“Nationwide, we are experiencing an increased need for students who have completed higher education degrees in science and math,” says Nalini Nadkarni, director of the University of Utah’s Center for Science and Math Education. “Our center is working to enhance education efforts to meet that goal.”

The center at the University of Utah has taken the lead in addressing this issue. “By bringing multiple centers together for a national conference, we will enable the different centers to learn from one another, establish partnerships and lay the groundwork for future collaboration. Together, we can build powerful programs for enhancing math and science education across the nation.”

News media are invited to cover the conference. Three sessions are open to the public, particularly Utah educators:

• 7-9 p.m. Sunday, May 20, University Guest House – Brief presentations from Centers for Science and Math Education from around the nation.

• 1:15-2:45 p.m. Monday, May 21, University Guest House – Panel discussion, “Exploration of Existing Science, Technology, Engineering, Math Education Efforts and Challenges.”

• 7:30-9 p.m. Monday, May 21, room 2110 Health Science Education Building – Panel discussion, “Orchestrating Collaborative and Transformative Science Education.”

Panelists Monday night will include Michael Hardman, the University of Utah’s interim senior vice president for academic affairs; Brenda Hales, Utah’s associate superintendent for instructional services; Pierre Sokolsky, dean of the university’s College of Science; Sarah Young, a teacher and National Science Foundation Einstein fellow; and Tami Goetz, Utah’s state science advisor.

So far, 13 science and math education centers plan to send representatives to the conference.

Nadkarni says the Herculean task of educating the next generation in science and math involves a massive financial investment of tax dollars, a huge cast of K-12 teachers and administrators, and far-thinking input from higher education to train teachers.

The Centers for Science and Math Education established around the country provide the academic backbone for these efforts: teacher training, development of curriculum and research on how to evaluate what students have learned. The University of Utah’s center was created in 2009, bringing the College of Science and the College of Education together to enhance math and science education at the university and in the community.

For a full schedule of the conference, see:
http://www.csme.utah.edu/documents/conference/CSME_conference_schedule_full.docx

For more information on the University of Utah Center for Science and Math Education, see: http://www.csme.utah.edu

Using measurements from only three carbon-dioxide (CO2) monitoring stations in the Salt Lake Valley, the method could reliably detect changes in CO2 emissions of 15 percent or more, the researchers report in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences for the week of May 14, 2012.

The method is a proof-of-concept first step even though it is less precise than the 5 percent accuracy recommended by a National Academy of Sciences panel in 2010. The study’s authors say satellite monitoring of carbon dioxide levels ultimately may be more accurate than the ground-based method developed in the new study.

“The primary motivation for the study was to take high-quality data of atmospheric CO2 in an urban region and ask if you could predict the emissions patterns based on CO2 concentrations in the air,” says study coauthor Jim Ehleringer, a distinguished professor of biology at the University of Utah.

“The ultimate use is to verify CO2 emissions in the event that the world’s nations agree to a treaty to limit such emissions,” he says. “The idea is can you combine concentration information – CO2 in the air near the ground – and weather patterns, which is wind blowing, and mathematically determine emissions based on that information.”

Ehleringer did the study with four Massachusetts atmospheric scientists: Kathryn McKain and Steven Wofsy of Harvard University, and Thomas Nehrkorn and Janusz Eluszkiewicz of Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc.

While the method can detect changes of 15 percent or more in CO2 levels, determining absolute levels is tricky and depends on certain assumptions, but it can be done, Ehleringer says.

“The model [new method] predicts more CO2 emissions than we see,” based on a federal government survey that previously estimated carbon dioxide emissions based on interviews with gas- and coal-burning utilities and sellers of fuel and natural gas, he says. “That shouldn’t surprise you. People are underreporting.”

Estimating CO2 Emissions

Ehleringer began monitoring carbon dioxide levels in the Salt Lake Valley in 2002 as part of a National Science Foundation-funded study of the urban airshed. The monitoring network measures CO2 from six sites across the Salt Lake Valley and a seventh well above the valley at Snowbird.

“It is the most extensive publicly available and online data set of CO2 concentrations in an urban area in the world,” he says (co2.utah.edu).

The new study created a computer simulation of CO2 emissions in the Salt Lake Valley using three sources of information:

– CO2 measurements from three sites – the University of Utah, downtown Salt Lake City and Murray, Utah, about halfway south down the valley’s length.

– Data from weather stations in the valley, crunched through weather forecasting software used to predict wind and air circulation.

– Satellite data showing what parts of the valley are covered by homes, other buildings, trees, agriculture and so on.

The emissions estimates from the simulation were compared with the results of the government survey that estimates CO2 emissions.

“You come up with estimates for emissions that are within 15 percent or better of the actual emissions for the region,” Ehleringer says.

Even though that is not as precise as desired by the National Academy of Sciences, “it is a very powerful first step,” he adds. “However we would like to be within 5 percent for treaty verification purposes.”

Because urban regions are major sources of CO2, “a large fraction of a country’s emissions likely emanate from such regions, and results from several representative cities over time could provide strong tests of claimed emission reductions at national or regional scales,” the researchers write.

The simulation showed how ground-level CO2 concentrations increased overnight when air was calm, and then decreased in the morning as sunlight mixed the air and plants consumed CO2 due to photosynthesis. Sometimes the simulation failed to catch the exact time this mixing occurred.

That is part of the reason the researchers argue satellite measurements through a mile-thick vertical column of air may better estimate CO2 concentrations and thus emissions by being less sensitive to ground-level variations close and far from emissions sources like smokestacks or intersections with idling vehicles.

Several satellites around the world now make limited CO2 measurements. But the researchers write that “no presently planned satellite has the necessary orbit or targeting capability” for the desired urban CO2 measurements.

Several previous studies looked at CO2 levels in various cities, but none at the full urban scale or with accuracy near what is required for treaty verification, the researchers say. The only study that accurately measured an urban area’s CO2 emissions over time – in Heidelberg, Germany – did so with a method too expensive for routine use.

Ehleringer’s part of the research was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. The study says his coauthors were funded by NASA, the National Science Foundation and – without specifics – “by the U.S. intelligence community,” which would be involved in treaty verification.

“Our new facility will transform the way in which architecture supports innovation and impact both within and through legal education,” said Dean Hiram Chodosh.  After extensive architectural planning , consultation with community leaders and the college board of trustees, as well as extensive input from students, alumni, faculty, and university officials, the plan envisions what the Dean anticipates as “the most innovative law school facility in the country—one that will embody the College of Law’s commitment to collaborative research, student-centric learning, innovative programming, and direct public service all in a single, multifaceted facility.”

The College’s current building, which comprises approximately 98,000 gross square feet, has housed the College of Law since 1963, and is no longer adequate to meet programmatic and student needs, according to Chodosh. “Even as we have continued to make tremendous advances in our programs by admitting highly qualified candidates, providing extraordinary support for students, hiring world-class faculty, contributing record levels of student service learning, and turning in superior performances in national competitions, our physical facility has lagged far behind.  All of our recent internal and external observations, including a recent evaluation by the American Bar Association, praise the excellence of the College’s programming, but note that we are severely constrained by the current building’s lack of useful classroom and student space, poor energy efficiency, and other functional inadequacies,” he said.

Although architectural plans have yet to be finalized, Chodosh revealed that the building’s current plans call for the inclusion of a 450-seat conference center that will allow the College of Law to host mid-sized conferences and lectures, and attract outside events to the U campus, which currently lacks a similar-sized venue.  “We’re dedicated to bringing the actual costs of the building down by virtue of energy efficiency, the use of smart materials to reduce the costs of repair and replacement over time, and to bring funds in through research grants and other sources,” Chodosh explained.

Chodosh said the College has already embarked on a capital campaign with the goal of raising the projected $60.5 million total cost of the new facility. He described the LDS Church’s pledge of $4 million to the building campaign as  “exceptionally generous and meaningful.”

“The donation from the LDS Church will support the College’s efforts to construct a building that will produce incalculable reputational benefits and substantial economic value for the state and community,” Chodosh said.  “The LDS Church and the College of Law recognize our shared interest in increasing education’s global impact in a number of critical areas, including the development of democracy and the rule of law globally, new developments in health science, adaptations to emerging economic challenges, and stewardship of the environment. This gift will be invaluable in supporting our core commitments to student engagement and success, innovative teaching methodologies, and conducting research to address critical issues in society.”

“We are pleased to make this contribution to the building of a new law school at the University of Utah,” said Presiding Bishop Gary E. Stevenson. “The Church’s involvement with the university goes back to its founding. The new, state-of-the-art law school building and those who will graduate from there will benefit the university and the community.”

Having received Operation and Maintenance (O&M) authorization and bonding authority in the 2012 legislative session, the College now enters its final architectural design phase, according to Chodosh. Groundbreaking is planned for the summer of 2013.

The law school community is already eagerly anticipating that date. “When we first embarked on this process, my staff gave me a long-handled shovel,” Chodosh explained. “The shovel is patiently leaning against my wall, eagerly awaiting the day it can finally be put to good use.”

The new College of Law building is currently scheduled to open during the 2014-2015 academic year.

May 9, 2012—The Department of Parks, Recreation, & Tourism at the University of Utah will examine the links between healthy people and a healthy environment in a symposium designed to improve thinking, research and practical applications related to these topics.

For more information about the symposium, visit: http://www.health.utah.edu/prt/justice.html

According to the group, the American Indian population suffers “significantly lower health status and disproportionate rates of disease” compared with the general population of the United States. Throughout their projects, students peeled back the layers of a complex healthcare system looking for practical ways to implement improvements.

The result of this intensive year-long course includes several student-created, functional healthcare prototypes intended to incite change in the local system. Projects include ideas to advance university partnerships, provide service and establish preventive health practices.

Students explored many issues, including differential delivery of healthcare services, service access and availability and other social, cultural and financial barriers. The students closely examined underlying issues associated with a breakdown in patient care and then met with local and regional health care experts, members of the American Indian population and community mentors to identify specific problem areas and outline solutions. Course participants focused on designing sustainable models that will reduce or eliminate these barriers, making quality patient care accessible for Utah’s American Indian population.

“This course and the associated student projects address a ‘quiet crisis’ on Utah’s American Indian reservations and the extremely complicated system that this vulnerable group of citizens has to navigate just to get health care,” says Melissa Zito, Indian health liaison and health policy consultant. “American Indians lead the state in most of the health indicators showing the current disparities in health care. The U Honors Think Tank made it a priority to take an in-depth look at the issues from a systems and community perspective to improve the patient experience.”

This intensive learning experience encouraged students to use “design thinking”—an  innovative approach taught by James Agutter, research assistant professor and director of design at the U’s College of Architecture + Planning. This method of learning requires students to reach beyond their normal means of study and to incorporate purposeful observation of key issues and build a solution using creative cross-disciplinary methods.

“The goal was to get students out of the classroom and into the community that surrounds them,” says Agutter.  “We wanted them to be challenged to participate fully in the development of new ideas that address the ‘quiet crisis’ and bring it to the forefront of many people’s minds.”

The university has deep respect for all veterans and encourages nominations from every conflict, including present-day. Honorees are selected after a thorough examination of their military service. The nominee must currently live in Utah and be able and willing to talk about his or her experiences in the armed forces. While all nominations will be considered, regardless of the time period and conditions under which the veteran served, special attention will be given to those who have been in harm’s way.

Nominations will be reviewed by members of the University’s Veterans Day Committee, which is comprised of veterans, military experts, university faculty and staff, and members of the public. The 11 veterans who are selected to be honored at the university will receive a commemorative medallion onstage at the main ceremony. The deadline to submit nominations is June 1, 2012. A nomination form with detailed supporting materials should be mailed to the office of public relations at 201 S. Presidents Circle, Room 308, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112.  Forms are available at the public relations office, online at www.veteransday.utah.edu or by sending an e-mail request to kate.ferebee@gmail.com. Information about past honorees and photos of previous years’ ceremonies can be found at www.veteransday.utah.edu

Please click here for the 2012 nomination form.

“Bias against top-level female executives seems entrenched despite strides women generally have made in filling management positions within firms making their initial public offerings (IPO’s),” says Lyda Bigelow, an assistant professor at the university’s David Eccles School of Business.

In a paper entitled, “Skirting the Issues: Evidence of Gender Bias in IPO Prospectus Evaluations,” Bigelow (along with co-authors Robert Wuebker, a post-doctoral fellow at the David Eccles School ; Leif Lundmark, a doctoral candidate at the David Eccles School; and Judi McLean Parks, a professor of Organizational Behavior at Washington University’s Olin Business School) concluded that the “lack of female-led IPOs suggests a potentially larger problem – a gender-based capital gap for new ventures.”

In 2009, for example, not one of 19 high-tech IPOs the researchers studied was led by female CEOs, though all but two of those firms had one or more lower-ranking female executives. That apparent reluctance to invest in IPOs spearheaded by women exists even though nearly half of all privately held businesses in the United States today are owned, or led by women. Statistics also indicate that between 1997 and 2007, women holding corporate officer positions grew from 10 percent to 55 percent.

However, in their research, Bigelow and her colleagues found that, “Despite identical personal qualifications and firm financials, female founders/CEOs were perceived as less capable than their male counterparts, and IPOs led by female founders/CEOs were considered less attractive investments.”

The study enlisted 222 second-year MBA candidates (45 of them females) – a sampling the researchers say were not far removed in their experience levels of the junior staffers usually assigned to assess real IPOs for investors. Further, the IPO considered by the students, a fictitious cosmetic surgery firm, was modeled using financial data from a real company’s successful entry into the stock market.

Keeping the IPO’s financial and industry information identical, the researchers only varied the gender distribution of the bogus company’s top management team: first names were changed (from Matthew to Martha Evans, for example), along with executive photos, in “IPO pitch” materials the students reviewed.

“Like the glass ceiling of corporate America that has limited the advancement of female managers, female entrepreneurs face a ‘green ceiling’ when it comes to financing,” the researchers wrote. “Taken as a whole, our results suggest that gender stereotypes are alive and well and, moreover, that such stereotypes impact investment decisions. . . .”

The paper, which has been accepted for publication in a future edition of the Journal of Management, can be downloaded and read in its entirety by visiting http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1556449.

About the David Eccles School of Business

Founded in 1917 in Salt Lake City, the David Eccles School of Business has programs in entrepreneurship, technology innovation and venture capital management. Emphasizing interdisciplinary education and experiential learning, it launched the country’s largest student-run venture capital fund with $18.3 million, and is home to the Pierre Lassonde Entrepreneur Center and the Sorenson Center for Discovery and Innovation. Approximately 3,500 students are enrolled in its undergraduate, graduate and executive degree programs as well as joint MBA programs in architecture, law and health administration. For more information, visit www.business.utah.edu.

According to Stan Inman, director of U Career Services, employers are particularly focused on hiring new graduates, as they implement a long-term strategy for growth. Hiring new graduates represents the best value in talent acquisition for employers, who are now more confident in the in the economic recovery,

Inman cites a regional report by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) that says employers expect to increase hiring by 9.5 percent over the class of 2011.  Hiring increases are also expected across all industries, and the median starting salary for bachelor’s degree students is up 4.5 percent from those posted in 2011. NACE salary data is based on actual starting salaries, not offers, and because the data comes from employers rather than voluntary reports by students, the report is very encouraging.

“In Utah, we are very fortunate to have a more robust job outlook than that of the nation or the western United States,” says Inman. He notes that many companies are finding Utah a great place to locate or expand. The demand for new graduates from the higher education institutions has steadily been increasing and has reached a level not seen for several years. Currently, the University of Utah Career Services Office has over 500 active jobs posted for new graduates and alumni.

“The resurgence in our economy is very welcome,” Inman says. “Majors across the board are getting attention, and it is worth noting that this survey shows that employers seek the best talent, regardless the student’s major.” The data shows that 35 percent of employers seek students with all types of degrees. “Time and again, I am reminded that employers look for individuals who can solve problems and manage priorities,” Inman continues. “Those skills are essential to the undergraduate experience in any major course of study at the U.”

Students with internship experience continue to be in high demand. Most of the employers with formalized internship programs want to convert students into professional positions, and about 60 percent follow through.

Data from the NACE Winter Salary Survey shows that all majors are important to most employers. Companies are recruiting heavily in information technology, computer science and business. The four most popularly targeted majors in the survey were accounting, marketing, finance and computer science—all very popular majors at the U. From 2006 to 2011, accounting and finance held 25 and 32 percent of the bachelor’s degrees awarded respectively at the U’s David Eccles School of Business. Marketing was responsible for 13 percent of the business degrees, and undergrads who were awarded a computer science degree made up 16 percent of the College of Engineering majors.

The NACE Spring Update shows that projected hires in 2012 are up in all regions compared to 2011, with employers in the west reporting the biggest increase at 32.8 percent. More good news is on the horizon as employers’ confidence continues into the fall. A third of employers expect to hire more students in 2012, up from 29 percent in both 2011 and 2010. Fewer employers report they are unsure about future hiring plans, just 18 percent for 2012, down appreciably compared to 24 and 32 percent in 2011 and 2010, respectively.

While many companies have already taken down their “help wanted” signs and snapped up this year’s fresh crop of college grads, there is still some time for those U graduates who haven’t yet stepped onto their career path. But, a word to the wise—get your resume in order and start prepping for your interview. The employers surveyed said that compared to those seeking jobs five years ago, the current graduating population has much more competitive and better prepared resumes, but their interviewing preparations leave a little to be desired. Having both might just seal the deal, Inman notes.

U graduates and alumni who seek career advice are encouraged to call University Career Services at 801-581-6186, or visit http://careers.utah.edu.

“We want to help the Army make advances in fundamental research that will lead to better materials to help our soldiers in the field,” says computing Professor Martin Berzins, principal investigator among five University of Utah faculty members who will work on the project. “One of Utah’s main contributions will be the batteries.”

Of the five-year Army grant of $14,898,000, the University of Utah will retain $4.2 million for research plus additional administrative costs. The remainder will go to members of the consortium led by the University of Utah, including Boston University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Pennsylvania State University, Harvard University, Brown University, the University of California, Davis, and the Polytechnic University of Turin, Italy.

The participating universities will kick in another $1.5 million to bring the total research project to $16.4 million over five years. The project could be extended to 10 years with additional funding.

At Utah, the project will involve computer science faculty members Mike Kirby, an associate professor, and Berzins, both in the university’s Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute; Feng Liu, chair and professor of materials science and engineering; Dmitry Bedrov, a research associate professor of materials science and engineering; and Valeria Molinero, an assistant professor of chemistry.

Berzins says the project also will involve four postdoctoral researchers and eight graduate students at the university.

The new research effort is based on the idea that by using powerful computers to simulate the behavior of materials on multiple scales – from the atomic and molecular nanoscale to the large or “bulk” scale – new, lighter, more energy efficient power supplies and materials can be designed and developed. Improving existing materials also is a goal.

“We want to model everything from the nanoscale to the soldier scale,” Berzins says. “It’s virtual design, in some sense.”

“Today’s soldier enters the battle space with an amazing array of advanced electronic materials devices and systems,” the University of Utah said in its grant proposal. “The soldier of the future will rely even more heavily on electronic weaponry, detection devices, advanced communications systems and protection systems. Currently, a typical infantry soldier might carry up to 35 pounds of batteries in order to power these systems, and it is clear that the energy and power requirements for future soldiers will be much greater.”

“These requirements have a dramatic adverse effect on the survivability and lethality of the soldier by reducing mobility as well as the amount of weaponry, sensors, communication equipment and armor that the soldier can carry. Hence, the Army’s desire for greater lethality and survivability of its men and women in the field is fundamentally tied to the development of devices and systems with increased energy efficiency as well as dramatic improvement in the energy and power density of [battery] storage and delivery systems.”

The Utah-led consortium calls itself Alliance for Computationally-guided Design of Energy Efficient Electronic Materials. The Army says its grant to Utah is for Multiscale Multidisciplinary Modeling of Electronic Materials.

“Designing new, transformational materials for our soldiers is the aim of our Enterprise for Multiscale Research of Materials,” says John M. Miller, director of the U.S. Army Research Laboratory

He says a strong foundation for that enterprise will be provided both by the University of Utah-led project, and by a related project led by Johns Hopkins University to understand how materials behave when subjected to high-velocity impacts – work aimed at developing new, lightweight materials to protect U.S. soldiers and vehicles.

Miller says funding the research “also shows the Army’s commitment to the national Materials Genome Initiative.” President Barack Obama announced the initiative in June 2011 as a way to speed development and use of new materials.

The University of Utah’s new grant from the Army is the second large materials research grant the university was awarded this fiscal year. Last September, the university launched a $21.5 million effort to do basic research aimed at developing new materials for faster computers and communications, better solar cells and other uses. That six-year project is funded by $12 million from the National Science Foundation, $6.5 million from the Utah Science Technology and Research initiative and $3 million from the university.

The Rosenblatt Prize Committee, a group of distinguished faculty members, recommends selected candidates for the award. University of Utah President David W. Pershing made the final selection and said that “this year we found it impossible to choose one over the other. Kathleen and Michael are both extraordinarily gifted teachers, dedicated and proficient administrators, and are internationally regarded as two of the foremost researchers and leaders in their fields. The University community is enhanced by their work, and it a distinct pleasure to bestow this honor on them.”

ABOUT KATHLEEN B. DIGRE, M.D.

Digre is a world-renowned ophthalmologist and neurologist. Through her efforts, the U is one of a few institutions in the world with certified fellowship-training programs in neuro-ophthalmology, a medical sub-specialty focusing on brain problems that affect vision.

She was the first woman president of the North American Neuro-ophthalmology Society, past councilor for the American Neurological Association and currently sits on the board of directors for the American Headache Society. She is the recipient of the Utah Library Association Special Service to Libraries Award, Gender Equity Award, Linda Amos Award, the Martha Hughes Cannon Award and the NANOS Distinguished Service Award. Dr. Digre was a fellow at ELAM (Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine).

Professor Klara Landau, professor and chair of ophthalmology at the University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland, described the impact of Digre’s leadership and passion for teaching saying: “With creativity, persistence and tireless effort, she made possible the establishment of a virtual library for neuro-ophthalmology—the Neuro-Ophthalmology Virtual Education Library commonly known as NOVEL—that is now being used by literally thousands of teachers and students around the globe. Without her initiative and engagement this project would never have been accomplished.”

Bradley Katz, associate professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences at the U, notes that Digre is “the consummate clinician” with a holistic approach to patient care that includes “the patient’s other system illnesses, medications and psychological history.” Accordingly, she has been recognized by Best Doctors in America every year since 1994.

Digre received an M.D. from the University of Iowa and has been a member of the University of Utah faculty since 1987 with primary appointments in both neurology and ophthalmology, as well as adjunct appointments in obstetrics and gynecology as well as anesthesia. She is the author of over 100 peer-reviewed articles, two books and numerous invited lectures. She is also director of neuro-ophthalmology fellowship, the division of headache and neuro-ophthalmology and the Center of Excellence in Women’s Health at the U.

ABOUT MICHAEL W. VARNER, M.D.

Varner is an internationally recognized expert in maternal fetal medicine clinical research. Regionally, his efforts have facilitated NIH-funded clinical research through major hospitals and local practices along the Wasatch front for the past two decades. Globally, he established a service mission to Tibet, bringing education and improved healthcare to that region.

Also a prolific writer, he has 255 peer-reviewed manuscripts, 31 book chapters, one book, 25 short articles and letters and more than 211 abstracts and 347 invited presentations to his credit. “His work and efforts will impact the health and well-being of women and children over the next century throughout the world,” notes Patrick Duff, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Florida College of Medicine.

Kjersti Aagaard-Tillery, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Baylor College of Medicine, remarks that Dr. Varner is “one of the most steadfast and preeminent academicians in Maternal-Fetal Medicine of the past 30 years, and exemplifies each and every tenet of academic medicine: commitment to research, clinical care, and education.”

Marshall Carpenter, a former professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Brown Medical School, notes Varner’s commitment to young investigators, saying, “most notably, he is recognized for his highly productive mentorship of the next generation of clinical scientists who will advance translational medical science.”

Varner received an M.D. from the University of Minnesota Medical School and joined the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Utah in 1987, where he is currently that department’s vice-chair for research. Also at the University of Utah, he holds an H. A. and Edna Benning Endowed Presidential Chair and also serves the Health Sciences Center as the interim director of the Program in Personalized Healthcare, the associate director for women’s health for the Center for Clinical and Translational Science and the co-director of the Institute for Women’s and Children’s Health Research. He serves as well as the co-director of the Clinical Genetics Institute for Intermountain Healthcare.

“We have a wonderful synergistic relationship—neither of us could have accomplished as much as we have without supporting each other,” the couple noted in responding to the honor.

The Rosenblatt endowment, from which the prize money is drawn, was established in 1983 by the Joseph and Evelyn Rosenblatt family to honor the civic leadership and generosity of Joseph’s parents, Nathan and Tillie Rosenblatt, who immigrated to Utah from Russia in the late 19^th century.

ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH:

The University of Utah, located in Salt Lake City in the foothills of the Wasatch Range, is the flagship institution of higher learning in Utah. Founded in 1850, it serves more than 31,000 students from across the United States and the world. With more than 72 major subjects at the undergraduate level and more than 90 major fields of study at the graduate level, including law and medicine, the university prepares students to live and compete in the global workplace. Learn more about all the U has to offer online at http://www.utah.edu.

Recently recognized by the Lowell Bennion Community Service Center at a dinner in their honor, these students each completed more than 400 service hours and, 10 service-learning credit hours of coursework, attended related workshops and submitted their written reflections upon their service to the Bennion Center each semester.

“We at the Bennion Center and the University are proud of these students for continuing the service legacy of Lowell Bennion and the University of Utah,” says JaNae Lilly, service-learning coordinator for the Bennion Center. “Service-learning scholars maintain high academic standards while contributing to our community in ways that make a lasting impact.”

Below is a list of the scholars and how they served the community:

Alexandrea Nichols volunteered for Alternative Spring Break trips to San Francisco, Seattle and Vancouver focusing on different issues. She was also a volunteer at Primary Children’s Medical Center. For her Integrated Service Project—a project required to receive full designation as a service-learning scholar—she created a physical fitness and nutrition program titled “Health and Lifestyles: The Power of Choice” for the Girl Scouts of Utah. This curriculum was designed for use by volunteers and troop leaders for girls ages 8 to 14.

Aliene Porath Davis planned, organized and successfully held a 5K walk/run for Rocky Mountain Care Foundation, a nonprofit home care and hospice organization, and raised more than $2,000. Following plans set up by Aliene, the 5K walk/run, now in its fourth year, continues to raise needed money for Rocky Mountain Care Foundation.

Anna Kafka used her time volunteering in a hospital to help her decide to attend medical school. She also volunteered as a tutor and mentor through various agencies, and has learned about chemistry while performing science demonstrations. For her Integrated Service Project, she created a website for the Community Outreach Program in the U’s Department of Chemistry, helping to enhance educational instruction for nontraditional students. The website acts as a means to organize the large amount of information needed to perform the demonstrations.

Brittany McDowell created a procedure and instruction notebook for the University of Utah Special Olympics Team, including athlete records, volunteer coordination, transportation and fundraising recommendations. Disability and syndrome summaries for the most frequently seen intellectual disability diagnoses in Special Olympics athletes also were assembled.

Christiana Tawzer volunteered as a counselor at Camp Hobe, worked with events for the Utah MS Society, learned to knit baby hats for Knitting for Newbies, and increased her knowledge as a research assistant for three different research teams. For her project, she created a sexual assault and dating violence prevention program for adolescents in Utah in partnership with fellow scholar Tyson Kay and Deborah Dilley, of the Utah Coalition Against Sexual Assault.

Jaimie Riding has volunteered as a coach, teacher, tutor, mentor, gardener, laborer, case manager and friend to many people through service at the Bennion Center. For her service project,  Jaimie worked with Rise, Inc. to create a curriculum to educate and motivate youth with special needs on fitness for life and improvement of social skills and self-esteem.

Michael Chen volunteered in several different areas in the Bennion Center.  In addition, he helped construct parade floats with the Chinese Society of Utah. His service project was the creation of Fitness Hour with Seniors. This project connected University of Utah students with the local senior population, by facilitating exercise and interactions. The project helped dissolve stereotypes and biases towards the elderly population.

Parker Chapple has volunteered with refugees in Salt Lake in various capacities. Parker has helped with family mentoring, English as a second Language and health issues. Currently, he is teaching classes for refugee youth and adults. For his project, he worked with Wasatch Community Gardens researching, designing and constructing a passive solar-power system that was used in an existing greenhouse. The end product utilized a simple, effective water heat sink that can be regulated.

Patom Lerslerphant created and presented oral hygiene information to students at Mountain View elementary.  The presentations teach students about the importance of oral health, including why and how students and their families should practice oral health. English and Spanish versions of an oral hygiene brochure were also created for students to bring home.

Tina Huynh has volunteered with the Knitting for Newbies Program, Big Brothers Big Sisters Program and worked with the State of Utah Office of Refugee Services. Tina’s service project entailed the creation of a kindergarten to second-grade biology curriculum for Title 1 elementary schools (schools with a large low-income student population).  The activities and lessons were centered on specific aspects of the Utah Core Curriculum.

Tony Valdez volunteered in the emergency room and the outpatient pharmacy at Intermountain Medical Center, and performed medical interpretation at the Maliheh Free Clinic in Salt Lake City. Tony was also a tutor for immigrants through the ESL Center of Salt Lake. For his project, he worked with the Pingree School for Children with Autism, and translated medical and personal information documents from English to Spanish. He created a pamphlet written in Spanish and distributed it to various pediatric offices across the Salt Lake Valley to raise autism awareness.

Tyson Kay has served the community through volunteering in the Emergency Department of the Salt Lake Regional Medical Center while assisting patients and staff.  His most memorable service event was cleaning at the Ching Farm located in Riverton, Utah.  For his service project, in partnership with Christiana Tawzer, he wrote a curriculum on sexual assault and dating violence for Utah teens that will be used by the Utah Coalition Against Sexual Assault.

ABOUT THE LOWELL BENNION COMMUNITY SERVICE CENTER

The Lowell Bennion Community Service Center fosters lifelong service and civic participation by engaging the university with the greater community in action, change, and learning. Founded in 1987, the Bennion Center provides opportunities for community engagement through direct volunteer work and service-learning opportunities. More than 8,500 students, staff, faculty and alumni provide nearly 175,000 hours of service each year. The Bennion Center’s diverse programming ensures there is an opportunity for everyone to get involved. The Bennion Center recently helped the University of Utah earn the Community Engagement classification by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH

The University of Utah, located in Salt Lake City in the foothills of the Wasatch Range, is the flagship institution of higher learning in Utah. Founded in 1850, it serves more than 31,000 students from across the United States and the world. With more than 72 major subjects at the undergraduate level and more than 90 major fields of study at the graduate level, including law and medicine, the university prepares students to live and compete in the global workplace. Learn more about all the U has to offer online at http://www.utah.edu.

As the current president of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), a 12,000 member professional association, Ogburn works on behalf of 2,500 academic libraries across the country. She serves on the board of the Center for Research Libraries and the council of the Utah Academic Library Consortium and is a member of the Salt Lake Rotary Club.

Ogburn has published on the business of managing research libraries, the future of libraries and their services, and scholarly publishing and she has taught and lectured on leadership for librarians. She received a M.A. in Anthropology from Indiana University, a M.S. in Library Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a B.A. in Anthropology from University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Ogburn is delighted and honored to be included in Utah Business’s “30 Women to Watch” listing. “I’m honored to be included in this list alongside other female leaders who are determined to make a difference in their profession and their community,” comments Ogburn.

“We are delighted to recognize these faculty members for innovations that have had profound impact on the world at large,” said Glenn Prestwich, presidential professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the U and presidential special assistant for faculty entrepreneurs. “The DIIA was initiated in 2010 in recognition that you get excellence in what you reward. This award places innovation and positive impact on people’s lives on a par with excellence in teaching and in creative and scholarly research.”

Innovation is second-nature for the DIIA winners. Solzbacher, for instance, is a professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department who founded Blackrock Microsystems, a company enabling researchers to make advancements in neural engineering and prosthetics. “The award is unexpected, but a wonderful recognition of the translational, commercialization and dissemination work that we have been doing over the past eight years, culminating in the creation of two companies in the neuroscience field,” Solzbacher said.

If successful, those companies will offer new therapeutic approaches to helping patients with nervous system disorders (such as blindness, deafness, incontinence, spinal cord injuries, Parkinson’s disease, chronic pain, depression and epilepsy). Since joining the U, Solzbacher has published three book chapters, 40 journal papers, 67 conference papers and 54 abstracts. He has also had 22 invention disclosures that have led to 16 patents.

Remember the Iron Man movie? Jacobsen, a distinguished professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, founded Sarcos, a company based at the U that creates robotic suits that give people superhuman capabilities. Jacobsen has been at the forefront of robotic and prosthetic technology for decades. In 1980 he produced the Utah Arm, a prosthetic limb that gives the user precise and sensitive control over both the hand and elbow. His robotic inventions orchestrate the Bellagio fountains in Las Vegas and provide the functionality behind many Disney and Universal Studios theme park rides.

“I am always extremely thankful for the wonderful team and sponsors we had on all of our projects,” says Jacobsen. “It doesn’t happen in a vacuum,”

Jacobsen’s impact has been recognized through many national and state awards. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Orthotists and Prosthetists. He won the Leonardo Da Vinci Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Pioneer of Robotics Award from the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, and the Utah Governor’s Medal for Science and Technology. In January, Jacobsen received one of five “Most Prolific Inventor Awards” by the U’s Technology Commercialization Office for having more than 200 inventions. He has founded many centers and companies: the Center for Engineering Design at the U, Motion Control (the company evolved into Iomed), Sarcos (now Raytheon‐Sarcos), Micro‐Drugs, Eye‐Port, Micro Ject, Precision Vascular, Intelligent Microinfusion, Sarcos Microsystems, and Sterling Technologies. In addition, Jacobsen has managed 359 research projects and employed more than 200 Utahns in his companies.

In an entirely different field, Bromberg, a faculty member in the Department of Modern Dance, is leading the way in cinema-based dance experience. She single-handedly garnered funding to build a multimedia performance laboratory that allows faculty and students to explore new ways to create a meaningful visual experience for people watching dance on a screen. Bromberg has given back to her students in other ways, namely, giving them the chance to explore distance dance collaboration. She gathered more than $90,000 in grants to create the technological infrastructure for the Association for Dance and Performance Telematics (ADaPT), an interface that connects dancers from Utah with others around the world to foster artistic collaboration in a real-time setting.

“This award means a great deal to me on so many levels. First and foremost is the acknowledgement that the arts are innovative and impactful,” Bromberg said. “As someone who has been working in the arts for many years and in many different contexts, I have been privileged to both witness and experience how transformative aesthetic experiences can be so profound. Their impact can change lives, deepen understanding, challenge perceptions and assumptions, and illuminate our humanity.”

Bromberg’s pioneering work in “screen dance” has been shown in locations as diverse as Amsterdam, Hanoi, Hong Kong, Burgundy, Istanbul, Buenos Aires, Victoria, Montevideo, Regina and Melbourne. For her work in the arts, Professor Bromberg has received multiple honors and awards, notably a Guggenheim Fellowship Award in 2006, for those who have already demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts.

“These faculty members exemplify the entrepreneurial spirit at the University of Utah,” said Prestwich. “Our faculty and students are part of a culture of impact, and the U is a trendsetter and leader in the translation of research and creativity into products that truly make a difference in the lives of people.”

Learn more about innovation and technology commercialization at the U at www.techventures.utah.edu.

The Entertainment Arts and Engineering program at the U will showcase its new facilities and the work of its current and graduating students at the annual EAE Day on Wednesday, May 2, 2012. Short animated films, video games and machinima—movies using 3D computer graphics—will be available to view. All events are open to the public, and students who are interested in digital media are especially encouraged to visit.

The first event of the day from 11 a.m. to noon at the Post Theatre in Fort Douglas is a screening of both traditional and 3D computer animation shorts created by students over the past year.

“This year we have a wonderful and quite diverse collection of animation,” said Lien Fan Shen, assistant professor of film and media arts.  “The students are really looking forward to their first public screening of their work.”

The highlight of the day will be the grand opening of the state-of-the-art game lab at 1 p.m. Located in the Merrill Engineering Building (MEB 3345), the lab is filled with “gaming rigs”—powerful computers with the latest graphics processors, as well as a sound recording facility, games stations, and most important, talent. The U is ranked the No. 1 public university in the nation for games and the No. 3 among all universities by the Princeton Review.

This year, the program graduates its first group of master’s students from the Master Games Studio. Games created by those students—“Erie” and “Robot Pinball Escape”—will be shown from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. during the game and model demonstrations.  Additionally, graduating undergraduates will demonstrate their capstone games – “Heroes of Hat” and “Curse of Shadows.”

Another highlight of the demonstrations will be a sneak peek into the Master Games Studio Secret Lab.  Visitors will be able to see and experience three exciting new games that are still under development, two of which use the Microsoft Kinect movement-based controller system. The secret lab will also showcase the PE Game for kids with cancer and several games that use a new haptics-based game controller.

In conjunction with the game demonstrations, the U will host its 6^th annual Machinima Fest in the new Spencer Fox Eccles Business Building (SFEBB 1110) from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m.  This year, nine films will be screened that were created using a video game engine.

“Due to the use this year of the Kinect-based motion capture system, students have been able to explore new dimensions in their films that were simply not possible in prior years,” says Robert Kessler, executive director of the program.

“The U has the best games program in the state and one of the best in the nation,” says Roger Altizer, director of game design and production. “Thanks to support from our president and the colleges of engineering and fine arts, we are now able to open our doors to more students. The largest sector for digital media in Utah is games, and there is a growing demand for talented game developers. This graduating class and our new lab prove that we are dedicated to making today’s players and tomorrow’s leaders.”

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS MAY 2, 2012

11 a.m.-noon                                       Animation Shorts                                          
Post Theatre, Fort Douglas

1 p.m.                                                  Grand Opening Master Games Studio         
3345 Merrill Engineering Bldg.

1 – 3 p.m.                                            Game and Model Demonstrations               
3345 Merrill Engineering Bldg.

3:30 – 5 p.m.                                       Machinima Fest 2012                        
1110 Spencer Fox Eccles
Business Bldg.

A map of the University of Utah campus is available online at http://www.map.utah.edu/index.html.

ADDITIONAL DESCRIPTIONS AND IMAGES:

Animation screening: http://machinima.cs.utah.edu/Machinima/MachinimaFest2012/AnimationScreening2012.pdf

Featured video game demonstrations: http://machinima.cs.utah.edu/SeniorProject/11-12/EAEDay.html

Machinima Fest ’12 movies: http://machinima.cs.utah.edu/Machinima/MachinimaFest2012/Movies.html

 ABOUT EAE:

The School of Computing and the Department of Film and Media Arts at the University of Utah offer an interdisciplinary emphasis in Entertainment Arts and Engineering. This emphasis provides an academic path for students interested in careers in the digital entertainment industry including video games, digital animation, computer generated special effects, and more. Additional information is available online at http://www.eae.utah.edu/.

ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH:

            The University of Utah, located in Salt Lake City in the foothills of the Wasatch Range, is the flagship institution of higher learning in Utah. Founded in 1850, it serves more than 31,000 students from across the United States and the world. With more than 72 major subjects at the undergraduate level and more than 90 major fields of study at the graduate level, including law and medicine, the university prepares students to live and compete in the global workplace. Learn more about all the U has to offer online at http://www.utah.edu

To hear the start of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, recorded through a new microphone in the middle ear of a cadaver, click here.

April 30, 2012 – Cochlear implants have restored basic hearing to some 220,000 deaf people, yet a microphone and related electronics must be worn outside the head, raising reliability issues, preventing patients from swimming and creating social stigma.

Now, a University of Utah engineer and colleagues in Ohio have developed a tiny prototype microphone that can be implanted in the middle ear to avoid such problems.

The proof-of-concept device has been successfully tested in the ear canals of four cadavers, the researchers report in a study just published online in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers journal Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

The prototype – about the size of an eraser on a pencil – must be reduced in size and improved in its ability to detect quieter, low-pitched sounds, so tests in people are about three years away, says the study’s senior author, Darrin J. Young, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Utah and USTAR, the Utah Science Technology and Research initiative.

The study showed incoming sound is transmitted most efficiently to the microphone if surgeons first remove the incus or anvil – one of three, small, middle-ear bones. U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval would be needed for an implant requiring such surgery.

The current prototype of the packaged, middle-ear microphone measures 2.5-by-6.2 millimeters (roughly one-tenth by one-quarter inch) and weighs 25 milligrams, or less than a thousandth of an ounce. Young wants to reduce the package to 2-by-2 millimeters.

Young, who moved the Utah in 2009, conducted the study with Mark Zurcher and Wen Ko, who are his former electrical engineering colleagues at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, and with ear-nose-throat physicians Maroun Semaan and Cliff Megerian of University Hospitals Case Medical Center.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH-DC-006850).

Problems with External Parts on Cochlear Implants

The National Institutes of Health says almost 220,000 people worldwide with profound deafness or severe hearing impairment have received cochlear implants, about one-third of them in the United States, where two-fifths of the recipients are children.

In conventional cochlear implant, there are three main parts that are worn externally on the head behind the ear: a microphone to pick up sound, a speech processor and a radio transmitter coil. Implanted under the skin behind the ear are a receiver and stimulator to convert the sound signals into electric impulses, which then go through a cable to between four and 16 electrodes that wind through the cochlea of the inner ear and stimulate auditory nerves so the patient can hear.

“It’s a disadvantage having all these things attached to the outside” of the head, Young says. “Imagine a child wearing a microphone behind the ear. It causes problems for a lot of activities. Swimming is the main issue. And it’s not convenient to wear these things if they have to wear a helmet.”

Young adds that “for adults, it’s social perception. Wearing this thing indicates you are somewhat handicapped and that actually prevents quite a percentage of candidates from getting the implant. They worry about the negative image.”

As for reliability, “if you have wires connected from the microphone to the coil, those wires can break,” he says.

How Sound Moves in Normal Ears, Cochlear Implants and the New Device

Sound normally moves into the ear canal and makes the eardrum vibrate. At what is known as the umbo, the eardrum connects to a chain of three tiny bones: the malleus, incus and stapes, also known as the hammer, anvil and stirrup. The bones vibrate. The stapes or stirrup touches the cochlea, the inner ear’s fluid-filled chamber. Hair cells (not really hair) on the cochlea’s inner membrane move, triggering the release of a neurotransmitter chemical that carries the sound signals to the brain.

In profoundly deaf people who are candidates for cochlear implants, the hair cells don’t work for a variety of reasons, including birth defects, side effects of drugs, exposure to excessively loud sounds or infection by certain viruses.

In a cochlear implant, the microphone, signal processor and transmitter coil worn outside the head send signals to the internal receiver-stimulator, which is implanted in bone under the skin and sends the signals to the electrodes implanted in the cochlea to stimulate auditory nerves. The ear canal, eardrum and hearing bones are bypassed.

The system developed by Young implants all the external components. Sound moves through the ear canal to the eardrum, which vibrates as it does normally. But at the umbo, a sensor known as an accelerometer is attached to detect the vibration. The sensor also is attached to a chip, and together they serve as a microphone that picks up the sound vibrations and converts them into electrical signals sent to the electrodes in the cochlea.

The device still would require patients to wear a charger behind the ear while sleeping at night to recharge an implanted battery. Young says he expects the battery would last one to several days between charging.

Young says the microphone also might be part of an implanted hearing aid that could replace conventional hearing aids for a certain class of patients who have degraded hearing bones unable to adequately convey sounds from conventional hearing aids.

Testing the Microphone in Cadavers

Conventional microphones include a membrane or diaphragm that moves and generates an electrical signal change in response to sound. But they require a hole through which sound must enter – a hole that would get clogged by growing tissue if implanted. So Young’s middle-ear microphone instead uses an accelerometer – a 2.5-microgram mass attached to a spring – that would be placed in a sealed package with a low-power silicon chip to convert sound vibrations to outgoing electrical signals.

The package is glued to the umbo so the accelerometer vibrates in response to eardrum vibrations. The moving mass generates an electrical signal that is amplified by the chip, which then connects to the conventional parts of a cochlear implant: a speech processor and stimulator wired to the electrodes in the cochlea.

“Everything is the same as a conventional cochlear implant, except we use an implantable microphone that uses the vibration of the bone,” Young says.

To test the new microphone, the researchers used the temporal bones – bones at the side of the skull – and related ear canal, eardrum and hearing bones from four cadaver donors.

The researchers inserted tubing with a small loudspeaker into the ear canal and generated tones of various frequencies and loudness. As the sounds were picked up by the implanted microphone, the researchers used a laser device to measure the vibrations of the tiny ear bones. They found the umbo – where the eardrum connects to the hammer or malleus – produced the greatest sound vibration, particularly if the incus or anvil bone first was removed surgically.

The experiments showed that when the prototype microphone unit was attached to the umbo, it could pick up medium pitches at conversational volumes, but had trouble detecting quieter, low-frequency sounds. Young plans to improve the microphone to pick up quieter, deeper, very low pitches.

In the tests, the output of the microphone went to speakers; in a real person, it would send sound to the implanted speech processor. To demonstrate the microphone, Young also used it to record the start of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony while implanted in a cadaver ear. It is easily recognizable, even if somewhat fuzzy and muffled.

“The muffling can be filtered out,” says Young.

Both the Student Alumni Board (SAB) and The MUSS are student organizations of the University of Utah Alumni Association. In winning the awards, the U beat out other institutions in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah. Receiving the district awards means that the University of Utah programs and individuals will be considered for national awards at the CASE ASAP convention in Indianapolis in early August.

“The Alumni Association is extremely pleased with our student programs under the direction of award-winning adviser John Fackler,” says John Ashton, the U Alumni Association’s executive director. “To have these programs and leaders recognized by CASE is especially rewarding.”

The MUSS, which has become one of the nation’s best student football sections in just 10 seasons, was presented the “Outstanding Tried and True Program” award. The MUSS has grown to a capacity of 6,000 enthusiastic U student members, and registration for the upcoming season has passed 4,800 members with four months to go until the kickoff of the football season.

The Student Alumni Board, consisting of 43 current U students, received the “Outstanding Student Organization” award for its wide range of programming, including Homecoming, U Book, Founders Day, the Utah vs. BYU Food Drive and student recruitment activities.

The Utah vs. BYU Food Drive received the “Outstanding External Program” award. The annual drive thrives on support and leadership from the U Student Alumni Board support and leadership. In the past three years, Utah fans have donated more than 1 million pounds of food and more than $260,000 to the Utah Food Bank. In 2011, despite for the first time the drive not being scheduled around the annual rivalry football game with BYU, the U raised a record 421,000 pounds of food and more than $108,000.

Student Alumni Board President Sam Haslam, a senior majoring in exercise and sports physiology, received the “Outstanding Student Leader” award. He is completing his third year as a board member and previously served as vice president. “Being president of SAB has been the best experience of my college career,” Haslam says. “Having the opportunity to work alongside the best and brightest at the University of Utah has taught me so much. I’ve learned that when a group of dedicated people want something badly enough, they can do anything.”

Director of Alumni Relations John Fackler received the “Outstanding Adviser” award. It was the third time he has received this honor. Fackler has served as adviser to the SAB and The MUSS since 2002.  “Seeing the energy, excitement and just plain loyalty to the U that these students have makes my job an incredible joy,” says Fackler.

The class of 2012 is comprised of 7,659 graduates who will receive degrees that
morning. The procession of diverse students, who come from 64 countries, 49 U.S. states and 26 Utah counties, begins at 8:30 a.m.

Of the number of degrees awarded, 5,513 will be bachelor’s degrees; 1,976 master’s degrees; 600, doctorates; 131 juris doctorates; 100 are doctors of medicine; and 46 are doctors of pharmacy. Of this year’s graduates, 4,199 are men and 3,460 are women. The number of degrees awarded exceeds the number of graduates, as some students received more than one degree. A total of 8,366 degrees will be conferred.

The youngest undergraduate member of the Class of 2012 is 18; the oldest, 70. The average age of bachelor’s degree recipients is 26. The average grade point average for this group is 3.25. The average age of students receiving graduate degrees is 30. The youngest student receiving a graduate degree is 21 and the oldest is 68.

The most undergraduate degrees awarded were in the following 11 departments, respectively: psychology, economics, exercise and sports science, mass communication, human development and family studies, nursing, accounting, biology, sociology, finance and mechanical engineering.

University of Utah President David W. Pershing will officiate at the commencement. The featured speaker is Ed Catmull, president and co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios and a U alumnus, having received bachelors of science degrees in physics and computer science as well as a Ph.D. in computer science from the U. The student speaker will be Stefanie Roberson, who is receiving a bachelor of science degree in information systems.

Honorary degrees will be presented to A. Lorris Betz, doctor of science; H. David Burton, doctor of business, Wataru “Wat” Misaka, doctor of humane letters, Jerilyn McIntyre, doctor of education, and Beverly T. Sorenson, doctor of fine arts.

The Rosenblatt Prize for Excellence, a $40,000 cash award and the most prestigious honor the university bestows on its faculty, will be announced May 4. A separate press release will be distributed immediately following the announcement.

The Distinguished Teaching Award recipients for this year are: Bonnie Baty, clinical professor of pediatrics; Evert C. Lawton, professor of civil and environmental engineering; Mark Matheson, professor of English; and Gerald E. Root, associate professor of French.

The Distinguished Scholarly and Creative Research Award recipients are: Kenneth M. Golden, professor of mathematics; Gary E. Keck, professor of chemistry; and Hong Yong Sohn, professor of metallurgical engineering.

The Distinguished Innovation and Impact Award recipients are: Ellen R. Bromberg, associate professor of modern dance; Stephen C. Jacobsen, distinguished professor of mechanical engineering; and Florian Solzbacher, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering.

The 2012 Distinguished Professors are: David Grainger, pharmacy and pharmaceutical chemistry; Robert Marc, ophthalmology; and Kathryn Stockton, English.

The university will also recognize 2012 Honors Professor Michael Gillis, University Writing Program; 2012 Public Service Professors, Trinh Mai, College of Social Work and Yda Jean Smith, College of Health; and the recipient of the Calvin S.and JeNeal Hatch Prize in Teaching, E. Daniel Edwards, professor of social work.  The 2012 University Professor Robert Hitchcock, College of Engineering will be recognized along with the Outstanding Public School Teacher Michele Brunson from the South Elementary School in Cedar City, Utah and Ronald M. Smelser, professor of history, who will receive the Distinguished Service Award.

Convocations for the colleges of health, nursing, social work, and graduate students of the college of social and behavioral science will be held on Thursday, May 3, 2012.
Individual college convocations on Friday, May 4 are scheduled at the following locations and times:

• College of Architecture + Planning: 2:00 p.m., Olpin Union Ballroom

• David Eccles School of Business: 4:15 p.m., Jon M. Huntsman Center

• College of Education: 1:30 p.m., Kingsbury Hall

• College of Engineering: 1:45 p.m., Jon M. Huntsman Center

• College of Fine Arts: 3:30 p.m., Kingsbury Hall

• College of Humanities: 6:45 p.m., Jon M. Huntsman Center

• College of Mines And Earth Sciences: 11:30 a.m., Film & Media Arts Auditorium

• College of Pharmacy: 11:30 a.m., Olpin Union Ballroom

• College of Science: 11:30 a.m., Kingsbury Hall

• College of Social And Behavioral Science, Undergraduates: 11:15 a.m., Jon M. Huntsman Center

Commencement ceremonies for the S. J. Quinney College of Law will be held Friday, May 11 at 10 a.m., in Kingsbury Hall. The School of Medicine will hold commencement ceremonies on Saturday, May 19, at 10 a.m., in Kingsbury Hall.

Campus parking lots may be used at no charge during commencement and convocation ceremonies. As campus parking is limited, visitors are encouraged to use the free U shuttle service to travel between commencement events. Shuttles run throughout campus and are scheduled every 10 minutes. There is a free fare zone on TRAX May 4 from Rice Eccles Stadium to the Medical Center station.

ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH

The University of Utah, located in Salt Lake City in the foothills of the Wasatch Mountain range, is the flagship institution of higher learning in Utah. Founded in 1850, it serves over 31,000 students from across the United States and the world. With over 72 major subjects at the undergraduate level and more than 90 major fields of study at the graduate level, including law and medicine, the university prepares students to live and compete in the global workplace. Learn more about all the U has to offer online at http://www.utah.edu.

Joining the coveted rankings for the first time, the school is 10th and joined such renowned schools as top-ranked Harvard, No. 2 Pepperdine and No. 3 Stanford. In all, 132 business schools countrywide were reviewed for the “U.S. News & World Report” short list based on each school’s “yield rate,” or the percentage of full-time applicants accepted who end up enrolling at specific institutions.

“This ranking is a valuable endorsement by our students and proof that they are energized by the Eccles MBA program,” said Linda Wells, director of the David Eccles School of Business MBA program. “Students already know the excellent reputation of our faculty and alumni, and more recently they are responding to all the opportunities to transform their careers that the program offers, such as exploring their interests through out-of-state study trips, working high-caliber internships throughout the country, and taking advantage of expanded entrepreneurial opportunities available to our students.”

David Eccles MBA students receive top-quality classroom instruction from world-renowned faculty. They gain practical experience and mentoring through participation in experiential learning opportunities, such as: the U’s top-ranked technology commercialization program, the nation’s largest student-run venture fund, international internships, study trips to business hotbeds, and a variety of business plan and case competitions.

MBA candidate Robert Collard says those all were big factors in his choice to enroll at the David Eccles School of Business. Further, the smaller size of the program compared to those offered by larger schools “provides students individual attention and unique opportunities to participate in a broad range of out-of-the-classroom activities,” he says.

“These experiences help build your network and allow you to discover where you want to take your career,” Collard adds.

Another MBA student, Jeff Ehlers, chose the David Eccles School because he sees it as a program on the innovative edge of business education.

“The MBA program at the University of Utah is rising.  I was attracted to the school by the vision of the dean and the program director.  They aren’t just resting on their laurels but building something incredible here,” Ehlers says.

“The ranking is a testament to our outstanding faculty and staff, as well as the school’s exceptional students,” says Dean Taylor Randall. “It is exciting to see the country take notice of Utah’s flagship business school and our bright students who come to the school to tap into world-class education and innovation.”

To learn more about the David Eccles School of Business, visit http://www.business.utah.edu/.  To further explore U.S. News & World Report’s’ short lists covering top business schools, visit http://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/the-short-list-grad-school/articles/2012/03/20/10-most-popular-business-schools-.

About the David Eccles School of Business

Founded in 1917 in Salt Lake City, the David Eccles School of Business has programs in entrepreneurship, technology innovation and venture capital management. Emphasizing interdisciplinary education and experiential learning, it launched the country’s largest student-run venture capital fund with $18.3 million, and is home to the Pierre Lassonde Entrepreneur Center and the Sorenson Center for Discovery and Innovation. Approximately 3,500 students are enrolled in its undergraduate, graduate and executive degree programs as well as joint MBA programs in architecture, law and health administration. For more information, visit www.business.utah.edu.

One of the biggest challenges for advancing quantum dots is the manufacturing process. Conventional processes are expensive, require high temperatures and produce low yields. However, researchers at the University of Utah believe they have a solution. They recently formed a startup company called Navillum Nanotechnologies, and their efforts are gaining national attention with help from a team of M.B.A. students from the David Eccles School of Business.

The students recently won first place and $100,000 at the regional CU Cleantech New Venture Challenge. The student competition concluded at the University of Colorado in Boulder on Friday, April 20. The student team advances to the national championship, which will be held in June in Washington, D.C. Student teams from six regions will compete for additional prizes and recognition at the prestigious event. Other regional competitions were held at MIT, Cal Tech, the University of Maryland, Clean Energy Trust (Chicago) and Rice University. All the competitions are financed by the U.S. Department of Energy.

The prize money for the winning team of David Eccles M.B.A. students Ryan Tucker, Chris Lewis and Ameya Chaudhari will be used by Navillum to refine and increase the scale of their manufacturing process.

“The win reflects on the organizations we have at the University of Utah to support entrepreneurship,” Tucker said. “It also helps me get excited that even as students, we can do great things.”

The students started the project through the Pierre and Claudette Lassonde New Venture Development Center, which is part of the David Eccles School of Business. The Lassonde Center links faculty inventors with graduate students, who write business plans for them. The Energy Commercialization Center also helped mentor the team.

The researchers behind Navillum are in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Utah. They are Michael Bartl (associate professor), Jacqueline Siy-Ronquillo (post-doctoral fellow) and Nikko Ronquillo (M.D./Ph.D. student).

“The M.B.A. students from the Lassonde Center are invaluable for this endeavor,” Siy-Ronquillo said. “They worked hard this past year to research and write Navillum’s business plan. They also came up with the winning formula to present our technology at the CU Cleantech New Venture Challenge. We look forward to continue partnering with them. We also welcome other researchers to collaborate and further expand the uses of quantum dots. We are willing to provide our quantum dots for testing cutting-edge technologies.”

Navillum competed against teams from nine states in the CU Cleantech New Venture Challenge. Other finalists were from the University of Colorado at Boulder, the University of Colorado at Denver and the Maharishi University of Management (Fairfield, Iowa). The Utah team won because of their superior technology and business plan, according to Steve Herschleb, an M.B.A. student in Boulder and program manager of the competition.

“It was the attractiveness of the technology and the growth potential,” Herschleb said. “There’s a little bit of risk; the market hasn’t fully embraced the technology. But the applications, from a scientific basis, are very promising, and the market is expected to be enormous in the future.”

Quantum dots were first discovered in the 1980s, and researches are just starting to discover the best ways to use them. They are tiny semiconductors that emit photons when excited. About four million of them would fit across the diameter of a penny. The color of light they emit depends on the dot’s size. Small dots produce light toward the blue side of the spectrum; large dots produce light toward the red side.

The material has a growing number of applications. Navillum focused on applications related to solar technology and energy efficiency to win the CU Cleantech New Venture Challenge. Quantum dots can dramatically increase the amount of energy captured by solar panels and decrease the amount of energy needed for displays on cellphones and TVs, according to Navillum.

But the cost of quantum dots has been a major challenge to widespread use. Currently, a gram can cost $2,500 to $10,000. The high cost is due to conventional processes, which are inefficient and difficult to scale. This is the gap Navillum hopes to fill. Their process uses lower temperatures and produces less waste than the traditional process. The team hopes it will become an industry standard, helping lower costs and drive broader use.

Navillum is well on their way to commercial success. In addition to the $100,000 from the CU Cleantech New Venture Challenge and potential for more at the national competition, they have received $155,000 in grants from the University of Utah, the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) and the Utah Science Technology and Research initiative (USTAR).

“This team is a perfect example of the extraordinary projects underway at the University of Utah,” said Jack Brittain, vice president for Technology Venture Development at the University of Utah. “Their success demonstrates the exceptional talent we have in Utah, the programs and people we have to drive them forward, and the unrivaled student opportunities we offer. These opportunities exist because of the incredible vision of Pierre Lassonde and his commitment to supporting exceptional learning experiences for our students.”

Learn more about the regional competition at cucleantech.com/nvc/. Learn about the national competition at bit.ly/HDQug1. Learn about technology commercialization at the University of Utah at www.techventures.utah.edu. Learn about the Lassonde Center at www.lassonde.utah.edu.

The university’s School of Computing invites the public and news media to the event, which will be held from 2 to 3:20 p.m. in room 1120 of the Marriott Library.

From 2 to 2:45 p.m., students will each present a quick overview of the software or application they wrote. Starting at 2:45 p.m., visitors will have the opportunity to talk with the students and try some of the apps.

Lorenzo Swank, a Ph.D. student and teaching fellow who instructs the class, says one of the most interesting iPad apps “expands the functionality of the organs on Temple Square and in the Conference Center” at the Salt Lake City headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Pipe organs in churches and elsewhere have “stops” that control the sound by either allowing or preventing air from entering specific pipes. The new iPad software, named Celeste, “allows organists to program and carry with them all of the organ stop settings they could imagine,” says Swank, who also is an adjunct instructor in fine arts and a partner at Pixio Software, a mobile app development firm in North Salt Lake. “It also provides peace of mind to organists in a professional performance setting.”

It can easily take 30 minutes to preset the stops in an organ’s memory bank for a given piece of music. If someone accidentally overwrites the presets in the organ’s computer memory before the performance of the preset piece, organists can find themselves in trouble, says computer science student Rob Stefanussen, who wrote the new app.

“If you realize the day of or an hour before your performance that memory has been overwritten, this app could be used to save you at the last minute,” he adds.

As a guest organist for the Mormon church five or six times a year, Stefanussen wrote the software specifically for the two big organs at Temple Square and the Conference Center, but says it could be adapted for use on other organs.

The new software can plug into the organs and record the stop settings. It cannot use the recorded settings to preset the organs – something the organist still must do manually by referring to the settings stored on the iPad, Stefanussen says.

“I developed the app in the hope it can be used by other performers on the organs,” he adds.

Other mobile apps to be demonstrated Tuesday include several games and:

• An iPhone application written by a student who manages a car dealership. The app allows a salesperson to access financing information, used car values and other negotiating information using a iPhone on the car lot without having to drag the customer to the office.

• Software that provides math tutoring on an iPhone or iPad to students with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder. Their progress on the math problems is automatically sent to parents or a teacher, either in stages of when a particular assignment is done.

• An app that lets iPhone and iPad users create their own individualized fonts for use in word processing programs.