BYU archeologist discovers Guatemalan cultural treasure
Anthropology professor Stephen Houston has discovered an elaborate and precise engraving that details the life and times of a Maya king, including his 18-letter name and exact dates of his coronation, major battles, and death, which all preceded Columbus by about 800 years.
Houston, who codirected the National Geographic Society-funded project with Hector Escobedo of Guatemala’s Universidad del Valle, found the sculpture in April during the fourth year of excavations in the remote ancient Maya city Piedras Negras in northwest Guatemala.
New Math Education DepartmentBYU has formed a Department of Mathematics Education to help meet the needs of more than 200 students majoring in math education at the secondary school level and more than 700 elementary education majors who will teach math in primary schools. The new department will offer bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
Prof Builds Nation’s Largest Model Railway
Recreation management professor Thomas S. Catherall uses model trains to teach everyone from grade schoolers to West Point cadets about topics as diverse as mathematics, electricity, and computer programming. Now he has built a model railway the size of a football field at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, Utah. Aided by BYU civil engineering students who volunteered to build bridges and other structures, Catherall has spent parts of the past two years building the railway.
Professor, Students Test Lakes in National Parks
When A. Woodruff “Wood” Miller hikes to mountain lakes in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, he’s got more than just water bottles and trail mix in his backpack. The chair of BYU‘s civil and environmental engineering department also totes along conductivity probes, transparency disks, and thermometers. Every summer for the past six years Miller has climbed to more than 25 lakes in the parks to monitor water quality and gather information for his graduate students’ projects.