Highlights from BYU colleges

College of Family Home and Social Sciences

• BYU professor Dr. Chris Karpowitz, along with Dr. Tali Mendelberg from Princeton University, conducted a study on gender equality in politics and found that women’s voices are only truly heard in certain situations. In the study, men and women were placed into groups and asked to make either unanimous or by majority decisions on money redistribution. For unanimous group agreements, discussions were longer and more inclusive. However, when men were the minority, they were more likely to participate and interrupt. For majority rule decisions, when women dominated the group, men were more resistant to their stances. Therefore, in order to achieve their goals, women had to be the majority of groups. The study showed that unanimous decisions are in favor of women when they are the minority, whereas by majority decisions are in favor of women when they are the majority.

  

Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology

• BYU electrical and computer engineering professor Randal W. Beard received BYU’s highest faculty honor, the Karl G. Maesar Distinguished Faculty Lecturer Award. Beard’s efforts towards an unmanned aircraft system had over $10 million worth of grants and 200 peer-reviewed publications with over 20,000 citations. He has built a successful company and has mentored hundreds of undergraduate students, along with 14 PhD and 25 graduate students during his time at BYU. Other engineering faculty were also honored with university awards, including Steven L. Shumway for the Karl G. Maeser Excellence in Teaching Award, Brad L. Hutchings for Alumni Professorship, and Alan R. Parkinson for the Abraham O. Smoot Citizenship Award.

  

Marriott School of Business

• BYU associate professor of accountancy David Wood has won his seventh American Accounting Association award, the 2017 American Horizons Best Paper Award. Wood was presented the award along with a $2,500 prize for his published September 2016 article, “Comparing the Publication Process in Accounting, Economics, Finance, Management, Marketing, Psychology, and the Natural Sciences.” He graduated from the Marriott School of Management with a BS in accounting and MAcc degrees. Since 2009, he has taught accounting data analytics, accounting information systems and experimental research design.

  

• Marriott School of Management changed its name to BYU Marriott School of Business on August 30, 2017. Two department names were changed and seven new majors have been created from existing emphases within previous majors. The Department of Organizational Leadership and Strategy is now the Department of Management; The Department of Recreation Management is now the Department of Experience Design and Management. Majors created include Entrepreneurial Management, Global Supply Chain Management, Human Resource Management, Marketing, Strategic Management, Experience Design and Management and Therapeutic Recreation and Management.

College of Fine Arts and Communications

• The BYU Media Arts Program received recognition from MovieMaker Magazine as one of the top 40 film schools in North America. BYU’s recognition was based on outstanding theory and criticism training, with a focus on four courses: History of Animation, History of Documentary and Nonfiction Film, Children’s Media and Transcendence: Religion and Film. BYU will be featured on MovieMaker Magazine’s “Best Film Schools in the U.S. and Canada 2017” list, which will be available to prospective film students.

  

College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences

• BYU chemistry professor Daniel Austin and electrical engineering professor Aaron Hawkins worked with other colleagues to create a miniature spectrometer that is capable of analyzing Mars’ atmosphere. The tool, which has shrunken down from its bulky size, still holds the same capabilities, such as detecting and finding chemical weapons and explosives, and determining whether white powder is an illegal drug. By miniaturizing the spectrometer, researchers have reduced traditional problems for the tool including size, weight and cost. The project was partly funded by the National Science Foundation, and large organizations like NASA and the U.S. Department of Defense helped fund the research.