Research

Registration Now Open for UK’s Food, Energy and Water Symposium Featuring AppHarvest CEO

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University of Kentucky’s Food, Energy & Water Symposium will take place on Dec. 9.
University of Kentucky’s Food, Energy & Water Symposium will take place on Dec. 9.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 18, 2021) — When it comes to food, energy and water systems across the globe, we have more questions than we have answers. How are we going to feed a growing population? How do we generate clean and sustainable energy? How do we improve the management of water resources?

Those questions and more will be discussed and analyzed as part of the University of Kentucky’s Food, Energy and Water Symposium (FEWS) on Dec. 9. The event will take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Jacobs Science Building.

When it comes to the topic of food, energy and water, few in Kentucky are better prepared to address these challenges than AppHarvest. AppHarvest’s founder and CEO Jonathan Webb will headline an impressive roster of local, national and international presenters at FEWS.

“We are thrilled to have somebody with Mr. Webb’s expertise provide a plenary talk at the symposium,” said Eduardo Santillan-Jimenez, program manager at the UK Center for Applied Energy Research and adjunct assistant professor in the UK College of Arts and Sciences Department of Chemistry. “We are equally excited to hear from several other internationally-recognized experts in these fields as well as from undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral scholars here at UK who are conducting exciting research. The nexus of food, energy and water is one of the most important questions of our time, and I am pleased that we can offer a rich dialogue about these issues with the university community.”

FEWS is hosted by UK’s National Science Foundation Graduate Research Traineeship (NRT) program, which provides UK master’s and Ph.D. students an interdisciplinary and international research experience in food, energy and water systems.

In addition to Webb, other presenters at FEWS include:

  • Alice Agogino from the University of California, Berkley;
  • Akinbode Adedeji from the UK College of Agriculture, Food and Environment;
  • Aron Patrick from Louisville Gas & Electric and Kentucky Utilities; and
  • Lindell Ormsbee from the Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute.

FEWS will feature a poster session and breakout sessions. Opportunities to present a talk or a poster are still available. Registration remains open until Dec. 6. You can register at this website.

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.