in choreography from the University of Michigan.