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 In
a devotional address at BYU–Idaho on September 18, 2001, Elder Henry
B. Eyring of the Quorum of the Twelve made this remarkable
statement: “I hope I live long enough to someday meet some employer
who employed one of you and says, ‘Where did that come from? People
just flock around that person. And they want to follow. They don’t
have to be led; they’re seeking to go where that person wants to go.
And they come up with new ideas. I don’t know where that comes from.
They seem to find a better way, and the budget doesn’t go up. I
can’t understand it.’ And I’ll smile and say,
‘Well, come with me to Rexburg.’”
With our four-year degree in its infancy, some who
heard Elder Eyring’s remarks may have thought that such glowing
tributes from employers might take a decade or two to be fully
realized. However as department chairmen relate the experience of
their majors in internships and competitions, it is clear that this
prediction for our students is coming true even before they
graduate. Prime examples come from students and departments in the
College of Physical Science and Engineering.
In January 2005, two teams of students from the Department of
Architecture and Construction participated in a competition at the
International Builders Show in Orlando, Florida. The competition for
four-year schools entailed laying out a 134-lot planned community in
Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. Their proposal contained marketing
research, management plans, and construction details about the homes
themselves as well as information about building sewers, streets,
water lines, etc.
According to Bill Johnson, captain of the BYU–Idaho team, it
was not until the BYU–Idaho team was well along in its work that
they learned, almost by accident, about recent changes in the Mount
Pleasant building permit allocation program which allowed for a
growth rate of only 3 percent per year through 2010. Last year all
629 allocated permits were awarded in the first quarter. With no
more permits left for the rest of the year and a large waiting list
from the year before, a builder would face a huge problem. The lack
of permits made it impossible to build 134 homes within a reasonable
time.
In their ten-minute presentation, the BYU–Idaho team presented
a summary of their work, then, in a bold move, stated that the
project was unfeasible and should not be pursued. In the
fifteen-year history of the contest, no team had ever proposed
scrapping a project. The announcement brought gasps from the
audience.
Later in a debriefing, the team learned several judges had
placed them first but others had given them much lower scores. They
ended up seventh in a field of thirty teams. The second BYU–Idaho
team fared much better. In the architectural competition for
two-year schools, they placed second in the nation.
The next day at the job fair, the BYU–Idaho team members were
bombarded by eager recruiters. Almost universally, the recruiters
said their companies wanted employees who would give an honest
evaluation of proposed construction plans.
One of the judges remarked,
“An average student at BYU–Idaho is as good or better
than any student at any other university.”
Whether or not that is true, it is certainly a glowing tribute to
these students.
As exciting as that experience was, it is only one of many in
which BYU–Idaho students stand out as extraordinary among their
peers. Other cases come from academic internships.
Ben Shurtleff, majoring in mechanical engineering, recently
completed an internship for the Sensors Division of the Office of
Naval Intelligence. His assignment was to research flow noise
characteristics of Russian submarines from aerial photographs of the
submarines in docks and other information. His security clearance
made it possible for him to learn about intelligence collection. For
example, he was privileged to tour the intelligence room aboard the
Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier. “This experience has helped me
be more focused as a student. I also found out I would enjoy
working with the Navy.”
Perhaps the hottest political topic in Idaho this year involves
water rights. In the middle of this issue is a BYU–Idaho student.
Kirstin Keetch, a junior in mathematics, will begin working in May
with Dr. Van Kirk of Idaho State University, who will be conducting
a hydrology study on the lower Henry’s Fork of the Snake River and
the lower Teton River.
According to an article in the
Rexburg Standard Journal (January 22, 2005), the goal of the
research is to determine how water flow is shaped throughout an
entire water year. The project’s overall goal is to consolidate the
results of three studies into a watershed-wide document.
Camille Erwin, a junior in physics, found her internship
because of curiosity. Due to the Three Track System for admission,
she was “off-track” and needed something to do with her time. Her
father told her the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) had an office in Idaho Falls. Camille decided to drop in and
visit. She walked in and said, “What do you people do, and do you
need any help doing it?” Within a few days she was working for NOAA
in a project funded by Homeland Security, seeking to answer these
questions: If terrorists released a harmful gas into a large
suburban environment, how quickly would the gas disperse? What area
would have higher concentrations? Would a gas tend to stay in one
place or would it distribute evenly over the area? These questions
need to be answered in order to create prediction programs for a
real-life situation. Not bad for a summer job, right?
According to her supervisor, “Camille Erwin began her
internship with us early this year. She was assigned a number of
different tasks, which she completed admirably. She became so
proficient and reliable that she was asked to join our group in
field deployment in Oklahoma City this summer. Camille proved to be
a great asset to our research group. We are glad she interned with
us.”
Of all the internships one might imagine, the one that would
appeal to many was experienced by Mark Millard, a senior majoring in
geology. He spent last summer paddling a kayak from island to island
off the coast of Southern Maine. The University of Southern Maine
had received a grant from the National Science Foundation to map
faults. Mark and fourteen coworkers used survey-grade GPS devices
and laptop computers to make digital geologic maps. According to his
supervisor, “Mark quickly established himself as the data czar.”
Often after a BYU–Idaho student has spent a few months working
for a company as an intern, employers can barely stand to let go.
Such is the case with NoMin
Park, a junior from Korea in BYU–Idaho’s new four-year program
leading to a bachelor of science degree in technology management.
These graduates are prepared for management positions in the
automotive industry. No-Min Park proved extremely valuable in his
internship at a local car dealership. According to Justin Lage,
service manager at Stone’s Town and Country Motors, “No-Min isn’t
afraid of anything. Whatever we ask him to do, he jumps right in and
does it well.”
Erica Percival is a junior chemistry student. Under the
guidance of chemistry faculty member Ryan DaBell and in
collaboration with Battelle, the U.S. Army and the National
Institute of Standards and Technology, her internship project is to
investigate the molecular structure of divinyl sulfide using a
variety of modern computational methods. Divinyl sulfide is a
decomposition product of mustard gas. Hopefully, an understanding of
the decomposition mechanism may lead to more effective protection
during a security threat or may improve efforts to clean
 up
existing stockpiles of the chemical in the U.S. According to Dr.
DaBell, “Erica’s work not only provides her with valuable experience
in a field of scholarly research but also opens the door for more
BYU–Idaho chemistry student opportunities in the future.”
Have you ever wondered what to do with that old personal computer in
your closet? Daniel Purcell, a junior in the Department of Computer
Science, has just the answer. As a senior project he hooked fifteen
old PCs with a “boss computer” assigning jobs to the other PCs.
Daniel turned the array into what once would have been called a
supercomputer.
Brent Bulla and
Keith Heiney, majoring in computer engineering, are about to
represent BYU–Idaho in a robot soccer competition. The robot must be
independent of any human controller. That is, it must locate the
ball, go to where it is and kick it, or at least bump into it. And
all this while outwitting the other team’s robot. On a similar note,
Chris Latta, a senior in computer engineering, programmed a robot to
make its way through a maze. With this on the horizon, can R2-D2 be
far behind?
With growing evidence that BYU–Idaho students are innovative
and making such an impact before they graduate, it is easy to
believe Elder Eyring’s prediction is about to be fulfilled in a
major way. In his 2001 address he said, “Those graduates of
BYU–Idaho will become—and this is a prophecy that I am prepared to
make and make solemnly—those graduates will become legendary for
their capacity to build the people around them and to add value
wherever they serve.”
BYU–Idaho students are well on their
way to making this happen.
SM
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