homenews | College of Science

Letters from Antarctica #1

March 24, 2025

Photo from the wharf before boarding the ship. Note the high-vis and hardhat for safety during operations.

Studying a region of the world without seeing it firsthand is a bit like moving to a city that you have never been to. You can look at pictures, check the weather, dive into the data, run google searches, and connect with other people who have been to the region. But it is hard to fully understand what a place is like without getting to spend time there. That is why so many scientists (myself included) value participating in field work.

I am currently on the Australian icebreaker RSV Nuyina (pronounced ‘noy-yee-nah’) with 60 other scientists and around 60 crew members. One of the questions I get asked most frequently is “How did you end up here?” It’s a good question. As a Utahn — a land-locked state — sailing on an Australian ship in the Southern Ocean, I do seem a bit out of place. I never would have guessed that my career path would take me here, but I’m glad it did.

I completed my undergraduate education at Westminster University in physics. I enjoyed all of my course work but was most invested in the applied physics topics. I also completed a minor in environmental studies, mostly motivated by my love of recreating in the outdoors. If I could complete a class while hiking in the mountains or standing in a river, that was ideal.

A pivotal moment during my time at Westminster was studying abroad in Mongolia. I participated in Round River Conservation Studies which is a program that focuses on completing conservation research while living and taking classes in the field. We traveled by plane, train and car to get to a strictly protected area on the northern border of Mongolia. The experience of crawling out of my tent every morning and being surrounded by the trees I was writing species reports about was incredible.

Some filter units mounted on the ship’s railing.

Getting my sea legs

That experience hooked me on field work. When I graduated and started looking into graduate school options, getting to participate in research campaigns was at the top of my list. I started applying to programs in physics-related fields and decided atmospheric science was the ideal path to follow. I also had an interest in polar science (science focused around the northern or southern poles) but thought that finding a position in that topic would be difficult. During my application process, I sent emails to potential advisors at all of the schools I applied to. I was planning on moving away from Utah and accepting a position at a different institution. However, my advisor, Jay Mace, reached out with an offer I couldn’t refuse: to study clouds in the Southern Ocean region.

Jay has been highly involved in Southern Ocean cloud and precipitation research since connecting with Alain Protat, a researcher at the Bureau of Meteorology in Melbourne, Australia. The two have collaborated for around 15 years on projects relating to the Southern Ocean. Eventually, Jay found himself participating in research voyages on Australian vessels, and soon he was looking for a student to cover some of the research voyages. That is where I came in.

My first time on a ship was a two-week voyage on the RV Investigator out to a buoy in the Southern Ocean. It is an established research location with annual voyages to retrieve and replace the buoy. The location of the buoy is right along the storm track making the voyage quite rough in terms of swell and weather. However, it is a good test of how a person deals with seasickness and life on a ship.

Once I had some experience at sea, more opportunities tended to come up. My second voyage was a 65-day voyage called Multiple Investigations of the Southern Ocean (or MISO, for short) where we sailed from Hobart, Tasmania to the coast of Antarctica and back up to Perth, Australia. During the voyage, we spent about two days close enough to the continent to see it. In discussing my third voyage that I’m currently on, Jay said “think of the best two days from MISO. It will be like that for four weeks.” All of the voyages I have participated in have been in the Southern Ocean, but even with the Australian research vessels and voyages, many questions still remain about the area.

Photo of an LN2 calibration for the microwave radiometer during the week of prep work and set up for the voyage.

Pre-voyage prep

The Southern Ocean is a data-sparse region due to the lack of people and landmasses. Australia has two ships dedicated to completing scientific voyages. Getting to sail on those voyages allows us to have surface observations of what is happening in the region to fill in some of our gaps in knowledge about the area. However, being on a ship has its own set of challenges.

The pre-voyage prep is essential to collecting good data; however, the timeframe for prep is often short. Time on the ship is a commodity. The icebreaker is also used for resupplying the Antarctic stations, so the turn-around between voyages is very short, in this case a week. The suite of atmospheric instruments that we have on board required a week’s worth of set up before setting sail.

Setting up the ship means different things for the different science teams on board. For the atmospheric science team, we build stands for our instruments, run power and data cables and complete calibrations before we hit rough conditions. For other teams like the trace metal team, they spend months acid washing and prepping glassware for the voyage. This voyage also requires more work than usual because this is the first scientific voyage on the Nuyina and the labs need to be set up.

The effort, prep, and anticipation for this voyage has taken years. From the process of writing proposals for the voyage itself, finding funding through grants, and completing all of the prep work for the voyage, everyone was excited to finally come on board.

We are currently a week into the voyage and throughout this article series, I will cover what it is like to live and work on a ship, discuss some of the science happening on board and talk about the Denman Glacier where we are heading.

Thanks for following along!

A rigorous, collaborative approach to science

March 19, 2025

"People talked to each other and argued with each other and made suggestions to each other. I thought it was the way science should be done."

Maloy's connection to the U began when he arrived in1981 to work with John Roth, whom colleagues had described to him as "the best bacterial geneticist in the world." Though initially considering other opportunities, it was his visit to Roth's lab that changed Maloy's trajectory.

During his three years at the U (1981-1984), Maloy worked on a then-controversial area of genetic regulation — how genes can auto-regulate themselves. His research challenged the scientific dogma of the time and laid the foundation for his subsequent 30 years of NIH-funded research. In 2024 Maloy was designated a Distinguished Alumnus, recognizing his significant contributions to microbiology, national security, entrepreneurship, and scientific ethics over a career spanning more than three decades.

A Unique Scientific Community

Unlike many postdoctoral experiences where researchers interact primarily within their own labs, the U fostered a broader scientific community. "The group here was phenomenally interactive," Maloy explains. Monthly evening seminars brought together researchers from across disciplines to critically analyze each other's work. "It was the love of thinking about science, considering other explanations, and pondering about what might be wrong."

This culture of rigorous scrutiny fostered what Maloy values most in science: "For science to really serve its purpose, to really reflect reality, it demands that not only that you publish things, but you think through them, that you argue through them, you talk about different applications, different explanations."

From Basic Research to Biotechnology Applications

After leaving Utah, Maloy joined the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1984, where he spent 18 years rising through the ranks to full professor. Throughout his career, he has bridged basic science and practical applications through entrepreneurship.

Maloy has been involved in founding several biotechnology companies, each building upon his fundamental research in bacterial genetics. One company focused on "getting bacteria to evolve new functions quickly," with applications in detergents and other chemical processes. Another venture developed neuropeptides, which later spun off into a company focused on creating novel antimicrobials "of types that didn't exist before."

Perhaps the most promising entrepreneurial effort involves cancer therapeutics. Initially conceived as a vaccine platform, the company pivoted when pre-COVID funding for vaccines proved difficult to secure due to legal risks. Instead, they developed targeted delivery systems for treating specific types of cancer resistant to conventional therapies, such as hormone-resistant prostate cancer.

"That company has products in clinical trials right now for types of cancer that there's no other therapy for," Maloy notes proudly. Having passed initial safety trials, the treatments are now being evaluated for efficacy — potentially offering hope where few options currently exist.

Leadership in Scientific Integrity

Beyond his research and entrepreneurial ventures, Maloy has emerged as a leader in scientific ethics. He recently took over authorship of a widely used textbook on scientific integrity and responsible conduct of research, which is required reading for students working on NIH grants.

Working with colleagues from Michigan and Duke University, Maloy is currently completing a comprehensive revision addressing emerging challenges in scientific ethics, including paper mills, inappropriate citations, and the impacts of artificial intelligence on research integrity.

"Most people in society can't distinguish science from pseudoscience," Maloy explains, underscoring why maintaining scientific integrity is crucial. "If we let these false things become really prevalent, then people will say, 'Oh, look, you know, there's 500 articles on this thing. So it clearly must be right.'"

His latest project involves using virtual and augmented reality to create emotional experiences that help researchers internalize ethical principles. “There is compelling evidence that if somebody really emotionally experiences it, they will more rapidly change their behavior," he explains, demonstrating his innovative approach to tackling even non-scientific challenges.

Despite disappointments when projects Maloy has invested significant time and effort into face setbacks or changes in direction due to shifting political landscapes, his work in the Republic of Georgia has proven meaningful. In Georgia he and his team have established an SDSU branch to help transform their post-Soviet higher education system to support its future without permanent dependence.

A Distinguished Legacy

In his emeritus role at San Diego State University, Maloy continues to conduct research through industry collaborations while generously yielding his university laboratory space to make room for new assistant professors.

His recognition as a Distinguished Alumnus by the U celebrates not only his scientific and entrepreneurial achievements but also his commitment to the rigorous, collaborative approach to science that he first experienced in Salt Lake City—an approach that has informed his entire career and now shapes his work to strengthen scientific integrity for future generations.

Powering Utah’s Coal Industry

March 19, 2025

He emphasizes that mining engineers must work alongside laborers to understand operations firsthand. "You have to understand what they're going through and what they're doing to be able to design a better system for them, to design a mine that doesn't put them at risk, makes mining more efficient."

This approach extends to his views on what makes a successful mining engineer: "If you think you're getting a mining engineering degree to sit in an office and look at a computer, you're mistaken. This is hands-on. Go to work, put on your boots."

Pollastro didn't have to look far for career inspiration. As a fourth-generation underground coal miner from the small town of Spring Glen near Price, Utah, mining is in his blood. His father graduated from the University of Utah's mining engineering program in 1976 and ran multiple coal mines throughout Utah, including taking over the Cottonwood Mine after the 1984 Wilbur Mine disaster.

"Both grandfathers worked in coal mining as well,” Carson says. “One was a chief engineer and the other was a continuous miner operator in different mines in the area."

His great-grandfather emigrated from northern Italy in the early 1900s, drawn to Utah specifically for coal mining opportunities. When not working in the mines, he cut stone for home foundations in Helper — some of which are still standing today.

Pollastro graduated from Carbon High School in 2001 and followed family tradition by enrolling in the U's Mining Engineering program. He was part of a notably small graduating class of just three students in 2008, though the department typically maintained about 40 students total.

He speaks highly of his education, particularly crediting professors (now emeritus) like Kim McCarter, William Pariseau, Felipe Calizaya and recently retired Mike Nielsen for their rigorous approach to education. "They were demanding in a good way," Pollastro recalls. "They wanted you to become an engineer, not just graduate with an engineering degree."

The program entailed passing the Fundamentals of Engineering exam, a requirement since dropped by most engineering schools. Beyond technical skills, Pollastro particularly values how the department "pushed you as an engineer to learn how to write and communicate, which I think is critical."

From Graduate to CEO

Carson Pollastro, Wolverine Fuels

Graduating in 2008 during a mining boom, Pollastro had seven or eight job offers to consider. He chose to join PacificCorp at the underground Bridger Mine in Rock Springs, Wyoming — a decision he made strategically to accelerate his growth.

"Because it was small enough ... there was only three of us for the mine and its entire operation. So it allowed me to get into many different aspects of the engineering side," he explains. This decision paid off quickly — within just two years of graduating, he became Chief Engineer at Bridger.

In 2011, Pollastro moved to Southern Illinois to join Murray Energy Corporation as assistant VP of Operations at the American Coal Company, which operated two longwall mines — in which long rectangular panels are sliced and then extracted in a single continuous operation — and a shipping port on the Ohio River. He continued with Murray Energy through 2017, eventually helping manage operations when Murray acquired a majority interest in Foresight Energy.

While at Murray Energy, Pollastro pursued an MBA at Washington University in St. Louis, encouraged by his mentor, company founder Robert Murray. "Mr. Murray always retained the president title of all of his coal companies. So he was president. I was Vice President," Pollastro recalls, crediting Murray for being "very instrumental in helping my career grow."

In 2019 Pollastro returned to Utah to oversee Murray Energy's Utah assets. After just five months, Wolverine Fuels recruited him as COO — a position he started on November 1 of that year, coincidentally the same day Murray Energy filed for bankruptcy.

Now as CEO of Wolverine Fuels, Pollastro oversees the largest coal operation in Utah, including the Fossil Rock, Skyline, Sufco and Dugout mines in Utah, plus the idle Bowie #2 mine in Colorado that's currently undergoing reclamation.

Future of Coal in a Green Economy

As the energy landscape evolves toward renewable energy sources, Pollastro offers a pragmatic view of coal's continuing role. "When you look at the whole landscape of energy transition ... we really don't have a clear solution other than nuclear [energy] for base load power," he explains, referring to the amount of electricity — or electrical power — generated that is needed during the course of the day.

The challenge with renewables, according to Pollastro, is their intermittent nature. "Solar farms ... you can only count on 20 percent of that rated capacity to play into the grid," he points out. "Without that base load generation, then we truly have an intermittent power system."

This limitation means conventional energy sources remain essential: "The only answer right now that we have is some geothermal, but mainly coal, natural gas, and, again nuclear ... where you can store your fuel supply. You can produce power on demand when you need it."

Recent global events have reinforced coal's strategic importance. "After [the Ukraine-Russia] war broke out, coal prices worldwide went to all-time highs because that was the base load of power that was needed to power Europe," Pollastro notes.

He believes the energy transition will be much slower than many project: "I do believe, especially for Utah coal, where we're at, we have a low sulfur, high BTU product that is a clean-burning product, to where there's opportunities for us, I think, over the next 20-30 years to remain healthy and in good operation."

Industry Perception and Workforce

Despite the ongoing need for mining, the industry faces significant workforce challenges. "Mining in general has an issue with labor because of this environmental stigma that's out there associated with mining," explains Pollastro, noting the irony that renewable energy production also requires substantial mining operations for raw materials.

This stigma has contributed to a shortage of both mining engineers and general labor. "These kids now from grade school through high school are being raised and taught that mining is bad," he observes, contrasting with his belief that modern mining can be "done in environmentally friendly ways."

Pollastro emphasizes that mining remains essential: "The saying is true — 'if you don't grow it, you mine it,' and everything we use is either grown or mined. There's nothing outside of that that occurs."

For mining companies today, workforce development often means "picking up an inexperienced worker that needs a job, who wants to work and training them to become a miner." The industry also shows generational gaps where economic downturns or negative perceptions deterred entry for periods of time.

Despite these challenges, Pollastro remains optimistic about both coal's role in the energy mix and mining's future as an essential industry. His career trajectory from a small-town Utah graduate to CEO of the state's largest coal operation stands as a testament to the opportunities still available in this centuries-old but ever-evolving field.

In the meantime, Carson Pollastro, perhaps in part because of his family legacy in mining, proudly wears the figurative “blue-collar.”

SRI Stories: Andrea Halling

March 18, 2025

In the field at Great Salt Lake.

Yet it has thrived, acting as both a habitat for brine shrimp and an anchor for the life cycles of migratory birds. Many esteemed scientists have been drawn to the region to study how life can adapt to such harsh conditions.

Science Research Initiative (SRI) postdoctoral researcher Andrea Halling takes this a step further. Not only does she spearhead studies into how life adapts in the lake, she also leads a cohort of students doing the same. In cultivating this environment for students to study evolution, she creates an ideal environment for the students to grow and adapt in turn.

While it wasn’t what initially drew her to higher education, Andrea quickly grew a strong interest in physics and biology. There she found “a purpose in building and contributing to our understanding of the world around us,” and her journey would lead her to the study of the advent of multicellular life, exploring how the Snowball Earth event might have kickstarted it for her Ph.D. dissertation.

To oversimplify, colder liquids are more viscous, making it harder for microorganisms to move through. Increasing their collective size by staying together as a group of cells would physically make it easier to move in the cold, viscous environment. It was a hypothesis supported by her studies, creating the perfect background to launch her further into the field of evolutionary study.

A trajectory of this nature is common in the postdoc demographic, but Andrea’s resume contains a particularly useful quirk in the form of a pre-PhD detour. She taught high school physics and biology, allowing Andrea to enter her mentorship role in SRI with far more momentum than most. “I feel that a lot of the time people assume that freshman level students don’t know enough,” Andrea explains, “that they are empty, that we need to fill their cup of knowledge. And I know from experience that’s absolutely not true. My students are brilliant and have amazing ideas. It’s so fun to be able to build them up from the knowledge they already have.”

Building and expanding this foundation of knowledge is what truly makes SRI so special. As Andrea notes, “Many of these students won’t want to study the Great Salt Lake forever, but there are so many applicable skills that they can learn, to better think like a scientist.” She further notes that “Many wish to go to medical school, where applications will have very similar traits. Doing something like this, like SRI, allows them to set themselves apart.”

Much like the life they are studying, these students have been introduced into a novel research environment rarely found outside of Utah. And thanks to the guidance of Andera Halling, the unique nature of that environment allows them to adapt and to develop equally unique traits and evolve into stronger versions of themselves in the process.

Cool Science Radio: George Cassiday

March 14, 2025

George Cassiday

Not to be confused with the man who served as Congress's primary bootlegger during prohibition, George Cassiday is the recipient of the 2002 Distinguished Teaching award at the University of Utah and was professor of some of the most popular courses in the Physics and Astronomy Department at the U.

Known for teaching some of the more interesting, and arguably unconventional classes at the U, Cassiday taught a course titled "Does E.T. exist?" According to a 2015 article in The Chronicle, the good professor did not want students to simply dismiss his class as an easy way to get past a general education requirement.

“This course is not simply a ‘watered-down’ version of an introductory class in some single scientific discipline, such as basic physics or chemistry,” Cassiday said at the time. “Students learn a lot about different scientific disciplines by attempting to answer a question in which I have never found a single person who is not interested.”

The question students attempt to answer in Cassiday’s course was how life emerged in the Universe. Students also discussed the probability that life could evolve into an intelligent civilization capable of establishing contact with another intelligent civilization, such as ours.

Now professor emeritus, Cassiday talks with KPCW's Cool Science Radio about being part of the original team searching for illusive particles at the sub-atomic level as well as the history of them.

Biology Alum receives 2025 U Honorary Doctorate

March 13, 2025

A three-time alum of the U, Samuelson worked as a rheumatologist, medical school dean and as the U’s vice president of health sciences. He left the university in 1993 to join the executive leadership team at Intermountain Healthcare. A year later, Samuelson was called to serve in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ First Quorum of the Seventy, before being named as BYU’s president, a job he held for a decade.

Samuelson's first degree from the U was in biology in 1966 before going on to graduate school at the U in psychology, culminating with an MD from the medical school.

“Honorary degrees are a recognition of exceptional human beings who have transformed the world in ways large and small,” said President Taylor Randall. “Cecil, Julie, King and Linda have invested their time, talents and financial support to causes that have changed our university, state and the world. We are so fortunate to have exceptional leaders who, through everyday acts and transformational investments, have changed individual lives, bolstered education and advanced culture. The legacy of their work will live on for years to come.”

Honorary degrees are awarded to individuals who have achieved distinction in academic pursuits, the arts, professions, business, government, civic affairs or in service to the university. The Honors Committee, which includes representatives from the faculty, student body and Board of Trustees, reviews nominations and then consults with an advisory group of faculty, staff and administrators for additional input. Finalists are presented to the university president, who then selects the recipients.

“This year’s honorary degree recipients personify selfless service in higher education, passionate advocacy, life-changing innovations and artistic creativity,” said Jamie Sorenson, chair of the Board of Trustees Honors Committee. “We are so pleased to recognize these exceptional individuals for the ways they have lived their lives and inspired future generations to live theirs.”

You can read more about the 2025 honorees in @TheU.

Tooth enamel helps reconstruct wildlife migrations

March 13, 2025

Teeth recovered from a beloved zoo elephant that died in 2008 are helping University of Utah geologists develop a method for tracking the movements of large herbivores across landscapes, even for animals now extinct, such as mastodons and mammoths.

Outlined in recently published findings, the technique analyzes isotope ratios of the element strontium (Sr), which accumulates in tooth enamel. For large plant-eating land mammals, the relative abundance of two strontium isotopes in teeth and tusks reflects where the creature may have roamed during its lifetime.

“Our study not only adds to our understanding of how tooth enamel records an animal’s Sr isotope exposure, but also helps to reconstruct animal migrations from Sr isotope analysis,” lead author Deming Yang said in a posting about the research. “It can be applied to studies of paleobiology, to answer how megaherbivores migrated in the past. It can also be applied to studies of modern conservation and forensics, to trace the origins of illegal ivory trade and other forms of wildlife trafficking.”

The star of the study is Misha, a female elephant acquired by Salt Lake City’s Hogle Zoo in 2005.

Chemically similar to calcium, strontium from the environment accumulates in highly mineralized tissues, such as animals’ bones and teeth.

“As animals eat and drink, they pick up this environmental signature and store it in their teeth, preserving a series of environmental exposures like historic archives,” Yang wrote. This is because the geology of different places presents different isotope signatures for 87-strontium/86-strontium [⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr] and those isotope ratios are reflected in plants and water.

“We use other elements, but in this case, we’re focusing on strontium, which has proven to be really useful because of its strong link to geology,” coauthor Gabe Bowen said. “Ultimately it comes down to where that element comes from, how the animal gets it into their body and from what sources.”

The isotope ⁸⁷Sr is radiogenic, meaning it is produced from the decay of another element, in this case rubidium, found next door to strontium on the Periodic Table, whose half-life exceeds 49 billion years, about 10 times the age of Earth. While ⁸⁷Sr increases over time, the abundance of other strontium isotopes remains fixed. Accordingly, isotope ratios are a proxy for the age of rocks and typically differ from place to place.

Coauthor Thure Cerling, a highly decorated distinguished U professor of both geology and biology, is a pioneer in the use of isotope analysis to shed light on ecological questions such as soil formation, animal physiology, wildlife ecology and climate change.

Read the entire story by Brian Maffly in @TheU.

Gamma ray observatory gets green light

March 12, 2025

The creation of the CTAO-ERIC will enable the observatory’s construction to advance rapidly and provide a framework for distributing its data worldwide, significantly accelerating its progress toward scientific discovery. On Feb. 13, 2025, the ERIC Council approved to immediately negotiate the establishment of Japan as a strategic partner and the United States, Brazil and Australia as third-party members.

Animation of a blue light beam breaking up into multiple particles and hits Earth's atmosphere, scattering across the globe.

“This field did not exist before 1989 when the first the gamma ray source was detected. At that point, we knew of four sources in the world,” said Dave Kieda, professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at the University of Utah and the CTAO spokesperson for the U.S. “The past 35 years, we went from detecting the first to now seeing several hundred. With CTAO, we’re going to see thousands. And the University of Utah is part of that legacy.”

The CTAO-ERIC was established with the international support of 11 countries and one intergovernmental organization that contributed to the technological development, construction and operation of the observatory. For Kieda, the new array will give astronomers an unprecedented view of the mysterious radiation he’s spent his career studying.

“Over the last decade, people have discovered that these high energy gamma rays are present in many, many types of very energetic astronomical phenomenon, but we don’t know much about where they come from,” Kieda said.

Read the full story by Lisa Potter in @ The U. Video above: Animation of a gamma ray hitting Earth’s atmosphere, creating the blue Cherenkov light that flashes for a billionth of a second.

New state-of-the-art mass spectrometer

March 10, 2025

The University of Utah’s Department of Geology & Geophysics has been awarded a million-dollar grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to acquire state-of-the-art mass spectrometry instrumentation for measuring isotope ratios of heavier elements at the precision needed to perform cutting-edge research into Earth’s deep past.

Mass spectrometers have been making accurate and precise isotope ratio measurements of elements such as hydrogen (H), carbon (C) and oxygen (O) for many decades. Isotope ratio differences generally scale with mass, with isotope ratios of these lighter-mass elements exhibiting much larger differences than ratios for the heavier-mass elements. Large differences are easier to measure than small differences.

The instrument acquired through the NSF Major Research Instrumentation program is capable of determining very, very small isotope ratio differences. The instrument’s technical name is the Thermo Neoma “multicollector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer,” or MC-ICP-MS for short. The instrument routinely makes accurate and precise isotope ratio measurements for magnesium (Mg), iron (Fe), strontium (Sr), molybdenum (Mo), mercury (Hg), thallium (Tl), lead (Pb), uranium (U), calcium (Ca), potassium (K) and many other heavy elements.

“There’s so many things you can do with it. We have a long list of scientists in our department and beyond who rely on isotope ratio data for their projects,” said Chad Ostrander, assistant professor of geology and principal investigator of the grant.

Joining Ostrander in applying for the grant are Diego Fernandez, Juan Carlos de Obeso and Sarah Lambart. Chris Anderson and Issaku Kohl also play instrumental roles in the project. The team’s interests cover many fields of research, tracking the selective movement of isotopes today and in the past from Earth’s interior to its surface, between seawater and the seafloor, from ocean to land and between land and life.

Read the entire story by Ethan Hood in @TheU.

Letters from Antarctica

Check back later for the next letter!

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The Voyage Begins

Getting my sea legs

Pre-voyage prep

>> Next Letter<<

A rigorous, collaborative approach to science

"The atmosphere in the lab was really phenomenal," distinguished post-doctoral researcher alumnus Stanley Maloy recalls of his time in what is now the University of Utah’s School of Biological Sciences.

A Unique Scientific Community

From Basic Research to Biotechnology Applications

Leadership in Scientific Integrity

A Distinguished Legacy

powering Utah's Coal Industry

Carson Pollastro BMG’09 is quick to dispel misconceptions about mining engineering as a desk job: " Till the day I'm done here on this earth, I will say a mining engineering degree is not a white-collar job. It’s a blue-collar job."

From Graduate to CEO

Future of Coal in a Green Economy

Industry Perception and Workforce

SRI Stories: Environment for Evolution

The Great Salt Lake is a prime example of the tenacity of life to adapt to its environment. With up to nine times the ocean’s salinity and surrounded by desert, common sense would dictate the area to be inhospitable to life.

cool science on the level of Particle Physics

Cecil Samuelson: U Honorary Doctorate

Equal parts University of Utah and Brigham Young University, Cecil Samuelson has managed to bleed purple throughout his long career as a higher education leader and physician.

tooth enamel helps reconstruct wildlife migrations

Utah geologists show how strontium isotopes found in teeth or tusks reveal where large plant-eating animals have roamed.

Most powerful gamma ray observatory gets green light

At the start of the year, the European Commission established the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO) as a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC), furthering its mission to become the world’s largest and most powerful observatory for gamma-ray astronomy.

>> HOME <<

New state-of-the-art mass spectrometer

Instrument will help scientists unravel Earth's ancient geological mysteries, past climates and humans' ongoing interactions with the environment.