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2023 Distinguished Alumni, Chemistry

November 15, 2024

2023 Distinguished Alumni, Chemistry

November 2023
Above: Roger Leach, Amy Barrios, Mitch Johnson and Zlatko Bačić

 

Four alumni have been honored as distinguished alumni for 2023 in the Department of Chemistry.

Zlatko Bačić:  Tectonic Science

“When two people limited to different ways of thinking come together, you have a synergy that couldn’t exist otherwise,” says Zlatko Bačić PhD’81, speaking on the vital importance of collaborating across the divisions of science. First-hand experience with this synergy is deeply embedded in his history, from serving as the inaugural director of the Simon Center for Computational Physical Chemistry to studying the quantum dynamics of molecules in Los Alamos

He compares the sciences to tectonic plates, constantly moving in varying directions, uncovering the most exciting discoveries where they collide at the edges. “It’s at those interfaces that the most interesting things happen!” he explains. And just as the Earth’s plates change the landscape, so too can the scientific landscape be terraformed in turn.

Bačić’s journey has not only taken him across the field of theoretical chemistry but across the world, studying everywhere from Croatia to Chicago to Jerusalem to Utah. He found a deep love of the culture and cuisine of New York and Philadelphia, while also delighting in the environment and people in the Four Corners area. He loves the town of Telluride,Colorado but also enjoys visiting his daughter in Seattle, creating a bewildering decision when considering a destination for a far-out retirement. He takes every opportunity he can to travel and experience every area to its fullest potential.

Bačić carries this attitude into his teaching as well. As a current professor at New York University, he has uplifted the lives of countless students and overseen the publication of over 150 papers. “Basic research is at the heart of everything,” he tells his students. “If you think you can guide it somehow, you’re missing the point. It is only unguided research that will illuminate the mysteries you know nothing about.” Championing the value of “unguided research,” he delights in providing opportunities for postdocs, creating an environment for them to prove their worth, opening every door for collaboration to let them show what they can do under optimal circumstances. ~ Michael Jacobsen

Amy Barrios: A world-class education

A Professor of Medicinal Chemistry in the College of Pharmacy, Amy Barrios’ passion for inorganic chemistry began at the University of Utah as a high schooler during a summer chemistry program and propelled her through a career in academia to Professor of Medicinal Chemistry in the U College of Pharmacy.

Barrios BS'95 grew up in Salt Lake City. During her time as an undergrad, she engaged in radiobiology research about Chernobyl victims with radiobiologist Scott Miller, now research professor emeritus at the U's School of Medicine.

Barrios ventured from Salt Lake to the East coast to earn her PhD in chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2000. There, she dove deeper into bio-inorganic chemistry with Steve Leopard. “My focus was on making molecules that would mimic the activity of metalloenzymes. And I specifically looked at urease, which was actually the first enzyme ever discovered,” says Barrios. “I was making dinuclear nickel complexes that hydrolyzed urea.”

After graduate school, Barrios returned to the west coast and spent some time in California, first in a postdoctoral position at University of California, San Francisco, and later as a professor at University of Southern California.

Finally, Barrios returned home to the U in 2007, this time as a professor. Throughout her education and career, Barrios has visited many institutions and says she’s “...continually impressed by the quality of education that I got here at the U.”

“Our chemistry department, particularly, does an amazing job of educating undergraduates and graduate students, helping us understand all the things we need to know, all the tools we need to go on to be successful in whatever career we go into. So that's something I think is important for our students to recognize: they really get a world class education here.”

Barrios is keen to deliver a message of belonging as she continues in academia. “It's so important, I think, for students to be able to feel like they belong here,” she says. “We need scientists from all backgrounds and with all kinds of different interests and all kinds of different skills. So, I think that's really important also for young people to recognize and for us as faculty and instructors to help them feel that this is a place for them, that we need their talents, and their talents are valued. I hope that they get that message here.”
~ Lauren Wigod


Roger Leach: lifelong learning and agility

Originally from Chicago, Roger Leach Phd'84 first journeyed to the University of Utah for a summer REU program while pursuing his undergraduate degree in chemistry from Augustana College in Illinois. The program allowed him to explore hands-on scientific research for the first time and, captivated by the unique outdoor access and balanced lifestyle he enjoyed in Salt Lake, City Leach returned to the U for graduate school.

Reflecting on his time here, Leach fondly remembers Joel Harris, a distinguished professor whose openly enthusiastic teaching style and love for science still inspire Leach today. “Everything about it was like, the door’s open, walk in, and let’s talk,’ he recalls. “My whole career after Utah, that was sort of my motto you know, ‘What would Joel do?’”

After finishing his graduate degree at the U, Leach began his career working as an analytical chemist in the textile fibers department at DuPont. Though he recalls the initial nerves he felt upon joining the company, Leach acknowledges the U for preparing him well: “[At Dupont], you could meet people who had really moved the bar in terms of technology development that made people’s lives better. So I felt intimidated a little bit, but there was never a time when I felt inferior in terms of my education and preparation.”

Since his days at DuPont, Leach’s career has led him to Viridos, a biotech company focused on algae-based biofuel. For the last few years, Leach has been helping to push the boundaries of renewable energy technology, hoping to create a more sustainable future. Currently a resident of Solana Beach, California, Leach emphasizes the importance of continuing to foster curiosity throughout his career: “The thing that strikes me is how many things we understand today and use today in our daily lives that didn't exist when I was at the University of Utah,” he remarks.

“And the process of keeping yourself relevant as a STEM contributor to society is an exercise in lifelong learning and agility.”
~Julia St. Andre


Mitch Johnson:  reinventing and modernizing formulations

Mitch Johnson first joined the University of Utah as a graduate student in 1994 after finishing his undergraduate degree from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota. He knew he was interested in doing research and was drawn by the U’s outstanding research facilities and small university feel. During graduate school, Johnson worked in Joel Miller’s lab where he gained valuable skills in problem-solving and perseverance. “If I had like four or five ideas, Dr. Miller was very patient and listened to all of them,” Johnson recalls. “I learned that you have to put the work in. You really do have to spend the time and invest yourself completely into solving the problem.” 

For Johnson, chemistry truly runs in the family. His father, a chemical engineer, sparked his interest in the subject at a young age. Later, at the U, he met his wife, who was also pursuing a degree in chemistry. Their shared passion for the field often sparks discussion over dinner, and they even keep a whiteboard nearby for spontaneous problem-solving. Fascinated with creating things and solving problems, synthetic chemistry was the ideal path for Johnson. His career took him to General Plastics, developing specialized thermoplastic materials for use in aerospace engineering and satellite work. He started at the company in 2008 as a product development chemist, with the mission of reinventing and modernizing their formulations. Since then, the company has expanded significantly, and Johnson made his way through the ranks, eventually taking over the company as President and CEO in 2017. 

Looking back on his education, Johnson emphasizes the lasting impact of his time at the U: “The staff and faculty here are fantastic. They really do cultivate very good students and very well-trained professionals.” he says. “A lot of the success I’ve had over my career, it all started here at the U.”
~ Julia St. Andre

 

AI Pioneer Peter Norvig: Frontiers of Science

November 13, 2024

Frontiers of Science: Peter Norvig

Nov 13, 2024
Above: Peter Norvig. Credit: Todd Anderson

Using current AI large language models to teach the next generation of students

Peter Norvig. Credit: Todd Anderson

“I'm an AI hipster," said Peter Norvig who is known for wearing wildly patterned shirts borne of the Woodstock era. “I was doing it before it was cool, and now is our time.”

The featured speaker at the College of Science’s November 12 Frontiers of Science lecture series, Norvig was referring to the 2024 Nobel Prize in physics awarded to John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton for their pioneering work on neural networks, a core part of modern AI systems. Norvig’s address targeted how educators might use current AI large language models (LLMs) to teach the next generation of students.

To explore that question, Norvig, Distinguished Education Fellow at Stanford’s Human-Centered AI Institute as well as a researcher at Google, discussed the evolution of AI to an audience of 200. Norvig reflected back to 2011 when he and Sebastian Thrun pivoted from teaching a traditional AI course at Stanford to an online format where 100,000 worldwide enrolled. The free class featured YouTube videos and what’s called reinforcement learning, using machine learning that helped improve student performance by 10%.

In his lecture, Norvig cited Benjamin Bloom's "two sigma problem” in learning models and emphasized the importance of mastery learning “which means you keep learning something until you get it, rather than saying, 'Well, I got a D on the test, and then tomorrow we're going to start something twice as hard.'” Norvig also emphasized the importance of personalized tutoring.

“Really, the teacher’s role is to make a connection with the student,” Norvig said, “as much as it is to impart this information. That was a main thing we learned in teaching this class.”

These massive open online classes (MOOC) led to gathering massive data sets to help him and his colleague do a better job the next time. In “2024,” he said bringing us up-to-date, “we should be able to do more. And my motto now is we want to have an automated tutor for every learner and an automated teaching assistant for every teacher.”

But the objective for him is always the same: “I want the teachers to be more effective, to be able to do more, be able to connect more with the students, because that personal connection is what's important.”

Language, says Norvig, is humankind’s greatest technology, but “somehow we took this shortcut [in developing AI] of just saying, let's just [take] everything that mankind knows that's been written on the internet and dump it in. That's great. It does a lot of good stuff. There are other cases where we really want better quality, really want to differentiate what's the good stuff and what's not, and that's something we have to work on.”

Norvig acknowledges the challenge of obtaining necessary data to develop accurate student models. Unlike, for example, self-driving automobiles, which uses the data obtained through real-world-miles driven and repeating simulations of miles driven. He cited foundational work by the economist John Horton who is running experiments on computers using “agents” that duplicate a complex set of interactions between each other based on real-world experiments. “I think there's some kind of hope that we could do that kind of thing and have models of students that would tell us something,” he says. “We'd still have to verify that against the real world, but I think this would help a lot, because right now … we've [already] shown we can do 10% better” with student success averages.

There is no doubt that challenges will persist with improving and sufficiently complicating AI-generated content to be more helpful and humane when it comes to educating the next generation. In the context of LLMs, the “open world problem” refers to a scenario where the LLM needs to operate in an environment with incomplete or constantly changing information, requiring it to reason and make decisions without having all the necessary details upfront. It’s much like navigating a real-world situation with unknown variables and potential surprises.

The “open world problem” can’t be solved by traditional pre-programming of coders. There is something in between LLM’s “big empty box”—where you can ask anything you want, go in any direction— and top-down control of a MOOC where everyone ends up attempting to learn in the same way and doing the same thing. “We want the teacher to say, I'm going to guide you on this path, and we're going to get to a body of knowledge, but along the way, we're going to follow diversions that the students are interested in, and every student is going to be a little bit different.” Until the past two years, said Norvig, we never had any technology that could do that, and that “now maybe we do.”

Not only do we need to get AI right, Norvig continued, we need to ask, what does that mean? What is education? Who is it for? When do we do it? Where do we do it?

“The main idea is getting across this general … body of knowledge. But then there's also specific knowledge or skills. … Some of it is about reasoning and judgment that's independent of the knowledge. Some of it is about just getting people motivated … Some of it is about civic and social coherence, being together with other people and working together, mixing our society together.”

It’s a tall order for AI engineers, teachers and students.

For Norvig, the long game is underwritten by the importance of understanding long-term educational goals and balancing AI's benefits with human connections. It’s nothing short of redefining what an education means.

In the 80s, he says, it was about algorithms telling us things; in the “oughts” it was about the showing of big data; and now in the 20s it has turned to the philosophical:  What do we need and what do we want in our real and AI world to prepare students for the future and, once they enter the workforce, to distinguish tasks and jobs. (Changing the mix of tasks, he says, will undoubtedly continue.) What technology do we want to invest in and how will it impact employment?

In his presentation, Norvig engagingly careened from big scale to micro-scale almost in the same sentence, but it’s what the sector is being asked to do at this inflection point in AI technology: mixing the technological with the philosophical, asking hard questions, and thinking inside and without that “open box.”

Fortunately, in the good professor/director of “human-centered AI,” we have a guide and a cheerleader. Not only are his wildly printed shirts easy on the eye, but, the audience was told in the evening’s introduction that he founded the ultimate frisbee club at Berkeley when he was a graduate student.

For Peter Norvig, the self-described “AI hipster,” he’s clearly known for a long while what was cool, “before it was cool.”

 

 

Frontiers of Science is the longest continuously running lecture series at the University of Utah, established in 1967 by U alumnus and physics professor Peter Gibbs. 

by David Pace

 

Exploring the Cosmic Unknown

November 12, 2024

Exploring the cosmic unknown with the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument

Nov 12, 2024
Above: TA view of DESI’s fully installed focal plane, which features 5,000 automated robotic positioners, each carrying a fiber-optic cable to gather galaxies’ light.

Although the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument sounds like something used at Hogwarts to practice wizardry, it is very much something based in real science.

The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument is working its own magic to probe the fundamental physics that describe the universe and measure the effect of dark energy.

Kyle Dawson, University of Utah professor of physics and astronomy, is part of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument team and tells us more about this earth-bound, very complex instrument.

Listen to the full podcast posted in KPCW by Katie Mullaly and Lynn Ware Peek.

Celebrating Veterans Day

November 11, 2024

CElebrating our Veterans

November 11, 2024

Above: Chad Ostrander (left) and Brandon Mowes

In their own words: a geology and geophysics professor and a chemistry alumnus are recognized on 2024 Veterans Day

Chad Ostrander

Chad Ostrander, left top row, a U assistant professor of geology, deployed with the Marines in Operation Enduring Freedom. He served with an Air Force unit pictured here at Al Udeid Air Force Base in Doha, Qatar in 2010.

“I was born in southern Oregon, in a high-desert town just north of the California border called Klamath Falls. My maternal grandpa was the father figure in my life growing up, and he was an Air Force veteran. His duty station at the time of his retirement was Kingsley Field, a small base in that town where he would plant his post-military roots. Military service was always ingrained in me as a sort of rite of passage. Generations before me on maternal and paternal sides had served their country.

I was in eighth grade when I watched the towers fall on Sept. 11. My whole high school career in Klamath Falls I saw men leave for service in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some didn’t come back. College was never an option for me at that time; I grew up really, really poor. Even the local community college was a financial impossibility. The day after I graduated, I moved to southern Arizona to work as a pipe-layer for a sewer- and water-line construction company.

After my job as a pipe-layer and a stint as an old-West reenactor in Tombstone, I moved back to Oregon in the summer of 2007 to work as a dock hand at Crater Lake National Park. It was from here that I decided to join the military. I called the local Marine recruiter during “the surge,” when all military branches were ballooning in size to support the two wars.

I liked that the Marines didn’t promise me anything. You could have gotten tens of thousands of dollars in signing bonuses to join the Air Force, Army or Navy. When I joined the Marines they gave me a free one-way ticket to Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego. I was stationed in Barstow, Calif. for my entire 5-year enlistment. In the summer of 2010, I was offered an Individual Augment billet through Marine Forces Central, to deploy to Al Udeid Air Base in Doha, Qatar. That was very important to me. I would have felt my service was missing a critical component if I didn’t deploy overseas at a time of war.

I cherish my time in the Marines. One of my best life decisions was to join the Corps. But one of my best life decisions was also to exit the Corps. I wanted to use the Post-9/11 GI Bill to do something that seemed impossible just a few years before: go to college. During the final year of my enlistment, I started reading books about science. I started with Carl Sagan’s Cosmos, and eventually made my way, painstakingly, through Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species. I was fascinated with the origin and evolution of life on Earth. In 2012, I enrolled at Arizona State University as an astrobiology major.

The Marines taught me to be comfortable with the uncomfortable. Don’t be adverse to adversity. Nothing is handed to you in this life. The only thing you should ever ask for is an opportunity. If you want something, go get it.”

—Chad Ostrander, an assistant professor of geology and geophysics, U.S. Marine Corps veteran

Ostrander served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2007 to 2012. He reached the rank of sergeant and was deployed to Qatar in 2010. He and his wife live in Salt Lake City with their son and daughter, ages 5 and 8. As an assistant professor at the University of Utah in the Department of Geology & Geophysics, his research examines stable isotopes to shed light on how Earth’s atmosphere and oceans were oxygenated 2.2 billion years ago.

 

Brandon Mowes

Mowes, on the field, receiving his award at the U vs BYU game, Nov. 9, 2024

The 2024 Student Veteran of the Year was awarded to Brandon Mowes at the yearly Veterans Day Commemoration event on Nov. 15.

Mowes utilizes his nine years of United States Navy experience as his catalyst to strive for academic excellence and is someone who exudes qualities of servant leadership.

While in the Navy, Mowes was attached to the Nuclear Power Training Command in Charleston, SC where he endured a fast-paced and challenging nuclear training course consisting of calculus and physics. While not an implicit responsibility of being the class leader, he made it his goal to ensure everyone in his section had the best opportunity to succeed in the program. This goal resulted in Mowes spending substantial time helping other students find ways to better understand the material. His selflessness continued throughout each training program, leading to many students reaching their goals. This act of servant leadership did not go unnoticed.

Following his training, Mowes was offered a position to remain at the training site as an instructor. Jumping at the opportunity, he became an instructor for two years. He instructed approximately 320 sailors in general chemistry and radiological controls, with about 60 being further instructed on in-depth theory and practical application in these controls. The in-depth training portion included standing watch on the systems associated with a working nuclear reactor that was built in 1979 by monitoring, sampling, and correcting chemistry and responding to “incidents” that occur throughout the engine room. Through this experience, he absolutely fell in love with the science behind the reactors and knew this was the field he wanted to pursue.

In 2020, as classes and offices reopened after the pandemic, Brandon discovered the Veterans Support Center, VSC, and inquired about an open work-study position.

“Working at the VSC started to make me feel like I was still contributing to something important by helping all of our military-connected students on campus through support in the VSC and at various events. Seeing the effect that we have on these students at some of their most stressful times is beyond words,” he said.

Brandon graduated with his Bachelor of Science in Chemistry in 2023 with plans to continue at the U for his graduate degree. During the fall semester of that year, he was accepted into the Nuclear Engineering Ph.D. Program as a Research Fellow where he is conducting research on the forensic use of isotopes found in nuclear material in antiproliferation efforts to eventually reduce the security threat that nuclear materials pose to the world, minimizing the effort needed from our armed forces.

As Brandon continues his Ph.D. program, he remains a member of the VSC team as their office assistant. Between helping students in the office, advancing academically, or seeing him during Veterans Week activities behind his “combat camera”, his impact to the military-connected student community and the University of Utah is priceless.

 

Remembering Glenda Woods

November 7, 2024

Remembering Glenda Woods

November 07, 2024

A Legacy of Excellence and Kindness in the College of Science

It is with deep sadness that we share the passing of Glenda Lee Tolman Woods on October 31, 2024, surrounded by her loving family and friends. Services were held Tuesday, November 12, at Broomhead Funeral Home.

For more than three decades, Glenda Woods was a cornerstone of the University of Utah community, dedicating 36 years of service to the institution, with nearly 30 of those years in the College of Science Dean's Office until her retirement in 2015. Her impact on the college was profound and lasting.

As a distinguished administrator, Glenda set the highest standards of professionalism and punctuality, leading always by example. Her attention to detail was legendary—she maintained impeccable records and was known for her unwavering commitment to perfection, never letting even a single spelling error slip by. Perhaps most remarkably, she knew every faculty and staff member in the entire College by name, fostering personal connections with hundreds of colleagues throughout her tenure.

What truly set Glenda apart was not just her professional excellence, but her extraordinary character. She approached every interaction with kindness, grace, and generosity. Never one to raise her voice or criticize harshly, she treated her staff as family members, creating a warm and supportive work environment that inspired loyalty and dedication.

Throughout her career, Glenda earned several prestigious recognitions, including the University of Utah Presidential Staff Award in 1995—one of only four recipients that year. She completed the University's Management Certificate Program in 2000 and received the Certificate of Honor for 30 years of service in 2009.

Her legacy at the University of Utah extends far beyond her numerous accolades. She will be remembered as a mentor, friend, and exemplary leader who touched countless lives through her work and character.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests considering a donation to the College of Science ACCESS Scholars program. This initiative, which supports first-year students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines through community building, research opportunities, and scholarships, would honor Glenda's lifelong commitment to supporting excellence in education. To make a contribution, visit the ACCESS giving page.

For further details about Glenda's life and legacy, please see her full obituary.

A Tribute to Frank Stenger

November 6, 2024

A Tribute to Frank Stenger

November 05, 2024

Frank Stenger, a Kahlert School of Computing emeritus faculty member, passed away on October 23, 2024.

Frank spent 20 years teaching and conducting research in the Kahlert School of Computing, prior to joining the School he spent 20 years as a professor in the Department of Mathematics here at the University of Utah.  He received an undergraduate degree in engineering at the University of Alberta (Engineering–Physics, with emphasis on Electrical Engineering), continuing at the University of Alberta he received Masters degrees in Electrical Engineering (Servomechanisms) and in Mathematics (Numerical Analysis), and a Ph.D. in Mathematics (Computational Asymptotics).

During his lifelong career, he produced a large body of original research in the development of algorithms, in areas “less traveled on” by other researchers, such as computational approximation, solution of nonlinear equations, Sinc methods; these yield novel methods for solving partial differential and integral equations.  He also developed algorithms for non-destructive viewing of a part of a human being, and for determining whether the vote count at a voting center is fraudulent. He was an extremely productive scholar, publishing more than 200 papers and multiple books.  Frank also lectured in over 20 different countries.

Frank was born in Hungary, and after WWII, he lived in East Germany, then in West Germany, then in Canada, finally landing in the United States after completion of his course studies.

There will be a celebration of Frank’s life on November 23, 2024.

https://users.cs.utah.edu/~stenger/

https://users.cs.utah.edu/~stenger/history.pdf

This story originally appeared on the School of Computing website.

SRI Stories: Parker Guzman

November 2, 2024

SRI Stories: Of Bees & Pigeons

May 29, 2024

“We were given the opportunity to ask novel questions,” Parker Guzman says of the Science Research Initiative (SRI) in the College of Science, “as well as the methods and process of experiments. That’s lacking in undergraduate research a lot of the time.”

Parker worked in the Briggs/Steffen SRI stream, which focuses on pollination biology. The lab, in which students actively participate in field research and molecular protocols, studies native bees and their molecular structure in order to better understand the plants they pollinate and how to help native bees in the environment.

Parker is majoring in biology, with an emphasis in ecology and evolution with a minor in integrative human biology.

“After I leave the U,” Parker says, “I want to work in the field and then apply for a PhD program in ecology and evolution. I could see myself staying in academia, I enjoy teaching or doing research.”

In 2023, Parker won the Department of Chemistry’s Kodak Educational Service Fellow Award for mentorship. He works as a teaching assistant for organic chemistry classes.

“A professional hero of mine is Hank Green,” Parker says. “He’s an author and science communicator and has done a lot of work on platforms like YouTube to make science more accessible.”

Parker is the president of the undergraduate chapter of SACNAS at the U, a club that promotes and supports diversity in STEM. SACNAS often attends conferences, such as the one in Portland, Oregon last year. Parker also organized a smaller, local conference at the U in April, where around one hundred people participated. SACNAS won the Recognized Student Organization award for belonging from the University of Utah.

Along with SACNAS, Guzman works in the Clayton/Bush lab in the School of Biological Sciences. He became interested in their research after attending a lecture on parasitology. Focusing on host-parasite coadaptation and diversification, the Clayton/Bush lab works with birds, using captive birds as well as field work to research these mechanisms.

Guzman’s research within the Clayton/Bush lab is on the relationship between molt and preening behavior in captive pigeons.

“Molt is a huge but necessary energy investment for pigeons,” explains Parker. “So we expect them to downregulate other behaviors. But preening may not be downregulated due to the role it plays in maintaining plumage health.”

“Despite what most people think,” adds Parker Guzman, “pigeons are one of the smartest animals in the world.”

 

by CJ SIebeneck

Pioneer in Sustainable Mining Denee Hayes Joins College Leadership

October 31, 2024

Pioneer in Sustainable Mining Denee Hayes Joins College Leadership Team

October 31, 2024.
Above: Denee Hayes. Credit: Todd Anderson

The University of Utah College of Science has announced that Denee Hayes has been selected as its newest Senior Fellow. 

In this role, Hayes will advise the College on issues relating to energy and the environment, help establish a new advisory board in these domains, and inform programs centered on workforce development and industry leadership. Hayes will also contribute to bridging the gap between academia and industry needs, particularly in the areas of sustainable mining practices and green energy technologies.

Hayes, a U Mining Engineering alumna (BSME'02), currently works as a private consultant in the mining industry and other sectors. Her career spans over two decades, beginning at Interwest Mining, a subsidiary of Pacificorp, and including nine years with Rio Tinto who owns Utah's Kennecott Copper. Hayes has since emerged as a thought leader in the convergence of mining and alternative energy. She was the first woman to chair the Mining Engineering Department's Industrial Advisory Board and has extensive experience in other areas, such as software development, digital optimization, process improvement, utilities, manufacturing, high performing teams and corporate leadership.

"I am honored to join the College of Science as Senior Fellow," said Hayes. "The College has a unique opportunity to lead the way in reimagining the mining sector's role in a sustainable future. I'm excited to work with Dean Trapa and the faculty to develop innovative solutions that balance our need for critical minerals with environmental stewardship and to inspire the next generation of mining engineers to think holistically about their field and that a choice for mining is a choice for the environment."

"Denee Hayes brings a wealth of industry experience and an important perspective on the crucial intersection of mining and sustainability," said Peter Trapa, dean of the College of Science. "Her appointment as Senior Fellow will greatly enhance our ability to prepare students for the complex challenges of the future and strengthen our connections with industry partners."

College of Science Senior Fellows represent a variety of industries and provide key insights and guidance to leadership and faculty. Denee Hayes joins Fielding Norton, Tim Hawkes and Berton Earnshaw as senior fellows, further diversifying the expertise of the College leadership team.

Read more about Denee Hayes in a recent U Mining Engineering alumni profile. You can also connect with her on LinkedIn. 

 

By Bianca Lyon

Thomas Gurbach: The Great Power of Nature

October 29, 2024

Thomas Gurbach: The great Power of Nature

October 28, 2024
Above: Thomas Gurbach

By Thomas Gurbach BMT’79

Growing up in Northern Ohio provided exposure to a wide variety of weather phenomena including summer squalls off Lake Erie and lake effect snows.

In this part of the country there is no such thing as persistence forecasts. Amongst all the changes in the weather when I was there, one day stands out. While sitting in the fork of a neighbor’s tree, as nine-year-olds will do, I recall the warm, still air being interrupted by a circling wind leading to the strong rustling of leaves. The sky had turned an eerie gray green followed by lightning and thunder. A tornado was passing nearby.

In that moment I felt the great power of nature.

Two-story barracks

The old meteorology building in WWII barracks on the campus of the University of Utah.

In the mid 70s I took the opportunity to pursue my fascination with the weather along with a desire to work as either a pilot or in aerospace by studying meteorology at the University of Utah. Although other universities were closer to home, the U provided a strong academic program and was more affordable.

I really enjoyed Utah and the U. In those days Salt Lake City still had a frontier feel to it. The Browning Building almost seemed new, and our weather forecast lab was in a building that appeared to be a two-story, WWII-era barracks. Instead of air conditioning it had a swamp cooler, and the weather maps came across on a thermal printer. Weather station data came by teletype machine.

The faculty in the department, now Atmospheric Sciences, was outstanding, a veritable international “who’s who” of meteorology. Shih Kung Kao was department chair joined by Jan and Julia Paegle and a visiting professor, Wilford Zdunkowski. Most impactful to me was Kuo Nan Liou, our professor for atmospheric physics. He provided me student work within his areas of research. These experiences reinforced my learning objectives while helping me with college expenses. I also benefitted from a quarterly grant from Kennecott Copper. (Yes, back in the 70s, the U was on a quarter schedule and the Department of Meteorology was part of the College of Mines and Earth Sciences).

An applied science

Meteorology truly is an applied science. In addition to the core calculus and physics courses, the weather classes directly apply the concepts from math and science coursework. For my career, the ability to add classes in fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, computer science / numerical methods and statistics and probability enabled my career work in aerospace.

I hired on with Rockwell North American Aircraft, working modeling and simulation within the defense operations research group. My career path evolved to military aircraft requirements / effectiveness analysis, future aircraft design team participation and various project management / leadership roles in design and development. Subsequently, Rockwell Defense was acquired by The Boeing Company where my career culminated in leading the Advance Airlift and Tanker organization.

Our team designed aerodynamic fairings and rugged composite landing gear door upgrades for the C-17 transport. Our responsibilities also included development of concepts for future airlift and tanker aircraft and supporting technology maturation in lightweight, high strength structures and aerodynamic technologies. Highlights included our teams’ participation in the X-31 VECTOR and X-48B flight demonstration programs.

I have never regretted my decision to leave Ohio for the Mountain West to pursue my education which launched my career. For the past few years, I have been contributing to the U’s Atmospheric Sciences Department and, more recently, to the department’s new home, the L.S. Skaggs Applied Science Building, slated to open next year. It’s my way of paying back the support I received while attending the U.

The College of Science and the Department of Atmospheric Sciences thank Thomas Gurbach and all donors who have contributed to the completion of the Skaggs Applied Science Building. You can also donate to the new home of Atmospheric Sciences here.