As a child, Maddy Barrie loved to learn about rocks, slime and human organs.  

“I always had this childlike curiosity because of how my mom raised me,” Barrie said.  

When they weren’t doing science kits together, Barrie and her mom were volunteering in the Chicago area. Those two childhood staples led Barrie to her desire to help people in her career — and public health has proven to be the right field for her.  

Now a University of Kentucky senior studying health, society and populations in the College of Arts and Sciences and a member of the 2025 cohort of Students Participating as Ambassadors for Research in Kentucky (SPARK) Program, Barrie is researching how the Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service has worked to improve public health over the years.  

SPARK trains undergraduate students to conduct impactful research to improve health disparities.  

“Undergraduate research gives students a real-world window into the careers they’re considering,” said Nicole Breazeale, associate extension professor in the Department of Community and Leadership Development. “It’s sparked a passion that led Maddy to consider a future in the health sciences and community-engaged research. That kind of clarity and purpose is one of the most powerful outcomes of undergraduate research.” 

Breazeale is Barrie’s mentor for her SPARK project, which is supported by The Bill Gatton Foundation Grant Challenge Grant, titled “Synergizing Extension Health Partnerships.”   

“This grant project is focused on building stronger partnerships between Extension and health-related organizations,” Breazeale said. “Within that effort, Maddy has been a driving force in helping us learn from the past and imagine new ways Extension can improve health in Kentucky communities—whether that’s human, animal or environmental health.” 

Over the past year, Barrie has studied how Extension programs across the country partner to improve health. For her independent research project, she is interviewing Extension Agents and administrators who were involved in the rollout of HEEL (Health Education through Extension Leadership), an early-2000s initiative that brought health to the forefront of Extension work. Learning from those who did this work in the past helps inform a more sustainable model for the future.  

Breazeale has a passion for qualitative data collection that draws from storytelling methods and techniques, which has expanded Barrie’s research experience.  

"I went from hard science in a bench lab, and now I just want to hear people’s stories,” Barrie said. “It’s so powerful.”  

Maddy used photo-elicitation strategies to unlock important memories and lessons from so many years ago about Extension programming and its implementation process.  

As she prepares to graduate with her bachelor’s degree and move on to her master’s, Barrie is confident that she will continue to do community-engaged research.  

“I can’t see myself doing anything else besides staying in research,” she said. “I almost can’t imagine a future without it.”  

Learn more about SPARK at https://medicine.uky.edu/centers/chet/spark-program. Learn more about The Bill Gatton Foundation at https://alumni.ca.uky.edu/bill-gatton-foundation.  

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Writer: Bailey Vandiver, bailey.vandiver@uky.edu 

University of Kentucky alum and former trustee Carol Martin “Bill” Gatton bestowed a transformational $100 million gift to the college through The Bill Gatton Foundation. It is the largest gift to the university in its history. 

Four Pillars of The Bill Gatton Foundation’s gift are (1) Scholarships and other initiatives for Student Success, (2) Companion Animal Program, (3) 21st Century Capital Projects and New Initiatives Fund and (4) Faculty Research and Innovation/Research Challenge Trust Fund Program. 

The Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment is an Equal Opportunity Organization with respect to education and employment and authorization to provide research, education information and other services to individuals and institutions that provide equal opportunities for qualified persons in all aspects of institutional operations and do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, ethnic origin, religion, creed, age, physical or mental disability, veteran status, uniformed service, political belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, marital status, genetic information or social or economic status.