EDUCATION
Encyclopedia Entries: Counseling psych faculty members Lane Fischer (BS ’79), Rachel Crook-Lyon (BS ’96), and Timothy B. Smith (BS ’91) contributed to the American Counseling Association’s Encyclopedia of Counseling.
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
Natural Creativity: Recruited to identify a local, low-cost building material in Mozambique, a team of student engineers created bricks out of termite mounds that will be used to build village latrines. U.S. Synthetics and the nonprofit Care for Life sponsored the project.
FAMILY, HOME, AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
Secondhand Smoke: Inhaling secondhand cigarette smoke or pollution increases the risk of death from cardiovascular disease by 20 to 30 percent, according to a study led by BYU epidemiologist C. Arden Pope III (BS ’78) and published in Circulation, the journal of the American Heart Association. Before Divorce: Should I Keep Trying to Work it Out? A Guidebook for Individuals and Couples at the Crossroads of Divorce,written by family life prof Alan J. Hawkins (BS ’79) and divorce attorney Tamara A. Fackrell (BS ’94), serves as a resource for those considering divorce. Sponsored by the Utah Coalition for Marriage, it is available free at more.byu.edu/divorce.
FINE ARTS AND COMMUNICATIONS
Lance Montgomery
Budding Composer: At the Society for Electroacoustic Music in the United States’ Student Commission Awards, R. Lance Montgomery (’10) received second prize for his score “Fiore.” Emmy Organ Star: Seth Bott (’10) won a regional competition sponsored by The American Guild of Organists (AGO) and will perform at the national AGO convention in Washington, D.C.
HUMANITIES
Associate Dean: French prof Scott M. Sprenger was appointed associate dean of the College of Humanities. New Chairs: J. Scott Miller (BA ’82) is now chair of Asian and Near Eastern Languages. Corry L. Cropper (BA ’93) is now chair of French and Italian.
LAW SCHOOL
Supreme Cocounsel: The U.S. Supreme Court appointed RonNell Andersen Jones, associate law prof, to serve as lead cocounsel in the case Kucana v. Holder, which will go before the Court in November. Law Honor: Senior law librarian Dennis S. Sears (BS ’75) was elected the special interest section council chair of the American Association of Law Libraries.
LIFE SCIENCES
Jerald Johnson
Big Fish: Biology prof Jerald B. Johnson (MS ’95) and his team of undergrads published a study in Ecology about how fish adapt to their environment.
MARRIOT SCHOOL
Accounting Rules: Associate accounting prof Ervin L. Black (BA ’81) coauthored the first how-to guide helping accountants with new business-acquisition standards. Winning Pitches: MBA students Chris E. Bryant (BS ’00) and Jason W. Huntsman (BS ’05) won BYU’s 2009 Business Plan Competition after pitching Hydrapel, a waterproofing technology. At the Global Moot Corp Competition, Hydrapel received outstanding product honors and KT Tape, the sports medicine company that placed second in BYU’s competition, received first runner-up in its division.
NURSING
Discovering Diversity: Eight nursing students were the first international students to earn clinical hours at the Chi Mei Medical Center in Tainan, Taiwan. Nonverbal Nursing: Seven nursing students spent three weeks at the University of Jordan Hospital in Amman, Jordan, mentoring Jordanian nursing students and learning nonverbal communication as they cared for patients who spoke only Arabic.
PHYSICAL AND MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES
Innovative Fellow: Gus L. Hart (BS ’94), associate prof of physics, was named an American Competitiveness and Innovation Fellow by the National Science Foundation, which will help fund Hart’s study of how atoms organize in metallic alloys. Acoustic Acclaim: Dean Scott D. Sommerfeldt (BS ’83) was elected to serve a three-year term as a member of the Executive Council of the Acoustical Society of America. Teacher Scholar:Jeffrey C. Humpherys, assistant math prof, received the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development Award.
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
Legacy of Leaders: Two new books edited by associate profs of Church history and doctrine, compile presentations from BYU’s annual Church History Symposium. Mary Jane Woodger (BS ’80) edited Champion of Liberty: John Taylor; Alexander L. Baugh (MA ’86) edited Days Never to Be Forgotten: Oliver Cowdery.