LEXINGTON, Ky. — The University of Kentucky Appalachian Center is honoring 12 students with its annual research awards, recognizing cutting-edge scholarship on regional issues ranging from climate resilience to water quality and mental health disparities.

Eight graduate students received the James S. Brown Graduate Student Award for Research on Appalachia, with four additional students earning the Eller and Billings Student Research Award. Each award provides up to $1,000 to support research expenses in the region.

"This year's award recipients represent a range of disciplines doing cutting edge research in Appalachia," said Kathryn Engle, Ph.D., director of the UK Appalachian Center. "Representing a variety of colleges and departments across the university, these students are working in and with Appalachian communities examining pressing issues in the region."

The James S. Brown award recognizes research on social, cultural and environmental dimensions of Appalachian life. The award honors James S. Brown, a sociology professor at UK from 1946 to 1982, whose pioneering ethnographic and demographic work helped establish Appalachian studies as an academic field.

This year's Brown Award recipients are studying topics including climate disasters and resiliency, bluegrass music pedagogy in Appalachian schools, academic disparities in Central Appalachia, and historical marijuana production in Eastern Kentucky. One student is examining the role of visibility and belonging for queer voices in Kentucky transportation policy debates.

The Eller and Billings Student Research Award funds interdisciplinary research focused on the region's sustainable futures. The award is named for longtime UK historian Ronald D. Eller and sociologist Dwight B. Billings. This year's recipients are researching topics including surface coal mining's effects on bird populations, water quality and flooding in Southeastern Kentucky, and the genetics and restoration of rare native orchids.

Award recipients will present their research during Sharing Work on Appalachia in Progress (SWAP) sessions with faculty and students during the 2026-27 academic year. The presentations will be shared with the wider Appalachian studies community.

The awards are part of the work of the UK Appalachian Center, which was established in 1977 to foster community-university partnerships in research, learning and engagement throughout the region. The center will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2027 with a series of commemorative events.