College of Science 'Discovery' - Spring 2018 by USU College of Science

COLLEGE OF SCIENCE

DISCOVERY SPRING 2018

Bringing the Universe to a Rural Utah Classroom,

Bringing a Rural Utah Classroom to the Universe High School Science Teacher Debbie Morgan ‘02 Fosters Connections

THE MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY’S COLLEGE OF SCIENCE

Dean Hagan with College of Science Ambassadors M. Muffoletto

From the Dean MAURA HAGAN

Dear Alumni and Friends, Our Spring 2018 issue of Discovery is inspired by Utah State University’s 2017-2018 “Year of the Arts.” This issue’s stories reflect how arts elevate and inspire our alumni and faculty’s creativity and accomplishments. You will also read about the scientific inspiration underlying the exciting art installations Amy Landesberg and Mark Pomilio are creating for our Life Sciences Building. The construction of this building, which is a work of art and design in the making, is slated for completion later this year. There is abundant evidence that arts elevate, illuminate and inspire science and mathematics throughout the College. Among others, we are particularly proud of our contributions to the S.T.E.A.M. Expo on the USU Eastern Blanding Campus. This event is designed to enliven and increase excitement for learning in the fields of science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics. The fifth annual S.T.E.A.M. Expo was held April 13, 2018, to the delight of many in spite of inclement weather, which curtailed some exhibitions and demonstrations. On our Logan campus, our Spring 2018 Science Unwrapped series featured four public engagement events focused on the science of art, including presentations by USU biologists Zach Gompert and Lauren Lucas and physicist David Peak. During your next visit to Logan, stop by our college offices to see some of the science-inspired art we have on display, including AARON created by Harold Cohen, the gift of Professors David and Terry Peak, which is on loan from USU’s Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art and the subject of the article on page 24. Thank you for your ongoing support of the College of Science at Utah State University. We look forward to seeing you soon! Sincerely,

MAURA E. HAGAN Dean, USU College of Science

DISCOVERY MAGAZINE I SPRING 2018

MAURA E. HAGAN Dean LISA M. BERREAU Executive Associate Dean

Chase Christensen

Bringing the Universe to a Classroom

Science teacher Debbie Morgan ‘02 fosters ‘out of this world’ opportunities

Sudipta Shaw

RICHARD J. MUELLER Associate Dean MARY-ANN MUFFOLETTO Editor/Writer/Photographer/ Designer Discovery, the magazine for alumni and friends of Utah State University’s College of Science, is published twice a year. Please direct inquiries to editor Mary-Ann Muffoletto, at maryann.muffoletto@usu.edu.

M. Muffoletto

A Bird’s-Eye View

Do Androids Dream of Electric Art?

Biochemistry alum pursues nature photography

Physics professor explores complexity, chaos in art

From the Dean ................................................................................... 2 Dancing My PhD ............................................................................. 4 Smooth Sailing ............................................................................... 6 The Crossroads Project ................................................................... 8 From an Alum Column .................................................................. 13 Coming to Life ................................................................................ 20 Development Column .....................................................................26 Keep in Touch ................................................................................. 27

Graphic design assistance from Spencer Perry and Holly Broome-Hyer. Printed with Forest Stewardship Council certification standards.

ON THE COVER

Alum Debbie Morgan ‘02 with her students at Utah’s South Sevier High School. Cover photo by Chase Christensen, a senior at South Sevier High School. This issue of DISCOVERY published in celebration of:

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During graduate studies at USU, University of Florida faculty member and Aggie alum Zack Brym (Ecology, PhD’16) combined his passions for agroecology and music to communicate science. Courtesy Zack Brym

Dancing My PhD

Zack Brym (PhD’16, Ecology) reflects on the intersection of art and science by keyboardist Alex Garbarino, While earning his doctorate guitarist D.J. Ferguson and Brym in ecology at USU, Zachary T. on drums, Prune to Wild portrays ‘Zack’ Brym entered the 2013 an apple orchard’s struggle to national Dance Your Ph.D. find balance between the contest sponsored by the vulnerability of the wild and the American Academy for the overbearing management of Advancement of Science, the domestication. White’s journal Science and Gonzo otherworldly choreography conveys Labs. Brym enlisted help from suspenseful tension between the USU adjunct faculty member and pruning drummers and arboreal videographer Andy Lorimer, USU dancers, as the story builds to a staffer and Cache Valley Civic Ballet A still image from Brym’s video, Prune to Wild. tender pas de deux featuring Brym choreographer Stephanie White, Dancers depict apple trees; drummers are pruning farmers. with wife and fellow scientist local dancers and USU’s Aggie Maria Brym, in the role of Marching Band Drumline to create “Naturally Pruned Tree.” Prune to Wild. While his entry didn’t place, it garnered local accolades and The six-minute video, online at vimeo.com/75169674, proved a meaningful, memorable endeavor for all involved. The depicts challenges Brym encountered while conducting an College of Science caught up with Brym, who joined the faculty of interdisciplinary study, with guidance from faculty mentors the University of Florida’s Department of Agronomy and Tropical Morgan Ernest and Brent Black, of an agricultural system Research and Education Center in Homestead as assistant using ecological principles. professorof agroecology in 2016: Set to a contemporary instrumental soundtrack performed

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Q) Had you ever attempted a project like this before and what were some of the biggest challenges? A) This project was a unique experience for me. I had extensive training in live performance arts (e.g. musical theater, marching band) and did some videography for the marching band. But I was never the character in a video that wasn’t just a recording of a live performance. I didn’t have any experience or perception in piecing together scenes or clips. In that way, the videographer really put me out of my comfort zone during filming. I envisioned the video and crafted the storyline like a live show, but we kept having to stop in the middle of passages to reshoot at different angles. This speaks to a broader challenge of working in a truly transdisciplinary team. I knew the most about my science and drumming. The choreographer and videographer sometimes had different ideas about interpreting my science or the best way to communicate that in the video.

music and think of all of the out-of-the-box ways I can design my experiments and communicate about my research.

Q) What were some of the highlights of your USU experience? A) Wow, there are so many. I will name three: 1. I crafted my PhD program in agroecology through the USU Ecology Center. The freedom I got to put together my own research program and mentoring committee gave me the training to land my dream job in agroecology. 2. I say USU may be the only university, where I could get my PhD related to agriculture and keep a farm within a 5-mile radius of campus. I wanted to learn how to walk, while I was learning how to talk. We, my wife and I, tried to be as self-sufficient as possible and did a pretty good job of feeding ourselves and earning enough at market to feed the animals. On two acres, we gardened and kept chickens, ducks, a turkey, a lamb and a Q) What did you gain from goat. It was a LOT of hard the project? Were there work and really transformed parallels in making the video my understanding of and pursuing a scientific agriculture. research project? 3. The community I found A) Overcoming the at USU was epically A still image from Brym’s video. Dancers depict apple trees. transdisciplinary challenge supportive and close-knit. This includes my grad student peers, the faculty in the Ecology and letting the others guide the parts of the show that Center and Biology Department and the community of farmers they were expert in was a real learning opportunity for and foodies, who I came to love and respect during my time at me that I have used again and again in the development USU. and implementation of science. The hope is always that you Q) What are you pursuing now in research and teaching? come up with something better than you would on your own. A) I have a research and extension position at the Tropical I also gained a lot of perspective on science communication. Research and Education Center at the University of When we decided to make this video with no text or other Florida representing the Department of Agronomy. I study content clues besides the ‘dancing’, I had to distill my research agroecology from the perspective of crop physiology and plant into a message that could be communicated just through the community ecology. The extension part of my job means that I choreography and actions in the video. work directly with farmers and the public to communicate with Q) Drumming (and music) are obviously among your them and get them engaged in my work. Agroecology is a new passions. Does music influence your pursuit of science enough discipline that the beginnings of my program are mostly and, if so, how? about awareness and developing a few basic educational and A) Sure does. I had a career choice to make between music research programs to describe my discipline and approach and biology, when going to college. I decided to keep my first to science. Agroecology seeks to understand the productivity, favorite activity as my hobby, while making my second favorite diversity and resilience of agricultural systems in the context of thing my career. I guess I could say that music influences my surrounding areas. Agroecology is a process to understanding pursuit of science. I would also say, then, that the process of and improving agriculture to sustain productivity, conserve writing, performing, and listening to music influences the way natural resources, and promote social responsibility. I am just that I do science. I see science as a creative process just like setting up my first experiment, where I am using cover crops, the music. To be the best scientist I can be, I have to exercise all the simplest cropping system I know, to understand the impacts of parts of my brain. So, some days I do a lot of technical reading the surrounding environment on plant physiology. n and cognitive brain games and other days I listen to a lot of - MARY-ANN MUFFOLETTO

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This page and opposite, Alum Sylvain Sardy (MS’91 Mathematics, MS’92 Statistics), associate professor at Switzerland’s University of Geneva, skies in the Jura Mountains, just miles from his home. Courtesy Sylvain Sardy

Smooth Sailing

Aggie telemark enthusiast, University of Geneva faculty member Sylvain Sardy recalls USU experiences While a graduate student at Utah State, Aggie alum Sylvain Sardy (MS’91 Mathematics, MS’92 Statistics) learned the fine art of telemark skiing. “My graduate advisor Ken Bosworth was my telemarking teacher,” says Sardy, a native of France and associate professor in the Mathematics section at Switzerland’s University of Geneva. “My training ground: the ‘Greatest Snow on Earth’!” Beautiful scenery, plentiful outdoor activities and Cache Valley seasons are among Sardy’s favorite memories of Utah State, along with evenings enjoying burgers with friends on the deck of The White Owl in downtown Logan. But Utah State was also where Sardy, who initially

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studied mathematics, made a pivotal career decision. “I decided to pursue studies in statistics due to Professor Adele Cutler, who was a great source of enthusiasm and knowledge, as well as a great person,” he says. With guidance from Cutler and Bosworth, Sardy developed a new, statistical data smoothing method, motivated, he says, by hydrology applications used by Upmanu Lall, a Columbia University professor formerly associated with USU’s Utah Center for Water Resources Research. The research, Sardy says, involved creating an approximating function that could filter out “noise” from large, hydrological datasets, distill important patterns

and thereby allow interpretation of environmental data. “I learned a great deal from Dr. Cutler and Dr. Bosworth,” he says. “This was a very valuable learning experience for me.” Cutler says Sardy was the first student she’d ever met who “felt more like a collaborator than a graduate student.” “We would toss around ideas and he would go away and return with original ideas,” says the professor in USU’s Department of Mathematics and Statistics. Cutler also remembers Sardy’s kindness. “One weekend, I accidentally locked myself out of my office with my I.D. inside,” she says. “Sylvain quickly cycled across campus to the USU Police office to ask them to let me in. They didn’t believe him, so he returned, walked with me to the police office, which sent an officer back with me to unlock my office. I was impressed Sylvain took so much time to make sure I was okay.” From Utah State, Sardy advanced to a prestigious doctoral program in statistics at the University of Washington, from which he earned his PhD in 1998. In his current position, he teaches all levels in statistics and optimization, supervises master’s and doctoral students and conducts mathematical statistics research in areas ranging from cancer to cosmology. Sardy is also a strong proponent of interdisciplinary collaboration. “Collaboration with scientists in other fields is interesting and rewarding,” he says. “With my colleagues in Applied Mathematics, we recently created a platform, the Center for Applied Mathematics and Statistics or ‘CAMAS,’ to foster collaboration within the entire faculty of the Sciences here at the University of Geneva,” he says. Bosworth, now a professor at Idaho State University, says Sardy has “made a name for himself in computational statistics and USU should be proud.” Sardy returned to visit Utah State some years after graduation and Bosworth recalls they grabbed their skis and headed up Logan Canyon to ski the east-facing slopes of Beaver Mountain toward Bear Lake. “We had about three feet of fresh powder and Sylvain, myself and my dogs Buddy and Rosie had a blast skiing down the slopes,” he says. “With the snow so

deep, getting back up the ridge was a chore, so it was a one-run, three-hour day.” Cutler says Utah State tried to entice Sardy back to Logan as a faculty member, but even the lure of the great outdoors wasn’t enough. “Sylvain is an alum we’re are extremely proud of and his expertise is much sought after by universities around the world,” she says. “He collaborates with faculty at top universities, including Stanford. He’s that good.” n

-MARY-ANN MUFFOLETTO

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T he Cr ossr oads Pr oject: Unlocking People’s Thinking Arts connect us to critical science information says USU Physics alum, faculty member Rob Davies

USU physicist Rob Davies, left, with the Fry Street Quartet, during a presentation of The Crossroads Project. Courtesy Andrew McAllister

Scientists get a bad rap for being poor communicators, says USU Physics alum and faculty member Rob Davies (Physics, MS’96, PhD ’99). “Some scientists are fabulous communicators,” says Davies, associate professor of professional practice in USU’s Department of Physics. “Still, communication is not what scientists are traditionally trained to do. Any time we can collaborate with artists, then, is a real opportunity to change the game, because the Arts excel at connecting us with stories on a human level.”

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Davies is founder of The Crossroads Project, a collection of artists – and a physicist – who combine science, music, visual art and photography to convey humanity’s impact on the planet. With the renowned Fry Street Quartet, which holds the Dan C. and Manon Caine Russell Endowed String Quartet Residency at USU’s Caine College of the Arts, Davies has traveled throughout the United States, to Mexico and to Brazil, to impart critical science and spark action. To date, The Crossroads Project has created two separate performances – Rising Tide, which premiered

at USU in 2012 and has been performed extensively, and for the approach Davies sought with The Crossroads Emergence – an experimental version, which premiered Project. in 2016 and is still under development. “I hoped the performance “The Arts have the ability “Grounded in science, elevated by experience we provided would art, igniting response,” as described by push away obstructing thoughts to connect us to important its website, The Crossroads Project and replace them with compelling issues on a visceral level, ... performances are neither concerts information about a critically nor plays. important issue,” he says. Take the example of the role “It’s a performance experience,” The Arts, Davies explains, Davies says. “And not an entirely have the ability to connect us of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s pleasant experience. But it has to important issues on a visceral seminal novel, Uncle Tom’s proved powerful and thoughtlevel, not simply to understand provoking.” them on an intellectual level. Cabin, in ending slavery. And it’s an evolving experience “Take the example of the [It] moved people to action. as well. As the project has progressed, role of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s The Fry Street Quartet, comprised of This single piece of literature seminal novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, violinists Robert Waters and Rebecca in ending slavery,” he says. “It did what hundreds of McFaul, violist Bradley Ottesen, and became widely popular throughout cellist Anne Francis Bayless, the world after its debut in abolitionists, who’d lectured commissioned music specifically for 1852 and moved people to action. for years about the evils of the performance by renowned This single piece of literature did American composers Laura what hundreds of abolitionists, slavery, couldn’t do.” Kaminsky (Rising Tide) and who’d lectured for years about the - Rob Davies Libby Larsen (Emergence). evils of slavery, couldn’t do.” The performance is further It’s the same for scientists. complemented by the visual art of “We have compelling, New York-based painter Rebecca Allan and scientifically based evidence the environmental photography of of the damaging effects of human International League of Conservation activity upon our environment,” Fellow Garth Lenz. Davies says. “Yet the perceived Seeds of the Crossroads effort formed policy, economic and social from Davies’ earlier experiences at England’s implications of confronting our Oxford University. lifestyles and doing something to reverse our course generate “During my years as a postdoc at Oxford, enormous resistance.” I had powerful experiences with chamber He hopes The Crossroads Project music,” he says. “I could have attended a provides an impetus – audience concert almost every night, had I wanted to.” by audience – to change hearts Davies reports the performances often and minds and spark action. “unlocked his thinking.” “Change of this scale requires “I’d walk into a concert with a complicated knowledge, commitment and quantum optics physics problem on my mind community,” Davies says. “No and the music would send me scrambling one can do everything. So, we for a notebook,” he says. encourage those in our audiences Those experiences laid the groundwork to pick something and make it yours.” n

-MARY-ANN MUFFOLETTO

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USU alum Abbass Al Sharif is assistant professor of clinical data sciences and operations at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business. Courtesy USC

USU alum Sudipta Shaw at Benson Marina in Cache Valley, Utah, in 2015. Courtesy Eli Lucero, The Herald Journal

A Bird’s-Eye View Biochemistry alum Sudipta Shaw ‘17 PhD, captures his love of wildlife with photography

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Sometimes, timing is everything. Had the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) contacted Utah State University alum Sudipta Shaw (Biochemistry, PhD’17) just a little sooner, he might be following his passion for wildlife photography as a vocation rather than an avocation. But Shaw has no regrets. The Kolkata native chose an earlier offer with India’s Institute of Microbiological Technology, which ultimately launched him to an academic career in the biological sciences. “I love my work in biochemistry and microbiology,” says Shaw, currently a postdoctoral associate in the College of Biological Sciences, Biotechnology Institute at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. “And I still have time to pursue my passion for wildlife photography.” Shaw’s fascination with wildlife began early, even earlier than his memory.

“My mother and aunt tell stories of me, as a But birds of prey are his favorite subject and he preschooler, trying to grab small fish from an found plenty of osprey, harrier, peregrine falcons and ornamental pond,” he says. “I don’t remember this, but American kestrels during his treks to Cache Valley’s I’ve always noticed birds and other wildlife. I can watch Benson Marina and Brigham City’s Bear River Migratory them for hours.” Bird Refuge. In Minnesota, his current focus is owls, Shaw’s first foray into transferring his love of nature which he describes with excitement. into art came during his undergraduate studies at “On weekends, I’ll head north to Sax Zim Bog, a Allahabad Agricultural Institute. He and a roommate popular birding area, which is famous for Great Gray decided to enter a nationwide Wildlife Institute of India Owls,” Shaw says. “I’ve also captured photos of the less contest for college students that abundant Northern Hawk called for poster illustrations. Owl.” “I’m not good at drawing, so Closer to home, he’s my poster consisted of pasted observed snowy owls at clips of facts and photos about the Minneapolis-Saint animals and birds – not the Paul International way you are supposed to do Airport. a poster,” he recalls. “There At UMN, Shaw is were no surprises when I investigating the ability didn’t win. On the other of bacterial, phosphatehand, my roommate, a very binding proteins to Female Snowy White Owl, Minnesota talented illustrator, took discriminate between Sudipta Shaw third prize.” phosphate and arsenate A short time later, Shaw made a couple of casual at the molecular level. purchases, two wildlife photography magazines, while “The phosphorus cycle differs from other major waiting to take a train home for a holiday break. biogeochemical cycles in that it doesn’t include a gas “It was a 12-hour train ride, but I didn’t sleep,” he phase or, at least, it’s very rare,” he says. “Phosphate says. “I couldn’t stop looking at those photographs and I is necessary for life but, applied in fertilizers, it binds read those magazines from cover to cover.” to soil particles that leach into surface waters and Photography, it turns out, was the vehicle Shaw stimulate the growth of algae. This causes a process would pursue to capture his love of wildlife. called eutrophication, which removes oxygen from the “From then on, I read all I could about photography water and harms fish and other organisms.” and began experimenting with an analog camera,” he says. “After moving to the United States for graduate school, I purchased my first digital camera.” Shaw regularly posts photos to Your Shot, National Geographic’s photo community, and maintains his own photography website, www.shawsudipta.com and Flickr page, as well. In 2017, one of his images of Yellowstone bison was selected from more than 10,000 submissions for National Geographic’s “21 Captivating Pictures of Places Worth Protection.” During his years at Utah State, where he studied nitrogenase with Professor Lance Seefeldt, he earned an award for another Yellowstone bison photo he submitted to The Herald Journal newspaper’s “Great Grizzly cub, Yellowstone National Park Sudipta Shaw Outdoors Photo Contest.” SPRING 2018 I DISCOVERY MAGAZINE

Northern Hawk Owl at Minnesota’s Sax Zim Bog. Sudipta Shaw

Shaw is working to develop genetically modified bacteria with enhanced phosphate-capture ability that will be used to design a cost-effective bioscavenger for removing phosphorous from aquaculture effluents, agricultural runoff and waste water. “Such a bioreactor can be used as a water filtration system, which will concentrate phosphate, enabling the recycling of this precious fertilizer in agriculture,” he says. Shaw, right, with USU faculty mentor Lance Seefeldt in 2016. M. Muffoletto

Coyote, Yellowstone National Park Sudipta Shaw

Where Shaw’s career will take him remains unknown, but wherever he lands, the scholar, named the 2016 Thomas F. Emery Outstanding Graduate Student in Biochemistry at USU, will regularly escape to the wild to pursue his passion. “Bird photography, my favorite, is more challenging than animal photography,” Shaw says. “You can’t take a picture of a bird without sitting for, maybe hours. You have to be extremely lucky to capture a good photo of a bird in flight.” Timing is, after all, everything. n

-MARY-ANN MUFFOLETTO

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ALUMNI OF USU’s COLLEGE OF SCIENCE SHARE INSIGHTS AND PERSPECTIVES

Yo g a a n d G e o l o g y : Paying Attention to Nature

Spring 2018 Guest Columnist KELLY KEIGHLEY BRADBURY, P.G.

Research Assistant Professor My passions are geology and yoga and, after Utah State University Department of Geology studying and teaching both for the last 20 years, Utah State University, PhD, geology, 2012 Utah State University, MS, geology, 1999 I have realized they share many complementary Western Michigan University, BS, geology, 1993 themes. Both disciplines have the ability to foster the development of patience and humility due to a greater sense of awareness of one’s internal and surrounding and appreciate that it takes a very long time to unravel the environment and the rates and scales at which past in an effort to understand the present. But through a transformations may occur, as well as helping us to better consistent and dedicated approach, we just might have a understand ourselves and ultimately, other beings. breakthrough. Yoga is essentially the same, teaching us to In geology, we use rocks as a tool for pattern recognition look again, and again, and again! for understanding the external, natural world. In yoga, we Because of my experience (and love) for each discipline use practice as a tool to listen to the sound of the breath and their potentially complementary combination for and learn to follow it through the body during movement, all students, I am hoping to develop an experiential yoga observing patterns that reconnect us to our own natural and geology class. Our assignments would include getting intelligence. Endless analogies exist between geology and students outside to explore geologic features within a yoga. For example, we can think of landscape and to utilize an approach that ourselves as a mountain, absorbing is influenced by the basic principles of all that comes its way, at times yoga. This vision is now in the proposal shedding itself continuously in stage for a future offering at Utah State. cyclic increments, slow and steady. Two of my most influential yoga At other times, it may undergo major teachers, Richard Freeman and Mary out-of-cycle transformations that are Taylor, inspired this idea, as it rapid and fierce. In a sustained yoga articulately expresses how yoga helps to practice, one may experience slow, inform my scientific research and vice steady change and at other times, a versa by stating: rapid shift. Or we can consider how “…everything relates to everything Geologist Kelly Bradbury, research assistant professor variable conditions cause some in the USU Department of Geology, relaxes in the else and consequently, is in constant newly dedicated Centennial Rock Garden gracing rocks to cool and crystallize slowly flux.That is the nature of reality, of the century-old Geology Building on the Quad. deep within the earth, whereas M. Muffoletto who we are and why we’re here. others cool quickly as they are ejected Understanding this, we see that onto the surface of the earth. Each process results in a many important questions are ultimately unanswerable. different composition and/or texture that may or may That doesn’t mean they are not worth asking; in fact, quite not be readily visible in the rock. As geologists, we are the opposite. A steady and stable practice shows us how trained to observe the effects of such dynamic processes vital it is to maintain a sense of inquisitiveness so that and to observe from a variety of perspectives, considering a variety of data. With this approach, we are constantly we remain inspired by posing and re-posing questions to humbled by the vastness of the earth. We understand which we think we already know the answers….” n SPRING 2018 I DISCOVERY MAGAZINE

USU Geology alum Debbie Morgan in her classroom at Utahâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s South Sevier High School.

Chase Christensen

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Bringing the Universe to a Rural Utah Classroom Bringing a Rural Utah Classroom to the Universe Celebrated High School Science Teacher Debbie Morgan fosters integral connections Alum Deborah Stringham Morgan (’02 Geology) entered USU as a theatre arts major, but changed her major a number of times. “I’d have a class with an interesting professor and think, ‘That’s what I want to do,” says Morgan, a science teacher at Monroe, Utah’s South Sevier High School and a veteran educator of 16 years. It was a while before she found her way to USU’s Department of Geology, but she admits “theatre arts” is not so far from the expertise she draws on daily to teach 9th through 12th graders chemistry, physics, earth science and investigation science AND serve as advisor to the school’s STEM Club and school district technology coach. “Sometimes you have to be a magician or an actor,” she laughs. “Creativity is at the heart of teaching.” A class with Joel Pederson (“He was so enthusiastic”), now Geology department head, led Morgan to her ultimate major of choice and encouragement from advisor Don Fiesinger (“He was sooooo patient and supportive”) kept her at USU. “At first, I didn’t excel in my studies,” Morgan says. “But Dr. Fiesinger stuck with me, always offering encouragement.” By the time she was an upperclassman, Morgan was earning straight A’s and the experience taught her an important lesson she carried into her teaching career. “Sometimes students don’t believe in themselves and, especially here in a rural community, many don’t have role models who’ve gone to college and succeeded academically,” she says. “Being able to inspire these kids,

open their eyes to opportunities, build their confidence – that’s why I teach.”

Bringing the Universe to the Classroom Monroe is located in rural south central Utah, with a population of about 2,250 people. Home to naturally occurring hot springs and travertine deposits, it’s roughly 180 miles south of Salt Lake City and sits on Highway 89 between Fishlake National Forest and Capitol Reef National Park. “My husband, who’s originally from West Jordan, Utah, and I moved here about ten years ago to escape city life,” Morgan says. “Monroe is still too big for us, so we settled in nearby Burrville, which has a population of around 28.” In 2017, an opportunity opened up for Morgan and her students to get involved as investigators in a realworld, scientific network. She jumped at the chance to enter the national “Bringing the Universe to America’s Classrooms” initiative coordinated by WGBH, Boston’s public television station, to serve as a teacher advisor for the Public Broadcasting System’s NASA-funded program. To her surprise and delight, Morgan was among just 50 educators selected from a nationwide field of more than 650 applicants. “This has been a fantastic opportunity for myself, but especially for my students,” she says. “Together, we’ve been studying authentic weather and climate data collected by NASA satellites that track the flow of energy into and out of Earth’s systems using models of global SPRING 2018 I DISCOVERY MAGAZINE

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air and water circulation.” In addition, Morgan and her students are reviewing the weather and climate modules created for the PBS Learning System and providing feedback on how to improve these learning tools for high school students around the world. “What’s cool is we’ve seen PBS actually make our suggested changes to the program’s website,” she says. “It’s very empowering for my students, who feel like real scientists. They’re excited to contribute to a project that can make a big difference in how people learn about science.”

Bringing Morgan’s Rural Utah Classroom to the Universe Morgan’s students’ participation in the WBGH project reinforces something she’s already learned: Her students have a great deal to contribute to the scientific community and to the world. They just need opportunities to reach beyond barriers of distance and access. Technology and a worldwide Web provide a conduit but, fortunately for these students, they also have an enthusiastic teacher, who doesn’t hesitate to reach out for opportunities. In addition to her teaching duties, Morgan leads an after-school STEM club, open to students in all grades that connects the young scholars with far-reaching national and international projects. “We’re not a STEM Club that just sits back and watches what the rest of the world is doing,” she says. “Our students have so much to offer. They’re getting involved in projects that connect them with scientists and engineers around the nation and the world.” And even, she adds, to outer space. “Several of our students are participating in NASA’s ‘Exploration of the Moon and Asteroids by Secondary Students (ExMASS)’ program, where they investigating the moon’s habitability and sustainable resources and figuring out what they’d need to take with them on a lunar visit,” Morgan says. “They’re mentored by a NASA scientist, with whom they meet regularly, via Skype.” Two other students have been selected to participate with Morgan in the NASA/IPAC Teacher Archive Research Program and will train at CalTech this summer, while other student are participating in national and

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international STEM competitions, she says. “These kids come up with incredible ideas and we encourage them to get involved in projects, where they can pursue these ideas and participate in meaningful research,” Morgan says.

Teaching: To Go or Not to Go? Just like anyone who enters the educational profession, the demands and challenges of teaching wear on Morgan. She shares her “ponderings,” as she calls them in her online blog, Let’s Get Technical, www. bit.do/letsgettechnical. “Some of my students were reading the various diplomas, plaques and certificates I display near my desk and one asked, ‘Why do you teach? You could go do real science, make a lot of money and not have to deal with us kids,” she says. “Without hesitation, I responded, ‘I teach because of you!” Not that Morgan hasn’t had second thoughts. Twice, she admits, she’s “tried” to leave the teaching profession. “I taught for five years at a large, suburban junior high and felt a little burnt out,” she recounts. “I was teaching 180 ninth graders, seven class periods a day, coaching track, advising a community service club, serving on a community council, had recently completed a master’s degree in geosciences with an emphasis on educational applications from Mississippi State University and a summer internship program with the GeoCorps America Program and feeling quite underappreciated.” She and her husband wanted to move to a more rural community and, as it was mid-year with no teaching positions available, Morgan decided to accept a position as an environmental health scientist. “I lasted a month,” she says. “I still cringe thinking of how awful I felt going into my new supervisor’s office to explain why I was resigning. But as I left his office, I felt a huge load had been lifted from my shoulders.” It turns out her rural community had a sudden need for a middle school science teacher and Morgan was soon back in the classroom. Fast forward seven years and another opportunity opened up at a regional educational services office for a technology coach. “I wanted to stay in the classroom but, once again, I was tired and no longer felt the passion for teaching

USU Geology alum Debbie Morgan surrounded by her students at Utah’s South Sevier High School. Chase Christensen

I once had,” she says. “Still it was a very hard decision for me. With encouragement from my superintendent, I took the plunge. Morgan says she lasted a year. “Teachers are difficult to teach,” she explains. “Administrators are even more difficult to teach. Kind of ironic, isn’t it?” Giving a Voice to Utah’s Students and Teachers Morgan found her way back to the classroom and to her current position, where she says she loves “interacting with students and watching them grow.” “I’m still learning every single day what it means to be a great teacher and I still have a long way to go,”

she says. “But I’m optimistic and encouraged about the future of my profession.” Part of that optimism stems from a new role Morgan took on in the past year. She’s among the first cohort of educators selected as Utah Teacher Fellows, a program sponsored by the Hope Street Group and the National Network of State Teachers of the Year. The fellowship, supported by Gov. Gary Herbert, is designed to connect teachers with local and state policymakers to promote positive change in education. “There’s so much controversy in public education and sometimes, as teachers, it feels as though we have no voice,” Morgan says. “This program gives us training and a platform to communicate with policymakers.” SPRING 2018 I DISCOVERY MAGAZINE

She’s thrilled with the opportunity which, she says, “enables me to stay in the classroom, stay with my students, stay a teacher, but to also have a voice and be an advocate for my students and colleagues.” The response from state administrators, legislators and the Governor’s office, Morgan says, “has been immensely positive.” The teacher fellows have made two trips, so far, to Utah’s Capitol Hill and have had the opportunity to speak with many decision makers about what’s happening, on the ground, in Utah’s schools. “The legislators, everyone, has been so welcoming,” Morgan says. “This is the link we’ve been missing.” Utahns need to know, she says, “the challenges educators face and the incredible things teachers in our state are doing.”

“As Utah Teacher Fellows, we strive to help policymakers see the reality of their choices,” Morgan says. “Cutting funding to programs that foster teacher mentoring and professional development initiatives could have devastating effects on public education.”

Professional Recognition at Regional, State, National Levels This past fall, Morgan was recognized as one of four state finalists (one of two for the secondary science award) for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, the highest teaching honor for K-12 STEM teachers bestowed by the United States government. “I was so honored and humbled,” Morgan says. “This is such an exciting time to be a teacher.”

USU Geology alum Debbie Morgan’s students at South Sevier High School in Monroe, Utah. Debbie Morgan

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This photo and below: USU Geology alum Debbie Morgan’s students at South Sevier High School in Monroe, Utah. Debbie Morgan

As a state finalist, Morgan is now under consideration for a national award, which would include a signed certificate from the President of the United States, a trip to Washington, D.C. to attend a series of recognition events and professional development opportunities, as well as a monetary award from the National Science Foundation. National finalists will be announced in Fall 2018. In addition to teaching accolades, Morgan is garnering praise from her scientific peers, as well. She was recently named the 2018 Teacher of the Year (K-12) by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. Along with a monetary award for her school and for herself, she will attend the national AAPG conference, and speak at an awards ceremony, this May in Salt Lake City. “I’m astounded – this is like the academy

awards for geologists,” she says. “I have the most amazing students, colleagues and parents and they’re all part of this honor.” n

-MARY-ANN MUFFOLETTO

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Coming to Life “Topping Off”: New Life Sciences Building Hits Important Milestone Aggies love tradition, so it’s only fitting Aggie Scientists gathered this past winter to observe an ancient tradition, while celebrating a major milestone in the construction of the new Life Sciences Building. College of Science students, faculty, staff and supporters, along with VCBO Architecture and Jacobsen Construction employees, gathered Dec. 12, 2017, to mark the placement of the final steel beam atop the 103,000-square-foot facility. “This a truly a wonderful occasion, as we celebrate excellent progress on our new building and recognize the efforts of so many,” said Science Dean Maura Hagan. “We’re very grateful for everyone who’s involved in this project.” Topping off or “topping out” ceremonies, as they’re also known, are firmly rooted in pre-Dark Age Scandinavian cultures, although similar traditions are found throughout the world. David Power, past president of the U.S. Green

Employees of Jacobsen Construction company place the final steel beam, adorned with an 'Aggie Blue' evergreen tree and U.S. flag, at the top of USU’s new Life Sciences Building in a ‘topping off’ ceremony Dec. 12, 2017.

Building Council and long-time construction manager, wrote in a 2013 article that the tradition reflects the camaraderie of community members pitching in to build one another’s homes or barns. An evergreen tree is placed at the highest point of the structure for good luck, he says. The beam in the USU Life Sciences Building ceremony sported a sparkly, ‘Aggie Blue’ tree and proudly carried a U.S. Flag to its destination. Attendees applauded as the Stars and Stripes rose toward the sky. The university broke ground on the new facility, which is situated on the site of the former Peterson Agriculture Building, on April 25, 2017. The four-level structure, slated for completion in Fall 2018, will house teaching labs, lecture halls, collaborative study space and a café. Learn more about the building “Coming to Life” campaign and follow the College of Science Ambassador Jesse Steadman, Science Council member and building’s construction progress at biology major, joins other ceremony attendees in signing the new Life Sciences comingtolife.usu.edu . n Building's final steel beam before it’s hoisted to its permanent position atop the structure.

-MARY-ANN MUFFOLETTO

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Life Sciences Building Progresses

The ‘Work’ of Art

Creative Efforts Progress in Tandem with Construction What’s your favorite work of art on the USU campus? Is it James Russell’s celebratory Sojourn near Old Main? Or could it be Joseph Kinnebrew’s whimsical SNAFU (better known as “The French Fries”)? Perhaps your sentimental heart has a soft spot for the beloved Block A on the Quad. Whatever the choice, you likely have memories of a work you found challenging, inspiring or comforting. The Aggie tradition continues with two exciting works commissioned for the new Life Sciences Building.

classically trained at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. “I classify nature’s ever-changing essence as a fourth-dimensional notion, rather than a static, twodimensional interaction found in drawing and painting,” says the Pennsylvania native. “Expressing the fact that nature, both on a molecular and monumental scale, is in a perpetual state of change became the basis for all of my work.”

“A Total Paradigm Shift in Perception”

Artist Mark Pomilio says he’s been preparing himself to create his project, tentatively titled Symbols and Symmetries, “my entire life.” Fascinated with the complexity of nature since childhood, Pomilio, as a fledgling artist, initially sought to capture landscapes in oil paintings, often using photographs as guides. “At a certain point, I realized the photograph actually hindered me,” says the associate professor in the Artist Mark Pomilio with Carbon Blue, a work he created for the University of Michigan. He envisions a similar approach for the work he’s creating for USU’s Life Sciences Building. School of Art at Arizona State Courtesy Mark Pomilio University’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts. “When we Inspired by carbon nanotube research and other see a landscape, a tree or a human body, we don’t see endeavors in nanotechnology he witnessed at the individual seeds or cells. We see the culmination of a University of Michigan, Pomilo created the large-scale dynamic process that’s continuing to evolve. It’s a total commission Carbon Blue for the institution’s Center of paradigm shift in perception.” Excellence in Nano Mechanical Science and Engineering It was a life-changing revelation for Pomilio, SPRING 2018 I DISCOVERY MAGAZINE

in 2015. He envisions a unique work for USU that incorporates the multi-planed structure of Carbon Blue. “There’s an inherent aspect of uncertainty in the outcome of my work,” Pomilio says. “Just as an organism begins with a single cell or a grain of sand begins its journey from mountain to shore, my commission for USU, Atlanta-based artist Amy Landesberg, second from left, with steel construction specialist Jason Oliver of advancing from a Newnan, Georgia, far left, discusses installation of her work ‘Surface Tension’ in USU’s Life Sciences Building smaller model, will (background) with Jacobsen Construction employees, from left, Kevin Hepner, project superintendent; Jim Cavey, project executive and Burke Peterson, project engineer, during a March 2018 building site visit. grow and create a M.Muffoletto complex, but unified, form.” Expect influence from Utah’s unique geological landscapes, he says. “Since moving to the western United States in 2006, Surface Tension I attempt to travel to Utah’s canyons two or three times Water is life: a visceral sentiment shared by a year, as I find these landscapes some of the most residents of the arid West, who anxiously scan the beautiful I’ve ever experienced,” Pomilio says. skies and mountaintops year-round for signs of, in the “Utah has become my muse.” folksy Utah vernacular, “moisture.” Imagining the natural intersection of interests and pursuits for USU’s life scientists, Atlanta-based artist Amy Landesberg quickly hit upon the concept of water. “But I didn’t want to create merely a representation of water,” she says. “I sought interaction. Something people can experience.” Short of an actual water feature, how does one manifest water? Landesberg envisions glass. And her pursuit of how to bring water to life through glass has led her to varied glassmaking studios in the eastern U.S., ultimately finding century-old expertise equal to her task at West Virginia’s renowned Blenko Glass. Landesberg is creating Surface Rendering of Artist Amy Landesberg’s installation of her work, Surface Tension, in the Life Sciences Building. Tension, a multi-story wall of Courtesy Amy Landesberg

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Artist Amy Landesberg experimented with several glassmaking techniques before finding the right method for her work, Surface Tension, which will be installed in the new Life Sciences Building. Courtesy Amy Landesberg

perpetually beading droplets that will grace the Life Sciences Building atrium. Capturing just the right “strong in the shoulder,” as she describes the quivering shape of each raindrop, teardrop, bead of sweat -- required major study of the fine art, and complicated technology, of glass casting. “So, basically, to make glass, you need to blow, gather and drop, or ladle,” says Landesberg, revealing a newly acquired vocabulary of an ancient art. She ruled out blowing, which didn’t yield the desired effect, and determined “gathering and dropping” the molten glass into graphite molds would produce the unique shapes she’d craft into a shimmering surface.

“To my surprise, the molds leave ‘chill marks’ that create a stippled surface – a ‘skin’ that looks like the undulating surface of a body of water,” Landesberg says. Her work includes an added surprise. A number of the droplets, close to viewers’ eye levels, will hold images – insects, molecular diagrams, graphs and the like – unique to USU’s research. The colors of the droplets, Landesberg says, will reflect turquoise, blue and deep green – “the colors we tend to hold for water in our imagination.” “The droplets will capture the colors of the light-filled space,” she says. “I hope they’ll capture the imagination and the passion of the Aggie scholars, who’ll begin their academic and career journeys within those walls.” n

-MARY-ANN MUFFOLETTO

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Do Androids Dream of Electric Art?

Physics Professor David Peak asks why people create art At the College of Science’s Science Unwrapped public outreach event in March 2018, featured speaker David Peak presented the talk, “Do Androids Dream of Electric Art?” Many of you sci-fi fans will immediately recognize Peak’s inspiration was Philip K. Dick’s 1968 novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which subsequently served as the basis for the 1982 film, Blade Runner. The novel, the movie and Peak’s train of thought explore a provocative idea: Will artificial intelligence ever become “human”? (Hold that thought.) A lover of art, Peak is particularly intrigued by the question, “Do you have to be human to create art?” He and wife Terry Peak, professor of social work at USU, are longtime supporters of the arts (and sciences) at Utah State. Among their donations to USU’s Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art is AARON, a computer program crafted by British artist Harold Cohen (19282016), that creates original artistic images. (The College of Science Dean’s Office is very lucky to have AARON on loan in its office, while NEHMA is undergoing renovations.) AARON isn’t an acronym -- at least Cohen never explained the moniker as such -- though Peak suspects

Peak Receives National Undergrad Research Mentorship Honor David Peak is the 2018 recipient of the Council on Undergraduate Research-Goldwater Scholars Faculty Mentorship Award. He will be formally recognized at the organization’s biennial conference this July in Arlington, Virginia. Peak is only the fifth recipient of the award and the first Utahn to receive the honor. Selected from 10 finalists nationwide, he has mentored, to date, more than 30 USU undergrads, who have received 36 Goldwater Scholarships and Honorable Mentions, in addition to other prestigious national awards. n

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the first two letters stand for “artificial artist.” Cohen’s initial version of AARON was a large drawing machine, of which Peak displayed a photo at his Science Unwrapped talk. (A bright, young girl sitting behind me in the audience exclaimed, “THAT doesn’t look like a robot!”) Indeed, the early AARON was an example of what Peak calls “Little a.i.,” that is, machines that “solve problems really fast.” (Like my laptop, dishwasher and washing machine -- none of which resemble Rutger Hauer in Blade Runner, Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator or Alicia Vikander in Ex Machina. ) In contrast, “Big A.I.,” like USU’s AARON, “thinks like a human.” AARON the Younger, displayed on a large video monitor, chooses colors and draws random shapes that resemble seascapes, birds and arid landscapes. AARON’s meandering sketches are playful, mesmerizing. It’s almost as though AARON is musing, contemplating, thinking like a human. (Hmmm) Which brings Peak to another question, “Why do humans create art?” “The oldest known human-created art is ‘Art Object,’ discovered in Auditorium Cave of the Rock Shelters of Bhimbetaka in central India,” Peak says. “It’s around 700,000 years old, which suggests it could have been created by a pre-Homo sapiens humanoid.” Wow. But why was it created? Why does anyone pick up a musical instrument or a paintbrush? To express feelings? To solve a problem? Good questions, Peak says. But one thing he knows for sure: Those activities will make you think. They’ll make you smarter. So, what’s one of the best gifts you can give a young person, he asks? Enable them to pursue art. Provide them with music lessons. Give them crayons! As for the question,“Will artificial intelligence ever become human?” “I really don’t know,” Peak says. “Maybe one day if an A.I. being actually purchases a work of art, we’ll realize it’s ‘human.’” n

-MARY-ANN MUFFOLETTO

Professors David and Terry Peak with the perpetually creating AARON.

SPRING 2018 I DISCOVERY MAGAZINE M.Muffoletto

In Loving Memory of Peter Maring Ellis (1943-2017) On December 29, 2017, longtime USU supporter and former faculty member Peter Ellis, along with friend and pilot Denny Mansell, perished in a small-plane crash near Utah’s Promontory Point.

at the dining room table with the telephone cord pulled taut, as she talked to parents and told them how their child could perform better.” Peter then addressed convocation guests: “I The news left our have told you of my College of Science family reasons for desiring to shaken, as we grieved for support the activities Peter and his family. in the College of Science Months before, our staff at USU. I invite you to look had enthusiastically and at yourselves. Ask what unanimously chosen to it is that brings about you Peter Ellis, center, with his family, from left, daughter Karen Teuscher, honor Peter as keynote gratitude. You scholarship wife Ann Ellis and daughters Sandra Fernandez and Nancy Guthrie at the College of Science’s Fall Convocation in October 2017. speaker at our October winners are going to go M.Muffoletto 2017 Fall Convocation, forth and accomplish where the college recognizes great things in your future and celebrates student scholarship recipients and their lives. You parents, family donors. and friends have had many successes in your lives, and Peter graciously accepted our invitation and, you have accumulated significant resources. I would like accompanied by his wife, Ann, and three daughters, you to ask yourselves what you can do to demonstrate Karen, Nancy and Sandra, delivered a heartfelt and your appreciation for the great things that have already memorable talk. Little did we know, it would be our final happened here in the College of Science. Go, Aggies!” opportunity to enjoy a visit with Peter here on campus. Before Peter’s sudden passing, he expressed his dream In his talk, Peter shared the story of meeting his first of getting Sharon’s scholarship endowment to $200,000. wife, Sharon Lee Gardner, who passed away in 1995. He hoped the funding could pay for a student’s full tuition As one of her last wishes, Peter, who served on USU’s and fees for an entire year. If you’d like to honor Peter and Business faculty from 1976 to 2010, established USU’s Sharon, consider a contribution to the newly renamed Sharon Lee Gardner Ellis Memorial Scholarship, aimed at Peter Maring Ellis and Sharon Gardner Ellis Memorial providing support to students majoring in mathematics Scholarship at www.usu.edu/peterellis . education. It was a privilege getting to know Peter and working Sharon, he explained, was among “the best and with him to reach his philanthropic aims. His generous brightest,” and started her undergrad career at her and consistent giving over the years has significantly parents’ alma mater, Utah State. Due to lack of money, impacted many Aggies studying mathematics education. she had to drop out after a year, but managed to finish This endowment serves as a lasting and loving tribute to her education at Portland State University, in her native Peter and his family. Oregon. A dedicated teacher, Sharon spent most of her career teaching mathematics at Cache Valley’s Mount Logan Middle School. “She never allowed the students to perform under PATRICK SVEDIN their capacity,” he said. “I can still remember her sitting Director of Development, USU College of Science

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Keep in Touch Thank you for reading this issue of Discovery magazine. We invite you to enjoy future issues and to keep in touch with us through the following media: Via the Web Visit our website at www.usu.edu/science On Social Media Visit our Facebook page, “USU College of Science” On Utah Public Radio Hear about our research during “Science by the Slice” mini-casts Contact us by email at: science@usu.edu

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