Synthesis 2023

DEAN’S CORNER

GREATER THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS

COVER STORY

WILKES CENTER

FACULTY

THE U GOES TO GREENLAND

COLLEGE NEWS

THE CROCKER SCIENCE COMPLEX

RESEARCH

RECYCLING NUCLEAR FUEL WASTE

ALUMNI

DISTINGUISHED AWARDEES

STUDENTS

BONES OF THE EARTH

STUDENTS

BROMLEY SCHOLARSHIP

RECOGNITION

DARRYL BUTT

Associate Director of Marketing & Communications: Bianca Lyon

Writer and Editor: David Pace

Designer and Photographer: Todd Anderson

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Prefer only a digital version of Synthesis? Send us an email. office@science.utah.edu

The merger of the College of Mines & Earth Sciences (CMES) with the College of Science ushers in a new era of science at the University of Utah. With the second phase of this momentous undertaking, it is the commitment of faculty, staff, students, alumni, and donors that I recognize with gratitude.

None of this could have been possible without Darryl Butt, former dean of CMES and, as of June 1, the new Dean of the Graduate School at the U. Darryl will now be at the helm of over 200 graduate programs serving more than 8,000 students. I thank Darryl for his leadership and for all of his many contributions to CMES.

Already the collaboration is bearing fruit. Just over a year ago, based on the vision and generosity of Clay and Marie Wilkes, we established the Wilkes Center for Climate Science and Policy to address the challenges posed by a changing climate. The Center, led by faculty members William Anderegg and John Lin, has already made fundamental contributions to the Great Salt Lake Strike Team whose science-based policy recommendations were influential in this year’s legislative action to save the lake.

This winter we broke ground on a new project that together with the Crocker Science Center will form the Crocker Science Complex. The Complex completes the vision of Gary and Ann Crocker and will include the renovated Stewart Building, just north of Pioneer Memorial Theater, and a new 100,000 square foot building extending to the west. The new building will be home to two departments spanning the merged college, Physics & Astronomy and Atmospheric Sciences, and provide a nexus for collaborative and multidisciplinary teaching and research. Virtually every STEM student at the U will take classes in the Crocker Science Complex.

And this is just the beginning! I am truly grateful to be a part of the merged college community, and look forward to working with you in the year ahead. Thank you for your interest and dedication.

Sincerely,

Dean Peter Trapa

DOING CLIMATE

“As I consider the difference I can make for my grandchildren and so many other generations that follow, there is no more important cause,” said entrepreneur Clay Wilkes of climate change at the announcement of the Wilkes Center for Climate Science & Policy in August 2022. The Center is named for him and his wife Marie who, through their foundation, gifted $20 million to the University of Utah.

Clay Wilkes, Founder of Galileo Financial Technologies, a provider of payments and financial services technology, which was acquired by SoFi in 2020, grew up in computer labs at the start of the information and technology age. He says the topic of climate is “the computer science of our day” and that the U “can be to universities what Google and Apple are to the tech world.”

The new Wilkes Center is auspiciously situated. By dint of its geography and

ecology, the state of Utah is a living laboratory for the deleterious impacts of climate change and the potential for innovative solutions based in climate science. “Our ability to address these urgent and immediate problems, locally and internationally,” said Wilkes, “will serve as a model for governments and communities throughout the world. With this new center, the University of Utah is leading by example, and we challenge every other university within the state and beyond to do likewise.”

Now approaching the end of its inaugural year, the Wilkes Center has had an accelerated start, from the establishment of prize money for boots-on-the-ground solutions based on scientific data to student scholarships and from new faculty to the Wilkes Center’s first annual summit staged in May of this year.

As part of its support for the Wilkes Center, the U and the College of

Science have invested heavily during the past year in fields related to climate science and policy. In addition to providing salary and research support packages for the Wilkes Center director and leadership team, the U hired two tenure-track faculty members working in climate-related areas of need. These researchers include experts on air quality and climate interactions and land surface modeling.

This past spring, the U also extended tenure-track offers to four additional climate-focused researchers. Negotiations for these roles will continue into the summer with the hopes the candidates will accept and join the faculty either in January or July of next year. Since these appointments include ongoing salary lines and research start-up packages, the hires represent a substantial longterm commitment by the U to increase the institution’s capacity and impact in climate research.

NEW WILKES CENTER FOR CLIMATE SCIENCE & POLICY IS FOUNDED BY DONORS WHO WANT TO INSPIRE MORE THAN JUST TALKING THE TALK.

SUPPORTING THE U’S DUAL MISSION

The University and College have also made substantial commitments to the stated dual mission of the U: education and research. In these spaces, the College is supporting scholarships and research stipends for undergraduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty members participating in the Science Research Initiative (SRI). This first and second-year program is designed to introduce undergraduates to facultydriven research early in their academic careers and includes several climatefocused research projects. To expand climate research activities, the U also funded graduate and postdoctoral fellowships to support current faculty projects. These graduate students and postdocs play essential roles in research, often doing much of the day-to-day data collection and analysis. Due to an overwhelming response to a university-wide seed grant call, the Office of the Vice President for Research and College of Science together contributed over $90,000 in additional support to fund more projects. The U sees this as a good investment since some previous initiatives have seen up to 17:1 returns in federal research dollars for each internal dollar invested.

the President’s Climate Leadership Commitment designed to achieve carbon neutrality and improve climate change resilience. Randall also announced that the University will accelerate its net-zero pledge completion date from 2050 to 2040. As part of those efforts, the U’s Climate Commitment Task Force continued work on a Climate Action Plan with actionable goals around reducing the institution’s emissions from university operations and preparing for climate change’s current and future impacts. The U also allocated capital improvement funds to install energysaving equipment and infrastructure.

AMERICA’S INLAND SEA

time has nearly run out.” The Strike Team was a joint project with the Utah State University Janet Quinney Lawson Institute for Land, Water, and Air and the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute.

‘DOING CLIMATE’

At the institutional level, the U has continued to expand activities related to its overall climate footprint. President Taylor Randall re-signed

Within the suite of climate activities and outlays, it was the Great Salt Lake Strike Team, which the Wilkes Center helped to chair, that has received the most press. The group’s report was designed to support legislative decision makers as they considered potential policy opportunities for the Lake. “There’s a belief along the Wasatch Front that says that any drop of water that runs to the Great Salt Lake is a wasted drop of water,” Wilkes recounted last August. “We’ve been living that for fifty years. And now

The topic of climate is already manifesting impacts in Utah and throughout the Intermountain West. Not only is the nation’s largest terminal (or endorheic) lake rapidly drying, allowing the “lofting” of potentially hazardous dust, but the mountains around the capital city are plagued by dying forests and temperature inversions in populated basins which trap particulates from even far-away wildfires. The state’s farmers and its residents are currently experiencing water scarcity from the ongoing mega-drought in the Southwest, impacted by and itself contributing to global warming dynamics.

“Doing climate,” intones Wilkes, instead of just talking about climate, is where Utah can lead out, tying

WILKES CENTER CLIMATE SUMMIT

On May 16 and 17, the Wilkes Center for Climate Science & Policy convened over 400 scientists, inventors, business and government leaders, and student researchers in a collective effort to explore the best solutions for a warming planet. The inaugural Science & Policy Summit provided a broad variety of perspectives from different sectors like healthcare, government, and entrepreneurship on the challenges and innovations for dealing with climate change. Along with the awarding of the student innovation prizes, the event also featured pitches from the top five finalists for the $1.5 million Wilkes Climate Prize.

U mathematician Ken Golden delivered opening remarks in which he reminded participants that basic research in math, science, and engineering is the lifeblood of major technological advances and innovations that can accelerate climate solutions and propel society toward a more sustainable future.

More at science.utah.edu

the new Center to other state and university sectors, including the U’s Health Sciences campus. Also fertile ground for collaboration is the U’s David Eccles School of Business with its established imperative for practical solutions that can be incubated, resourced and scaled-up, something the Beehive State is known for and encourages.

“The entrepreneurship piece,” says Peter Trapa, Dean of the College of Science, “is a distinguishing feature of the Wilkes Center. We don’t typically think of entrepreneurship and corporate innovation in the same breath as basic research, but problems of this magnitude require an ‘all of the above’ kind of approach to source impactful ideas.”

President Randall, whom Wilkes often cites as being the engine behind the new Wilkes Center and its growing list of partners, agrees. “Thousands of students from various disciplines will participate in [Wilkes] Center programs each year and have the chance to work with the Center’s research faculty. We will educate a new generation of entrepreneurs and innovators, advance basic and applied research, and address some of the most difficult and important questions posed by climate change. We are grateful for Clay and Marie’s foresight and dedication to this effort.’’ The U’s reduction of its own carbon and energy footprints and established

models for clean energy throughout the state are an important pre-text for actually “doing climate.”

A SUMMIT OF EXPERTISE

Housed in the College of Science, the Wilkes Center, under the direction of associate professor of biology and world-renowned ecologist William Anderegg, is clearly advancing climate deliverables by swiftly laying the groundwork for several programs that have already elevated its reputation nationally and internationally. During the Wilkes Climate Summit that took place in May, for example, international experts addressed a themed set of issues around climate change.

“It’s a really exciting opportunity to bring together a huge amount of the expertise that we have across campus and generate practical and innovative solutions to one of the most pressing challenges in the 21st century,” says Anderegg. “A key part of the Center is to provide tools and evidence for making decisions. We want to get the best science in the hands of decisionmakers and policymakers.

The summit also featured presentations from the finalists of the Wilkes Center Climate Prize at the University of Utah, an $1.5 million international award given to a project with demonstrable potential to have a scalable impact on communities, economies, or ecosystems. The Wilkes

Prize winner will be announced on September 22.

A DEFINING CHALLENGE OF OUR TIME

As with the integral and integrated components of climate and the environment, the Wilkes Center is already energizing, informing, and leveraging the work of the College of Science and its recent merging with the College of Mines & Earth Sciences. A new Earth and Environmental Science major is attracting students who are looking for quantitative studies directly linked to what Anderegg has called “one of the defining challenges facing humanity in the 21st century.”

The Wilkes Center is also a serendipitous complement to the already established SRI which places first-semester undergraduates into a

research setting so that students can learn by doing from their freshman year on. New SRI research tracks, or “streams”—from Pollinator Networks to Big Data for Climate Science and from Urban CO2 Emissions to Seed Ecology—are being added and facilitated by the new teaching labs and classrooms on the third floor of the Crocker Science Center, part of the new Crocker Science Complex that will encompass the Applied Science Project, currently under construction and slated for completion in 2024. The Project involves retrofitting the historic Stewart Building and erecting a new structure, which will serve as the new home for the Physics & Astronomy and the Atmospheric Sciences departments. The Wilkes Center will then move to the new facilities as well, closing the loop, as it were, of the College’s half centuryplus ethic for scientific inquiry and

innovation, now as it relates to the climate challenge.

In accord with the “One Utah” campaign to be the university for the state of Utah, the Wilkes Center is, of course, ultimately about the people of the state and the world beyond. Its parameters are porous ones, outwardlooking and poised for collaboration within the U, the state and the global community wherein climate, dynamic and complex as it is, fully animates.

“Our state stands to benefit directly from the important work the Wilkes Center will be conducting,” responded Utah Governor Spencer Cox, “— not only from the standpoint of Utah’s people and environment, but from the national and global leadership in science-based policy and business innovation the University of Utah can demonstrate. As people around

the globe seek solutions, the world’s eyes will turn to the Wilkes Center for Climate Science and Policy.”

“When other eight-year-olds were out playing,” Wilkes reminisced, “I was riding my bike to the University of Oregon and hanging out in the computer labs in the early days.”

If climate science is the computer science of our day, as Clay Wilkes believes, it stands to reason that the critical mass that is the Wilkes Center could potentially be a climate science vanguard to every university and every state in the Union.

Wilkes continued, “Utah can become a leader not just in terms of what the amount of the Wilkes gift [is] or what is the amount that the University of Utah is willing to spend on climate, or how much policy money the U of U can generate by virtue of its involvement in climate influence from the state of Utah, but it can [also] influence nearly every other state as they follow suit.”

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Admittedly selective in their philanthropic giving, Clay and Marie Wilkes are motivated to make a

difference for their children and grandchildren and have thus taken on the challenge of climate change. Through The Red Crow Foundation, named for Marie’s third greatgrandfather, a chief of the Blackfeet Nation, they say, we are “putting our name on something that would have to mean something.’’ The Wilkes Center for Climate Science & Policy “is the most important thing that we will ever do.” <

THE U GOES TO GREENLAND

Faculty members Rajive Ganguli and Michael G. Nelson and their team in the U’s Mining Engineering Department were selected for a $1.2M cooperative agreement to assist Greenland with mine training.

Partnering with the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the team possesses decades of mining and training experience in the northern lands of the world’s eight northernmost countries (a.k.a, the “Arctic Eight”). Together they will assist the KTI Råstofskolen, Aatsitassalerinermik Ilinniarfik or KTIR (Greenland School of Minerals & Petroleum) in advancing its training capabilities to address the growing mining sector in the

Founded in 2008 in the city of Sisimiut, situated among picturesque wide valleys and steep mountains in central-western Greenland, KTIR ensures a skilled workforce for the Greenlandic mining and construction industries. The school offers students international courses and apprenticeship programs.

The goals of the project are to advise KTIR on the design and construction of an underground mine training facility (UMTF) by developing six courses that enhance KTIR’s training offerings for the mining sector, provide training in mine search and rescue, and to familiarize KTIR and government stakeholders with major

The team will view plans for UMTF at the school, advise on funding and operating the facility in the circumpolar north, and provide experiential learning in two different areas (underground mine construction and mine search and rescue) among other activities, including curriculum development.

The activities will have three major impacts: expanding KTIR’s capacity in terms of facility, expertise and curriculum; seeding world class content and practices into KTIR training; and ensuring that training facilities, curriculum and expertise are highly relevant to Greenland. <

THE COLLEGE’S NEW APPLIED SCIENCE PROJECT LEADS ‘TO COMMERCIAL INNOVATION, LEADING TO BETTER JOBS AND BETTER COMMUNITIES.’

The Applied Science Project is a $93.5 million undertaking that includes renovation of the historic William Stewart Building and a new 100,000-square-foot building with modern teaching labs and state-of-the-art research facilities. The completed spaces will house

world-class scientists addressing the country’s most urgent issues, including energy, air quality, climate change and water management, provide additional classrooms, lab space and experiential learning opportunities for crucial undergraduate STEM courses.

“Utah is growing, and we need to expand,” said U President Taylor Randall to a crowd of over a hundred and fifty at the Applied Science Project groundbreaking ceremony

DEPARTMENT & SCHOOL LEADERSHIP

on February 10. “This project will help us increase capacity to educate new generations of STEM leaders and provide the expertise to sustain Utah’s STEM economy to keep Utah vital.”

OF SEMICONDUCTORS AND QUANTUM MATERIALS

The Departments of Atmospheric Sciences, Physics & Astronomy and the Wilkes Center for Climate Science & Policy will relocate to the new facility upon its completion in late 2024. Researchers will use the facilities for a

BRENDA BOWEN Atmospheric Sciences (as of July 1)

MATTHEW SIGMAN Chemistry

WILLIAM JOHNSON Geology & Geophysics

FRED ADLER Biological Sciences

Dignitaries at Applied Science Project groundbreaking on February 10. Photo by Harriet Richardson

range of activities, such as forecasting hazardous weather, predicting the Wasatch Front’s winter particulates and summer ozone, developing new advances in semiconductors and quantum materials and managing the Willard Eccles Observatory telescope at Frisco Peak.

The partnership between these departments is a component of the merger between the College of Science and the College of Mines and Earth Sciences, announced last year.

“The collaborative and interdisciplinary nature of this project will bring together faculty and students who will work together to address the grand challenges of our day and make great advances in fundamental research,” said Peter Trapa, dean of the College of Science.

The project will boost the capacity for crucial undergraduate courses, allowing departments to address record STEM enrollment. Classes taught in the buildings are necessary for thirty-seven different STEM degree programs and nine pre-professional

programs, including all engineering, pre-medical, and computer science majors. Along with access to modern experiential teaching spaces, students will avoid bottlenecks in high-demand courses, helping reduce graduation time.

CATALYST FOR LEARNING

“The Applied Science Project will be a home base, a catalyst for learning and innovation in the 21st century, and will touch thousands of lives,” said dean of the College of Mines and Earth Sciences Darryl Butt who was named dean of the Graduate School. The Utah State Legislature

Gary and Ann Crocker, the complex will form a dynamic interdisciplinary STEM hub on the east side of campus.

“In the end, when all is said and done, the core objective of philanthropy has always been the impact that a gift might have on individual lives. Ann and I know very personally that the College of Science is the pivotal portal in this state through which students wishing to enter the sciences and science-based professions must pass,” said Gary Crocker. “Ann and I have seen this virtuous cycle. Science leading to commercial innovation, leading to better jobs and better communities.”

In addition to the Crockers, President

approved the project in 2020 and the state appropriated $64.8 million in funding for the project. Both the university and the legislature consider the project a high priority because it supports the state’s STEM economy.

When completed, the Crocker Science Center and the two buildings in the Applied Science Project will form the Crocker Science Complex. Made possible by an $8.5 million gift from

Randall, and Deans Trapa and Butt, the groundbreaking held in the historic Thomas Building (now the Crocker Science Center) included guest speakers former Utah governor Gary Herbert and President Henry B. Eyring from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints and a physics alumnus.

WEATHER AS IT HAPPENS

Also on hand were department

MICHAEL FREE Materials Science & Engineering

CHARLES KOCSIS Mining Engineering CARSTEN ROTT Physics & Astronomy (as of August 1)

TOMMASO DE FERNEX Mathematics (as of July 1)

chairs Christoph Boehme (Physics & Astronomy) and John Horel (Atmospheric Sciences), the latter of whom, detailed some of the buildings’ features: a 300-seat auditorium, multiple screens and seating designed for desktop and laptop computers in one of the classrooms to help students visualize complex topics in upper division and graduate classes. Instrumentation and a classroom on the roof are designed for hands-on instruction. “Students will be able to watch and monitor the weather as it happens,” said Horel.

Additionally, research groups will occupy seven labs and include the greenhouse gas calibration facility and cloud physics, air chemistry, and instrumentation labs. Faculty and students involved in the Utah Weather Center will use the video wall located in the Wilkes Center for Climate Science & Policy to describe past, current, and future weather and climate events.

For Physics & Astronomy, a new domed observatory will be positioned atop the new location where K-12 groups will continue to peer through a high-powered telescope into the night sky during weekly “star parties.” Nearby, in the cold room chamber in Professor Tim Garrett’s cloud physics lab, the general public will participate in hands-on demos. And, when the weather cooperates, people will head outdoors to chat and relax on the extensive patio and in the nearby botanical “Cottam’s Gulch,” together the centerpiece of the Complex just north of Pioneer Memorial Theatre. “The move of the Department of Physics & Astronomy,” says chairman Boehme, “is planned to take place in different phases, starting in December 2023 . . . following the successive completion of different building components.”

At the U, a celebrated R1 university, we say discovery is in our DNA. Specific to the Applied Science Project housed

in the Crocker Science Complex, it’s in more than that. It’s in our instrument towers and observatory atop the new and refurbished buildings where virtually all STEM students will learn not only by traditional lectures but by doing. Discovery is indeed in our classrooms and labs on the expanding footprint of STEM education and research at the College of Science. And soon, so too will be the applied innovations of those discoveries. <

The Applied Science Project will play a pivotal role in the U’s vision to meet our region’s growing workforce needs.

Equally as important, the project will offer exceptional educational experiences in spaces designed to cultivate creativity and exploration.

We invite you to get involved. For more information, contact: travis.mcmullin@utah.edu

RECYCLING NUCLEAR FUEL WASTE

DESPITE HAVING COMMERCIAL NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS SINCE THE 1970s , THE U.S. HAS LONG GRAPPLED WITH WHAT TO DO WITH THE HIGHLY RADIOACTIVE SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL WASTE PRODUCED BY REACTORS.

“Recycling nuclear fuel is key to making it a sustainable source of energy with a low impact on the environment,” U metallurgical engineering professor Michael Simpson says. “We need to get beyond the approach of throwing away this valuable resource.”

The technical goals of Simpson’s project, recently funded to the tune of $1.5 million by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), are to demonstrate nearly complete dissolution of spent oxide fuel in a molten salt followed by near complete electrochemical recovery of uranium/transuranic waste (U/TRU) that can be used to make new fuel for advanced nuclear reactors. Achieving complete dissolution of the fuel is key to enabling the process to be safeguarded against proliferation of U/TRU.

While France has carried out recycling of their spent fuel since 1958 using a process called PUREX, there is great opposition in the U.S. to using this technology because of the potential for it being misused to separate pure

plutonium that could be used to build nuclear weapons.

“Pyroprocessing,” an alternative technology involving high temperature chemical reactions in a molten salt, has been used in an Idaho reactor for over twenty years to recover U/TRU actinides (radioactive and extremely unstable metallic elements in the periodic table) from metallic fuel. While PUREX works on oxide fuel, actinide recovery from pyroprocessing has only been accomplished to date using metallic spent fuel (U-Zr alloy based).

Experts generally agree that separation of pure plutonium is not feasible using pyroprocessing.

Simpson and Jarom Chamberlain, a PhD student who recently defended his dissertation, came up with an idea on how to chlorinate uranium oxide in molten salt that could greatly simplify the process for extracting U and TRU from spent nuclear fuel. The approach was based on a paper from Japanese researchers published in 2005 that had not received further attention. Chamberlain’s success on improving the process earlier this year became the foundation for the proposal that Simpson submitted to the DOE’s Advanced Research Projects AgencyEnergy (ARPA-E) earlier this year, resulting in the grant. <

Excerpted from the U College of Engineering website.

Jarom Chamberlain (metallurgical engineering Ph.D. student) holds a depleted uranium oxide pellet of the same size as commercial nuclear fuel pellets while Prof. Michael Simpson looks on.

FOUNDERS DAY 2023 DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI

The University of Utah Office of Alumni Relations annually presents its Founders Day Distinguished Alumnus/Alumna Awards to alumni for their outstanding professional achievements, public service, and/ or commitment to the U. This year, all four recipients of the award, given out March 1, stemmed from the College of Science. (A fifth individual is presented as an “honorary alum” who has contributed significantly to the advancement of the U.)

MUSICIAN TRAPPED IN SCIENTIST’S BODY

Clifton Sanders PhD’90, arrived in Salt Lake City from Baltimore via the University of Michigan in 1977.

During his appearance as the featured speaker at the Hugo Rossi Lecture Series on March 15, he detailed what it was like to be one of very few Black residents in Utah. Even so, his experience in the Department of Chemistry was generally a positive one. Today, he is the Provost for Academic Affairs and Chief Academic Officer of Salt Lake Community College, overseeing the education of more than 61,000 students annually.

A saxophonist like his father, Sanders has been called “a musician trapped in a scientist’s body.” “I look at playing music almost as a research program, just like a scientist would,” Sanders says. “There are little experiments you do and in the craft you figure out … how to make it work.” For the past five years, Sanders has volunteered as a mentor for the U’s African American Doctoral Scholars Initiative, providing a scholarly community and educational services to prepare Black PhD students at the U for academic, industry, and entrepreneurial careers through mentoring, advising, and professional development. Recently, he’s back with his sax, appearing locally with the George Brown Quintet known for its unpretentious, “killin’ straight ahead” jazz.

ARMY ‘BRAT’-TURNED

RENOWNED NEUROSURGEON

“Utah is now complimented for its ‘connectedness,’” says J. Charles Rich BS’62 MD’65

“—a culture where so many have known each other for so many reasons over so many years. The University of Utah plays a central role in providing that valuable resource.”

Rich served as president of both the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and American Academy of Neurological Surgeons and was vice chairman of the American Board of Neurological Surgery.

He was also a neurosurgical delegate to the American Medical Association House of Delegates and was chief medical officer of the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympic Games before joining the Utah Sports Commission Board of Directors. Rich was president of the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine’s Alumni Association for eight years, a member of the U Alumni Board of Directors for three years, a neurosurgical consultant to the U’s Athletics Department, and a member of the Crimson Club Board of Directors.

A self-identified “army brat” growing up during WWII, Rich, a biology graduate who went on to medical school at the U, also served with his family as a foster family for basketball student-athletes and has contributed to athletic scholarships for many years.

MOVING MOUNTAINS

Anke Friedrich BS’90 MS’93 is an endowed professor of geology at the LudwigMaximiliansUniversity of Munich where she established a Master’s degree program in geology, led international student field trips involving U students, and set up student exchange programs with several international institutions, including the U. “I benefited enormously from the vibrant and collegial environment at the University of Utah,” she says, “both as a student-athlete and a geology major. Therefore, I am very grateful to my former ski coaches, faculty mentors, and fellow students for their tremendous support and friendship over the years.”

An adjunct professor at the U’s Department of Geology & Geophysics, Friedrich received the department’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2019. She played a crucial role in establishing one of the world’s first continuously operating spacegeodetic networks which served to

monitor the tectonic activity around Yucca Mountain, the then-proposed nuclear waste repository site.

Friedrich volunteered for the Salt Lake Olympic Games in 2002 before moving to Potsdam and helping to establish the first research group in Active Tectonics at a geological institute in Germany. As a student, she was a member of the U’s Ski Team, earning All-American honors by winning three individual NCAA championships in giant slalom and slalom.

CATALYST FOR EDUCATION AND GROWTH

James S. Hinckley BS’71 MS’77 is chairman of the Hinckley Institute of Politics Board of Directors and Investment Committee, positions he has held since 1990. Both he and his wife Lyn Hinckley BS’73, a former elementary school teacher and, currently, a community advocate for the U’s McCluskey Center for Violence Prevention, received the award. Graduating with his bachelor’s in biology, Jim joined the family

ATMOS 75TH ANNIVERSARY

Earlier this year, the Department of Atmospheric Sciences celebrated its 75th anniversary at a special event hosted on campus. Chair John Horel emceed the event, which recognized the department’s legacy and leadership on critical issues such

as air quality and snowpack. Guest speakers included faculty emeritus Jan and Julia Nogues Paegle as well as staff emerita Leslie Allaire and faculty member John Lin. Three other former chairs were present, including Kevin Perry, Jim Steenburgh, and Ed Zipser

business early on selling cars. He was a member of the Chrysler Corporation West Region Dealer Council 1982 through 1990 and the Chrysler Corp. National Truck Advisory Board from 1988 through 1992. He was president of the Utah Automobile Dealers Association from 1988 through 1989 and was inducted into the Utah Automobile Hall of Fame in 2013.

An alumnus of what is now the College of Science’s School of Biological Sciences, Jim is a sustaining member of the U’s National Advisory Council and has been a member of the Natural History Museum of Utah’s Board of Advisors since 2018. “I love learning and sharing my enthusiasm for knowledge by creating opportunities for education and growth,” he says. “My involvement in both academic and community-facing organizations at the U has allowed me to engage with and support students of all ages throughout their educational journeys.” <

Are you an alumni of the newly-merged College of Science | College of Mines & Earth Sciences?

We want to hear from you. Contact us at office@science.utah.edu to share your story.

who generously provided a matching donation for all gifts donated to the department during the U’s annual Giving Day campaign. Now they look forward to the next 75 years.

BONES OF THE EARTH

by LAUREN WIGOD Writer Intern

“THERE’S ALWAYS BEEN THIS IDEA THAT MY FAMILY HAS A RELATIONSHIP WITH THE BONES OF THE EARTH,” says Kevin Mendoza. The graduate student in the Department of Geology & Geophysics descended from the developers of the Nacia mine in Chihuahua Province, Mexico. He recalls as a child his grandmother showing him jars of rocks from the mine given to her by her father, one of the only possessions she took with her when she immigrated to the States.

A PhD candidate in geophysics, Mendoza is the recipient of the 2023 University of Utah Teaching Assistantship Award. Mendoza received the award for his contributions to geoscience undergraduates. He used the assistantship to develop Python programming-based core curriculum.

MAGNETOTELLURICS

Although his ancestors have been students of the earth for generations, Mendoza is the first in his family to study it academically. His background prepared him to do a different type of prospecting: for electrical fields underground. His research under the late Philip Wanamaker operates in the niche field of magnetotellurics (MT), which uses natural underground

electrical currents to study the structure of Earth. MT is such a specific subfield of geophysics that there are only a handful of programs across the country, including at the U. “What I do is use solar wind and lightning to basically CT scan the deep earth,” summarizes Mendoza. From the results of this “CT scan” he can measure the water contained in the geologic water cycle, which has important consequences for plate tectonics. One of the advantages of MT is that it is more sensitive than other techniques such as seismology. “In some situations, like looking for critical battery metals and hidden geothermal resources, MT is one of the best methods for exploring mineral structures.”

Operating in the field of MT, Mendoza’s data comes from monitoring the voltage and magnetic field in the deep earth with sensors deployed on the surface. In the field, these sensors are set up by placing magnetic coils and wires stretching along cardinal directions and occasionally a coil pointing upwards. These sites are left to collect data for a few months at a time before they are relocated. Since the equipment is portable and non-invasive, MT sites are placed virtually anywhere that’s interesting geologically.

PUTTING CARBON BACK UNDERGROUND

While his dissertation is focused on more fundamental aspects of plate tectonics across the western U.S., Mendoza believes these findings can

have application elsewhere. “Two of the biggest challenges we face with climate change are how to transition to a carbon-free economy and how to put carbon back underground. The tools I’ve developed and am developing can directly help these efforts by monitoring how stable our sequestered carbon is, or assessing the likelihood that critical metals like copper, cobalt, and lithium are in rocks hidden by deep sediment cover.”

Mendoza knows from firsthand experience that mastering the science is only half the battle for many

students from underrepresented backgrounds. He grew up in East LA where he learned how to navigate the daunting paradigm of higher education that can be insular to nontraditional students. “Learning to ‘gobetween’ is a skill that’s essential for just having a community, and I think bringing that here made it really easy for me to understand when students are struggling,” Mendoza says. He has earned multiple prior teaching awards, including the National Association of Geoscience Teachers Outstanding TA Award, 2022.

AN ALREADY BIG UNIVERSE IS GETTING BIGGER

To study dark energy, the mysterious force behind the accelerating expansion of our universe, scientists are using the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) to map nearly 40 million galaxies, quasars, and stars. Recently, the collaboration publicly released its first batch of data, an 80-terabyte data set, with nearly 2 million objects for researchers to explore.

“Besides advancing our understanding of cosmology,” says Zheng Zheng also a member of the department, “the unprecedentedly large set of spectroscopic data from DESI encode a wealth of information for us to investigate the activities around the supermassive black holes in galaxies, to study galaxy formation and evolution, and to probe the circumgalactic and intergalactic medium.”

Kevin Mendoza has come a long way since his geology lessons with his grandmother’s Chihuahuan rocks, and it has informed the legacy he is now leaving with students familiar with the challenges he has faced. The teaching award is an acknowledgment that the paradigm can shift, that the earth can move. <

program and demonstrate that we can do significantly better in characterizing quasar spectra,” says U graduate student researcher Allyson Brodzeller.

The Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory manages the experiment, and the DESI collaboration is honored to be permitted to conduct scientific research on Iolkam Du’ag (Kitt Peak), a mountain with particular significance to the Tohono O’odham Nation.

The data release is now available for free through the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center.

Excerpted from an article by Lauren Biron

“This new sample represents the first science-quality data taken with this powerful new instrument,” says U Professor of Physics & Astronomy Kyle Dawson, one of the two primary leads of the survey validation effort and DESI co-spokesperson.

Key aspects of survey validation included software to automatically classify tens of millions of stellar, galaxy and quasar spectra over the next five years. “By studying these new quasar spectra, we were able to upgrade the models from a previous

SANDRA J. BROMLEY SCHOLARSHIP

PROVIDING A ROLE MODEL FOR NEW GENERATIONS

The Sandra J. Bromley scholarship is a full-tuition scholarship for undergraduate students in the College of Science. It provides in-state tuition for eight semesters which allows each recipient to complete their degree.

by JULIA ST. ANDRE & CJ SIEBENECK Writer Interns

ELIZA ROBERTS

is a freshman at the U, pursuing a degree in applied math and physics, with an emphasis in astronomy and astrophysics. The scholarship “has truly allowed me to focus more on my classes, and even take classes that I wouldn’t have taken otherwise,” she says. “I don’t have to worry about the financial aspects of college like I was fully intending to, which means that I can explore my passions and dedicate my time to learning.”

Roberts works as a math tutor in the TRIO office. One of her proudest accomplishments was receiving her Girl Scout Gold award, for which she focused on creating a safe backyard space for adults with disabilities.

She makes the most of her time at the U participating in LEAP classes, a yearlong learning community for entering students, and even discovering topsecret nap spots on campus. “I love the entire vibe of the university.”

DANNON ALLRED

just completed his sophomore year at the U. A passionate learner, he is studying physics with an astronomy emphasis. “There’s just a lot in astronomy that spikes my curiosity; there’s a lot that’s unknown, and [outer] space is simply beautiful.”

“Obviously, one of the most daunting things about college is paying for it, and that’s a lot of stress that most students have to deal with.” The scholarship helps immensely.

On top of his astrophysics studies, Allred has been involved in several research projects on campus. “In my freshman year, I was part of Dr. Boehme’s lab as part of the Science Research Initiative doing research on Organic Light-Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) using spintronics. This spring, I did an introductory research project analyzing the spectral emission features of the Sombrero Galaxy with Dr. Anil Seth.”

MICHAELA FLUCK

researches neural circuits that affect stress, fear, and social behavior.

“I’ve always been interested in neurobiology, since I was a kid. I’ve had family members who’ve had strokes and other brain injuries.”

A biology major with a psychology minor, she has found the study of abnormal psychology to be a passion.

Fluck was inspired to become a doctor by her patients at Primary Children’s Hospital where she works as a phlebotomist. “Helping [kids] work through procedures is honestly one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done.”

She loved taking an acting class at the U which relieved the stress of being in STEM and harked back to her time in high school, especially her appearance in the musical about daring to venture Into the Woods.

KEEGAN BENFIELD

graduated this year with a BS in both mechanical engineering and physics. While at the U he focused on humanitarian efforts, volunteering with Youthlinc in its Real Life program. As president of the U’s marksmen club, he attended collegiate events at the national and junior level.

He researched condensed matter physics in the Deemyad Lab which focuses on theoretical physics, especially the physics of matter at extreme conditions of temperature and pressure. Introduction to Relativity and Quantum Mechanics “was an ‘ahha!’ class,” he says. “I have learned and expanded my knowledge in ways that amaze me. Who knew I could do that?”

Benfield recently completed a summer internship at Cosm where he developed educational programs for planetariums using Digistar 7, which features full-dome programs and production services. <

ROLE MODELS FOR THE FUTURE

THE BROMLEY SCHOLARSHIP IS FUNDED THROUGH THE GENEROSITY OF RAY GREER, BS’86, IN MATHEMATICS.

Each year, a freshman student is selected as a new Bromley scholar, and rolls into the program, while a senior student graduates. Peter Trapa, dean of the College of Science says, “The cumulative effect for the student is truly profound.”

“I have had the pleasure of meeting and getting acquainted with the undergraduates as they progress through their academic goals, and it is always a pleasure,” says Greer. “In all I have done throughout my life, this has been one of the greatest and most rewarding experiences I have had the opportunity to be a part of.”

Named after his late mother who enjoyed a successful career as a technical illustrator in the U’s College of Mines and Earth Sciences, the scholarship requires continuous attendance from each of its recipients.

“My mother was the single greatest influence in my life,” says Greer. “She taught me the value of hard work and perseverance. She also insisted that college was not optional you just did it!”

Greer enrolled at the U in 1981 and was initially interested in computer science and engineering but eventually found a home in mathematics.

Greer has more than forty years of experience in logistics and transportation industries. In 2018 he was named CEO of Omnitracs, an international, billion-dollar company that provides logistics to support drivers and their organizations to be compliant, safe and efficient.

“Math is universal,” says Greer. “Most importantly it teaches you discipline and persistence to work a problem until it is solved. That process of critical thinking and problem-solving has served me well throughout my entire career.” <

Ray and Jill Greer along with Allred, Fluck, Benfield and Roberts. Photo by Matt Crawley.

FINDING ONE’S ‘PROFESSIONAL SELF’

A CELEBRATED, INTER-DISCIPLINARY EDUCATOR

WHERE DOES A SKILLED PAINTER, CELEBRATED INTERDISCIPLINARY EDUCATOR AND DEAN OF A COLLEGE GO TO ADVANCE THEIR CAREER? In the case of Darryl Butt, he becomes the dean of the graduate school. University of Utah Provost Mitzi M. Montoya announced in March that Butt has accepted the offer. He ascended to his new role on June 1.

Also the current Director of the Center for Multi-Scale Fluid-Solid Interactions in Architected and Natural Materials Energy Frontier Research Center, Butt promotes a de-silo-ed approach to looking at research problems and projects. Using a “flipped classroom” model and a dynamic (as in changeable, by all involved) syllabus, his vertically integrated approach not only flattens hierarchies and disassembles firewalls between disciplines but encourages greater diversity and inclusion from traditionally under-represented student groups.

Butt’s yearly painting workshops in the College of Mines & Earth Sciences’ (CMES) advising center are popular

and create a space for the scientifically minded and others to get out of their empirical box and into an integrated one, shot through with creativity, innovation and “flow.” It’s an approach inspired by the 15th century scientist and artist Leonardo da Vinci.

Butt joined the U in 2016 as professor of metallurgical engineering and college dean, establishing strategic plans to address diversity; safety and security; student, staff, and faculty success; cross-campus collaboration; fiscal stewardship; and transparency. Under his leadership, the EpiCenter, a hub of student activity and advising for the college, was created, and the departments of Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering were merged. Butt has also been instrumental in facilitating the merger of the CMES and College of Science.

The Graduate School is arguably the perfect fit for Butt. It offers more than 200 graduate degrees and supports more than 8,400 students enrolled in programs that vary from master’s of architecture to a doctorate in nuclear engineering. As dean, he will assess ongoing improvements to all academic programs and centers at the U through the Graduate Council Review process and enable the development of interdisciplinary graduate programs for multi-college academic degrees and certificates.

“One of the joys I get from research is watching the development of students and postdocs and helping them find their ‘professional selves,’” says Butt. “I’m looking forward to being their advocate as well as supporting the incredible faculty and staff at the University in support of our ambitious research mission.” <

WITH DISTINCTION

“I first stepped foot in a tropical rainforest in 1975 and have been back every year doing research on how plants defend themselves against getting eaten by insects,” says Phyllis “Lissy” Coley, distinguished professor emerita of biology at the U. She is newly elected member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). Biology director Fred Adler says, “I am delighted that this inspirational scientist, teacher and mentor will have the opportunity to share her wisdom with our nation at large.”

In May the College of Science announced the selection of attorney and former Utah legislator Tim Hawkes as Senior Fellow. In addition to advising college leadership on strategy and visioning, Hawkes will also serve on the executive advisory board for the Wilkes Center for Climate Science & Policy. Hawkes is the first fellow to be named to the College of Science Fellows Program which will expand in the future to include other experts and leaders in strategic areas of opportunity.

Professor of Chemistry and Associate Dean for Student Affairs in the College of Science, Vahe Bandarian is one of the newly-elected Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He was selected for “discoveries in the field of tRNA modifications and key contributions to mechanistic basis of radical-mediated transformations leading to complex natural products.” Bandarian was also recently selected as one of the 2023 American Chemical Society fellows.

Professor of chemistry, Jennifer S. ShumakerParry, was also elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), for “significant contributions to the design and study of plasmonic nanomaterials, and promotion of graduate education integrating science, business, and communication for broad and diverse career pathways.”

Associate Professor of Biology and Director of the Wilkes Center for Climate Science & Policy William Anderegg is a 2023 recipient of the National Science Foundation’s Waterman Award. The nation’s highest honor for early-career scientists and engineers, the award was presented to him and all of the recipients in May at a ceremony during the NSF meeting in Washington, DC. Anderegg is also one of three national laureates to receive this year’s Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists.

“Mathematics,” says Anna Tang, “is a key in our hands that is able to change shape to fit almost any lock in the world.” A senior in math at the U, Tang not only uses that key to model how breast cancer tumors continue to grow despite estrogen controls in current therapies, but to apply for a Fulbright fellowship. In April, she was confirmed as a finalist and will be heading to Germany this fall.

Thank you to all of our alumni and friends who contribute to the College of Science. Your support enables us to provide exceptional education, conduct groundbreaking research, and prepare the next generation of scientific leaders. We are grateful for your investment in our students, faculty, and staff. We’d love to hear from you or have you stop by campus for a visit. You are always welcome here at the University of Utah!