James Talmage Building

James talmage BUILDING


  • Completed: 1902
  • Named for: James Talmage
  • Architect: Richard K.A. Kletting
  • Nicknames: "JTB"

James E. Talmage — scholar, scientist, educator, author, and church leader — was born in England and came to Utah when he was ten years old. He earned the A.B degree at Lehigh University and the Ph.D at Illinois Wesleyan University. For his work in chemistry and geology he was elected to membership in the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He gave vigorous leadership to the University of Utah as Professor of metallurgy and biology, as Deseret professor of geology and as the U’s second president from 1894 to 1897. His major educational concern was to build a sound system of teaching for the people of Utah who, in the 1880’s, were still somewhat remote from the established centers of learning and to incorporate into the U curriculum the expanding body of scientific knowledge.

For members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Talmage is well-known as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve church leadership where he served from 1911 until his death in 1933. He is also well-known as author of the book "Jesus the Christ," among other Mormon theological tomes.

The land on which this building stands was deeded to the U during President Talmage’s administration. Construction of the building, to be known as the Museum, was begun in 1900, but so many new buildings were going up in Salt Lake City that skilled laborers and quality brick and stone were in short supply. The building was not completed until late in 1902.

The medical school took over use of the building from 1905-1920. In 1959 it was changed to the biology building to accommodate classrooms for a growing student population. Then, in 1976, the building was renamed the James E. Talmage building in honor of the former university president. It is located in Presidents Circle and the building is still used by the School of Biological Sciences, home of the James E. Talmage Presidential Endowed Chair.

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Science Campus

2021 College Awards

2021 College of Science AWARDS


This list represents only a small portion of the total awards received by our amazing students and faculty. Congratulations to all our 2021 award recipients!

 

Student Recognition

CoS Research Scholar Award
Karrin Tennant, BS Biology

CoS Convocation Student Speaker
Issac Martin, BS Mathematics

Churchill Scholarship
Issac Martin, BS Mathematics

Barry Goldwater Scholarship
Tyler Ball, junior, Chemistry

University Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award
Sahar Kanishka, Biology

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
Lydia Fries, Chemistry
Isaac Martin, Mathematics

 

Faculty Recognition

NSF CAREER Award: William Anderegg, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences

University of Utah Distinguished Research Award: David Bowling, Professor of Biological Sciences

NSF CAREER Award: Sophie Caron, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences

Geochemical Society Fellow: Thure Cerling, Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences

National Geographic Explorer Award: Phyllis Coley, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Biological Sciences

Humboldt Foundation Research Award: Denise Dearing, Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences

2020 Online Excellence Award: Naina Phadnis, Assistant Professor (Lecturer) of Biological Sciences

2020 Genetic Editors' Choice Award: Nitin Phadnis, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences

Developmental Biology Outstanding Paper Award: Michael Shapiro and Elena Boer, Professor and Postdoc of Biological Sciences

James E. Talmage Presidential Endowed Chair in Biology: Michael Shapiro, Professor of Biological Sciences

John B. Fenn Award: Peter B. Armentrout, Distinguished Professor of Chemistry

University of Utah Distinguished Scholarly & Creative Research Award: Vahe Bandarian, Professor of Chemistry

NSF CAREER Award: Caroline T. Saouma, Assistant Professor of Chemistry

Royal Society of Chemistry Emerging Investigator Award: Caroline T. Saouma, Assistant Professor of Chemistry

University of Utah Distinguished Professor: Valeria Molinero, Professor of Chemistry

University of Utah Distinguished Teaching Award: Holly Sebahar, Professor (Lecturer) of Chemistry

2021 Sloan Research Fellowship: Luisa Whittaker-Brooks, Assistant Professor of Chemistry

Early Career Teaching Award: Amanda Cangelosi, Instructor (Lecturer) of Mathematics

NSF Mathematical Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowship: Elizabeth Field, Assistant Professor (Lecturer) of Mathematics

NSF Mathematical Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowship: Alicia Lamarche, Assistant Professor (Lecturer) of Mathematics

NSF CAREER Award: Priyam Patel, Assistant Professor of Mathematics

Simons Fellowship: Firas Rassoul-Agha, Professor of Mathematics

Fellow of American Mathematical Society: Karl Schwede, Professor of Mathematics

American Association of Physics Teachers Doc Brown Futures Award: Ramón Barthelemy, Assistant Professor of Physics & Astronomy

University of Utah Distinguished Professor: David Kieda, Professor of Physics & Astronomy

Jack W. Keuffel Memorial Chair: Carsten Rott, Professor of Physics & Astronomy

University of Utah Presidential Scholar: Pearl Sandick, Associate Professor of Physics & Astronomy

Fellow of the American Physical Society: Oleg Starykh, Professor of Physics & Astronomy

Cottrell Scholar: Gail Zasowski, Assistant Professor of Physics & Astronomy


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2021 Churchill Scholar

Six in a Row!


Isaac Martin brings home the U's sixth straight Churchill Scholarship.

For the sixth consecutive year a College of Science student has received the prestigious Churchill Scholarship to study at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. Isaac Martin, a senior honors student majoring in mathematics and physics, is one of only 17 students nationally to receive the award this year.

Martin’s designation ties Harvard’s six-year run of consecutive Churchill Scholars (1987-1992) and is second only to Princeton’s seven-year streak (1994-2000).

“Isaac’s recognition as a Churchill Scholar is the result of years of remarkable discipline and dedication to a field of study that he loves,” said Dan Reed, senior vice president for Academic Affairs.

Martin decided to apply for a Churchill Scholarship as a freshman, after meeting for lunch with Michael Zhao, a 2017 Churchill Scholar who unexpectedly passed away in 2018.

“I am positively delighted and quite flabbergasted to receive the scholarship,” Martin says, “but I wish I could phone Michael to thank him for making the opportunity known to me. His legacy lives on in the undergraduate program of the math department here at Utah, where many others like me have greatly benefited from the example he set.”

Martin, a recipient of an Eccles Scholarship and a 2020 Barry Goldwater Scholarship, remembers as a kindergartener trying to write down the biggest number in existence and, as an eighth grader, suddenly understanding trigonometry after hours of reading on Wikipedia.

“That sensation of understanding, the feeling that some tiny secret of the universe was suddenly laid bare before me – that’s something I’ve only felt while studying math and physics, and it’s a high I will continue to chase for the rest of my life,” he says.

Books by Carl Sagan and Jim Baggott also kindled his love of math and physics, and after several years of self-directed study in middle and high school and a year at Salt Lake Community College, Martin enrolled at the U as a mathematics and physics double major.

After early undergraduate experiences in the research labs of physics professors Vikram Deshpande and Yue Zhao, Martin found himself gravitating more toward mathematics. He completed a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) at UC Santa Barbara studying almost Abelian Lie groups, which have applications in cosmology and crystallography, under Zhirayr Avetisyan. This experience resulted in Martin’s first research paper. He later completed another REU at the University of Chicago.

“This research was incredibly rewarding because while it applied to physics, the work itself was firmly rooted in the realm of pure math.” Martin says.

Returning to Utah, Martin worked with professors Karl Schwede and Thomas Polstra to study F-singularities, and developed this work into a single-author paper and his currently-in-progress honors thesis with professor Anurag Singh.

“I would not be where I am today without the incredible faculty at Utah and their willingness to devote time to undergraduates,” Martin says.

At Cambridge, Martin hopes to study algebraic geometry, number theory and representation theory (“in that order,” he says) in pursuit of a master’s degree in pure mathematics.

“I’m particularly interested in learning as much as I can about mirror symmetry, which I intend to make my essay topic,” he adds. “I also plan to drink a lot of tea and to buy one of those Sherlock Holmes coats. I will also begrudgingly begin using the term ‘maths’ but I promise to stop the instant I board a plane back to the U.S. in 2022.”

After he returns from Cambridge, Martin plans to earn a doctoral degree in pure mathematics and enter academia, using his experiences in many different educational systems including U.S. and British public schools, homeschooling and online learning, to broaden opportunities for students from a diversity of backgrounds.

“My past has molded me into who I am today,” he says, “and I hope I can use my experiences to create programs in STEM for opportunity-starved students, whether they are held back due to non-traditional schooling or to socio-economic factors.”

 

by Paul Gabrielsen - First Published in @theU

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Ace Madsen

Ace Madsen, MD


The Uinta Basin in the northeast corner of Utah can seem like a ways “out there” near the border of Colorado and one of the most famous dinosaur quarries in the world. In fact as of last month, says  Vernal-based Ace Arthur C. Madsen, BS’79, “it took six months for the pandemic to reach my corner of the state. Now I have two to three patients a week developing Covid-19 or succumbing to it. I believe the mask and hand sanitizer culture is here to stay.”

It’s a sobering reality for a rural and oil-industry region of the state next to some of the most beautiful and remote landscapes in the state, including Flaming Gorge and the Green River drainage as it flows toward its confluence with the Colorado to the south near Moab. But it is home for Dr. Madsen who has raised his family there and is now grandfather to a whopping fifteen grandchildren.

The University of Utah was the place for Madsen to chase his dream of becoming a doctor. Today he is in private practice in internal medicine. As an undergraduate he recalls Richard Van Norman who taught Botany as one of his favorite professors.“He was friendly, liked to spend one-on-one time with his students and seemed to really care about what we thought and our future plans.”

“My background in basic biological science, biochemistry and molecular biology provided me with a solid background and was invaluable to me in my research activities and medical school.” The Department of Biology, now the School of Biological Sciences, was a bit of a boot camp for him and other pre-med students.

“I am very grateful for the no nonsense approach” of many mentors, he says, including the late Gordon Lark, the late James L. Lords, and emeritus professors William R. Gray and Bob Vickery. Once Madsen had graduated in biology, the rigors of his training continued with the late Dr. Frank Moody and as a research assistant at the U’s Medical School in the departments of Pediatric Neurology with Drs. PF Bray and JT Wu as well as the Department of Surgery with Dr. Layton F. Rikkers, now an emeritus professor of surgery at the University of Wisconsin.

In 1981 Madsen graduated with his MD, receiving the Outstanding Research Award. During that time he secured eight publications and 10 abstracts, predominantly on oncofetal antigens such as carcino embryonic antigen (CEA) and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP). Following his graduation from the U Medical School he completed his residency in 1984 in Internal Medicine at Duke University.

Madsen isn’t the only alumnus in his family from the University of Utah. His wife Zoe graduated in mathematics with a minor in chemistry in 1975, and his son Adam earned his BS in biology in 2006 before following his father’s footsteps to medical school. While at the U, Adam, who quarterbacked for the Utes, was named Scholar-Athlete in the Mountain West Athletic Conference in 2004 and was part of the undefeated and Nationally-ranked Tostito’s Fiesta Bowl Champions football team in 2005.

Father (right, in photo above) and son both practice in Vernal.

In addition to his medical practice and his grandfathering, Madsen works in wood and stained glass as hobbies. When asked what advice he would give to current students in the School of Biological Sciences, he is succinct and quick to number what he thinks future graduates from the U should do. 1. “Study hard. It is difficult to get anywhere without good grades. 2. Get involved with research. 3. Get married--best move I made in life.”

 

By David Pace

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Ed Groenhout

ED groenhout


Ed Groenhout, BS’85 in Biology, has developed a deep love for travel and for the people of the world. He and his family have visited five continents and dozens of countries, and they plan to visit Australia and China soon, to complete a trip to all seven continents. 

That same budding spirit of adventure led Groenhout to the University of Utah in 1980 to begin his undergraduate education.

I grew up in a small town in Montana (Bozeman, Pop. 20,000 in 1980) and wanted to experience something different and more diverse, says Groenhout. We had family who lived in Salt Lake City at the time, so my mother felt comfortable sending me far from home. 

It was a pivotal moment in his life. 

Groenhout embraced the opportunity. When he arrived on campus, as an out-of-state student, he lived in the dorms including two years in Van Cott Hall and two years in Austin Hall. (The three original dormitories – Van Cott Hall, Austin Hall, and Ballif Hall – were constructed in the late 1960s and could accommodate 1,200 students.)

Many of my best University memories revolve around dorm life, especially the intramural sports. I also worked for the U’s National Championship Women’s Gymnastics team in the early 1980s. We moved all the equipment from their practice facility to the Huntsman Center for competitions and then back again, says Groenhout.

My education at the U, especially in Biology, started everything for me, says Groenhout. It ignited a passion for learning that continues to this day. I became very interested in molecular biology and that interest translated into my first job working in a lab at the U. 

I must also mention Dr. David Stillman in the Molecular Biology department at the Universitys School of Medicine. He was a great mentor to me and helped me tremendously, and I never would have worked in a lab in New Mexico if he hadn’t taught me everything I knew, says Groenhout. 

At the U, Groenhout’s favorite teacher was biology professor John Roth. Roth had a significant impact on my education. I learned so much in his classes and also got hands-on experience performing his simple but elegant experiments with bacteria and mutations, says Groenhout. 

Upon graduation in 1985, with his Bachelor’s degree, Groenhout experienced another pivotal moment in his life. He was told that he would never get into medical school. 

That was all the motivation I needed, and I have since had an amazing career in medicine, says Groenhout.  In fact, my career has included bench research, academic medicine, the Veteran’s Administration, private practice in a rural location caring for predominantly Medicare and Medicaid patients, and now Public Health.

To get his medical degree, he worked tirelessly and was admitted to the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. He conducted research in Dr. Richard Dorn’s endocrinology lab for four years and his work resulted in a publication in the journal Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology. He was also elected to Alpha Omega Alpha, the medical school honor society. He earned an M.D. degree in 1992. 

Groenhout then completed his medical residency and internship at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, from 1992 to 1995, and worked as a clinical instructor on the faculty of the University of Michigan for two additional years.

But I always wanted to get back West, to the open spaces and rugged beauty, says Groenhout. So, in 1997, he accepted a position as an Assistant Professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, School of Medicine. He worked at UNLV for seven years and was promoted to program director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program there. 

Groenhout met his wife, Yvonne, an ICU nurse, at UNLV. We met at the Med Center and bonded over our mutual love of Diet Coke! They were married in 2003. 

That same year, Groenhout began his private medical practice at the Grants Pass Clinic in Grants Pass, Oregon. He specialized in primary care Internal Medicine there until 2020, when he and his family relocated to Salem, Oregon to work with the Indian Health Services in the Chemawa Clinic. 

It was another pivotal moment in his life. 

My wife Yvonne and I had talked for years about the next step in my career and we both wanted to continue to give back to underserved populations in the U.S., says Groenhout.   Having grown up in Montana I was aware of the healthcare disparities in Native areas of the U.S. and the Covid-19 pandemic only amplified those disparities.

The Chemawa clinic, located about 40 miles south of Portland, is unique because it is one of only four clinics in the U.S. not associated with a Native American Reservation and so Groenhout can provide care to a wider spectrum of patients. Chemawa is also a federally-assisted clinic so medical providers have access to greater resources than many smaller tribal clinics. In fact, the Chemawa clinic serves tribal members from over 100 tribes.

I see about 50 patients each week from predominantly Oregon and Washington states, says Groenhout. There is a high demand for quality medical care in these small communities like Chemawa and Salem where indigenous populations have unique medical needs.

Back: Ed, Yvonne. Front: Kaylee, Sara

As a front-line medical provider, I can say Covid-19 has had an immeasurable impact on my professional life but I am confident that we will emerge stronger and better equipped as a result. It has changed healthcare delivery and opened up new and more creative avenues for interacting with patients, says Groenhout. 

I hope the pandemic improves our trust in science and ignites an interest in science and healthcare in our youth.

I’d also like to recognize my wife, Yvonne, who – during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic – volunteered her ICU nursing skills and traveled to Chicago and the Virgin Islands for two separate two-week shifts. From this experience, she now plans to continue volunteer work both nationally and internationally, says Groenhout. 

In their continuing travels, Groenhout and his family visit Utah on a regular basis, especially for recreation in Bryce National Park and Zion National Park.

To current students, Groenhout says, Things may seem bleak right now, but we will get through this and life will get better and back to normal. Keep focused and determined and don’t let anything stop you!

Are you a Science Alumni? Connect with us today!