COLLEGE OF SCIENCE
DISCOVERY FALL 2020
Brenda Suh-Lailam, PhD’2011 clinical chemist at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, is among USU Science scholars on pandemic frontlines
IN GAURTH’S STEPS Renowned biochemist R. Gaurth Hansen fosters enduring legacy of USU scholars tackling global challenges
THE MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY’S COLLEGE OF SCIENCE
Like her colleagues and students, Dean Hagan has adjusted to online gatherings, including the College of Science’s 2020 Fall Virtual Convocation.
Zoom
Donna Barry
From the Dean MAURA HAGAN Dear Alumni and Friends,
With a grateful heart, I bid you farewell. After five and a half years, I am retiring as dean of the College of Science. It has been an honor and a privilege to serve in this capacity. I am deeply thankful for your support and friendship during this amazing journey. As you know, it has been a challenging semester, but I am inspired by the determination, hard work and creativity of our students, faculty, staff, alumni and donors. You have enabled us to stay on course and continue our mission despite daunting obstacles.
Dean Hagan hosts an outdoor employee appreciation luncheon.
M. Muffoletto
I leave USU with joyful memories, sadness, but also confidence in many wonderful things to come. The college is in the capable hands of Interim Dean Michelle Baker, who will provide steady, thoughtful leadership as the Dean Search Committee finds the right candidate to be the college’s next dean.
This issue of Discovery magazine is filled with inspirational stories, including memories of renowned Aggie, R. Gaurth Hansen, who paved the way for scholars to reach success. Read about alumni, who are heroically persevering in difficult circumstances, using skills they gained at Utah State, to improve the lives of people throughout the world. May they be an inspiration to all of us!
Wishing you health and happiness in the new year, Biology Professor Michelle Baker, Associate Dean for Research and Faculty, will serve as Interim Dean during the college’s 2021 dean search. Donna Barry
MAURA E. HAGAN, PhD Dean, USU College of Science
2
DISCOVERY MAGAZINE I FALL 2020
Fall 2020 MAURA E. HAGAN Dean (Retiring Dec. 2020) MICHELLE BAKER Interim Dean
8
GREG PODGORSKI Associate Dean
In Gaurth’s Steps
Renowned USU professor remembered with college’s first professorship
SEAN JOHNSON Associate Dean MARY-ANN MUFFOLETTO Editor/Writer/Photographer/ Layout Designer SPENCER PERRY Online Edition NICHOLE BRESEE Student Photographer
4
22
Finding the Right Chemistry
From an Alum
Clinical pharmacist MaLaura Creager, BS’12, pursues pandemic challenges
Mathematician Morgan Summers, BS’11, reflects on racism
From the Dean .................................................................................. 2 Inaugural R. Gaurth Hansen Professor .......................................... 11 Faster Results: Carl Wittwer, PhD’82 ............................................. 12 ‘We’re Resilient’: Hansen Life Sciences Retreat ......................... 15 Alumni Achievement Awards ......................................................... 16 By the Numbers ............................................................................. 18 Alumni on Pandemic’s Frontlines ................................................. 20 ‘Coming to Life’ Redux .................................................................. 25 Student Emergency Hardship Fund ............................................ 26 Keep in Touch ................................................................................. 27
Discovery, the magazine for alumni and friends of Utah State University’s College of Science, is published twice a year. Please direct inquiries to editor Mary-Ann Muffoletto, at maryann.muffoletto@usu.edu. Graphic design assistance from Holly Broome-Hyer. Contributing writer, Lisa Carricaburu. Printed with Forest Stewardship Council certification standards.
ON THE COVER USU alumna Brenda Suh-Lailam, PhD’11, is Director of Clinical Chemistry and Point-of-Care Testing, Ann and Robert Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, and Associate Professor of Pathology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Courtesy Janice B. Terry, Senior Photographer, Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago
FALL 2020 I DISCOVERY MAGAZINE
3
Shiprock Peak, viewed from BIA Route13, rises above the high desert plain of the Navajo Nation in San Juan County, New Mexico.
Finding the Right Chemistr y
Courtesy Patrick Alexander
First-Generation College Student MaLaura Creager BS’12 Pursues Rewarding Career Amid Pandemic Challenges While recently compounding a dose of Remdesivir, the antiviral medication used to treat COVID-19, pharmacist MaLaura Creager’s thoughts wandered back to her general chemistry class at Utah State. Creager, who earned a bachelor’s degree in biology with a minor in chemistry from USU in 2012, remembered faculty member John Hubbard’s lively demonstration of exothermic reactions. Above, a mural in Shiprock, New Mexico urging community members to “stay safe, stay strong.” The Navajo Nation, where USU alumna MaLaura Creager is employed with the Indian Health Service, has been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. MaLaura Creager
4
DISCOVERY MAGAZINE I FALL 2020
“He kept us on the edge of our seats,” says Creager, a clinical pharmacist with the Indian Health Service in Shiprock, New Mexico. “Remdesivir causes an exothermic reaction as you compound it – it gets a little warm. But not hot enough to make me run from the building, as some of my classmates and I considered doing during some of Dr. Hubbard’s classes.” On the front lines of the COVID-19 battle, Creager responds to daily challenges, but says experiences at Utah State prepared her well for a demanding career.
Navigating College and a Career A Utah native, Creager graduated from Ogden High
In Gaurth’s Steps
School in 1996, began clerking for a physician in Provo and set her sights on university studies. “I have relatives in Cache Valley and, during childhood visits, we’d take walks on the USU campus,” she says. “I’d peer at those classroom and lab buildings “Though I was a biology major, I discovered and dream of going to college.” chemistry, especially organic chemistry, was very The first-generation college student began her intuitive for me,” she says. “I also enjoyed the studies at Utah Valley University, but earned a transfer computational challenges of biochemistry.” scholarship to Utah State. Creager remembers an assignment during labs with “It wasn’t easy, as I’m a single mom of a specialProfessor Lance Seefeldt’s biochemistry class, which needs daughter,” Creager says. “But the Department of involved computing a model with molecular binding Biology was wonderfully supportive.” tighter than that of the antiviral drug Tamiflu’s to the Faculty member and ornithologist Kimberly active site of the H1N1 influenza virus. Sullivan was particularly instrumental in propelling the “I did it!” she says. “I think that surprised our undergrad toward academic and research opportunities. lab instructor and that experience gave me a lot of “I’m partially deaf, so it was difficult for me to hear confidence.” and distinguish bird songs,” Creager says. “But Dr. Following graduation from Utah State, Creager was Sullivan was very empowering. She showed me how to Continued take advantage of my strengths. She also understood my challenges as a single parent and allowed me to study in her lab space.” Anatomy and physiology lecturer Andy Anderson was also an important mentor. “His class was tough, but prepared me well for pharmacy school,” she says. “Perhaps even more important was his counsel about making the best decisions for patients. I still use concepts from his lessons most every day.” Chemistry became a favorite subject for Creager and factored into her decision to pursue pharmacy school. While an undergrad, she Alumna MaLaura Creager ‘12, a clinical pharmacist with the Indian Health Service in Shiprock, New Mexico, checks a blood agar plate for bacterial growth to ensure sterile processes. also shadowed a pharmacist With colleagues, Creager is on the COVID-19 pandemic’s frontlines. at Logan’s Intermountain Courtesy Indian Health Service Healthcare InstaCare pharmacy.
FALL 2020 I DISCOVERY MAGAZINE
5
Clinical pharmacist MaLaura Creager, right, with her teenage daughter. The first-generation college student says navigating studies, as a single parent, was difficult, but she received friendly support from USU’s faculty and staff. Courtesy MaLaura Creager
accepted to the University of Colorado’s Skaggs School who was assigned by INS to her current New Mexico post. of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, from which “But I soon discovered distinct advantages of this health she earned a Doctor of Pharmacy degree care system from my own experiences.” in 2017. She completed a postgraduate For one, her Shiprock post is an residency with Albuquerque’s Lovelace integrated hospital and clinic, which affords Medical Center, before accepting a Creager the opportunity to interact directly permanent position with the Washington, with primary care and attending physicians. D.C.-based Indian Health Service. “In many places in our country, health “The IHS has a student loan care is so fractured,” she says. “At our forgiveness program, which is what facility, my patients have integrated care initially piqued my interest – along with and almost never slip between the cracks. I experiences shared by the pharmacist I also have the opportunity to work closely Message on a whiteboard at the Indian Health Service facility in shadowed at Logan InstaCare, who with practitioners in many areas of specialty Shiprock, New Mexico, where completed his residency at Northern and be involved in patient care.” Craeger is employed. Courtesy MaLaura Creager Navajo Medical Center,” says Creager,
6
DISCOVERY MAGAZINE I FALL 2020
Navigating a Pandemic
“That’s part of the reason this area was been hit so hard by the pandemic.” With health care workers throughout the world, On the Navajo Nation, the largest reservation in the Creager has experienced the unrelenting demands of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has hit her area of the Four United States, the COVID-19 death toll per capita is higher than any state. Over the summer cases declined Corner region, a part of the more than 27,000-squarebut, in recent months, as in other parts of the country, mile Navajo Nation, with ferocity. case numbers have surged again. “We started seeing patients with COVID-19 last “It’s a dire situation and our struggle is far from March and quickly started changing routines, instituting over,” Creager says. added precautions and allocating resources more As a clinical pharmacist, she has direct access to thoughtfully,” she says. “This proactive management and patient charts and carefully reviews treatments and the community infectious control measures meant that patient progress. we were not overwhelmed.” “Pharmacists are equally responsible for approving While patients in the most critical condition were prescriptions as the physician prescribing them,” Creager airlifted to larger facilities in Albuquerque and out-ofsays. “We’re kind of like a proofreading system for state, Creager and her colleagues found themselves on health care. I’m fortunate that I also have authority and heightened alert and response. access to monitor patients.” “In the two previous years, I’d participated in two That authority proved critical in recent cases, where respiratory distress codes requiring rapid-sequence Creager providing life-saving information. intubation,” she says. “As the pandemic progressed, we “During my residency, I worked in inpatient were performing one to five intubations per shift.” psychiatry, where I was frequently assisting with drug During her off hours, Creager pored over the newest overdoses and poison control,” she medical literature on says. “We had a patient who drank SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19. “Patients almost never hand sanitizer and I spotted an issue, “Some of the papers I was while reviewing this patient’s basic reading were barely 24 hours know it, when a pharmacist blood chemistry. It didn’t look like old,” she says. protects them. I was thankful a typical hand sanitizer exposure and Creager says getting I suspected methanol poisoning.” sufficient PPE – personal to be able to help save the Creager was right. The patient protective gear – was a big lives of at least two people.” had used hand sanitizer formulated concern during the early with methanol and accidentally months of the pandemic. - MaLaura Creager, BS’12 ingested the toxic ingredient. “The demand across Creager borrowed doses of the country was so high, an antidote from a facility in Gallup, New Mexico and it was hard to get supplies,” she says. “But the local her actions were well-timed. Just as she received the community responded immediately by sewing cloth supplies, her facility received another patient presenting masks, which alleviated some of the local demand with methanol poisoning. and helped to preserve PPE needed for medical “It was kind of like being a secret hero,” she says. professionals.” In addition, the community heeded calls for attention “Patients almost never know it, when a pharmacist protects them. I was thankful to be able to help save the to basic hygiene – washing hands frequently (“Things lives of at least two people. I love my job.” n we learned in general biology,” Creager says) – and obeying lockdown and curfew rules. -MARY-ANN MUFFOLETTO “In this culture, many people live in large, multigenerational households,” she says.
FALL 2020 I DISCOVERY MAGAZINE
7
8
DISCOVERY MAGAZINE I SPRING 2020
I n G a u r t h ’s S t e p s
Renowned Biochemist, Professor, Researcher and Administrator’s Legacy Reverberates Throughout Utah State University and Beyond; College’s First Professorship Established to Honor Esteemed Aggie In June, USU’s College of Science announced the R. Gaurth Hansen Professorship in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Established as an endowment by the Hansen Family, the professorship honors the memory of the renowned biochemist, who served USU as a senior administrator, professor and researcher from 1968 to 1994. “We are excited to continue to honor the legacy of Dr. R. Gaurth Hansen in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at USU,” says Lance Seefeldt, department head and professor. “We are grateful to the Hansen family for this exceptional opportunity and their longstanding At USU’s 1971 commencement, from left, Provost R. Gaurth Hansen, Rockefeller Foundation President J. George Harrar, USU President Glen Taggart and support of many innovative initiatives Notre Dame University President and civil rights leader, Fr. Theodore Hesburgh. within our department.” USU Special Collections The professorship provides for an exceptionally accomplished faculty member from current tenured faculty to receive the “Our parents, Gaurth and Anna Lou (Rees) Hansen, title, along with a yearly stipend of $30,000 to augment had a longstanding commitment to USU and their research efforts. The aim of the award is to leverage dedication was evident from our father’s sustained funding opportunities and thus advance opportunities leadership role at the university and our mother’s for graduate and undergraduate students. continual, behind-the-scenes support.” “The Hansen family is pleased our father’s The sons write their father sought to further the contributions will be recognized with the creation of the intellectual excellence of Utah State. named professorship,” wrote Hansen’s sons Roger, Ted “Our father supported this goal in his capacity as a and Lars in a joint statement. provost and as a professor in the College of Science, while continuing to conduct frontier research in biochemistry,” they wrote. “He placed a very high Opposite page: USU biochemist R. Gaurth Hansen (1920-2002) assists a student with an absorbance recorder. The Hansen priority on higher education and passed this aspiration Family established a professorship in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry to honor his legacy.
Continued
USU Special Collections
FALL 2020 I DISCOVERY MAGAZINE
9
Through the Years: R. Gaurth Hansen, PhD (1920-2002) USU Special Collections
to his children and grandchildren. His legacy lives on with his great-grandchildren.” Anna Lou, two of his sons and a granddaughter are USU alumni. Further, the sons wrote, Hansen supported the careers of numerous graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and junior faculty, “several of whom have gone on to make seminal findings of medical relevance.” “We hope the support provided to future scholars by this professorship will nurture continued excellence in biochemistry at USU,” the statement concludes. “We can think of no better way to honor our father’s commitment to higher education and exceptional scholarship.” USU President Noelle Cockett says the Hansen family has a long and varied history of providing support for Utah State University. “Although I did not have the opportunity to meet Gaurth, I have enjoyed my interactions with the other family members, particularly Anna Lou during my time as dean of the College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences,” Cockett says. “Mrs. Hansen is a wonderfully sweet and generous woman, who has instilled those
10
DISCOVERY MAGAZINE I FALL 2020
same attributes in her children. We are honored to call the Hansen family our friends.” The professorship joins decades of support to the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry honoring Hansen in the form of assistant professorships, scholarships, an annual seminar series and an annual retreat. Starting in 2003, four of the department’s faculty members entered their USU careers as R. Gaurth Hansen Assistant Professors of Biochemistry, which provided them with start-up funds to launch research. Since 1999, 21 undergraduates have received the R. Gaurth Hansen, Ph.D. Endowed Scholarship to further their studies and enable their participation in research. Beginning in 1996, outstanding doctoral students have been honored as Hansen Scholars, receiving a cash scholarship each year for up to five years, to advance their studies. Established in 2003, the R. Gaurth Hansen Seminar Series brings an internationally renowned speaker to campus each year to provide a public lecture in a cutting-edge area of biochemistry.
In Gaurth’s Steps
September 2020 marked the 10th annual Hansen Life Sciences Retreat, which brings students and faculty from diverse departments throughout the university, who are working toward understanding biological processes at the molecular level, together to share research and foster collaborations. Participation in the annual gathering, which was held Alexander Boldyrev, professor in USU’s virtually this year due to the pandemic, has increased Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, was each year. named the university’s first R. Gaurth Hansen “The R. Gaurth Hansen Professorship continues Professor Nov. 9. this tremendous legacy of support and academic “Alex is an exceptional chemist, professor, researcher and excellence,” Seefeldt says. “This milestone represents mentor, who embodies the spirit and aims of this the first named professor in our department and in professorship, the first in the department’s history,” says the College of Science. We are grateful and proud to Lance Seefeldt, department head. honor Dr. Hansen’s memory through this and all prior Boldyrev received the university’s initiatives.” D. Wynne Thorne Career Research Born in Cache Valley in 1920, Award, USU’s highest research honor, Hansen began his undergraduate in 2009. The chemist is known globally studies at Utah State, before for his pioneering breakthroughs in transferring to the University building a theoretical framework of Wisconsin, where he completed for understanding the bonding bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral properties of inorganic compounds and degrees. enabling fellow chemists to predict Hansen joined USU’s faculty as a number of entirely new classes an academic vice president in 1968, of species. A prolific research writer, the and was soon promoted to provost. Russian-born scientist, who has His efforts greatly advanced Utah garnered long-standing National State’s instruction and research Science Foundation support, has an activities and contributed to a impressive h-index (a measurement of twenty-fold increase in the Dr. Alexander Boldyrev, USU’s inaugural research impact) of 77, and his work has university’s research budget. R. Gaurth Hansen Professor been cited in more than 20,000 papers. In addition to his administrative “I am very honored and humbled by and teaching endeavors, Hansen this appointment,” says Boldyrev, who joined USU’s faculty published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles in in 1999. “My students and I are very excited about new professional journals, along with more than 20 opportunities this brings for our laboratory.” books and book chapters. He received many Boldyrev’s newest research focus is artificial intelligence prestigious national and international accolades, and (AI). contributed service to the U.S. Public Health Service “Our lab plans to apply this tool in chemistry to search and the Department of Defense, through which he for the most stable structures of new molecules and for provided consulting expertise to public and private computational design of new materials,” he says. entities throughout the world. Named USU’s Outstanding Graduate Mentor of the Year Hansen was named USU Distinguished Professor in 2017, Boldyrev has supervised 15 graduate students, as Emeritus in 1985 and retired from the university in well as numerous undergraduates. Five of his students have 1994. He passed away in 2002. His widow, Anna Lou, been named USU Robins Award Graduate Researchers of resides in St. George, Utah. n -MARY-ANN MUFFOLETTO the Year. n -MARY-ANN MUFFOLETTO
Boldyrev Named Inaugural R. Gaurth Hansen Professor
FALL 2020 I DISCOVERY MAGAZINE
11
USU alum Carl Wittwer, right, with wife and fellow scientist Noriko Kusukawa Corrin Rausch, ARUP
Fa s t e r Re s u l t s : P i o n e e r i n g A g g i e A l u m Re t i r e s f r o m Re n o w n e d U t a h - b a s e d D i a g n o s t i c s Re s e a r c h L a b BY LISA CARRICABURU, MANAGING EDITOR, INFORMATICS DECISION SUPPORT, ARUP LABORATORIES
To say Carl Wittwer, MD, PhD, is retiring isn’t exactly accurate. Ask the pioneering scientist, widely recognized for having revolutionized molecular diagnostics, what he’ll do following his “retirement” from ARUP Laboratories on July 1, 2020, and he says he will do the same thing he has done nearly every day since he was a teenager tinkering with old TV sets in his parents’ Michigan basement: He’ll go to his laboratory and fashion an idea into one prototype after another until he gets what he wants. “I’m going to do what I like to do, and what I might be good at doing,” Wittwer said in what arguably may be the understatement of the past few decades. Wittwer, medical director of Immunologic Flow Cytometry at ARUP, is moving to Maine, where he and his wife, Noriko Kusukawa, PhD, ARUP vice president of innovation and strategic investment, are building
12
DISCOVERY MAGAZINE I FALL 2020
a home in a coastal village that will include a fully equipped molecular laboratory. Kusukawa is also “retiring.” Wittwer is looking forward to doing more research and experimentation on his own. “If I have any talent, it’s mainly in doing the work myself. I’ve learned to direct people at least adequately, but you lose something doing that,” he said. Wittwer came to ARUP and the University of Utah in 1988 as a pathology resident, but before his arrival, he had already begun experimenting with ways to perform tests more quickly. While pursuing a PhD in biochemistry at Utah State University, he was doing research that involved measuring a particular enzyme in vitamin metabolism using an assay that took a whole day to run. He ended up devoting a year of his PhD program to developing a test that took just 10 minutes to perform.
In Gaurth’s Steps
“People thought that was sort of ridiculous because I spent a year to save 11 hours or something like that,” Wittwer said. “But to be able to achieve something and to learn from it on a rapid turnaround always seemed preferable to me.” His belief in the importance of speed would lead to took a leap of faith and approved the purchase of an countless breakthroughs in molecular diagnostics and oligonucleotide synthesizer needed to create the lab. come to define a brilliant career. Wittwer holds dozens “I remember Carl telling me that he was raked of U.S. patents and their foreign equivalents and has over the coals for the extravagant expenditures and published more than 200 articles and book chapters on somewhat crazy direction of molecular diagnostics,” molecular diagnostics—so far. Wittwer said. “But in retrospect, it turned out to be the He also has won countless awards, including the 2015 right thing to do.” Utah Genius Lifetime In the lab, with a part-time Achievement Award, the 2015 technologist to assist him, Pioneers of Progress Award he began to experiment with in Science and Technology polymerase chain reaction Development, the U of U 2017 (PCR), which was still a Excellence in Innovation and relatively new methodology for Commercialization Award, the amplifying a small sample of 2019 Cotlove Award from DNA into an amount large the Academy of Clinical enough to study in detail. Laboratory Physicians and Wittwer sought to create an Scientists, as well as the USU instrument that could speed Department of Chemistry and up PCR, which relies on Biochemistry’s Alumni repeated cycles of heating and Achievement Award in 2006. cooling to cause reactions “He is an incredible that depend on temperature, innovator and inventor,” said specifically DNA melting, primer Peter Jensen, MD, chairman of annealing, and DNA replication. the U of U Department of PCR is integral to the diagnosis Pathology and chairman of of infectious diseases as well as In an undated photo, Carl Wittwer, right, and fellow USU alum Kirk Ririe, pose with the “LightCycler,” an invention ARUP’s Board of Directors. the diagnosis of genetic that accelerated polymerase chain reaction methodology “He has had a major disorders, among many other from hours to minutes and enabled rapid DNA analysis. Courtesy BioFire Diagnostics international impact.” applications. After completing his PhD Initial prototypes, famously at USU, Wittwer went to medical school at the University fashioned from hair dryers and vacuum cleaners, of Michigan, Ann Arbor. It wasn’t long after returning to evolved into the RapidCycler, an instrument capable Utah as a pathology resident that he established ARUP’s of performing PCR in 10-15 minutes rather than up to first molecular diagnostics lab. four hours. From the RapidCycler emerged the more Now a mainstay of laboratory medicine, molecular sophisticated LightCycler as Wittwer continued to diagnostics at the time was considered a risky venture improve upon his invention, which he and his partners, for ARUP or any other reference lab. Many viewed it as fellow USU alumni Kirk Ririe and Randy Rasmussen, an exclusively academic pursuit because assays took too commercialized, when they formed Idaho Technology in long to perform and required a significant commitment 1990. In the late 1990s, Roche licensed the instrument of labor and equipment. Molecular diagnostics was a and distributed it worldwide. guaranteed way to lose money, Wittwer said. Now called BioFire Diagnostics, Wittwer’s company But Carl Kjeldsberg, MD, ARUP’s CEO at the time, Continued FALL 2020 I DISCOVERY MAGAZINE
13
was acquired by the French company bioMerieux in 2014 for $450 million. Wittwer’s inventions did not end there. In his lab, he has focused on simplifying DNA analysis by removing the need for preprocessing steps. He also has worked to develop instruments for performing simple, homogenous DNA techniques on a chip for genetic analysis. He is far from finished. In the new lab he is building in Maine, “I’ll continue to try to push the speed of amplification, looking at different polymerases and different methods,” he said. “I’ll be going back to pieces and parts and will be trying to put things together.” Wittwer is clear about the basic problem he has spent his career trying to solve. “Humans and their instruments are slow, but biochemical reactions are very fast, so it’s our own limitations, not the inherent limitations of biochemistry, that slow us down,” he said. “It’s our job to build faster instruments, to build things that become more useful and give us more information.”
Remembering a Mentor
Wittwer surmises he was probably R. Gaurth Hansen’s last doctoral student. Wittwer remembers working industriously at the lab bench, when Hansen stopped by and said, “Carl, you’re doing a great job, but once a day you need to stop and think about your basic hypothesis and what your research is trying to tell you.” Wittwer recalls another valuable piece of Hansen’s advice was to not take things at face value. “Dr. Hansen asked me, ‘Carl, why do you think the chemical in the bottle is what you say it is?’ He taught me to ask more questions and to not necessarily believe everything I read, saw or heard.” n
-MARY-ANN MUFFOLETTO
14
DISCOVERY MAGAZINE I FALL 2019
This is particularly true when these instruments produce information vital to treating patients, Wittwer said, in part explaining why the only full-time job he has held for the past three decades has been at ARUP. “The opportunity at ARUP to make a difference in people’s health was always a strong draw.” At ARUP and the U of U, Wittwer said, he has found superiors and colleagues who understand that “the best way to handle and encourage me was to mostly let me run free. It’s been a great place to work.” “But when you do something for 32 years and you like to believe that you’re capable of continued thought and contribution, you don’t want to get repetitive and be limited by routine,” he said. “It’s been phenomenal, but maybe there’s something out on the East Coast in the woods of Maine that I should be exposed to.” Scientists with whom Wittwer has worked at ARUP and the U of U describe his departure as a watershed moment for the company and the university. “I am in awe of everything he has brought to the table. It’s really unparalleled,” said ARUP CEO Sherrie Perkins, MD, PhD. “Carl’s ability to see and grasp new technology has made ARUP so much stronger. I’m really very sad to see him go. He has been such a vital part of ARUP.” For his part, Wittwer also is sad to be leaving ARUP, despite looking forward to his move to Maine. He is especially fond of Maine because it was there he met Kusukawa in 1993, when, as an executive for an agarose supplier, she invited him to do a scientific presentation at her company. Kusukawa will leave her own indelible mark on ARUP. An expert in fostering innovation in academia and in commercializing academic discoveries, she is responsible for numerous strategic partnerships that she initiated and has nurtured to the great benefit of ARUP over her 20 years of service. “We’re both very grateful to ARUP and to the Department of Pathology. They deserve our thanks and respect for putting up with our strange activities,” Wittwer said. “We are not typical or conventional as a pair, and we thank everyone for their help and interaction.” n
-LISA CARRICABURU, ARUP LABORATORIES
“We’re Resilient”: Hansen Life Sciences Retreat Marks 10th Year with Online Event
In Gaurth’s Steps
While planning the 10th annual Hansen Life Sciences Retreat, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Head Lance Seefeldt envisioned gathering at a picturesque Cache Valley location and hosting a festive luncheon during the Sept. 18-19 research conference. “As you know, circumstances changed abruptly, so we quickly pivoted to an online retreat,” Seefeldt says. “We’re resilient. We’re good at that.” Participants in the event, which Clockwise from top left, Aggie scientists Matt Yim, Hannah Domgaard, Dean Maura Hagan and Monica Borghi were among participants in the 2020 virtual Hansen Life Sciences Retreat provides a forum of discussion for Sept. 18-19. The annual gathering honors the late R. Gaurth Hansen. students, faculty and staff from across M. Muffoletto the university pursuing study of molecular life sciences, agree. researchers presented their research abstracts and “Being a part of the 10th annual retreat was so cool,” engaged with nearly 70 conference participants in lively says presenter Koleton Hardy, a biochemistry graduate “lightning round” question-and-answer discussions. student. “I’m glad we found a way to make it happen The Hansen Retreat is supported by R. Gaurth during the pandemic.” Hansen’s son and daughter-in-law, Lars Peter Hansen Thirty undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral and Grace Tsiang. n -MARY-ANN MUFFOLETTO
Remembering a Mentor
The Hansen Seminar Series welcomed its 2020 speaker, Dr. Amy Rosenzweig of Northwestern University, who offered the first virtual presentation of the series’ 17-year history on Dec. 2. Dr. William J. Rutter, a long-time financial supporter of the seminar series, remembers R. Gaurth Hansen as caring mentor. “He was straightforward and easy to talk with,” says Rutter, a co-founder, in 1981, of California’s Chiron Corporation (acquired by Novartis in 2006), one of the nation’s early biotechnology companies.
Rutter, a Malad City, Idaho native, met Hansen informally in Salt Lake City, when the former had just graduated from college. Hansen invited the young scholar to participate in a research project and Rutter subsequently earned graduate degrees with Hansen’s guidance. “In large measure, Gaurth facilitated my career by helping me gain focus,” says Rutter, now 93. “That he would go out of his way to help a young student like me is quite impressive.” n
-MARY-ANN MUFFOLETTO
FALL 2020 I DISCOVERY MAGAZINE
15 5
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Names 2020 Alumni Achievement Award Recipients After a hiatus, the Department of Chemistry has revolutionized biological research, along with and Biochemistry announces the resumption of forensics and drug development. Many advances in its Alumni Achievement Award program, with a “mass spec” can be traced to USU alum Alan Rockwood. new development. Granted the 2020 Distinguished “In the past, we’ve named one Contribution Award by the award recipient at a time,” says Association for Mass Spectrometry Department Head Lance Seefeldt, and Advances in the Clinical Lab, “This year, we’re excited to name a Rockwood holds more than 16 senior award recipient, recognizing patents, has at least eight patents an individual who is completing a pending and has authored more long and distinguished career, as than 150, often-cited, peerwell as a junior award recipient, reviewed papers. who is an emerging leader in our “Mass spectrometry is versatile field.” tool for many challenges,” says 2020 recipients are Rockwood, who counts E.A. Alan Rockwood PhD’1981, McCullough, Garth Lee, Chris Coray, Chemistry, Professor (Clinical) Karen and Joe Morse and William Emeritus, University of Utah Moore among his most influential School of Medicine, Scientific USU mentors. Director for Mass Spectrometry Rockwood served as a teaching Dr. Alan Rockwood, Professor (Clinical) Emeritus, at ARUP Laboratories and assistant for Lee’s freshmen University of Utah School of Medicine Diplomate American Board of chemistry class and recalls the Scientific Director for Mass Spectrometry, ARUP Laboratories Clinical Chemistry and professor’s sense of humor. Courtesy ARUP Laboratories Brenda Suh-Lailam, PhD’2011, “When students complained Director of Clinical Chemistry and about the class and worried about Point-of-Care Testing, Ann and passing the course, Dr. Lee reminded Robert Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, Associate them that he, as professor, would be repeating the class Professor of Pathology, Northwestern University next semester, and the next...” Feinberg School of Medicine and Diplomate American During a final exam, when a student let out an Board of Clinical Chemistry. exasperated remark invoking a deity, Lee responded, Interestingly, the two were colleagues for a time, “Hey, no outside help!” as Suh-Lailam completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Among Rockwood’s classmates were Carl Wittwer, ARUP Labs. Both are now involved, in varying degrees, PhD ‘1982, and Ted Mifflin, PhD’1983, as well as in the global battle against COVID-19: Suh-Lailam in undergraduate David Bahler, son of the late USU Biology supervision of testing techniques and Rockwood, as a Professor Tom Bahler, who became a physician, served pioneer in spectrometry. as a medical director at ARUP and a professor in the U’s Department of Pathology. All four Aggies became life-long Alan Rockwood, PhD’1981 colleagues and, as Rockwood notes, pursued careers in Mass spectrometry is arguably the most important clinical laboratory science. analytical spectroscopic tool of modern times and its “I had the privilege of experiencing Utah’s three major ability to characterize a wide variety of biomolecules universities – BYU as an undergrad, USU as a graduate
16
DISCOVERY MAGAZINE I FALL 2020
student and the U during my professional life,” Rockwood says. “Among the three, USU is the most student-oriented.”
In Gaurth’s Steps
Brenda Suh-Lailam, PhD’2011
Suh-Lailam entered USU in 2004, after earning a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from the University “Through these groups’ activities, I learned to ski, of Buea in Cameroon. With faculty mentor Joanie visited Bear Lake and went on a lot of hikes in Logan Hevel, who joined USU’s faculty as an R. Gaurth Hansen Canyon,” she says. Assistant Professor of Biochemistry A highlight was the African Student Association’s in 2003, Suh-Lailam studied protein “African Night,” to which she invited functions, including an enzyme called her lab colleagues. PRMT1 (Protein Arginine Methyl“I participated in experiences I transferase I) that plays a role in probably would have never gotten to cardiovascular health. pursue, without those groups. I made “One of the best decisions I ever wonderful friends and have great made was to join Joanie Hevel’s lab,” memories.” says Suh-Lailam. “She made a huge Following completion of her impact on me. She was tough and doctorate at USU, Suh-Lailam structured, but allowed us to pursue completed a postdoctoral fellowship creativity in research. She introduced at Salt Lake City’s ARUP Laboratories, us to literature and trained us to be before accepting her current position researchers. She pushed us, but gave with Ann and Robert Lurie Children’s us important guidance and helped Hospital of Chicago and us think about our future careers. Northwestern University. I never felt alone at USU.” In her current position, Suh-Lailam Dr. Brenda Suh-Lailam, Director of Clinical Chemistry and Suh-Lailam also credits Hevel with oversees multiple areas. Point-of-Care Testing, helping her develop important “My responsibilities are tri-fold,” Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, Associate Professor of Pathology, leadership and management skills, says the board-certified clinical Northwestern University which benefit her current pursuits. chemist. “I’m director of the hospital’s Feinberg School of Medicine Courtesy Janice B. Terry, Lurie Children’s Hospital “Joanie put upper-level graduate Point-of-Care Testing and Clinical students in charge of supervising Chemistry Lab, which includes newer students and fostered a very productive culture primary oversight of the lab’s testing, including quality in her lab,” Suh-Lailam says. “I aspired to be like Joanie assurance, accuracy, assessing new tests and adhering to and her senior students, especially Whitney Wooderchak- government and accreditation standards.” Donahue, and eventually, I also advanced to a leadership Suh-Lailam also consults with physicians and teaches and mentoring role.” medical students, residents, fellows and medical Suh-Lailam pursued leadership roles beyond the lab, technology students. In addition, she conducts research. serving as the college’s graduate student senator. “It’s very fulfilling,” she says. “I enjoy trouble-shooting and solving puzzles.” “I was really busy, but I’m glad I took on that She says her experiences at USU prepared her well for responsibility, because it gave me very important insights professional challenges, including the current pandemic. into the university’s upper administration,” she says. “I “I’m responsible for making sure our lab’s testing learned a great deal about how the university balances is accurate and effective, and that means constantly resources and tough choices administrators have to make. adjusting to changing conditions and techniques,” I still use skills gained from that experience.” Suh-Lailam says. “Pediatric patients are different from Suh-Lailam also fondly recalls participation in USU’s adult patients and no two tests are the same.” n international student groups. -MARY-ANN MUFFOLETTO FALL 2020 I DISCOVERY MAGAZINE
17
Spencer Perry BS’18, a 2020 graduate of USU’s Master of Data Analytics program, explains analysis of data collected on varied respiratory virus strains by research partner BioFire Diagnostics, LLC. Janelle Perry
By the Numbers USU Data Scientists Chase Respiratory Illness Outbreaks, Including the Current COVID-19 Pandemic Utah scientist Lindsay Meyers leads a team of colleagues laboring to refine a syndrome-based, but pathogen-specific, rapid disease-reporting system, installed at hospitals, to get ahead of respiratory scourges that plague individuals and communities with seasonal regularity. Her project connects diagnostic systems to a central database, where test results can be surveyed. In the back of her mind, Meyers, director of medical data systems at Salt Lake City-based BioFire Diagnostics, LLC, was keenly aware of the threat of a novel respiratory virus popping up among the usual suspects of cold and flu-causing viruses. She didn’t know 2020 would be the year such a pandemic would envelope the globe, causing a real-life threat to herself and her community. “I’d have been very disappointed with myself, if I hadn’t had a system in place before something like this erupted,” says Meyers, who briefly attended Utah State University, before earning a bachelor’s degree from the University of Utah in 2005.
18
DISCOVERY MAGAZINE I SPRING 2020
About a year before SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, was identified in China, Meyers ran into BioFire colleague and USU alum Jay Jones (BS’09, MS’09, Mathematics and Statistics), who was hosting a visit with his former mentor, Chris Corcoran, head of USU’s Department of Management Information Systems. “It was a chance meeting,” says Corcoran, David B. Haight Endowed Professor of Analytics. “Jay and I were discussing possible projects for students in USU’s new Master of Data Analytics (MDATA) program, Jay spotted Lindsay and immediately saw a potential fit.” Meyers welcomed the idea. “BioFire first implemented its real-time, automated monitoring system, BioFire Syndromic Trends, at hospitals in 2014, and it’s now installed on about 10 percent of the more than 5,000 BioFire Systems throughout the United States, as well as overseas,” she says. Collected data is uploaded to a cloud database, which forms a huge, and growing, dataset about the prevalence,
seasonality and co-infections of dozens of respiratory pathogens detected in millions of patient samples. Harnessing the data to distill reliable information, including disease surveillance, is a formidable challenge. “Enlisting USU graduate students and faculty really bolstered our resources,” Meyers says. “Tackling our dataset is like looking at a tree laden with cherries and only being able to pick a few.” Corcoran, with USU colleague Richard Cutler, professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, selected 16 MDATA students for the project and, starting in November 2019, set to work with Meyers. An interdisciplinary program coordinated by USU’s MIS, Mathematics and Statistics, Economics and Finance and Computer Science, MDATA includes specialization options in MIS, statistics, as well as economics and finance. “The diversity of backgrounds among our team members has strengthened this project,” says Spencer Perry, a student team member, who earned a master’s degree in MDATA, specializing in statistics, this spring and who also completed a bachelor’s degree from USU in public health in 2018. “Data analytics combines mathematics, statistics, data science, machine learning, computer science and more, plus our team members represent an even more diverse range of academic disciplines.” Perry delved into his background in life sciences to approach the project. Viruses, he says, are deceptively simple entities; basically protein shells enclosing genetic data. “Viruses are not even classified as life,” he says. “They’re not made of cells, they can’t maintain themselves in a stable state and they can’t make their own energy, grow on their own or survive without living hosts – including humans.” Coronaviruses, Perry says, along with many other viruses, including influenza strains, rotaviruses and rhinoviruses, are endemic, meaning “they’re always with us.” That miserable cold that wore out its welcome and the “stomach bug” that wrecked a family reunion were caused by viruses (or by, or in combination with, bacterial infections) that health practitioners see and battle year in and year out.
In Gaurth’s Steps
But viruses mutate and, when they do, can yield novel strains like those that caused the so-called Spanish Flu of 1918 or the situation that has vividly unfolded with this season’s COVID-19. “And that’s what we’re trying to stay ahead of,” Perry says. “The challenge is in coming up with a way of standardizing the flood of data coming in from very different sites, collected by varied methods, to the BioFire system.” Among the team’s aims is developing ways to organize the data to maximize use of every morsel of information, including identifying signals potentially related to emergent pathogen strains. “Precision is key to enable scientists receiving this data to develop better tests to detect pathogens, to develop vaccines ahead of outbreaks and to enable development of antivirals, antibiotics and other remedies to accurately target specific pathogens,” Perry says. Meyers says she has full confidence in the USU team’s efforts. “USU’s graduate students have the intellectual capability and intense curiosity we need to pursue these big questions,” she says. “Because of this and because they have oversight and guidance from excellent faculty mentors, I’ve had no hesitation sharing their analyses with the Centers for Disease Control.” Corcoran says the project is exactly the kind of realworld experience he strives to cultivate for his students. “These kinds of partnerships are crucial to prepare our students for the workforce,” he says. “Nearly every company is now a data company. Employers need employees, who can take on messy problems with no back-of-the-textbook answers.” Perry sees data analytics as a pivotal tool for public health. “I think, someday, we’ll look at epidemiology not as its own field, but as an area of statistics that focuses on public health,” he says. “It’s very much based on mathematics and probability.” n
-MARY-ANN MUFFOLETTO
SPRING 2020 I DISCOVERY MAGAZINE
19
A lumn i on Pand e m ic ’s Fr o n t li n e s Epidemiologist Scott Bernhardt ‘98 Joins Utah’s Medical Reserve Corps To Investigate COVID-19 Outbreaks
Taylor Emerson
USU epidemiologist Scott Bernhardt, who earned a bachelor’s degree in public health from Utah State in 1998, is among Utah Medical Reserve Corps volunteers helping northern Utah’s Bear River Health Department investigate surges in COVID-19 cases in the university’s home community. “I reached out to the health department in early 2020 to offer my expertise in epidemiology,” says Bernhardt, professional practice assistant professor in the USU Department of Biology’s Public Health Program, who was a postdoctoral fellow with the Centers for Disease Control, at the agency’s Atlanta headquarters, from 2002-2004 and from 2009-2010. Initially, he says, few cases were detected within the Bear River Health District, which includes Cache, Box Elder and Rich Counties, so the department had little need for his assistance. And then came an outbreak following Memorial Day Weekend. The district’s caseload leapt to triple digits and the department quickly enlisted the USU faculty member’s help. Bernhardt assisted with case investigations at a Hyrum meat packing facility, where a large number of the new cases were detected. In addition, he’s advising managers at other area facilities on preventive practices. “I’m talking, by phone, with people who’ve tested
20
DISCOVERY MAGAZINE I SPRING 2020
positive for COVID-19 and advising them on how to limit spread of the disease,” he says. “I’m also conducting contact tracing, which involves finding out who they’ve been in contact with, how they might have contracted the disease and anyone they may have exposed to the virus.” Bernhardt began watching the spread of COVID-19 well before it arrived in Utah and even before the illness had a name. The scientist says he’s always on the lookout for news of emerging public health trends and infectious disease outbreaks, including vector-borne illnesses, in which he specializes. “I’m constantly seeking real-world cases for my epidemiology class lectures and material to inform my research,” he says. “When I started hearing about an infectious disease spreading through China’s Wuhan province in late 2019, it caught my attention.” Descriptions of the illness reminded Bernhardt of the 2002-2003 SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak, which occupied much of his duties during his CDC tenure. “The symptoms were similar and transmission seemed similar, but the level of transmission appeared much worse,” he says. “We learned that, like SARS, the new illness, eventually named COVID-19, was caused by a novel coronavirus. SARS sparked serious concern, but the disease was contained within about a year and total cases, worldwide, reached a few thousand. Cases of COVID-19 quickly eclipsed that within weeks.” At the start of USU’s Spring 2020 semester, Bernhardt began discussing the mysterious illness in his lectures. “Initially, this coronavirus seemed a world away to my students and elicited little concern regarding their personal safety,” he says. That changed, of course, as the scope of the outbreak escalated and, in March 2020, as face-to-face classes at Utah State, and around the world, were cancelled. “We still have much to learn about the virus and a vaccine could take much longer than we hope,” Bernhardt says. “But what we do know is limiting social mixing slows the spread.” Cache Valley, he says, has the advantage of lots of space, relative to places such as New York City and
Italy’s urban centers, where COVID-19 spread like wildfire. “But that’s made us somewhat complacent and dismissive of the disease’s risks,” Bernhardt says. “As the state went from orange to yellow, we saw a change in people’s behaviors. They let their guard down and spread of the virus followed.” A major challenge facing public officials, private employers and valley residents, he says, is balancing public health risks versus economic effects. “Public health never happens in a USU Eastern alum Bud Frazier, a registered nurse, is coordinator of NavajoStrong, vacuum,” Bernhardt says. “People need a grassroots effort to collect and distribute supplies across the Navajo Nation, hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. to feed their children and pay the rent, Courtesy Krista Allen, Navajo Times yet this is a very dangerous virus. Tough decisions have to be made.” Aggie alumni and USU Blanding employees Curtis and As challenging as circumstances are, he says, it’s Teresa Frazier, to determine how to help. exactly the kind of situation he and colleagues in USU’s “We came up with the idea of ‘NavajoStrong,’ a nonPublic Health program strive to prepare students to profit, grassroots effort to collect critical supplies and face. distribute them to families throughout the reservation,” “I’m grateful to be part of program that provides says Bud, whose own family has been touched by the students with rigorous, real-world instruction that tragedy. His mother Teresa has lost two uncles and an equips them to manage these kinds of scenarios,” aunt to the virus. Bernhardt says. “Our graduates will be the decisionReflecting on his own experiences visiting relatives on makers, who will lead efforts with no easy solutions.” n the vast reservation, he knows the high level of poverty -MARY-ANN MUFFOLETTO and the challenges of securing even basic supplies. “Many of the families we’re encountering have battled USU Eastern Alum Bud Frazier Leads COVID-19 themselves,” Bud says. “And many have been Supply Drives for Navajo Nation quarantined without electricity or running water.” In an effort that’s steadily grown since early spring, The Navajo Nation, which straddles the Four the Frazier family has been soliciting donations of nonCorners area of Utah, Arizona and New Mexico, perishable food items, bottled water, baby needs, cleaning spans more than 27,000 square miles and is and hygiene supplies and other necessities, recruiting home to more than 170,000 people. Hard hit by volunteers and distributing goods to families throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the nation has recorded the resservation. more than 18,300 cases of the viral illness and Bud says donations have been received with “tears of confirmed nearly 690 deaths. joy.” “It’s a heartbreaking, dire situation,” says Utah State “This is a frightening situation,” says the ICU nurse, University Eastern alum Bud Frazier, a registered nurse, who has more than seven years of experience in critical who serves as operations manager at Mountainlands care. “When you take care of ventilated patients, you don’t Community Health Center in Lehi, Utah. forget it.” When Frazier, a member of the Navajo Nation, saw To learn more about NavajoStrong, visit the pandemic unfolding, he teamed with his parents, www.navajostrong.com. n
-MARY-ANN MUFFOLETTO
FALL 2020 I DISCOVERY MAGAZINE
21
ALUMNI OF USU’s COLLEGE OF SCIENCE SHARE INSIGHTS AND PERSPECTIVES
Reflections on Racism Fall 2020 Guest Columnist
MORGAN SUMMERS BS’11, Mathematics Education Utah State University Master of Social Work Student
Catholic University of America Washington, D.C. When I reflect on my coursework at Utah State, there are two particularly memorable classes that immediately come to mind. I still find myself chuckling at the time Professor Jim Cangelosi left our History of Mathematics and Number Theory class to get our “very old” guest speaker. The “guest speaker” turned out to be Jim himself, dressed in a white toga, pretending to be Pythagoras. Sitting in a circle on the floor of a classroom in the (then newest) engineering building, Pythagoras guided us through a proof of the Pythagorean Theorem. The other course that comes to mind is my Multicultural Education class in the Secondary Education department. I recall this class for an entirely different reason. I’m embarrassed to admit it now, but I hated this class at the time in a way I have never hated a class since. I remember leaving the instructor a poor evaluation and filling the
22
DISCOVERY MAGAZINE I FALL 2020
comments with reasons that I hated the class. I distinctly remember using one or two four-letter words to emphasize my point. Looking back, I wish I could apologize to the instructor and take back my evaluation. (If the instructor who happened to teach this class in Fall 2009 reads this, and would like my apology, please contact me.) I walked into this class as a 21-year-old with a know-it-all attitude. I did not see how this class would benefit me. After all, I was going to be a math teacher, not a social studies or English teacher. I could see how those teachers might need this class. I understood that history was often taught from the perspective of the majority, and that some novels read in an English class could bring up issues of prejudice and discrimination. I often asserted to myself that it was impossible to be
Mathematics Education alumna Morgan Summers in 2011, during her student teaching days at Idaho’s Preston High School. The North Ogden native taught in Utah public schools for several years. M. Muffoletto
prejudiced in a math classroom and I would never discuss these charged topics in my classroom. This was not a great attitude to walk into the class with on day one, and I’m embarrassed to admit, things didn’t get any better from there. If anything, my attitude only worsened. “Ugh! It’s not my fault that I’m white! The instructor makes me feel like slavery and segregation and everything else she talks about are my fault just because I’m white! I had nothing to do with those things. I’m not racist, and it’s not my fault!” I remember expressing this frustration to a fellow Math Ed classmate one day. Walking into class each session started a countdown until the moment class ended. I dismissed this class as just a “hoop to jump through” to obtain my degree. Fast forward to Fall 2011: After packing all my belongings in my new-to-me 2004 Honda Civic and making a cross-country drive, I was beginning a master’s program in the Midwest. I remember during the orientation talking to a Black classmate and feeling slightly uncomfortable. I dismissed the uneasiness as nerves. As the semester continued and I settled into my new routine, the discomfort interacting with this peer remained. I turned inward, reflecting on what could be the cause. And then, the realization hit me. I had never had a Black peer, and my discomfort was a result of my own internalized racism. Acknowledging that I had internalized racism was tough. Working against this internalized racism was even harder. From 2017-2019, I taught sophomore- and juniorlevel math at a high school in Utah. One of my classes each year was designated for students who had historically struggled with math. This class was smaller to allow for more one-on-one help. Most students at this high school were white. Yet both years, this class of students had more students of color than in my other five classes combined. Why was this?
USU College of Science alum Bradley Hintze (BS’09, Biochemistry) with wife, anesthesiologist Anne Cherry, and sons Alden, left, and Otto, right. Jared Lazarus
College of Science alumna Morgan Summers ‘11 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. The Aggie is currently pursuing a master’s degree in social work at the Catholic University of America. Courtesy Morgan Summers
The counselors and administrators were not overtly racist or putting students in this class to deny them opportunities. Instead it was the opposite; counselors and administrators were trying to help students have the best chance of success. In September 2019, I moved to Washington, DC for my spouse’s job. In March 2020, like much of the rest of the country and world, Washington, DC shut down in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. When George Floyd was killed by police, I read the news in horror. One weekend, my spouse and I joined the protestors in the Continued
FALL 2020 I DISCOVERY MAGAZINE
23
At USU’s Undergraduate Student Research Showcase during Research Week in March 2011, Honors Student Morgan Summers received the top poster award in the Physical Sciences category for her project, “Critical Issues in Middle and Secondary Mathematics Placement: A Case Study.” M. Muffoletto
streets of downtown DC. Everyone was wearing a mask, keeping as much distance as possible, and offering hand sanitizer and water to each other. Marching in the streets one weekend was only the beginning. I continued to research issues of racial inequity and discrimination in the United States. What I learned was sobering. And it only scratched the surface. In July 2020, I decided to apply to go back to school again: This time for my Master of Social Work (MSW). I am a woman of action, and social workers are on the front lines of the injustices and poverty faced in the U.S. I am in my first semester at the Catholic University of America, and already I’ve learned more about the systemic racial inequality studying the development of social welfare and policy in the United States than I could have ever considered. There’s not space to share everything I have learned, but I recommend watching the documentary “13th” on
24
DISCOVERY MAGAZINE I FALL 2020
Netflix. Look into the history of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) particularly as it relates to segregation and red-lining. And then consider that schools are often funded through property taxes. Finally, critically examine your news sources. What are their biases? Whose voices are they privileging? Remember that many issues in the news today are far more complex than can be conveyed in a news story or clip. Ask questions. Dig deeper. Do more research. To the instructor of my Multicultural Education class at Utah State, I am sorry for my attitude. You had the right to expect more from me. n
-MORGAN SUMMERS
College of Science alumna Morgan Summers resides in Washington, D.C. with her wife and two cats.
Coming to Life Redux Biology-Natural Resources Building Renovations Complete Right on Schedule
The $23 million renovation of the S.J. and Jessie E. Quinney Biology-Natural Resources Building, initially built in 1958, is complete. Faculty and staff have returned to beautifully refurbished offices and the facility is ready for Spring Semester 2021 labs and classes. The completed renovations mark the conclusion of a multi-year effort to build the new Life Sciences Building and update the BNR Building, to accommodate the growing number of students from disciplines throughout the university – in life sciences, agriculture, natural resources, engineering, education, psychology and more – who require foundational biology classes. A special “thank you” to all of the many people who made this endeavor possible.
View of the west, main entrance of the S.J. and Jessie E. Quinney Biology and Natural Resources Building, featuring the newly expanded foyer. Spencer Perry
Learn more about the BNR renovation and the construction of the Life Sciences Building at comingtolife.usu.edu n
The newly renovated Biology-Natural Resources (BNR) Building features upgraded student classroom laboratories and, at right, a new, larger foyer, which preserves the building’s iconic “Untitled Mosaic, 1962” mural by Gaell Lindstrom and Everett C. Thorpe. Nichole Bresee
FALL 2020 I DISCOVERY MAGAZINE
25
A g g i e Gener osity B uilds Student Har dship Fund
Nichole Bresee
On Thursday, October 8th, during Utah State University’s ‘A’ Day of Giving, Aggies from around the world collectively supported 69 areas of impact across the university with a giving total of $96,720. This outpouring of generosity, in the midst of a pandemic is phenomenal! Donor gifts collected during this 24-hour effort included donations to establish the College of Science Student Emergency Fund. This fund represents a new impact area within the college that will assist students experiencing unexpected financial hardships. We are grateful to all who gave, and especially to alumni donors Terry and Faye Whitworth, who generously provided a matching gift, which brought the total raised for the fund to more than $12,000. Why do donors give? Let’s hear what they have to say: Dr. Terry (MS’72, PhD’75) & Faye (MS’72, MEd’79) Whitworth: “We give because we remember, as a young married couple at USU, struggling to make ends meet. We empathize with students, who are now experiencing serious problems due to the added stress of the pandemic. We hope the hardship fund will help Aggies stay in school.” Dr. Willy Lensch (BS’91): “I give because I could have used the hardship fund and I wasn’t dealing with the fallout of a pandemic. I’m sure there are other students, at this very moment, who are in the same boat as I was and I want them to keep going. This fund will make a difference, as Aggies navigate a very tough year.” We thank ALL of you, who support USU’s mission and wish you happiness and health in the new year! n
-LORI HENNIGAN, SENIOR DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT
26
DISCOVERY MAGAZINE I FALL 2020
Diane Alston
Jan Sojka
Greg Podgorski
Xiaojun Qi
Karalee Ransom
Joel Pederson
Sean Johnson
Michelle Baker
Lance Seefeldt
Jim Powell
To make a gift to the College of Science Student Emergency Hardship Fund, visit:
give.usu.edu/cos
Let Us Hear from You We invite you to stay in touch with us:
n Via the Web Visit our website at www.usu.edu/science n On Social Media Visit us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
n On Utah Public Radio Hear about our research during “Science by the Slice” mini-casts
n
Via Email: science@usu.edu
FALL 2020 I DISCOVERY MAGAZINE
27
COLLEGE OF SCIENCE 0305 Old Main Hill Logan, UT 84322-0305 USA science.usu.edu
RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED
Thank You
for your support!
From Fall 2019: Members of USU’s student-led Science Council gather to show gratitude, before welcoming new Aggie science and math majors at the college’s annual “Discover Science” event. (Fall 2020’s event was held virtually.) M. Muffoletto