New Faculty: Eleinis Ávila-Lovera

New Faculty:  Eleinis Ávila-Lovera


September 25, 2024

Above: Eleinis Ávila-Lovera

Like all living things, plants have to respond and adapt to various stressors in their environment. But unlike most living things, plants must cope with these issues while being completely immobile.

In the field.

This stalwart resilience fascinated Eleinis Ávila-Lovera in her undergraduate years, an interest that has guided her entire educational journey as a plant ecophysiologist. Drawn to the deserts of the region, she has found her way here as an assistant professor of the School of Biological Sciences

Starting in Venezuela where she was born and raised, Ávila-Lovera was inspired by her grandparents to live her life to its fullest potential. Her grandmother Leonidas Guevera de Lovera taught her to read and write at the age of four. When combined with her grandfather Luis Lovera’s work ethic setting a perfect example, Ávila-Lovera was able to adapt and thrive as efficiently as the plants she would eventually study. Guided by the insightful teaching of her undergraduate mentor Wilmer Tezera, she was quickly drawn to the arid environments of the region. It’s hard enough to weather the world while immobile, exponentially more so in the scorching heat with no water. And yet, countless plants are able to adapt and thrive in these conditions.

“There’s a particular genus called Parkinsonia (palo verde),” Ávila-Lovera explains when asked for an example, “Whose bark is completely green. It’s a drought-deciduous plant, meaning that it loses its leaves during the dry season. In a desert this could lead to zero carbon gain, yet the palo verde is still able to withstand the arid heat, because the green stem helps them continue acquiring carbon despite the lack of leaves.”

Plants such as this are the focus of Ávila-Lovera’s research. Her lab is currently working on two projects: One, led by graduate student Osedipo Adegbeyeni, is comparing the water status regulation between leaves and photosynthetic stems in desert plants. The other, led by postdoctoral researcher Oranys Marin, is studying the link between hydraulic conductivity and stem photosynthesis in desert plants. Ultimately the former project aims to decipher differences in how stems and leaves tolerate drought conditions. The latter explores the potential coordination of traits that allow better performance of plants in drought conditions.

Ávila-Lovera also currently teaches BIOL 5460, Plant Ecology in a Changing World. Taking inspiration from the adaptations she has studied, she wishes to create a classroom environment that provides students all the tools and resources they need to thrive. Being over 3,000 miles from home herself, she’s well versed in the process of learning to flourish in unfamiliar soil. She aspires not just to transmit information, but to provide the basis that allows  students to master and apply their newfound knowledge in turn.

“It’s important to remember that ecology as a science has the same rigorous background as other sciences,” Ávila-Lovera explains. “I do consider myself an environmentalist. I do not eat red meat or poultry and try to reduce my carbon footprint. But ecology itself is a science; we’re testing hypotheses, and it’s critical to approach it with the organization and structure one would expect.”

Having been allowed to thrive by multiple mentors before her, Ávila-Lovera eagerly looks forward to providing a similar mentorship role to her current and future students.

By Michael Jacobsen

You can read more about Ávila-Lovera and her study of the chromatic story of plant survival here.

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Biochar Robots win $500K Wilkes Climate Launch Prize

Biochar Robots win $500K Wilkes Climate Launch Prize


Sep 25, 2024
Above: Applied Carbon’s pyrolyzer. PHOTO CREDIT: Applied Carbon

Applied Carbon, formerly known as Climate Robotics, has developed a mobile, in-field solution that picks up crop waste left after harvesting and converts it into carbon-rich biochar in a single pass.

The resulting product is deposited back onto the field, simultaneously increasing soil health, improving crop yields, reducing fertilizer needs, and providing a carbon removal and storage solution that lasts millions of years.

Jason Aramburu, CEO and co-founder Applied Carbon, receives Wilkes Climate Launch Prize in September 2024. CREDIT: University of Utah

The 2024 Wilkes Climate Launch Prize is one of the largest university-affiliate climate awards in the world and is geared to spur innovation and breakthroughs from organizations at all stages, both for-profits and nonprofits—anywhere in the world—to help fund and accelerate solutions to climate change.

“People talk about the ‘missing middle’ of funding in climate tech. For early-stage research, you use government grants to prove the science. Once you have a working design, you might get VC money. But when it comes to building your first few prototypes, investors can’t take the risk,” said Jason Aramburu, CEO and co-founder Applied Carbon. “Programs like the Wilkes Climate Launch Prize are really important to fill a crucial funding gap.”

William Anderegg, director of the Wilkes Center for Climate Science & Policy, awarded the prize to Aramburu during an evening reception held in partnership with the Southwest Sustainability Innovation Engine (SWISIE), a multi-institutional enterprise in which the U and collaborators confront climate challenges facing the desert Southwest and spur economic development in the region.

“Applied Carbon’s bold climate solution addresses a major opportunity for agriculture to contribute to removing carbon from the atmosphere, benefiting farmers and soil health at the same time,” said William Anderegg. “It’s exactly the type of scalable and impactful solution that the Wilkes Climate Launch Prize seeks to supercharge.”

Aramburu and Applied Carbon COO and co-founder Morgan Williams dreamed of a better system that could pick up crop waste and produce and distribute biochar in one pass. Now, they’ve developed an agricultural robot called a pyrolizer that does it all in-field, in one pass.

Read the full article by Lisa Potter in @TheU.

How special is the Milky Way Galaxy?  

How special is the Milky Way Galaxy?


September 25, 2024

Above: A mosaic of the satellite galaxies across the Milky Way-like systems that the SAGA team has surveyed. The mages are sorted by their luminosity from left to right. Credit: Yao-Yuan Mao (Utah), with images from the DESI Legacy Surveys Sky Viewer

A “saga” about 101 galaxies like the Milky Way and their companions

Is our home galaxy, the Milky Way Galaxy, a special place? A team of scientists started a journey to answer this question more than a decade ago. Commenced in 2013, the Satellites Around Galactic Analogs (SAGA) Survey studies galaxy systems like the Milky Way. Now, the SAGA Survey just published three new research articles that provide us with new insights into the uniqueness of our own Milky Way Galaxy after completing the census of 101 satellite systems similar to the Milky Way’s.   

These “satellites” are smaller galaxies in both mass and size which orbit a larger galaxy, usually called the host galaxy. Just as with smaller satellites that orbit the Earth, these satellite galaxies are captured by the gravitational pull of the massive host galaxy and its surrounding dark matter. The Milky Way Galaxy is the host galaxy of several satellite galaxies, of which the two largest are the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (LMC and SMC). While LMC and SMC are visible to the naked eye from the Southern Hemisphere, there are many other fainter satellite galaxies orbiting around the Milky Way Galaxy that can only be observed with a large telescope.  

The goal of the SAGA Survey is to characterize satellite systems around other host galaxies that have similar stellar masses as the Milky Way Galaxy. Yao-Yuan Mao, a University of Utah faculty member in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, is co-leading the SAGA Survey with Marla Geha at Yale University and Risa Wechsler at Stanford University. Mao is the lead author of the first article in the series of three that have all been accepted by the Astrophysical Journal. This series of articles reports on the SAGA Survey’s latest findings and makes the survey data available to other researchers worldwide.  

 An outlier galaxy? 

An image of a Milky Way-like galaxy and its system of satellite galaxies. The SAGA survey identified six small satellite galaxies in orbit around this Milky Way analog. Credit: Yasmeen Asali (Yale), with images from the DESI Legacy Surveys Sky Viewer https://www.legacysurvey.org/acknowledgment/

 In the first study led by Mao, the researchers highlighted 378 satellite galaxies identified across 101 Milky Way-mass systems. The number of confirmed satellites per system ranged from zero to 13 — compared to four satellites for the Milky Way. While the number of satellite galaxies in the Milky Way system is on par with the other Milky Way-mass systems, “the Milky Way appears to host fewer satellites if you consider the existence of the LMC,” Mao said. The SAGA Survey has found that systems with a massive satellite like the LMC tend to have a higher total number of satellites, and our Milky Way seems to be an outlier in this regard. 

An explanation for this apparent difference between the Milky Way and the SAGA systems is the fact that the Milky Way has only acquired the LMC and SMC quite recently, compared with the age of the universe). The SAGA article explains that if the Milky Way Galaxy is an older, slightly less massive host with the recently added LMC and SMC, one would then expect a lower number of satellites in the Milky Way system not counting other smaller satellites that LMC/SMC might have brought in.  

This result demonstrates the importance of understanding the interaction between the host galaxy and the satellite galaxies, especially when interpreting what we learn from observing the Milky Way. Ekta Patel, a NASA Hubble Postdoctoral Fellow at the U but not part of the SAGA team, studies the orbital histories of Milky Way satellites. After learning about the SAGA results, Patel said, “Though we cannot yet study the orbital histories of satellites around SAGA hosts, the latest SAGA data release includes a factor of ten more Milky Way-like systems that host an LMC-like companion than previously known. This huge advancement provides more than 30 galaxy ecosystems to compare with our own, and will be especially useful in understanding the impact of a massive satellite analogous to the LMC on the systems they reside in.”  

Why do galaxies stop forming stars? 

The second SAGA study of the series is led by Geha, and it explores whether these satellite galaxies are still forming stars. Understanding the mechanisms that would stop the star formation in these small galaxies is an important question in the field

Yao-Yuan Mao

of galaxy evolution. The researchers found, for example, that satellite galaxies located closer to their host galaxy were more likely to have their star formation “quenched,” or suppressed. This suggests that environmental factors help shape the life cycle of small satellite galaxies.  

The third new study is led by Yunchong (Richie) Wang, who obtained his PhD with Wechsler. This study uses the SAGA Survey results to improve existing theoretical models of galaxy formation. Based on the number of quenched satellites in these Milky Way-mass systems, this model predicts quenched galaxies should also exist in more isolated environments — a prediction that should be possible to test in the coming years with other astronomical surveys such as the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument Survey.  

Gift to the astronomy community 

In addition to these exciting results that will enhance our understanding of galaxy evolution, the SAGA Survey team also brings a gift to the astronomy community. As part of this series of studies, the SAGA Survey team published new distance measurements, or redshifts, for about 46,000 galaxies. “Finding these satellite galaxies is like finding needles in a haystack. We had to measure the redshifts for hundreds of galaxies to just identify one satellite galaxy,” Mao said. “These new galaxy redshifts will enable the astronomy community to study a wide range of topics beyond the satellite galaxies.”  

The SAGA Survey was supported in part by the National Science Foundation and the Heising-Simons Foundation. Other authors of these three SAGA studies include Yasmeen Asali, Erin Kado-Fong, Nitya Kallivayalil, Ethan Nadler, Erik Tollerud, Benjamin Weiner, Mia de los Reyes, John F. Wu, Tom Abel, and Peter Behroozi. 

By David Pace

Former Space Researcher and Analyst Pens Gripping Mystery

Former Space Researcher and Analyst
Pens Gripping Mystery


Sep 24, 2024
Above: Elizabeth Heider

Utah native Elizabeth Heider BS'00 physics is set to sign copies of her debut mystery novel, “May the Wolf Die,” at Dolly’s Bookstore in Park City on Sept. 29 at 12 p.m.

Heider’s novel, set in Naples, Italy, follows a female detective investigating organized crime and its connections to the U.S. military presence in the city.

“The inspiration for ‘May the Wolf Die’ came from my diverse experiences,” Heider said. She explained that after completing her degree at the University of Utah, she worked as a deployed civilian analyst with the U.S. Navy, including three years stationed in Naples. Her work took her to 15 African countries, saw her training troops in Senegal, Gabon, and Cameroon, and even lecturing at INTERPOL headquarters in France.

Heider’s Utah roots run deep. “I’m a Utah Native – raised in South Jordan Utah,” she said. “Although I left the state for work in 2008, I regularly return; my parents, two sisters, and brother, are still living here.”

The author’s background spans physics, military analysis, and space research. After earning her Physics degree from the University of Utah she completed her PhD at Tufts University. Her career includes work with the European Space Agency’s Human Spaceflight program and her current role as a program manager for Microsoft’s AI4Science program in the Netherlands.

Heider's writing isn’t limited to novels. Her credits include a play produced at the U, a chemistry patent and even a comic series for the European Space Agency. For years, her science writings were regularly read by astronauts aboard the International Space Station.

Read the full article by Laura M in TownLift.

U Scientists Nominate Iconic Utah Sites as Global Geoheritage Locations

U Scientists Nominate Iconic Utah Sites
as Global Geoheritage Locations


Sep 24, 2024
Above: The view of Great Salt Lake’s North Arm from Gunnison Island. Credit: Brian Maffly

In 1875, Grove Karl Gilbert laid eyes on Utah’s remote and recently named Henry Mountains, and was fascinated by the “deep carving of the land which renders it so inhospitable to the travel and the settler, [but] is to the geologist a dissection which lays bare the very anatomy of the rocks.”

He observed a “great depth of uplifted and arching strata”, which form domes of sedimentary rock over chambers of hardened “molten rock,” or what came to be called laccoliths.

G.K. Gilbert’s scientific exploration of the Henry Mountains led to the development of a mechanical model for mountain building that has remained valid for 150 years. In recognition of the its role in the history of geoscience, the southern Utah range has been selected as a world geoheritage site by the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS), along with two other features in Utah: the Great Salt Lake and Coyote Buttes, the sandstone landscape on the Arizona state line that includes The Wave.

Nominated by University of Utah geoscientists, the three sites were among the Second 100 IUGS Geological Heritage sites announced on Aug. 27 at the 37th International Geological Congress in South Korea.  “These are the world’s best demonstrations of geologic features and processes,” the union said in a statement. “They are the sites of fabulous discoveries of the Earth and its history. They are sites that served to develop the science of geology.”

U research professor Marie Jackson, who mapped the three southern domes of the Henry Mountains for her doctoral dissertation in the 1980s, applauded the selection, which is a testament to G. K. Gilbert’s forward-thinking genius in the 19th century.

“This world was unexplored. These domes record raw geologic processes that were here for the viewing,” she said.

Jackson and Marjorie Chan, both professors in the Department of Geology and Geophysics, nominated the Utah sites and compiled descriptions for the IUGS geoheritage catalog. The MSc thesis of their former U graduate student Winston Seiler is devoted to The Wave.

Read the full article by Brian Maffly in @TheU.

Fielding Norton Named College of Science Senior Fellow

FIELDING NORTON NAMED COLLEGE OF SCIENCE
SENIOR FELLOW


September 24, 2024.
Above: Fielding Norton. Credit: Todd Anderson

Climate physicist, insurtech venture advisor and former reinsurance executive Fielding Norton III joins the College’s Leadership Team.

The University of Utah College of Science has announced that Fielding Norton has been appointed to the role of Senior Fellow.

In this role, Norton will serve as a resource for the College’s faculty and staff, focusing on the intersection of climate science, technology, and insurance. He will help develop project-based learning opportunities for students in the College and identify ways to unlock the commercial potential and societal benefit of research & innovation across the College. Norton will also serve as an advisor to the Wilkes Center for Climate Science & Policy and serve on the College’s Energy & Environment Advisory Board.

Norton currently advises insurtech and climatech companies that use AI and other technologies to enable a profitable transition to a low-carbon economy. His career spans more than 35 years, first as a science and math educator in Kansas and Maine, then as recipient of teaching awards while earning a MS in applied physics and a PhD in earth & planetary sciences at Harvard University. Later, in the global reinsurance industry, he and his teams managed and priced the risk of extreme disasters including hurricanes, floods and wildfires. Among his recent leadership roles, Norton worked in Bermuda as chief enterprise risk officer of XL Group, a Fortune 100 global insurer and reinsurer.

“I am thrilled to join the College of Science as Senior Fellow,” said Norton. “The College and the Wilkes Center can play a pivotal role in creating common sense, pragmatic solutions to complex environmental, societal and economic problems. I look forward to working with Dean Trapa and the faculty and staff of the College to help Utah flourish and find opportunity in the environmental challenges we face.”

“Fielding Norton is a world-class innovator with deep roots in climate science and STEM education,” said Peter Trapa, dean of the College of Science. “I am eager to collaborate with Fielding to bring his wide-ranging expertise to our students across many disciplines.”

College of Science Senior Fellows represent a variety of industries and provide key insights and guidance to leadership and faculty. Fielding Norton joins Tim Hawkes, attorney and former Utah legislator, and Berton Earnshaw, AI Founding Fellow at the clinical-stage “techbio” company Recursion, as senior fellows.

By David Pace

Discover Science

October 26, 2024, 12:00 PM
Henry Eyring Building, Room 2008

Are you a prospective student that is curious about science programs at the U? Learn more by attending Discover Science, immediately following Discover the U on the University of Utah campus.

We will have pizza, chemistry demos, presentations from current students and scholarship giveaways up to $3,000!

Please register for the event below:

Discover Science
Name
Name
First
Last

For more information about this event, contact Sam Shaw in Student Affairs at sam.shaw@utah.edu.

 

Kevin Fuller to Lead Global Marketing at Nature’s Sunshine

Kevin Fuller to Lead Global Marketing
at Nature’s Sunshine


Sep 19, 2024
Above: Kevin Fuller - BS’94, biology. Photo Credits : GlobeNewswire

Fuller, a seasoned marketing executive with over two decades of experience in high-performance organizations, brings in-depth global marketing experience to Nature’s Sunshine.

His deep understanding of the dietary supplement industry combined with his experience launching new products, building powerful brands, and driving customer growth strategies make Fuller an ideal fit for Nature’s Sunshine.

"We are very pleased to welcome Kevin to Nature’s Sunshine,” said Terrence Moorehead, Chief Executive Officer. “He brings a wealth of experience and a proven track record of developing successful marketing strategies. Kevin will be instrumental in helping take our brand to the next level, and we look forward to his many contributions.”

Fuller holds an MBA from Brigham Young University, a B.S. in Biology from the University of Utah, and was a member of the Kellogg school’s Executive Education Program for Digital Marketing. He is also an accomplished triathlete, competing in four Ironman World Championships, was selected as a member of the USA World Championship Triathlon Team in 2023 and is a current 3-time All American. He is also a member of the Advisory Board of Unleash Health.

Read the full article in GlobeNewswire.

How Harmful is Great Salt Lake Dust? U Scientists Investigate

How Harmful is Great Salt Lake Dust?
U Scientists Investigate


September 17, 2024

As Utah’s Great Salt Lake shrinks, exposing more of its playa, concerns grow about the dust the dry lakebed emits. But scientists lack the data to fully understand what pollutants are present in these airborne sediments.

Researchers from the University of Utah, including atmospheric scientist Kevin Perry and biologist Michael Werner, are attempting to get a handle on this question and the latest findings are concerning.

Sediments in the lake’s exposed playa are potentially more harmful than other major dust sources affecting the Wasatch Front’s air quality, according to a study published online recently in the journal Atmospheric Environment.

NBC News Dust researcher Kevin Perry poses with his fat bike and a PI-SWERL machine, which can measure wind erosion and dust emission.
Photo credit: Evan Bush

“You’re talking about a very large dust source located next to a very large population, and you’ve got elevated levels of manganese, iron, copper and lead. Lead is a concern for developmental reasons,” said senior author Kerry Kelly, a professor of chemical engineering. “Manganese, iron and copper, these are transition metals and are known to be very irritating to your lungs. Once you get irritation, that can lead to this whole inflammatory response. And that’s part of the problem with particulate matter and it’s adverse health effects like asthma.”

Another recent study led by sociology professor Sara Grineski found dust from the lakebed disproportionately affects disadvantaged neighborhoods in Salt Lake County.

In a separate forthcoming study led by U biologist Michael Werner’s lab, another team of researchers characterized levels of toxic metals deposited in submerged lakebed sediments sampled during the lake’s record low-water year of 2021, noting how these levels have changed since the years of Utah’s mining era.

To conduct the published study, Kerry Kelly’s lab, which specializes in air quality, teamed up with researchers in the U’s College of Science. They examined previously collected sediment samples from the Great Salt Lake, comparing them with sediments from other dust sources in the Great Basin, namely Sevier Lake, Fish Springs Lake and West Desert in western Utah and Tule Lake in northeastern California. These places are known to contribute to dust pollution reaching Salt Lake City.

In recent years, co-author Kevin Perry, a professor of atmospheric sciences, has systematically gathered exposed lakebed sediments, logging hundreds of miles on a bike. His prior research has identified “hotspots” on the playa that appear to be enriched with potentially toxic elements.

Read the full article by Brian Maffly @TheU.

U student Muskan Walia now holds a leadership role in USHE Board

U student: Muskan Walia now holds a leadership role in USHE Board


September 17, 2024
Above: Muskan Walia, current student majoring in in mathematics and philosophy.

Muskan Walia didn’t intend to become a student leader when she started attending the University of Utah in 2020; she just really didn’t want to pay for printing.

Now, she’s the 2024-25 student member of the Utah System of Higher Education Board. 

“Our state has a great opportunity right now to be a leader in higher education policy,” Walia said. “As a current student, I am excited and grateful to work with students across Utah to bring our perspective into the conversation.”

A senior at the U, Walia has extensive leadership experience—including more than two years on the University of Utah’s student senate and two years as a Presidential Intern in Higher Education Leadership at the U.

“Muskan has a rare combination of modesty and confidence, in addition to the ability to listen to others and get things done,” said Frederick R. Adler, director of the U’s School of Biological Sciences and a mentor to Walia. “Beyond her intellect, passion for justice, and self-confidence, she has an extraordinary sense of humor that brings real joy to her work. That humor is very much part of her ability to see the world from different perspectives and to engage with others.”

While in the ASUU Senate, Walia served as treasurer and chair. Through her involvement, she’s found her passion and developed as a leader, but it might never have happened if she hadn’t wanted a solution to her printing problems.

Read the full story by Matilyn Mortensen in @TheU.