Highlights from BYU colleges

Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology

• BYU alumnus Ethan Gross is working at his dream job as an analyst and software developer with Ford. Gross graduated in 2015 with a degree in electrical engineering. He said his education at BYU challenged him in engineering and helped him become a more well-rounded person. His advice to other BYU students who are worried about finding a job is to focus not too much on GPA, but rather on your strengths and how to improve them.

  

• The American Society of Civil Engineers awarded Rollin H. Hotchkiss, a BYU professor and chair of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, the 2017 Hydraulic Structures Medal. Thanos Papanicolaou, editor of Hydraulic Engineering, and Kevin Nielson, vice president of the Environmental and Water Resources Institute, presented the award.

  

David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies

• BYU featured a series of five study abroad students’ experiences on an Instagram story takeover. The takeover started in Washington, D.C. and led to other students’ locations in Vienna, Austria; London, England; Senegal and Morocco; and Moscow, Russia. Fourteen percent of BYU’s 91,000 following watched the series for a total of 1.6 million views of photos and videos within the story. The purpose of the takeover series was to allow students to see an insider’s perspective of a day in the life of a study abroad student, and get them interested in exploring those opportunities.

  

Marriott School of Management

• Carly McDonald once served as an LDS missionary in Thailand, and she’s now returning to make a difference in Thailand’s government. McDonald, a Boren Fellowship recipient, plans to spend a year in Thailand helping nonprofits and the country’s government work together to promote gender equality and women. McDonald is enrolled in the master’s of public administration program in the Marriott School of Business. She said the program has taught her about running governments and nonprofits.

  

David O. McKay School of Education

•  BYU graduate Richard Culatta works as CEO for the International Society for Technology in education. He recently shared insight on research needs, one-to-one computing, and passive versus active learning in an Education Week article. In his interview, Culatta said technology will be used more as a tool for enabling new types of learning than as a tool for distributing content in the future

College of Fine Arts and Communications

• In a recent study, BYU communications professors Kris Boyle, Clark Callahan and Tom Robinson identified four categories of Facebook users: relationship builders, town criers, selfies and window shoppers. Robinson said most subjects identified with multiple categories but identify more with one than the others.

J. Reuben Clark Law School

• Derek Miller, CEO of World Trade Center Utah, graduated from BYU with a bachelor’s in international relations, a master’s in public administration and a juris doctorate. Miller has shared an idea that may turn Utah into the world’s campus: an inland port in Utah, which may be a significant economic benefit to the state for 40 to 50 years.

  

Library

• The public is invited to attend a free exhibition of the work of popular LDS artist Matt Page. Page, also known as “MatsbyArt” online, has a large following in the LDS community. The exhibit will be held during July on the first level of the library inside the Special Collections room during regular hours.