FRONTIERS BYU COLLEGE OF PHYSICAL & MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES . FALL 2013
BREAKING THE BOUNDS OF MATH p. 22 Mike Dorais: Turning History to Stone with a Single Gaze p. 14 Resources for Success p. 18 Rethinking the Thoughts of God p. 24
FRONTIERS MAGAZINE
BYU College of Physical & Mathematical Sciences Scott D. Sommerfeldt, Dean Thomas W. Sederberg, Associate Dean Bart J. Kowallis, Associate Dean Kurt D. Huntington, Assistant Dean
Department Chairs Gregory F. Burton, Chemistry & Biochemistry Parris K. Egbert, Computer Science John H. McBride, Geological Sciences Robin O. Roundy, Mathematics Steven R. Williams, Mathematics Education Richard R. Vanfleet, Physics & Astronomy H. Dennis Tolley, Statistics
Frontiers Production Bart J. Kowallis, Editorial Director D. Lynn Patten, Assistant Editorial Director Aimee Hancock, Managing Editor Keyla Rodriguez, Graphic Designer BYU Photography Josh Siebert, Photographer Levi Price, Photographer Caroline Smith, Writer Meg Monk, Writer Carly Huchendorf, Writer Curtis Penfold, Writer Brian Shaw, Writer
Contact Information D. Lynn Patten, Marketing Manager 801.422.4022, lynn_patten@byu.edu
PHOTOS: cover, Josh Siebert; right, BYU Photo
Brent C. Hall, LDS Philanthropies 801.422.4501, brenth@byu.edu
Against All Odds The Department of Statistics has had many successful student athletes this past year. One such student was Ezekiel (Ziggy) Ansah. Ziggy, originally from Ghana, came to BYU on an academic scholarship and tried out for several sports. He didn’t make the basketball team, and track wasn’t the right fit for this 6-foot-6-inch, 279-pound man. Even though he had never played football before, Ziggy made the football team through much hard work and was very successful, both on and off the field. On the day of his graduation from BYU, the NFL Detroit Lions drafted him. He is grateful for the opportunity to continue playing football and representing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and BYU.
DEAN’S MESSAGE
Knowledge has the ability to lead to unexpected places and opportunities. I am always amazed how the knowledge gained in our college can be applied in so many different ways and lead to many different opportunities. I see it happen with Mike Dorais (p. 14) who used his expertise in minerals to authenticate an ancient bronze Roman tablet and with Dawn Gifford (p. 8) whose hard work eventually led to a research job at Luna Technologies, experiences that neither of them would have ever expected to encounter.
4 FRONTIERS
Students in the College have taken the knowledge they gained and excelled. The math team (p. 11) took 7th in the nation in the Putnam Exam, a physics grad student (p. 11) won first place in the first BYU Grad Expo, and three computer science students (p. 11) coded a win at the BYU Association of Computing Machinery. However, our students excelled not only in the classroom but also on the field. Statistics majors Ezekiel “Ziggy” Ansah, Ryan Roundy, and Jared Ward are all student athletes who went above and beyond expectations. Ziggy (inside cover) was drafted by the NFL Detroit Lions and Ryan Roundy (p. 9) was the captain of the rugby team who were Varsity Cup National Champions this year. Jared Ward (p. 11) is an excellent track runner who received the men’s crosscountry team All-Athlete honor for 2012 from the U.S. Track and Field Cross Country Coaches Association. Here at the College, we strive to provide tools and knowledge that can be valuable in many different careers and places in the world. We prepare our students to make the most of the opportunities they have been given and for the opportunities that are to come. I would like to encourage each of you to remember that opportunities are created in part by the possibility of funding for research, made possible by our endowment funds. See our fund grow on p. 13. Wishing you all the best,
Scott Sommerfeldt, Dean
PHOTO: courtesy of BYU Photo
Our alumni (p. 6) are excellent examples of how knowledge can procure unexpected opportunities. We have alumni all over the world, from Germany and New Zealand to New York and Provo, doing everything from researching to raising families. One biochemistry alum is working to understand how hydrogen peroxide is regulated in cell signaling within cellular networks; a computer science alum is researching natural language understanding in dialogue systems; a physics alum is training at the Mayo Clinic in anesthesiology; and a statistics alum recently climbed Mt. Whitney with her family. A mathematics alum tutors math via Skype while raising her new daughter; a mathematics education alum is excited to begin teaching math at Riverton High School; and a geological sciences alum is writing his thesis on improving ash fall forecast maps. From all walks of life but united through the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, our alumni learn and grow, eventually making their way out into the world. Their paths may not always lead where they expect, but they are doing well with the knowledge they gained. I am impressed and grateful for their example of adapting and flourishing no matter where life takes them. Our faculty and staff work hard to carry out our goal for excellence and to help students prepare for the many opportunities that will come their way. Dawn Teuscher (p. 22) developed a new curriculum in an effort to help students understand calculus so they will be more prepared to face future mathematical challenges. This year the Department of Mathematics Education (p. 11) was able to work with professors from Japan to discuss and share different teaching methods. In this fast-paced and ever-developing world, education is becoming critical. Knowledge and its application is where the future lies. I am pleased that our faculty and staff are doing everything they can to provide students with learning opportunities.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PHOTOS: top, courtesy of Mike Dorais; middle, Josh Siebert; bottom, Charles Bell: Anatomy of the Brain, c. 1802
DEPARTMENTS 6
ALUMNI NEWS
8
FRIENDS OF THE COLLEGE
9
COLLEGE NEWS
10
FACULTY NEWS
11
STUDENT NEWS
12
STATUS UPDATE
FEATURES 14
MIKE DORAIS
18
RESOURCES FOR SUCCESS
22
BREAKING THE BOUNDS OF MATH
TURNING HISTORY TO STONE WITH A SINGLE GAZE
22
HELPING STUDENTS, ALUMNI, AND PROFESSORS
A PATHWAY TO UNDERSTANDING CALCULUS
24
14
RETHINKING THE THOUGHTS OF GOD HOW RELIGIOUS BELIEFS SHAPE SCIENCE
24 FALL 2013
5
ALUMNI NEWS
AFTER THEIR ALMA MATER
Chemistry & Biochemistry 2007 | Rebecca Olson (BS ’07, MS ’12 University of Utah; Salt Lake City, Utah) teaches chemistry at Highland High School in Salt Lake City. 2011 | Naomi Martineau (BS ’11; San Diego, California) is pursuing a PhD in biochemistry at the University of California (UC) where she is working to understand how hydrogen peroxide is regulated in cell signaling within cellular networks. Computer Science 1996| Jeff Arnett (BS ’96, BA ’96, MS ’04 National Technical University; Fort Collins, Colorado) is a Microsoft Technologies Evangelist at Agilent Technologies. He is responsible for meeting with Microsoft about its anticipated technology and then working with Agilent to apply Microsoft technology to Agilent equipment that tests electronic signals in various kinds of electronic equipment worldwide. He is currently serving as an LDS bishop and is helping to prepare his area for a new mission and temple. 2007| Casey Kennington (BS ’07, MS ’11 Saarland University, MS ’11 University of Lorraine; Bielefeld, Germany) earned a master’s degree in computational linguistics from Saarland University in Saarbrücken, Germany, and then earned a master’s degree in cognitive science from the University of Lorraine in Nancy, France. He is currently pursuing a PhD in linguistics literature at Bielefeld University in Bielefeld, Germany, where he researches natural language understanding in dialogue systems. Geological Sciences 2008 | Kellen Gunderson (BS ’08, PhD ’13 Lehigh University; Houston, Texas) recently completed his PhD in earth and environmental sciences at Lehigh University, where he researched the active tectonics of Northern Italy. He was chosen as Student Commencement Speaker at the 2013 Lehigh University Commencement. He recently began employment with a New Ventures group of Chevron Energy Technology Company in Houston, Texas. 2011 | Nate Baird (BS ’11; Christchurch, New Zealand) is pursuing a master’s degree in hazard and disaster management at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. He is in the early stages of his thesis, which is focused on improving ash fall forecast maps.
6 FRONTIERS
2012 | Terik Daly (BS ’12; Providence, Rhode Island) received a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship as well as the Geological Society of America’s Stephen E. Dwornik Award for research. He is currently pursuing a PhD at Brown University where he studies impact cratering in the solar system. Mathematics 2008 | Katie Ann Dedrickson (BS ’08; Salt Lake City, Utah) recently returned from Warsaw, Poland, where she worked as a substitute mathematics teacher at the American School of Warsaw. She now tutors math via Skype and FaceTime and is a new mother to a baby girl. Dustin Shipp (BS ’08; Rochester, New York) is pursuing a PhD in optics at the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York, where he researches biomedical applications of light scattering. He hopes to learn more about how individual cells present different characteristics while undergoing processes such as activation, mitosis, and cell death. Benjamin Wright (BS ’08, JD ’13 University of Akron; Akron, Ohio) recently completed law school at the University of Akron and took the bar exam. He is currently completing an internship with Risk International in Akron and Columbus, Ohio. Mathematics Education 2009 | Stephanie Cox (BS ’09, MS ’11; Provo, Utah) received both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in mathematics education from BYU. She is currently putting that knowledge into practice by teaching her children math in everyday activities. 2011 |Brandon Singleton (BS ’11; Sandy, Utah) is pursuing a master’s degree in mathematics education at BYU. His research thesis is focused on teachers’ use of telling practices within inquirybased instruction. He will begin teaching mathematics at Riverton High School this fall. Physics & Astronomy 2000 | Steven Tait (BS ’00, MS ’02 University of Washington, PhD ’05 University of Washington; Bloomington, Indiana), after
MEMORY BYTES In this issue’s Memory Byte, alumnus Bruce Conrad shares one of his experiences of a computer malfunction.
receiving his PhD, spent three years at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart, Germany, as an Alexander von Humboldt postdoctoral fellow. Since 2008, he has been an assistant professor of chemistry and an adjunct assistant professor of physics at Indiana University (IU). He is also a 2013 recipient of IU’s Trustees Teaching Award. 2009| David Brown (BS ’09, MD ’13 University of Texas Southwestern; Rochester, Minnesota) recently graduated from medical school at the University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas, Texas. Afterward, he and his young family moved to Rochester, Minnesota, where he will be training at the Mayo Clinic in an anesthesiology residency for the next four years. Joseph Muhlestein (BS ’09, MD ’13 University of Texas Southwestern; Dallas, Texas) recently finished medical school at the University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas, Texas, and is starting his residency in internal medicine this summer at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. During medical school, he was able to work in a laryngology lab and tested the pressure and flow properties of excised human larynges. Statistics 1982 | Daena Bock (BS ’82, MS ’92; Salt Lake City, Utah) worked as a microbiologist for ten years and then returned to BYU to pursue a master’s degree in statistics. Since graduation, she has worked as a biostatistician for a New Jersey-based contract research organization that caters to pharmaceutical companies. 2007 | David Apple (BS ’07, MBA ’10 University of Utah; Salt Lake City, Utah) is employed as an associate for Goldman Sachs in the private wealth management division. Serena Allred (BS ’07, MS ’10; Tucson, Arizona) is pursuing a PhD in biostatistics at the University of Arizona, where she is researching statistical normalization and measures development in proteomics. She recently received a grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, which funds her research. She and her husband are the chairs of their BYU Alumni chapter, and she recently climbed Mt. Whitney with her family.
Trouble with Technology By Bruce Conrad (Computer Science, BS ’74, MS ’81 University of Arizona; serving with his wife in the Madagascar Antananarivo Mission)
Technology has come a long way from what it used to be. When I was growing up, computers were continuing to develop and oftentimes malfunctioned. I am reminded of a time 40 years ago when I had trouble with a particular computer. At the time I was an undergraduate student at BYU studying computer science. Back then, very few people owned personal computers; I was lucky enough to have a professor who shared his mini-computer, a PDP-8, with students. We had to sign up in advance for 50-minute time slots. Each time my turn came, I would set my notebook on top of the console and start working. After just a few minutes, the machine would crash, and I would have to spend the remaining 45 minutes of my slot trying to get it working again. None of my fellow students were having that problem. I could not figure out what was wrong with my computer. Turns out, my notebook on top of the console was causing the whole thing to overheat and shutdown. Just goes to show that you can’t always blame the computer. Luckily, technology has improved since my days at BYU, and computers are more accessible and userfriendly. These advances have made it easier for students to complete coursework, and they now have more resources available to them. BYU houses dozens of computer labs and hundreds of computers, and that’s not including the hundreds of personal computers that students take with them to campus. Although technology still has problems, it has greatly improved the learning of students.
Have a Memory Byte to Share? When you think back on your time at BYU, what initially attracted you to a major in this college? Tell us about the class or friend or experience that got you hooked. Please send your anecdotes (of up to 200 words) to cpms@byu.edu with "Memory Bytes" in the subject line. We’ll publish the best ones in the next issue of Frontiers. Submissions may be edited for length, grammar, appropriateness and clarity.
FALL 2013
7
FRIENDS OF THE COLLEGE
A WORK IN MOTION Text: Carly Huchendorf and Meg Monk Photo: Josh Siebert
Ever since BYU alumna Dawn Gifford finished her Through her undergraduate work, Gifford discovered her undergraduate degree in physics, she hasn’t stopped moving. passion for optics, leading her to the optics PhD program From the horses she rides at her home in Virginia to the at Rochester. While researching at Rochester, Gifford met fast-paced work she does as the director of technology the chief technology officer of Luna Technologies, who development at Luna Technologies, Gifford never lets recruited her straight from graduate school as a senior obstacles keep her from moving forward. optical engineer. “I always just ignored anything that implied that I couldn’t Gifford quickly moved up from her first job at Luna. do what I wanted to do,” said Gifford. “I had a lot of Within three years, she had been promoted to manager of people that encouraged me.” research and development, and two years after that she Much of that encouragement began at BYU, where was promoted to her current position as the director of Gifford began preparing for her graduate work at the technology development. University of Rochester in New York. As the director, Gifford determines the future of the “I got an excellent education at BYU. I was a little bit technological development of Luna’s products. With her surprised when I got to grad school with how well prepared team, she decides which new features need to be added. I was. I got into these high-level classes, and my classmates Because Luna Technologies is small, Gifford also does a were often struggling. But I found that it was a similar level lot of the development work herself. to my senior courses at BYU.” Luna creates fiber optic test and measurement equipment The professors at BYU were a huge help to Gifford in for the telecommunications industry, as well as equipment determining what she wanted to do in life and where she wanted to do it. “The [research] program I liked in the BYU physics department was fairly small, so I got more personal support and attention. To a certain extent that was confidencebuilding in that I got to do research with Dr. Ross Spencer, and I was able to do some research on my own before diving into grad school.”
"I WAS A LITTLE BIT SURPRISED WHEN I GOT INTO THESE HIGH-LEVEL CLASSES, AND MY CLASSMATES WERE OFTEN STRUGGLING. BUT I FOUND THAT IT WAS A SIMILAR LEVEL TO MY SENIOR COURSES AT BYU."
As a successful director of technology development at Luna Technologies, Dawn Gifford is grateful for her start at BYU.
8 FRONTIERS
for fiber optic strain and temperature sensing. And as Gifford has helped Luna develop these products, she has seen the company through a lot of challenges. Luna was founded during the telecom boom, but they put out their first product during the industry’s bust. “Before I joined Luna Technologies, they had a significant downsizing. They tiered down to where there were only ten of us in the company. So we had to do all of the work in product development, shipment, and final testing.” However, with Gifford’s help, the company not only pulled through but thrived. And moving forward, Gifford sees a strong future with the company as they develop new products that experiment in unfamiliar markets. “I’ve continued to stay with the company because I’ve continued to see a dynamic and growing atmosphere. There continues to be challenges and growth that I want to be a part of.” Gifford counsels current students, “I think you have to have enough confidence and know your own mind and what you want to do. Other than that, just strive for excellence. My path was made fairly straightforward simply by trying to do my best.”
COLLEGE NEWS
CURRENT HAPPENINGS
New Chairs
John McBride was appointed as chair of the Department of Geological Sciences with associate chair Mike Dorais. He replaces Scott Ritter as chair. Greg Burton was reappointed as chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. He was first appointed as department chair in 2010. John Lamb and Adam Woolley will continue to serve as associate chairs. Richard Vanfleet replaces Ross Spencer as the chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy. Grant Hart will serve as his associate chair.
NEW CAREER SERVICES COORDINATOR Richard Ang, director of International Career Services, has been appointed CPMS career counselor. He earned his bachelor’s degree from BYU and master’s degree from George Washington University. He has worked for many years in Asia with organizations such as Reader's Digest, the Church Education System, Singapore Airlines, and Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). Ang has worked for BYU for ten years, during which he has worked with companies in Asia, Latin America, and Europe to create internship and employment opportunities for BYU students. He and his wife have three children and two grandchildren.
NEW STAFFING New Internship Coordinator for ACME
Lisa Winegar is the new alumni and internship coordinator for the ACME (Applied and Computational Math Emphasis) program. Beginning fall 2013, the program will require students to complete an internship as part of their undergraduate program. The goals are to increase the number of internships math students complete, form strong connections with BYU math alumni, and produce math graduates who are sought after by employers. Winegar lives in Orem with her three children and is a BYU graduate in business.
PHOTOS: top, Josh Siebert; bottom, BYU Photo
New CURM Coordinator
Diane Coffman is the new CURM (Center for Undergraduate Research in Mathematics) project manager. CURM promotes undergraduate research in mathematics throughout the nation and provides training of professors as mentors for the undergraduate students doing research, providing funds to assist in the establishment of student research groups, and preparing undergraduate students to succeed in graduate studies and careers in the mathematical sciences. Coffman earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from National University and a master’s degree in educational leadership and foundations from BYU. She has over twenty years of experience in business management and has published three books. Coffman and her husband served for four years in China teaching through BYU’s China Teachers Program and the US/Sino Judicial Training Cooperation.
Richard Ang
CPMS ATHLETES This has been a year of both academic and athletic success in the college. In addition to football star Ezekiel “Ziggy” Ansah (inside cover) and track runner Jared Ward (p. 11), Ryan Roundy is another statistics major athlete. As the BYU rugby team captain, he led the Cougars to their third national title in the last five years at the 2013 Varsity Cup National Collegiate Championship.
Ryan Roundy
New CVLC Members
CPMS welcomes four new members to the College Volunteer Leadership Council: Brenton Web, Dave Noble, John Somerville, and Scott Smith.
FALL 2013
9
FACULTY NEWS
GREAT LEADERSHIP, TEACHING, AND RESEARCH CPMS Faculty Continue Achieving
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY New Faculty: John "J. C." Price received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry at Utah State University in 2001 and his PhD in biochemistry, molecular biology, and microbiology at Pennsylvania State University in 2005. He worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of California, San Francisco. He and his wife have 5 children. New Faculty: Stacy Smith earned both her bachelor’s degree and PhD from BYU in 2007 and 2012. She loves teaching and obtained a PhD to teach chemistry at the university level. Her research includes the structural analysis of materials using X-ray diffraction, absorption, and scattering methods. She spent the year following her PhD at MIT as a postdoctoral fellow. Retirement: After 31 years at BYU, Juliana Boerio-Goates is retiring. She has taught a variety of physical science classes, but especially loved teaching PS100 because she could reach out to students who hated or thought they were bad at science. After retirement she plans to do work for her Catholic parish and pursue an advanced degree in theology or pastoral ministry. COMPUTER SCIENCE New Faculty: Ryan Farrell received his bachelor’s in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California in 2001. After working as a software engineer for Raytheon Systems Company, he earned his master’s and PhD in computer science from the University of Maryland at College Park in 2006 and 2011. He then completed a postdoctoral fellowship with the International Computer Science Institute at UC Berkeley. Retirement: After 31 years at BYU, David Embley is retiring. Since 1982, Embley has taught both graduate and undergraduate courses in database systems and theory, discrete mathematics, information extraction and integration, and the semantic web. He has
10 FRONTIERS
five patents and copyrights and was recently honored with the CPMS Distinguished Citizenship Award.
post-doctoral research fellowship at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.
GEOLOGICAL SCIENCES New Chair: John McBride was recently appointed as chair of the Department of Geological Sciences with Mike Dorais as the associate chair. McBride has been a geology professor at BYU since 2002. His research interests include petroleum exploration and carbon sequestration, dynamic geologic environments, and employing geophysical remote sensing techniques to study the subsurface of the earth.
Retirement: After 32 years of teaching physics at BYU, Harold Stokes is retiring. He joined the physics faculty at BYU in 1981. Since then he has taught a variety of courses, published over 48 academic papers, and contributed to a major reference work.
MATHEMATICS New Faculty: Jared Whitehead graduated in mathematics from BYU with university honors in 2006. He received his PhD in interdisciplinary mathematics from the University of Michigan in 2012. He will begin teaching linear algebra, differential equations, and other applied mathematics and mathematical physics courses. New Faculty: Michael Barrus received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from BYU in 2002 and 2004. He then received a master’s and PhD from the University of Illinois in 2008 and 2009. He teaches calculus, multivariable calculus, linear algebra, and combinatorics. MATHEMATICS EDUCATION New Faculty: Steven Jones received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mathematics from BYU in 2003 and 2005. He earned a PhD from the University of Maryland, College Park in mathematics education in 2010 and then accepted a teaching position at the Sierra Community College in California. New Faculty: Kate Johnson received a bachelor’s degree in math with a minor in neuroscience from Miami University in Ohio and a master’s degree in deaf education from the University of Pittsburg. She recently received her PhD from Michigan State University in August 2013. PHYSICS & ASTRONOMY New Faculty: Mark Transtrum graduated magna cum laude from BYU with a double major in physics and math in 2006. He received both his master’s degree in physics in 2010 and his PhD in physics in 2011 from Cornell University. Transtrum recently completed a two-year
Retirement: After 38 years as a physics demonstration specialist at BYU, Wayne Peterson is retiring. He developed a new system for distributing physics equipment across campus and was actively involved in the American Association of Physics Teachers for many years. STATISTICS New Faculty: Matthew Heaton received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in statistics from BYU in 2006 and 2007. He received a PhD in statistical science from Duke University in 2011. Award: Shane Reese was recently appointed a Fellow of the American Statistical Association. He is one of only five people from Utah to ever be appointed Fellow. This prestigious honor is only given to one third of one percent of the entire ASA population.
STUDENT NEWS
OUTSIDE OF THE CLASSROOM Physics & Astronomy
Mathematics Education This past winter semester, professors from the Department of Mathematics Education and several universities in Japan met together to compare, contrast, and learn from the teaching styles of their respective countries. The collaboration with the Japanese professors allowed them to look at education through a new lens. Some noted differences include lecture length, amounts of homework given, and total class participation during lectures. The collaboration was very helpful to both parties as they work to improve mathematics education. Jenna Mortensen, who was at the time a senior in the math education program, helped with translating and captioning the Japanese videos into English. Mortensen was very grateful for the experience. “Japanese classrooms have a very different feeling, and sometimes the Japanese teachers come at concepts from angles that I never would have considered,” she said. The math education department hopes to continue collaboration with Japanese universities.
Physics graduate student Ben Christensen won first place in the first BYU Grad Expo, sponsored by the Graduate Studies Society. Competing against every department in the university, Christensen’s presentation on creating microphones strong enough to study the sound waves of NASA rockets took the top prize. Christensen’s project was focused on studying ways to control rocket noise to prevent damage to expensive NASA equipment. His research could have positive implications for future NASA technologies. Jackie Corbitt, who graduated from the Department of Physics & Astronomy in 2011 and is now doing graduate work at the University of Washington, recently received a fellowship from the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program. With the help of the NSF Graduate Fellowship, Corbitt is currently studying a type of bacterial secretion system that could assist in the treatment of cystic fibrosis and chronic wound infections. She hopes to receive her PhD in biophysics in 2016.
PHOTO: Japanese professors collaborate on teaching methods.
PHOTO: Ben Christensen presents at the BYU Grad Expo.
PHOTOS: top, Levi Price; bottom, courtesy of Ben Christensen
Chemistry & Biochemistry Dr. Pamela Nge, who earned her PhD from BYU in December, and Chad Rogers, who is a current PhD student, had the opportunity to work with Dr. Adam Woolley as graduate students. Together, the three of them wrote a review on general advances in microfluidics research. This was recently published in the ACS review journal Chemical Reviews.
0101 Computer Science 1010 1
BYU student computer programmers Alyssa Meservy, Paul Draper, and Ryan Stringham won at the BYU ACM (Association of Computing Machinery) Team Coding Challenge in the 2013 winter semester. Each semester, BYU hosts this competition, inviting eight schools across Utah to participate. This winter, BYU was able to host 130 participants—the highest number ever— with the help of the event’s sponsor, Epic.
Geological Sciences
Mathematics
Statistics
This year’s Hamblin Global Field Trip took 35 geology students to Great Britain to explore the birthplace of geology as a scientific discipline. “It is an honor to pay homage to those great minds who came before me and laid the foundation for the work I do now,” said Durban Keeler, a graduate student studying glaciology.
BYU’s math team ranked seventh in the nation in the annual Putnam Exam held in December. Over 40 BYU students participated individually in the competition that included over 400 schools. Of those BYU students, three of them competed as a team and scored in the top 100. The top individual scorer from BYU was Hiram Golze, who was also one of the three students on BYU's team, and he placed 49th out of 4,000 students.
Jared Ward,an undergraduate statistics major, was one of only three BYU students to make the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Academic team. The award requires at least a 3.25 GPA and USTFCCCA All-American status, which he earned by placing 14th at the NCAA National Cross Country Championship.
FALL 2013
11
PHOTOS: bottom left, Levi Price; all others, Josh Siebert
STATUS UPDATE
STAY CONNECTED: Join us this next year Mathematics Ed
ucation
Alumni Break fast •Saturday, October 12 •9:00 a.m.– 11:00 a.m. •3220 WSC
Whether it's been two years or twenty since you graduated, we invite you to rekindle that BYU fire. This next school year, we have several events just for alumni. The departments of the college also host fun, family events. So, reconnect with old friends, give your kids a taste of BYU, and pay CPMS a visit soon.
& Chemistry
try
Biochemis
Week g emsitry onal Ch , BNSN buildin ti a N m 3 1 0 2 YChe , 5 r 21-2 •Octobe y Magic Shows tr is m e h .m. eek C • .-7:30 p emsitryw p 0 6:0 .m .edu/national ch yu , 2013 •chem.b Asplund mistr y w e h tt a he by Dr. M ent of C Lecture f the Departm utler University -B to recipien emistry Nicholes h and Bioc ard 0 p.m. w 013, 4:0 Citizen A October 29, 2 y, •Tuesda NSN B •W140
Compu
ter S
Mathematics Alumni Tailgate Party •Saturday, October 12, 2013, 12:00 p.m. •Room 5519 WSC Pi Day •Friday, March 14, 2014, 12:00 p.m.–2 :00p.m. •Brigham Square Math Camp •June 16–27, 2014. 9:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m. •Register April 7, 2014 at rsvp.byu.edu
cience Alum n •Sat i Apprec u ia •Hin rday, Oct tion Dinn ober ckley er 2 •Wa tch y Center As 8, 2013 , 6:0 our m semb 0 p.m ail fo l r an y Room . invite soon .
0101 1010
Physics &
Astronomy
the stars ws um Sho d watch Planetari comfy chair an able online at a il •Choose chedule is ava fly by. S m.byu.edu. u planetari nd 013 to Astou Sounds er 26 and 30, 2 e of sound with c b n ie m •Nove e the sc monstra xperienc d smashing de e s e te m a o d C n • for more losions a fiery exp sound.byu.edu it tions. Vis . es and tim
12 FRONTIERS
Physics &
Astronomy
ner nion Din mni Reu lu A g in m Homeco ctober 11 O •Friday, cience Center S 0 p.m. •Eyring p.m.–6:3 u.edu 0 :0 4 •Dinner: physalum@by to •RSVP t 4 Astrofes 17, 201 bs/astrosoc/as ay, May lu •Saturd sics.byu.edu/c hy •Visit p date and time r fo t s fe o tr
Chemistry &
Biochemistr Annual H y omecom ing Rece •October ption & D 11, 201 inner 3 •Recepti on at 6:0 , W170 BNSN 0 p.m. •Dinner at •Dr. Julia 6:30pm na speaker a Boerio-Goates w il nd will st art at 7:3 l be the guest BNSN 0 p.m. in W140 Open Lab D •May 20 ay 13 Rex Lee Ru •March 2 n 0 research. 14: Run a 5K to su More info p at rexleeru port cancer n.byu.ed u
STILL GROWING
Hono r Dr. Ph ed Alumn i Near illip Low, B Homecom Easte in Y •Thu rn lan U profess g Lectur e r or of Aisian r: •T11 sday, Octo guages 70 Ta b and lmag er 10, 11 e Buil : Stude ding 00 a.m. n s •Satu t Researc stic h tati •Jess rday, Marc Conferen stics i t dS e Knig h 15 ce a e i t l S p , •8am f Ap , Satu ht Buildin 2014 te o 4 g rday, u t i t Marc Ins 201 h 15 n th mer 20, r tai nce Sum ne 18U " on s •Ju erie 14 eak ar S 24, 20 ill sp ate" n i Sem tober chka w in Clim •Oc ug Ny ncerta •Do ther, U a We
CPMS
Geologi
ca
l Scienc Geolo es gy Alu •Frida m y, Oct ni Field Tr •Sevie ip o r Dese ber 11, 20 13 rt Volc a nics a Alumn nd Ne i otecto •Frida BBQ nics y, Oct •Mus ober 1 eum o 1 , 20 f Pale ontolo 13 Quey gy Hebre w Lec •Janu t a •Che r y 3, 201 ure ck ge ology. 4 byu.e du for Depar time tment Award s Ban quet
CPMS
Physics &
Astronomy
Day Science ber 9, 2013 Girls in vem o N y, a •Saturd .–4:00 p.m. 9:00 a.m nce Center register Scie invited to •Eyring es 5th-9th are rad _ •Girls g ( d e n is e phens te S e online is ct Den • C o n ta byu.edu) @ s n e h step
Last year in Frontiers, we announced two endowment funds that will be used to support undergraduate research and keep our graduate programs competitive. With the help of your donations, we continue to progress towards our goal of $20 million. 10m Ashley Burgess, a recent graduate from the Department of Mathematics Education who is planning on earning her master’s degree here at BYU, is just one of many students 8m who has benefited from a paid mentorship. She worked with Dan Siebert to do research on the effects of alternative methods of math education. 6m “The research is interesting and I decided I wanted to continue doing it,” said Burgess. “It was essentially what pushed me to go to graduate school, which I’m really excited about.” 4m There are many other exceptional students like Burgess who would also qualify and benefit from a mentorship. By raising these funds, we can 2m give more students that opportunity. If you would like to contribute or know somebody who would, please visit cpms. byu.edu/donate, or contact Brent Hall at 801.422.4501 or by email at brenth@byu.edu. UNDERGRADUATE MENTORING
llege
GRADUATE MENTORING
The Co
FALL 2013
13
MIKE DORAIS: TURNING HISTORY TO STONE WITH A SINGLE GAZE 14 FRONTIERS
I
n ancient Greek mythology the mere sight of Medusa could turn a man to stone. Mike Dorais, a geology professor at BYU, may not be able to turn a man to stone with a single glance, but he has the rare talent of seeing history as it has been turned to stone. “Minerals are like tape recorders,” said Professor Dorais, “or like an individual’s family history. Because we can
analyze minerals from core to rim, we can reach back and get a sense of what happened through time as they grew.” Professor Dorais has spent a good portion of his career analyzing minerals in igneous rocks on a very small scale in order to determine their composition and see what they have to say about how our planet has evolved. “Sometimes
Text: Brian Shaw Photo: courtesy of Mike Dorais
FALL 2013
15
we have to look on a very small scale in order to see the big picture,” he said. Occasionally, however, rocks and minerals tell us more than just that. In one case, this included determining the authenticity of an ancient bronze Roman tablet. No, not the kind of tablet you can play games or watch movies on, but metallic plates used as ancient records. “Of course we as Latter-day Saints have a natural interest in metallic plates,” said Professor Dorais, who took the unusual assignment because of his interest in geo-archaeology. “It’s what archaeologists call a military diploma,” he said. “A Roman soldier named Marcus Herennius, upon
retirement, was granted citizenship in the Roman Empire, and this is the record of his military service.” At least, the engraved description on the surface of the plates told as much. However, Professor Dorais was looking for something else—what other kind of story the plates might have to tell beyond what our eyes can see. “They asked me to study the plates to see if the composition of the metal couldn’t tell us something about their history,” said Professor Dorais. “So I went to what I enjoy most—playing with things at the micron scale.” This meant first shaving off tiny fragments of the metal plates, embedding them into an epoxy disk, and then
Mike Dorais working in his lab.
PHOTO: Josh Siebert
"SOMETIMES WE HAVE TO LOOK ON A VERY SM
16 FRONTIERS
MALL SCALE IN ORDER TO SEE THE BIG PICTURE." polishing that down into something suitable for viewing. The results surprised Professor Dorais. “I looked at the image,” he said, “and noticed immediately that something was different. I could see the bronze just fine, but then there were these unexplained blobs of lead.” (Bronze is typically just a mixture of copper and tin.) “At first I thought, ‘well that’s weird, what are those doing here?’” Unsure of his analysis, Professor Dorais began to investigate other scholars’ research in hopes of shedding light on the matter. Only, Professor Dorais didn’t expect to find those insights in the words of a two-thousand-yearold Roman scientist! According to Professor Dorais, Pliny the Elder was “a brilliant Roman” who “wrote on almost everything from botany, to geology, to metallurgy.” While reading from Pliny’s writings, Professor Dorais found the answer he had been looking for. In regards to smelting bronze for use in statues, Pliny wrote, “at the last stage Spanish silver lead [is] added to [the bronze] in the proportion of ten pounds to one hundred pounds of copper. This treatment renders it pliable and gives it an agreeable color.” Seeing a possible explanation for the lead, Professor Dorais sought to confirm his findings. Archaeology publications that analyzed lead in first century coins known to have been in circulation in the Roman Empire allowed Professor Dorais to contrast the bronze in Roman coinage with the metal tablets. The tablet had the same lead isotopic
composition as the coins, indicating that it was derived from ores obtained from the same sources. Electron microprobe analysis of the bronze was also informative. The results showed that the “tin versus copper concentration of the tablet was variable,” said Professor Dorais, “and very different from a homogenous bronze composition like we would make today; whatever they were doing, it involved just grabbing whatever was on hand and throwing it in the mix.” In the end, with the metal analysis of the plates in hand, “we were able use this as evidence, or verification, that this military diploma was a real Roman artifact,” said Professor Dorais, “because it fit with the other Roman artifacts.” Discoveries like these, said Professor Dorais, can be very important in looking at our history. “If you can find where something came from, then you can see the interaction of people across a large scale. Or instead you might find where something did not come from, which opens up a whole new story. Maybe even a more interesting one.” While Professor Dorais doesn’t typically work in the business of determining the authenticity of ancient artifacts, he loves the independence of being able to choose his own research. “My job is the most fun job in the whole world because I can study what is interesting to me,” he said. “To have the freedom to pursue whatever you want makes Monday mornings pretty exciting. I often wake up thinking, ‘Yeah! Let’s have another look at this stuff!’”
FALL 2013
17
RESOURCES FOR SUCCESS HELPING STUDENTS, ALUMNI, AND PROFESSORS Text: Curtis Penfold Photo: Josh Siebert
N
o person is an island in the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences. From the Advisement Center to Career Counseling to LDS Philanthropies, the College is here for your needs, whether you’re a student, alumnus, or professor. With so many programs available to support our affiliates, we’ve decided to help our readers learn a little more about the programs we have to offer and what they are able to do with those programs.
The Advisement Center Whether students need help deciding what classes to take, want over 18 credits, or are on academic probation, the Advisement Center is here for them. From their offices in room N-181 of the Eyring Science Center, our advisement counselors, Shane Jorgenson and Darlene Willey, can assist any student—from those just starting to those ready to leave—in their many academic decisions. “[Some] of the main responsibilities that I have are to help students chart a course towards graduation, figure out the classes they need to take to fill the graduation requirements, how long it’s going to take them—those kinds of things. In addition to that, when students are struggling with school, I talk with them about their different obstacles and solutions and how to overcome and be better students,” said Willey. Our counselors are willing to answer any of the students’ questions and concerns, or at least direct them
18 FRONTIERS
FALL 2013
19
to where they should go to have their questions and concerns resolved. “Most of the time, I have the knowledge because I’ve been doing it for so long,” Jorgenson said. “But initially it was a lot of looking stuff up, and there’s still stuff I have to look up all the time.” However, advising students is not the only responsibility for Jorgenson and Willey. They are in charge of planning graduation convocation ceremonies, helping at new student orientations, and managing the booth at the major fair for the College. Of course, their main focus is making sure students have access to the academic resources they need. “I think we’re underutilized,” Willey said. “I’ve had students in the past come their senior year and felt this was so helpful; they wished they had done it earlier. Some students graduate late because they didn’t come in and ask for help before. I have a student who’s been coming in to see me, and he came in the other day . . . saying how much better he’s doing. He said part of it was the motivation he has in knowing that he would have to come in and talk to me about it. As a result he’s doing really well. That just made me feel good that I’m doing some good just being here, just to talk to.”
Career Counseling One of our college’s goals is to assist our students and alumni in finding employment. Richard Ang, new Career Services Coordinator, strives to meet that goal. He works not only with companies in the United States but also with companies in Asia, Latin America, and Europe to create opportunities for students to participate in internships and find employment. Two of the ways the Career Counseling Center (CCC) reaches out to companies for potential internships and employment is through Science, Technology, Enginering, and Math (STEM) fair. “[We] invite corporations to attend STEM to provide information sessions and interview on campus. . . . [These] are the best time to meet with potential employers and learn more about the companies,” said Ang. “Prior to the fairs, students have to do their homework by researching which companies are coming and what they are looking for. Students need to sign up online with the on-campus electronic recruiting site. We are currently using eRecruiting but will migrate to a new system in Winter 2014.”
"Some students graduate late because they didn't come in and ask for help before."
PHOTOS: Josh Siebert
INSERT PICTURE HERE
20 FRONTIERS
LDS Philanthropies building.
Besides the fairs, the career counselors also help students create resumes and cover letters, learn how to gain experience, and conduct mock interviews to help students develop interviewing skills. They discuss networking with the students and help them to establish their own networks. This process is best begun before the students get too far along in college. “We inform them of resources to research different career paths. We talk to them about what they know about themselves and their job preferences. Assessments are available that can help them understand themselves a little bit better,” career counselor Lisa Christensen said. In addition to talking with counselors, professors, family, and friends, there are classes like Student Development 117 and 317 that can give more guidance to students and alumni in their “career exploration and [in] setting their career strategies.” The alumni association also has a career counselor just for alumni—Scott Greenhalgh. Greenhalgh, who works in room 282 of the Hinckley Center (HC), does networking between alumni and companies and can help alumni whether they’re re-entering the workforce or trying to find a new job or career. No matter where CPMS students or alumni plan to work, experience is critical. Experience can be gained through ways such as internships, part-time employments, and class projects. “The bottom line is experience, experience, experience; [it] is a key element to their success in getting the job they are [looking] for,” Ang said.
LDS Philanthropies The mission of the college is greatly enhanced through the work of two donor liaisons from LDS Philanthropies:
Brent Hall and Curtis Swenson. They are very effective in working with donors to raise money for student mentoring and other college priorities. “I wouldn’t tell them that they should donate to any specific university priority, but I would suggest that there are some things in science and mathematics that they might find really interesting and that might make an impact on the world,” said Brent Hall, head of LDS Philanthropy at the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences. “In science, people understand quite well that science and mathematics are foundational components before products can be developed or before we can really understand our world and environment.”
Research Development To help faculty secure research funding, the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences and the College of Engineering and Technology united to form a Research Development (RD) group. The group, led by Conrad Monson, does funding searches and supports faculty proposal development efforts. “We’re able to identify potential sources that might not be familiar to faculty,” Monson said. A wide variety of resources to aid faculty in securing research funding can be found on the Research Development website (http://researchdevelopment.byu.edu/) that was created by the RD group. The College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences is ready and willing to throw its students, alumni, and professors the academic help they need to keep them afloat. The college will not leave anyone stranded on a desert island with no clue how to succeed.
FALL 2013
21
G N I K S A D E N R B E BOU TH H T A M OF US
CUL L A C NG
DI N A T S DER
N
√
or f end h : Text ly Huch e Smit Car Carolin and : to rt Pho h Siebe s o J
22 FRONTIERS
Find the derivative of
Does this problem have you stumped? If so, you’re not alone. Calculus is a difficult subject to master both for high school and college students. That’s why BYU mathematics education professor Dawn Teuscher, along with a team of researchers at Arizona State University (ASU), is working to make it more accessible. According to Teuscher, many students who come to college to pursue careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields switch paths after failing their calculus course. Teuscher believes that improving mathematics courses prior to calculus will enhance basic preparation and keep students interested in STEM fields. “If students focus and learn the foundational concepts that are necessary for understanding calculus, then they will be successful in calculus and will be able to continue in STEM fields,” said Teuscher. Thanks to a Math and Science Partnership grant from the National Science Foundation, researchers at ASU have developed a curriculum focused on these foundational concepts called Pathways to Calculus. “It’s not really that [Pathways is] a new math. I wouldn’t even say that it’s a new style of teaching. It’s just focusing on aspects of mathematics that research has found students don’t understand and need to understand [in order] to be successful in calculus,” said Teuscher. Although Pathways is not based entirely on new material, there are some small but crucial modifications between the Pathways curriculum and the
Mathematics education professor Dawn Teuscher
OU T Y A HW A PAT
standard curricula that are making big impacts in the classroom. “There are a few differences,” said Teuscher. “One is that 90% of the curriculum is set within a contextual situation that kids can connect with. [Another] difference is that there’s a focus on fundamental concepts that students need in order to understand calculus.” These changes from typical college algebra classes have resonated with students. Pathways recipients remarked that they “enjoyed learning the why of mathematics and how to apply these principles in a real-world setting,” and they appreciated the focus on the fundamentals “that will stick, [as] opposed to formulas that are hard to remember.” Teuscher believes that emphasis on what she calls the five foundations of calculus (function notation, composition of functions, inverse functions, rate of change, and solving functions) helps students to make connections across different types of problems and through progressing levels of math. For example, a lot of students don’t understand how to read function notation, but by familiarizing students with the mathematic language of function notation early
on, these problems seem less foreign when they are applied. The project that started at the college level has spread to public high schools in three Arizona school districts and Nebo School District in Utah. Some of the Arizona high schools have been using the Pathways curriculum for the last three years. The students there are scoring an average of 16 out of 25 on the Precalculus Concept Assessment (PCA). Research showed that students who scored a 12 or higher were successful in calculus (Carlson, Oehrtman, & Engelke, 2010). During the 2013 winter semester at BYU, four of the college algebra sections were taught using the Pathways curriculum while the other two sections used the Sullivan text. Both groups of students had similar averages of pretest PCA scores (Sullivan: 8.84; Pathways: 9.29); however, the average of post PCA scores was significantly higher for the Pathways students (Sullivan: 9.92; Pathways: 16.00). Whether Teuscher and her team analyze college or high school students who are learning from the Pathways curriculum, they find that those who used the Pathways curriculum perform significantly higher on the PCA than those who do not. As Teuscher instructs more high school teachers about the Pathways program, she hopes that these results can spread, bringing more students to STEM careers and increasing student success in calculus.
"If students focus and learn the foundational concepts that are necessary for understanding calculus, then they will be able to continue in STEM fields."
FALL 2013
23
PHOTO: Charles Bell: Anatomy of the Brain, c. 1802
SUMMERHAYS LECTURE GIVEN SEPTEMBER 2012 BY DAVE GRANDY 24 FRONTIERS
RE THINKING THE THOUGHTS OF GOD HOW RELIGIOUS BELIEFS SHAPE SCIENCE
FALL 2013
25
B
righam Young remarked that of all the sciences, astronomy “gives the greatest scope to the mind.” Some may disagree, but no one can deny the sheer vastness of the cosmos, nor its ability to stretch the soul and spark a sense of reverential wonder. Immanuel Kant, whose philosophical deliberations were often keyed to Newtonian science, famously stated that “two things fill the mind with ever increasing admiration and awe, the oftener and the more steadily we reflect on them: the starry heavens above and the moral law within.” Kant wished to show that outward and inner law were a single package: each realm of law, whether that which governs the motions of heavenly bodies or that which regulates correct moral behavior and human happiness, is grounded in reason. Put differently, mind and nature were cognate principles: each was rationally structured and therefore fitted to the other. When consequently the key of the human mind, so to speak, turned the lock of nature, understanding occurred. This is the exhilarating experience of science, and tonight I want to propose that, contrary to common opinion, religion has long been part of the backdrop and motivation for science. This is not to say that there is no tension between science and religion; there is. But historically speaking, when the tension was felt, it was generally deemed creative and constructive. Let me try to illustrate this longstanding synergy between science and religion by rehearsing my own experience. In 1985, I was pursuing a military career, wife and family in tow, and was assigned to Fort Devens, Massachusetts. I began to take night school classes in the history of science at Harvard University. As I got to know some of the major figures of Western science, I was surprised again and again by their deep religiosity. I had grown up thinking that most scientists were atheists: this is the unexamined cliché that now prevails in popular culture. But it did not hold up as I studied Copernicus, Kepler, Newton, Leibniz, Faraday, Maxwell, and Einstein. Even those whom we may now regard as anti-clerical or borderline atheists, like Galileo and
God was mov these men to
26 FRONTIERS
PHOTO: BYU Photo
ving in mysterious ways through the thoughts of o instill in them the ideas for their scientific theory. Descartes, either developed arguments which presupposed God’s existence, or they, like Darwin, sought to relocate the grandeur of God in a nontraditional setting. God was moving in mysterious ways through the thoughts of these men to instill in them the ideas for their scientific theories. None of them were inclined to dismiss God out of hand. Indeed they often felt they were rethinking the thoughts of God, or using God’s thoughts as a benchmark from which to gauge the correctness of their own ideas. As Einstein remarked to a colleague: “When I am judging a theory, I ask myself whether, if I were God, I would have arranged the world in such a way?” Better known is Einstein’s rejection of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics: “It is hard to sneak a look at God’s cards. But that he would choose to play dice with the world . . . is something I cannot believe for a single moment.” Never mind that most physicists now believe that Einstein was wrong in his opposition to quantum indeterminacy. The salient point is that he felt compelled to align his theories
FALL 2013
27
28 FRONTIERS
PHOTO: BYU Photo
to a divine standard, though he allowed that he might err in his apprehension of that standard: “It is hard to sneak a look at God’s cards.” Three centuries before Einstein, Newton had similarly tried to sneak a look at God’s cards and died believing that he really had pulled it off. So did virtually everyone else at the time. Newton’s science is particularly instructive as to how scientific theory is shaped by religious belief, and then how once the theory becomes established, its religious dimension is forgotten. Think of rocket boosters that are jettisoned once a space shuttle achieves altitude. The boosters provide most of the liftoff thrust, but when the shuttle is in orbit, it is able to travel on its own without boosters. Similarly, Newtonian science got off the ground only as Newton engaged questions of religious import, but once it achieved altitude—that is, became consensus thinking in Western culture—those questions were discarded, and Newtonian science was presented as a fully self-contained intellectual system that had nothing to do with God. As Peter Gay put it in his history of the European Enlightenment, thinkers after Newton managed to pass on “Newton’s physics without Newton’s God.” It is not so important what exactly Newton believed about God. The important point is that his belief in God motivated his science. That is why aspects of God show up in his science. This is not obvious at first blush, but scholars agree that Newton’s scientific concepts of absolute space and absolute time issue up from his theological deliberations. Far from dismissing or excluding God, he wanted his science to incorporate God’s active involvement in the cosmos. He consequently determined that God constitutes time and space through his eternity and omnipresence. Further, Newton believed that space and time, correctly understood, allow us to see things as God sees them, albeit from a limited perspective befitting our mortality. Put differently, Newton felt his physics optimizes what potential we possess for understanding nature precisely because it lines us up with the way God sees the world. The work of Johannes Kepler also illustrates the role of religious belief in the genesis of scientific theory. It is easy to misunderstand his three laws of planetary motion as self-contained principles, as if they stem solely from dispassionate observation and calculation. Granted, without Tycho Brahe’s observations and his own heavy calculational
labor, Kepler would not have discovered the laws, but that discovery was anything but dispassionate. Kepler’s question—“Do we ask what profit the little bird hopes for in singing?”—reflected his belief that humans were also made to sing the praises of God’s creation. In 1595 when he hit upon what he thought was the geometric layout of the Copernican solar system, he felt “that he had lifted the veil which hides the majesty of God and [been] given a glimpse into its profound glory.” He wrote, “Now I no longer bemoaned the lost time. I no longer became weary at work; I shunned no calculation no matter how difficult. . . . I vowed to God the Omnipotent and All-merciful that at the first opportunity I would make public in print this wonderful example of His wisdom . . . and sing unanimous praise and glory to the All-wise Creator.” As we look back on this episode, we may reflect that the discovery was ill-conceived because Kepler was still locked into the age-old belief that planets move in circles. All the same, his worshipful enthusiasm for God’s creation motivated years of subsequent effort, culminating with his self-declared “war on Mars” and the realization that the ellipse, not the circle, describes planetary orbits. Once this realization was fully developed, Kepler had his three laws of planetary motion, and the vision those laws inspired transported him heavenward. “I feel carried away and possessed by an unutterable rapture over the divine spectacle of heavenly harmony,” he wrote.
The important point is that [Newton's] belief in God motivated his science. FALL 2013
29
Michael Faraday also saw science as a religious pursuit. Arguably the greatest of the British experimentalists, Faraday had poor math skills. But this seems to have hardly mattered, for he put his faith in Christian scripture, and Romans 1:20 was his scientific polestar: “For the invisible things of [God] from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead.” This passage persuaded Faraday that the objects of our everyday experience—visible things like stars and rocks—originate from an unseen realm
For the invisible things of [God] from the creati world are clearly seen, being understood by th that are made, even his eternal power and G
PHOTO: BYU Photo
of divine action. With this outlook, he was prepared to forge a new vision of nature. This did not happen overnight, of course. It occurred over about three decades as Faraday worked experimentally to understand electricity, magnetism,
30 FRONTIERS
gravity, and light. And faithful to his belief that “the invisible things of God” are intuited through the things we see, he let his laboratory findings—results he could see—disabuse him of scientific understandings that others could only imagine. From a modern perspective, those findings happily compelled Faraday to think more broadly than his contemporaries, who were often content to rely on mathematical models. With James Clerk Maxwell’s help, Faraday’s outlook morphed into the first modern field theory. As the term indicates, field theories embrace relatively large swaths of space and assume that these swaths possess properties that play into particle behavior and sometimes localize as particles. Faraday was the first to step into this strange thought world, one that still resists easy comprehension. Although field theory is now a major aspect of modern physics, few recall how religious belief shaped it in its infancy. Again, the boosters that helped launch the theory have been jettisoned, and we have been given Faraday’s science without Faraday’s God. I have no problem with this so long as we occasionally recall that there is more to the story of science than science proper. It is proverbial that science deals with things that have empirical properties while religion concerns itself with things beyond the reach of empirical apprehension. This, I believe, is an idealization because science is always relocating the boundary between the seen and the unseen. As a child, Einstein was impressed by the way a compass needle invariably swings northward. This taught him, he tells us, that there are unseen forces in the world, that there must be “something behind things, something deeply hidden.” Most people, scientists included, would agree, and as long as this is the case, it will be difficult to keep religion, which also posits the presence of unseen powers in the world, out of the practice of science.
PHOTO: Josh Siebert
ion of the he things Godhead.
Dave Grandy, professor of philosophy at Brigham Young University.
FALL 2013
31
BYU College of Physical & Mathematical Sciences
Brigham Young University, N-181 ESC, Provo, UT 84602
When Brent Kamba heard his mentor, BYU chemistry professor Jennifer Nielson, was going to help Ugandan children learn chemistry, he knew he wanted to help. As a student in Nielson’s lab, he was chosen to accompany her to Uganda for hands-on experience with chemistry teaching. To prepare for the trip, he spent almost a year finding experiments that schools in Uganda could duplicate using local materials. Besides chemistry, Brent also loves volunteering and helping people, especially children and youth. He is a pre-med student and wants to work in pediatrics. His desire to help children, love for performing African drumming, and the fact that his father is a native of Congo attracted him to Nielson’s endeavor. Together, they taught teachers To discuss helping the college with a special gift, contact Brent Hall at 801-422-4501 or email brenth@byu.edu
in Uganda how to integrate experiment demonstrations into the curriculum to enhance learning. “It’s really unexpected to have people donate their resources just so that average people like me can go and do good things,” Brent said. “I’ll always be grateful, and I hope that I’ll be able to do the same; . . . that I can provide the opportunity to others.” Through donations to Nielson’s lab, Brent was able to use his love of chemistry to go forth and serve children in Africa, preparing him for future service in the medical field. We invite you to help us give BYU students similar opportunities to serve others. Donate online at give.byu.edu/cpms.
1450 venue , provo , ut 84604 1450n.n.university universityA avenue
Text: Curtis Penfold; Photo: Sarah Strobel
Your Donations Can Help BYU Students Go Forth and Serve