Highlights from BYU colleges

Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology

• BYU civil engineering professor Kevin Franke took a team to Mexico to explore why Mexico’s recent 7.1 magnitude earthquake was so deadly.The National Science Foundation-funded mission included Franke and colleagues from the Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance Association. They used drones to map out the earthquake’s impact. This helped provide understanding for why more than 40 buildings collapsed. Franke said Mexico City is built on a bed of ancient lake clay and is sinking about 10 centimeters a year. Soft soils tend to amplify earthquake motions, which increases the destruction.The drone data will be used to create 3D computer models of the earthquake’s destruction. From there, the models will be used with “structure from motion” computer vision to help scientists study why some buildings were impacted more than others.

  

Marriott School of Business

• U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Brett Swigert was named the 2017 N. Dale Wright Alumnus of the Year by the Romney Institute of Public Management. Swigert received his commission through BYU’s Air Force ROTC in 1996 and his MPA through the Romney institute in 2004. His career has included positions like intelligence operations watch officer and branch chief at the National Security agency, and team lead for an executive protection team under presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. He is currently the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s Chief of Targeting Automation for the Department of Defense. He has two sons with his wife Tammy.

  

David O. McKay School of Education

• The Communication Disorders Department welcomed Katy Cabbage as an assistant professor and Doug Peterson as an associate professor. In addition, the Department of Teacher Education has gained visiting faculty member Alisa Belliston and assistant professor Sarah Clark. Michael Owens is a new associate professor in the Educational Leadership and Foundations Department.

  

College of Humanities

• BYU associate Spanish professor Douglas J. Weatherford recently translated Juan Rulfo’s novel “El Gallo de Oro” (or “The Golden Cockerel”) into English. The novel tells the story of a poor, rural Mexican with a disfigured arm who seeks his fortune through cock fighting and games of chance.
• Rulfo helped usher in the Latin American literary boom and is best known for his novel “Pedro Paramo” (1955) and collection of short stories “El Llano en llamas” (1953). His work looked to create a distinct Mexican identity after the 1910 revolution and questioned the country’s direction at that time.

  

College of Fine Arts and Communications

• BRAVO! Professional Performing Arts Producer Jeffrey Martin announced earlier this fall that he has been appointed as director of the University of Georgia’s (UGA) Performing Arts Center. As a result, BYU Arts Production Manager Bridget Benton was recently announced as Martin’s replacement. Benton has worked as a Production Manager for BYU Arts Production for the past five years, overseeing BYU’s School of Music and BRAVO! series. She received a Bachelor of Arts from Hanover College in Indiana and a Master of Fine Arts in Stage Management from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

  

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  Library

• The library’s Geospatial Services and Training will have a station near the main floor’s circulation desk on Wednesday, Nov. 15 with activities for Geographic Information Systems Day. 

• Geography Information Systems Day has been held the third Wednesday of every November since 1999 as part of Geography Awareness Week. Geographic Information Systems are designed to visualize, analyze and interpret spatial data. Computer software users can find spatial patterns, trends and relationships in seemingly unrelated data.