Campus News

Why This UK Professor Strives to Meet Students 'Where They Are'

As an educator, researcher and mentor, Janet Lumpp hopes to advocate for engineering, as well as women in STEM.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 26, 2022) Janet Lumpp has always had a knack for creating solutions to unique challenges.

“My dad was an engineer, and that was why we did a lot of home projects,” she said. “He always took a very analytical approach.”

Eager to follow in her father’s footsteps, Lumpp knew she wanted to be an engineer from the time she was in middle school.

Fast forward, Lumpp is now living out her passion for engineering and research as a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering in the College of Engineering at the University of Kentucky.

Just as her father taught her how to be a problem-solver, Lumpp also serves as a mentor to countless students who are pursuing their own passions. “My philosophy is to meet the students where they are and bring them along.”

And in the process, Lumpp hopes to advocate for engineering, as well as women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math).

“People may not think engineering is very creative — that we’re very structured. But there’s always more than one way to solve a problem,” she said.

“You can tell she really cares about knowing who her students are,” Savannah Lewis, an electrical engineering student, added.

Learn more about how Lumpp is challenging students to find solutions through creativity in the video above.

Photo of Janet Lumpp
As an educator, researcher and mentor, Janet Lumpp hopes to advocate for engineering, as well as women in STEM.

As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.   

In 2022, UK was ranked by Forbes as one of the “Best Employers for New Grads” and named a “Diversity Champion” by INSIGHT into Diversity, a testament to our commitment to advance Kentucky and create a community of belonging for everyone. While our mission looks different in many ways than it did in 1865, the vision of service to our Commonwealth and the world remains the same. We are the University for Kentucky.