Carbon 'off-sets' are not working. U-led research results in roadmap for harnessing Earth’s natural processes to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide
A lot of the climate-altering carbon pollution we humans release into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels gets drawn into Earth’s oceans and landscapes through natural processes, mostly through photosynthesis as plants turn atmospheric carbon dioxide into biomass.
Efforts to slow the climate crisis have long sought to harness nature, often through carbon “offsets,” aimed at bolstering forests, wetlands, and agriculture, but have generally had only marginal success so far.
A new approach: contributions vs. credits
New research led by the University of Utah’s Wilkes Center for Climate Science & Policy offers a “roadmap” for accelerating climate solutions. To be published Thursday in the journal Nature, the paper analyses various strategies for improving such nature-based climate solutions, or NbCS, specifically exploring the role of the world’s forests in pulling carbon out of the atmosphere and storing it in long-lived trees and even in the ground.
“Nature-based climate solutions are human actions that leverage natural processes to either take carbon out of the atmosphere or stop the emissions of carbon to the atmosphere,” said lead author and forest ecologist William Anderegg, a professor of biology and past Wilkes Center director. “Those are the two main broad categories. There are the avoided emissions, and that’s activities like stopping deforestation. Then there’s the greenhouse gas-removal pathways. That’s things like reforestation where you plant trees, and as those trees grow, they suck up CO2 out of the atmosphere.”
The U-led study, which includes leading scientists from nine other universities as part of a Wilkes Center Working Group effort, identifies four components where nature-based climate actions have not lived up to their billing and proposes reforms to improve their performance and scalability.
Forests are the focus because of trees’ ability to store vast amounts of carbon that would otherwise be in the atmosphere exacerbating the climate crises. Conversely, deforestation, especially in the Amazon rainforest, is releasing carbon at an alarming rate.
About half the emissions associated with human activity are absorbed into plants, through photosynthesis, and oceans, with the rest building up in the atmosphere where these gases trap heat. Terrestrial ecosystems pull 31% of anthropogenic emissions out of the atmosphere, according to the study. While forests are seen as Earth’s most vital carbon sponge, current rates of deforestation release 1.9 gigatons of carbon a year, on par with Russia’s annual emissions. Thus, “actions to halt and reverse deforestation are a critical part of climate stabilization pathways,” the authors write.
Physics Pioneer Pierre Sokolsky awarded the 2025 Yodh Prize
July 23, 2025
Above: Pierre Sokolsky
To many, the (literally) rarefied air of the field of ultra high energy cosmic ray physics can prove elusive. And yet, these particles from outer space that travel across the universe at nearly the speed of light are in fact key to our understanding space, including the makeup of the galaxies and the universe.
This year, Pierre Sokolsky, distinguished professor of physics (emeritus) at the University of Utah received the award at the the conference being held in Geneva, Switzerland.
Atmospheric fluorescence technique
The prize, which recognizes a scientist whose research career has had a major impact on the understanding of cosmic rays, was well-deserved by Sokolsky who played an instrumental role in pioneering the development of the atmospheric fluorescence technique as a method for exploring the highest energy cosmic rays. His work in understanding and verifying the extraordinary 1991 “Oh-My-God” event, observed by Utah's Telescope Array and which weighed in at 3.2x10^20 eV was pivotal.
Illustration of the Oh-my-God particle.
"Pierre’s deep understanding of cosmic ray physics, combined with his ability to communicate complex phenomena to newcomers, was invaluable to the development of the field," says John Matthews, a U colleague in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, program manager for the cosmic ray physics group and co-spokesperson of the Telescope Array project.
In fact, Sokosky's expertise, both theoretical and practical, was recognized when he was awarded the Panofsky Prize by the American Physical Society (APS) in 2008, with George Cassiday, for groundbreaking contributions to the fluorescence technique at Fly's Eye.
Named for its design, which mimicked the compound eye of an insect, the high resolution Fly's Eye was a cosmic ray observatory which used a large array of mirrors and photomultiplier tubes to detect the faint flashes of light produced when cosmic rays interact with the atmosphere. This technique, called air (or atmospheric) fluorescence—which Sokolsky helped develop, particularly in the construction of its monocular and stereo detectors—allowed scientists to study the highest energy cosmic rays. Their findings, which included the first evidence for the cosmic ray suppression and the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin (GZK) cut-off culminated, according to Matthews, in groundbreaking results that were published in Physical Review Letters in 2008.
"Pierre’s unwavering commitment to the field, his scientific acumen and his ability to foster international collaboration have made him one of the most influential figures in ultra high energy cosmic ray physics," says Matthews. "His work has significantly shaped the understanding of cosmic ray origins, and his leadership has been instrumental in producing critical results for the field."
Next phase of the Telescope Array
Yodh Prize ceremony, Geneva Switzerland.
"This award adds to the long list of recognitions that members of our department have received for their pioneering research in cosmic ray physics," says Carsten Rott, chair of Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Jack W. Keuffel Memorial Chair. Rott, speaking from the ICRC conference where the ceremony honoring Sokolsky is taking place, continues:
"This award is well deserved for Pierre and comes at a critical time where we are trying to complete the construction of the next phase of the Telescope Array cosmic ray detector (TAx4) in Utah. The importance of the anticipated data to be obtained from the completed TAx4 project was also stressed multiple times during this conference."
Gaurang Bhaskar Yodh (1928-2019) was an Indian-American physicist and an expert in astroparticle physics and cosmic-ray physics. The prize is endowed by Gaurang and his wife Kanwal to the UC Irvine Foundation which sponsors the award.
The recipient is selected on behalf of the University of California Irvine Foundation, which sponsors the accolade. In addition to a cash prize, Sokolsky is invited to give a talk at UC Irvine's Department of Physics and Astronomy.
Sokolsky, who retired from the U in 2020 is also Dean Emeritus of the College of Science at the University of Utah. Born in France, he was educated at the University of Chicago and University of Illinois. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society.
In 2004, he spearheaded the U’s $17 million Telescope Array Project located just west of Delta, Utah, to study ultra-high-energy cosmic rays in collaboration with scientists from the University of Tokyo Institute for Cosmic Ray Research and several other Japanese universities as well as team members from South Korea, Russia, and Belgium.
Pierre Sokolsky also launched a comprehensive astronomy research program at the U, including undergraduate and graduate degrees in astronomy.
My grandma was a teacher, and my mom studied teaching, so I grew up surrounded by educators. In high school, Math was my favorite subject.
In college, I majored in pure math and was involved in teaching and research as an undergrad TA. After I graduated, I took a break from being a student and taught at a private high school in Syracuse, New York. The school didn’t require state exams, so we had academic freedom and could try different strategies. I connected well with experienced teachers, learned a lot, and had two creative years in the classroom.
After that, I returned to grad school in 2020 for a master’s degree in math, planning to pursue a PhD. I passed my prelims but I really missed teaching. So I stopped there and decided to pursue the classroom again. I knew teaching was my path, and although the pandemic made job hunting difficult, I eventually joined the University of Utah and I’m happy with where I landed.
In my own classes I use humor and welcome mistakes as learning opportunities. When a student offers an incorrect answer, I thank them and turn it into a teachable moment. That approach helps reduce anxiety around being wrong.
When students tell me they used to be afraid of math but now enjoy it, that’s incredibly rewarding. I know many people carry bad math experiences, but I believe hard work matters more than innate talent. If you’re willing to put in effort—you’ll succeed.
Teaching itself is performative: engaging students requires creativity and a willingness to embrace other parts of myself beyond math. Art keeps me balanced and reinforces that stepping outside your comfort zone is essential.
Outside teaching, I serve on the Belonging Community Committee, which advocates for every group in the department. We helped secure a gender-neutral bathroom and continue to work on inclusivity. I’ll also be mentoring incoming graduate student instructors this year.
Looking ahead, I want to improve my coordination skills—especially strategies for handling instructor-student conflicts and making courses run more efficiently. In my own teaching, I’m exploring ways to integrate innovative practices into large lectures without sacrificing content or timeline.
by Dalyana Guerra, assistant professor of mathematics, from Syracuse, New York.
July 22, 2025
Above: Ann Crocker, Gary Crocker and Mark Skaggs cut the ribbon, officially opening the L. S. Skaggs Applied Science Building. Credit: Todd Anderson/College of Science
The University of Utah celebrated the opening of the L. S. Skaggs Applied Science Building, a new space where researchers and students address critical challenges—from predicting dangerous weather to tracking the air we breathe to advancing semiconductor technology.
Utah Governor Spencer Cox. Credit: Todd Anderson
The L. S. Skaggs Applied Science Building and the renovated historic William Stewart Building complete the $97 million Applied Science Project. Together with the Crocker Science Center, the structures along University Street comprise the Crocker Science Complex, a 275,000-square-foot engine of discovery fueling Utah’s booming STEM economy.
At the ribbon-cutting ceremony on July 16, 2025, donors, policymakers, university leaders and business luminaries praised the complex as a visionary investment in scientific research and a launchpad for future innovators.
“It’s an interesting time for science and technology and research in our country. And I want to just make it clear that the state of Utah is doubling down on research, doubling down on science,” said Utah Governor Spencer Cox to a packed room in the building’s atrium. “At a time when the federal government is cutting back on funding for scientific initiatives, which I think is a mistake, Utah is saying the exact opposite…We’re not just solving Utah’s problems anymore, we’re solving the world’s problems, and we’re doing it right here.”
The U educates more than half of all STEM undergraduates and 75% of graduate students among the Utah System of Higher Education institutions. The new 140,000-square-foot-facilities help meet unprecedented STEM enrollment, a feat made possible by the Utah state legislature’s $67.5 million appropriation and significant donations from Gary and Ann Crocker and the ALSAM Foundation, founded by L. S. and Aline W. Skaggs.
Peter Trapa addressing the gathering. Credit: Todd Anderson
“It’s the prosperity generated by public and private investment, which in turn makes future investment possible, that fuels a cycle that benefits the citizens of Utah many times over. That is a manifestation of the Utah Way,” said Peter Trapa, vice provost and senior dean of the Colleges of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “In many ways, it’s the investment of the past and the fruits of that cycle that allow us to be here celebrating today.”
Courses in the Crocker Science Complex serve nearly 5,000 students annually via pre-prerequisite courses for 37 different degree programs and nine pre-professional programs. With a 56% increase in experimental and computer physics labs, the new spaces will give every College of Science student the opportunity to do hands-on research, even in their first year on campus, through the Science Research Initiative.
“This building is going to ripple through the lives of tens of thousands of students each year—not over decades, but each year—and they will become our future physicians and our future nurses, our future scientists, our future pharmacists and astronomers, environmental scientists,” said Gary Crocker, for whom the Crocker Science Complex is named. “The completion of this new and integrated science complex makes us extraordinarily well-positioned to be a leader not only in science-based research and education, but also in science-based commercial innovation.”
Max Seawright gives a tour of the Wilkes Center. Credit: Todd Anderson
The Applied Science Project, designed by EDA Architects and built by Okland Construction, will house the Departments of Physics & Astronomy and Atmospheric Sciences and the Wilkes Center for Climate Science & Policy. Its rooftops host monitors for tracking dust, aerosols and particulate matter, which scientists use to help communities protect their health. Entire classrooms can now use state-of-the-art telescopes to practice gathering and analyzing data used for real research. Members from the Wilkes Center were integral to high-impact initiatives, such as the Great Salt Lake Strike Team, and continue to address growing challenges gripping the American Southwest.
“The full impact of the investment in this space, in world-class research and teaching facilities can’t be known at this moment, but as you look around, it’s easy to see that the technical infrastructure alone is transformational,” said Pearl Sandick, interim dean for the College of Science. “The impact is felt often through the application, whether it’s technology that grew out of research done on our campus, or data provided by the Wilkes Center to decision makers in the government and in the industry, as well as the trajectories of the students who pass through these halls.”
Aside from research and education, the spaces are an asset for all Utahns to enjoy. The west entrance has a new, outdoor gathering space for connection and well-being. Astronomers host public stargazing parties for free—every week, they invite the community into the majesty of the universe through state-of-the-art telescopes. The Wilkes Center displays real-time air quality data on monitors outside its offices, which anyone can access virtually. Inside are two major public art pieces by artist Bruce Shapiro, commissioned by the Utah Division of Arts and Museums: the “Sisyphus” sand sculpture table in the Stewart Building entrance and the “Three Medusae” kinetic artwork hanging from the ceiling in the Applied Science Building atrium. The new facilities are designed with energy efficiency in mind, with leaders working toward Gold LEED certification.
President Randall flashes the U with Matt Johnson, atmospheric science alum and meteorologist with KSL who reported the weather from the building’s rooftop. Credit: Todd Anderson
Amid the cutting-edge features are details rooted in Utah’s past, with preserved architectural elements including original staircases and fireplaces. The historic Stewart Building is itself a Utah legacy through which hundreds of thousands of Salt Lake City residents experienced elementary school until the 1960s. William M. Stewart founded the school on the U campus as an experimental model that emphasized hands-on learning.
With the opening of the final stage of the Crocker Science Complex, Stewart alums may see their grandchildren get real-world experience while pursuing their degree. President Taylor Randall noted a few well-known alums of the University of Utah’s College of Science—Bill Gore, the creator of Core-Tex, who graduated with a degree in chemistry. And Adobe founder John Warnock, who graduated in mathematics.
“All of those individuals came through here with dreams to create something new,” Randall said. “This is actually a place where students’ dreams will happen. Whether they’re undergraduates or graduate students, they will happen here.”
During a turbulent time for U.S. research, the event was a celebration of science and our shared belief in a better future.
“[The Skaggs family] loves this university. We believe in this university…and I am actually afraid of where we’re headed,” said Mark Skaggs, who represented the ALSAM Foundation at the ceremony. Noting federal budget cuts to the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and top U.S. universities, Skaggs said his family’s investment in the Applied Science Building represents renewed support for science and university research.
“Thank you for believing in what we believe in and what we’ve always believed in, and what hopefully would be a right future in this country, as far as research for all of these people.”
by Lisa Potter
This story originally appeared in @TheU.
Read more about the event in the Deseret News.
July 17, 2025
Above: Petar Bakic (left) and Daniel Sinambela
The Department of Mathematics is hiring a bumper crop of new faculty members for the 2025-26 academic year. Two of them are profiled here: Petar Bakić and Daniel Sinambela.
Finding the right questions Petar Bakic
Petar Bakic
Petar Bakić, a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics. Originally from Zagreb, Croatia, Bakić graduated from the University of Zagreb and pursued a career in academia in research and teaching. For him, mathematics is finding the right questions to ask rather than seeking the answers to them.
His work centers on representation theory — a field in mathematics that employs linear algebra concepts (such as matrices) for studying the symmetries of spaces. It provides a concrete way to understand abstract algebraic structures by expressing them through linear transformations of vector spaces. Though it is inherently abstract, it connects to other applicable fields including harmonic analysis, geometry, number theory, and physics.
Abstract math researchers are often unheralded, as the complexity and nature of their research means it is not broadcasted to the general public to the same degree as other research fields. However, Bakić is part of a broad research community that is conducting research at an unprecedented rate — helping to advance our collective understanding and to push the frontiers of mathematics.
Beyond the research lab, Bakić enjoys being outdoors and exploring Utah. The Wasatch is a particular favorite for him to go hiking and on bike rides. Above all for Petar Bakić though, are activities involving friends and colleagues.
by Ethan Hood
Jungles and Gyms Daniel Sinambela
Daniel Sinambela
Jungles and gyms may seem like an odd place to turn to for a math metaphor, but it was the perfect combination to strike inspiration in Daniel Sinambela. While participating in the Putnam Mathematical Competition, his instructor Samuel Walsh (who would later become his Ph.D. mentor) told him this poignant comparison: “A math contest is much like training in a gym. You know what you are training for, you know the machines you’ll use. But math research is training in the jungle, where you have no idea what you’re about to run into.”
A structured environment vs. volatile and wholly unpredictable exploration is the difference between known solutions and research questions that may not even have an answer. It’s a fascinating contrast Sinambela looks back to at the onset of joining the U’s South Korean campus.
It’s been an adventure, starting at Tanjung Enim in Indonesia and then traveling across the Pacific to study at the University of Missouri. After collecting a Ph.D. there in applied mathematics he then hopped across the Atlantic for a postdoctoral researcher position at New York University in Abu Dhabi, UAE. As such he already brings plenty of experience with sister campus locations to bring to the end of this round trip in South Korea. Throughout his education Sinambela’s research has focused on the area of nonlinear partial differential equations, specifically those that govern the motions of fluids. In this field he’s using equations like free-boundary water wave, Euler and Navier-Stokes, and Stokes-transport. He is studying existence theory and the stability/instability of solutions of those equations.
Between teaching and research, Daniel Sinambela is an avid guitar player and loves playing sports, skills that can be jungles and gyms in their own special ways. While he’s eager to teach in this new environment—to show students the ropes in these mathematics gyms — he hopes to show them the wonders of its jungle too. It may be imposing, you may not know what you face, or even if there’s an answer at all. But as he happily puts it, “That thrill is what makes it fun!”
July 17, 2025
Above: Chris Miles (left) and Tim Tribone (credit Todd Anderson)
The Department of Mathematics is hiring a bumper crop of new faculty members for the 2025-26 academic year. Two of them are profiled here: Chris Miles and Tim Tribone.
Tim Tribone
Finding the right Level
Tim Tribone
Everyone learns in different ways. Some are great at memorization, others visualization. Where one person learns well in a group another will thrive on their own. This can lead to roadblocks in subjects like math, as it can be tricky to approach students at a level they understand and in a way they mesh with. If overcome it reveals a massive strength of the field: teaching problem-solving and pattern-recognition skills that are useful anywhere. But the process of getting there, of finding that level students are at, can be a complicated challenge.
Enter Tim Tribone, who among other things has led undergraduate research focused on the mathematics behind card games, taught classes at every level and worked with students exploring virtual reality as a pre-calculus teaching tool.
Tribone has a knack for finding new approaches to meet a student’s needs and interests, a skill that developed from r his own educational journey. Originally a music major, he eventually shifted towards math following the guidance of a mentor. He would continue working his way to a Ph.D. from Syracuse University before taking a postdoctoral researcher position here at the U.
Along the way, Tribone has learned the importance of helping students at the level they currently are. For his undergraduate researchers he’s learned from his music major experience to create an environment that shows them what a career in math is like. But for his students in business math it’s far more important to treat math like a toolbox, focusing more on direct use and applications so a student can recognize, for example, why an Excel equation isn’t working.
This sort of teaching is Tim Tribone’s focus moving forward as he takes a faculty position at the U. He enjoys working with postdocs, faculty and undergraduates in research, but he’ll be devoting the lion’s share of his time to teaching. Any student can learn and excel in mathematics, you just need to find the right level for them to do so.
Blazing a New Trail Chris Miles
Chris Miles
As technology evolves and industries grow, education must adapt to prepare the next generation for these upcoming opportunities.This requires bringing in new instructors to teach new classes, a rare and exciting opportunity to design entirely new curriculums. The new bioinformatics major is one such initiative, a trailblazing endeavor that new math faculty Chris Miles will soon be joining.
Or perhaps “rejoining” would be the better word to use here as Miles is one of our own alumni. A first-generation student originally from Pennsylvania, he’s returning to the U after teaching at both New York University and UC Irvine. Called back in part by the aforementioned new major, he explains that “It’s an exciting chance to build something new here; it’s a perfect project- based subject to design classes around.”
When asked to describe his vision for these new classes, he says that “In this field, you often have biological data from an experiment and have to figure out what to do with it. I want to expose students to that process, present data and encourage them to figure out how to use it. There’s no right answer!” That’s the beauty of a new degree, there’s no tradition that must be adhered to, so you truly get to design whatever works best.
On top of helping to pioneer the bioinformatics curriculum, Miles will also continue his research in “mathematical biology,” which includes the applications of mathematical modeling and AI with biological data. Machine learning allows researchers to survey all data in a set simultaneously and find patterns or equations: in the study of cells, these equations work to help us understand why cells work so well despite being built by seemingly random and disorderly molecular building blocks. Miles describes a field of two extremes where “some researchers will write equations for what they think is true of biology while others let AI decide.” He continues with,“I think it's fun to walk between the two extremes and take the best aspects of both.”
On a new path using new tools, adaptation is mandatory to succeed, but that’s an expertise Chris Miles brings to the table. He looks forward to teaching aspiring students in the upcoming semesters, pushing forward on this exciting new frontier of interdisciplinary discovery.
U geologists are investigating phragmites-covered mounds that reveal spots where ancient groundwater reaches daylight.
A helicopter lifts off from Antelope Island carrying electromagnetic survey equipment for a geophysical data-gathering mission over Farmington Bay in February 2025. Photo credit: Brian Maffly.
As Great Salt Lake’s levels continue to sag, yet another strange phenomenon has surfaced, offering Utah scientists more opportunities to plumb the vast saline lake’s secrets.
Phragmites-covered mounds in recent years have appeared on the drying playa off the lake’s southeast shore. After several years of scratching their heads, University of Utah geoscientists, deploying a network of piezometers and aerial electromagnetic surveys, are now finding out what’s going on under the lakebed that is creating these reed-choked oases.
Bill Johnson, a professor in the Department of Geology & Geophysics, suspects the circular mounds have formed at spots where a subsurface plumbing system delivers fresh groundwater under pressure into the lake and its surrounding wetlands.
“Water in the lake has spent a significant time underground on its way to the lake. But where that happened, we don’t know,” said Johnson during a recent visit to one of the mounds, a research site known as Round Spot 9. “Did that happen somewhere in the uplands where the water spent time in the ground and emerged in the stream before going to the lake? Or was it transmitted directly to the lake?”
On this day, Johnson and graduate student Ebenezer Adomako-Mensah were checking piezometers they had installed there last year to record underground water pressures at various depths and locations around the island.
In February 2025, Johnson hired a Canadian firm, Expert Geophysics, to conduct airborne electromagnetic surveys over Farmington Bay using a circular device hanging under a helicopter. The pilot flew a grid pattern over the bay, collecting data that will help locate freshwater deposits lurking under the lakebed.
The equipment generates current in the loop, which transmits a frequency deep into the lakebed below. A receiver suspended in a ball at the center of the hoop records the electromagnetic signals bouncing back.
“It’ll give you a spectrum, basically, of magnetic fields, and we’ll use that data to create a 3D image of what’s under the earth,” said Jeff Sanderson, a crew leader with Expert Geophysics.
As low lake levels persist, the lakebed will increasingly serve as a source of wind-blown dust affecting Utah’s population centers. Ongoing research by U atmospheric scientists suggests that the disturbed lakebed crusts that keep sediments in place can be regenerated when they are submerged.
One goal of Johnson’s research is to determine whether the groundwater can be tapped to restore broken lakebed crusts, thereby reducing dust pollution.
“It looks like it’s a from a water resource that could be useful in the future, but we need to understand it and not overexploit it to the detriment of the wetlands,” said Johnson, who has served on the Great Salt Lake Strike Team, the university-state agency partnership exploring ways to reverse the lake’s decline.
Armed with new data, Johnson secured preliminary funding from the Utah Department of Natural Resources to investigate to characterize this underground water resource. The research team, which includes other senior geology faculty, including Kip Solomon, Mike Thorne and Michael Zhdanov, is seeking to discover the breadth and depth of the freshwater under the lake.
For example, Solomon’s lab is using isotope analysis to determine the age of the groundwater and its recharge elevation, or where it originated in the mountains. Thorne is constructing on-ground resistivity profiles. And Zhdanov and Michael Jorgensen are processing the electromagnetic data gathered in the airborne geophysical surveys to construct a 3D image of the subsurface beneath the lake.
“We hope to map out the boundary between fresh water and salt water, and find the location of freshwater springs that are discharging groundwater into the lake,” said Solomon, who is scheduled to present preliminary findings this week at the Geochemical Society’s 2025 Goldschmidt conference in the Czech Republic.
For Johnson, the groundwater mystery began several years ago when he was traveling Great Salt Lake’s North Arm by airboat and observed something strange. Water and gas were roiling the surface in a circle about twice the size of the airboat, suggesting that groundwater was rushing under pressure into the lake at that spot.
Johnson dropped a 30-foot depth gauge into the swirl, but it failed to hit the bottom of the shallow lake.
Astronomers celebrate images decades in the making
July 9, 2025
Above:
On June 23 the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, located in Cerro Pachón, Chile, presented its inaugural data release of images that will drive a new generation of astrophysics research. It features first-of-its-kind technology, and the largest digital camera ever manufactured.
Rubin Observatory Credit: H.Stockebrand
The observatory’s 8.4-meter Simonyi Survey Telescope can capture the largest field of view of any telescope currently in operation, covering the entirety of the night sky over the course of a few nights. It creates composite images approximately 70 times larger than the apparent size of the full moon. These images are 3,200-megapixel in resolution—more than 65x times more detailed than the latest iPhone.
For the U’s own astrophysics researchers, there is palpable excitement as they plan on utilizing the Rubin data for new research projects.
“We’ve all been preparing for this day, and it’s finally here! There’s already some cool science being done with just the First Look images; imagine what we can do with the full data set!” said Yao-Yuan Mao, assistant professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy.
Mao has been involved with the Rubin research community for more than a decade, most actively in the Dark Energy Science Collaboration. The operation of the Rubin Observatory represents the culmination of years of design and planning.
“I am particularly excited about how Rubin data will enable us to find some of the smallest galaxies in our neighborhood, helping us understand how galaxies form and grow throughout the cosmic time and even reveal the nature of dark matter,” added Mao.
In addition to the ability to capture gigantic still pictures, the Rubin Observatory can also record the movements in the cosmos. The Observatory had been designed from its inception to detect up to 90% of near-Earth asteroids, advance the study of how our solar system formed, and observe phenomena such as supernovae or tidal disruption events with greater ability.
“I’m really excited for Rubin and have been looking forward to it for many years. For me, the most exciting part of Rubin will be its ability to detect tidal disruption events, which happen when a star comes too close to a massive black hole and is torn apart by the black hole’s gravity,” said Anil Seth, professor of physics and astronomy. “We have previously detected about a hundred of these events, but Rubin is predicted to detect more than 10 new tidal disruption events each night. My PhD student Christian Hannah has been working on predicting how we can use these events to understand for the first time whether small galaxies still all have massive black holes at their centers. These observations will help us understand the currently not understood formation mechanisms of the massive black holes we find at the centers of galaxies.”
The observatory honors the legacy of Vera C. Rubin, whose pioneering research on galaxy rotation produced the first accepted evidence of dark matter’s existence. All-in-all, this marks the beginning of a new and exciting era of astrophysics research. The Rubin Observatory is planned to operate for at least ten years for its Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), producing hundreds of images and data for researchers and the general public.
The Rubin Observatory project was jointly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science.
by Ethan Hood This story originally appeared in @ TheU
July 2, 2024
Above: Touring Great Salt Lake. Photo credit: Jeff Bagley, University Marketing & Communications.
U scientists are helping guide Utah's Great Salt Lake Strike Team, formed three years ago at the urging of U President Taylor Randall.
Brian Steed, left, and Taylor Randall. Photo credit: Jeff Bagley, University Marketing & Communications.
Millions of eared grebes visit Great Salt Lake to rest and refuel en route to their winter homes on the Pacific Coast each fall, along with 250 other bird species throughout the year. That’s about 10 million individual birds whose survival depends on the massive saline lake and its bounty of micro-organisms and tiny flies, and shrimp.
“We’ve had as many as 5 million grebes on the lake in the fall, and they stay here September to December,” Luft told University of Utah officials last week during an airboat tour of Farmington Bay. You do the math to figure out how many shrimp these birds eat. It’s in the trillions.
That was one of the many curious facts about Utah’s vibrant, yet imperiled inland sea given to U administrators, including President Taylor Randall, on the tour. Led by Utah’s Great Salt Lake Commissioner Brian Steed, the trip was organized to update U leaders on the status of the lake and the progress of the Great Salt Lake Strike Team, a partnership between academic researchers and state officials investigating ways to reverse the lake’s alarming decline.
Earlier this year, the team presented a briefing and key recommendations to the Utah Legislature, identifying lake elevations needed to ensure the lake’s ecological health, 4,198 to 4,205 feet above sea level, and calling for changes to Utah water law to allow water conserved upstream to reach the lake via the Bear, Weber and Jordan rivers.
Universities’ role in saving the lake
“Higher education has an absolute role to play in setting the academic baseline knowledge as well as helping solve some of these wicked societal problems,” said Steed, who heads Utah State University’s Janet Quinney Lawson Institute for Land, Water & Air. “This is as much a business problem as an agriculture problem, a marketing problem as it is anything else.”
On the tour, U officials heard from Luft, Ben Stireman of the Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands, and other key officials with the Utah Department of Natural Resources, the state agency responsible for managing the 1,500-square-mile lake. About half the lakebed is currently dry, leaving pockets of loose sediments serving as sources of potentially hazardous dust blowing into Salt Lake and Davis County cities.
Two decades of drought and a century of upstream diversions have depleted the lake, lowering its level to a point that scientists believe will severely damage the ecosystems and industries that depend on it. Currently, 6 feet below what is considered its optimal zone, damage is already occurring. Three years ago, state officials began prioritizing the lake’s recovery, with large investments in conservation and water rights acquisitions.
The strike team came together at Randall’s urging soon after he was named U president in 2022. The goal was to join experts from Utah’s two public research universities with officials from key state agencies to investigate the lake’s challenges and identify the best solutions.
“It’s been just an incredible asset to the state, because there’s nothing better than the research universities combined with the state agencies when it comes to applied science and doing things,” said Natalie Gochnour, director of the U’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, which is providing staff support for strike team activities and publications.
The two schools have complemented one another for an effective partnership, she said.
“Utah State is the land-grant university; they have significant hydrological and agricultural expertise. Since approximately 70% of the water use in this state is agriculture, you have to have agricultural experts at the table,” she said. “At the U, we have expertise in climate and hydrology, as well, and we have expertise in dust.”
Meanwhile, Utah water officials have closely monitored stream flow and other hydrological data for more than a century, leaving an unparalleled historic record among Western states.
“We have such an extensive historical record on the lake,” Gochnour said. “It makes doing this science so much easier.”
U faculty active on the strike team are hydrologist Paul Brooks; forest biologist Bill Anderegg; geologist Bill Johnson; and atmospheric scientists John Lin and Courtenay Strong. Anderegg and Lin are founding directors of the U’s Wilkes Center for Climate Science & Policy. USU members include Steed, David Tarboton, Joanna Endter-Wada, Sarah Null, Bethany Nielson and Matt Yost.
U student Adrian Martino partners with Utah Clean Energy to develop handy online tool that compares long-term costs of driving and CO2 missions of EVs versus similar internal combustion models.
Adrian Martino, left, and Logan Mitchell, right, present a research poster explaining the cost and emissions comparison tool. Photo courtesy of Logan Mitchell.
Any car buyer interested in electrical vehicles would want to know how much it costs to drive such a car compared with a similar gas-powered vehicle. Now there’s an app for that, and more.
While completing his graduate degree in the University of Utah’s Professional Science Master’s Program, data science student Adrian Martino developed a first-of-its-kind tool to enable Utah drivers to explore how certain EV models stack up against gasoline-powered vehicles when it comes to both the cost of driving and carbon dioxide emissions.
Developed in partnership with nonprofit Utah Clean Energy using localized information about Utah’s electrical grid and gas prices, the Cost & Emissions Comparison Tool offers an innovative and interactive way to compare vehicle models, emission scenarios, costs and payback of a new car purchase using real-world, Utah-specific data.
“What makes this tool uniquely powerful is the ability to toggle between different electricity grid scenarios,” Martino said. “Users can see how their vehicle emissions shift depending on the source of electricity powering an EV, as well as what their costs and payback will be using different sources of energy. Whether it’s today’s grid, a future cleaner grid or a coal-heavy scenario, the tool makes it easy to visualize the environmental impact of each.”
Funding came from the National Science Foundation’s Futures Engine in the Southwest program. The idea for the tool originated with Utah Clean Energy climate scientist Logan Mitchell, who couldn’t find time to pull it off and mentored Martino through the project.
“I’m hopeful that this is going to become a really useful tool that a lot of people can utilize, especially stakeholders, legislators, reporters,” said Mitchell, who is also a U research assistant professor of atmospheric sciences. “I’m hoping that as reporters are writing news articles, they can refer to this tool and actually improve their reporting and make sure it’s consistent with the best available information.”
Together, Martino and experts with Utah Clean Energy utilized public data from Rocky Mountain Power’s Integrated Resource Plan to project how emissions from electricity usage needed to fuel an EV compare with a gas car’s emissions. The result is a user-friendly platform that allows Utahns to easily plug in different scenarios to accurately compare emissions and costs side by side.
“One of the most common questions we get about going electric is, ‘What if an EV is powered by coal? Is it still better for the climate?’ This tool gives you a clear, data-driven answer,” said Kelbe Goupil, senior associate for electrification at Utah Clean Energy. “Choosing what car you drive is a big decision. This is an incredibly useful resource for anyone curious about whether or not they should make the switch to an electric vehicle.”
The new online tool allows users to:
Compare the fuel costs and payback periods of various EV and gas vehicle models.
Compare the emission impacts of various electric and gas vehicle models.
Customize your power source, including rooftop solar, Rocky Mountain Power’s current electricity mix, its actual forecasted future electricity mix or even a 100% coal or 100% renewable grid.
The transportation sector is the largest source of CO2 emissions in the U.S., making electrifying vehicles a vital pathway to combat the climate change driven by the burning of fossil fuels. One factor that this tool clearly illustrates is that emission benefits are compounded as the electricity grid gets cleaner. The new tool provides clarity about Utah’s electricity grid as well as future projections.
“Nature-based climate solutions are human actions that leverage natural processes to either take carbon out of the atmosphere or stop the emissions of carbon to the atmosphere,” said lead author and forest ecologist William Anderegg, a professor of biology and past Wilkes Center director. “Those are the two main broad categories. There are the avoided emissions, and that’s activities like stopping deforestation. Then there’s the greenhouse gas-removal pathways. That’s things like reforestation where you plant trees, and as those trees grow, they suck up CO2 out of the atmosphere.”
