Highlights from BYU colleges

College of Family Home and Social Sciences

• BYU School of Family Life associate professor of human development, Dr. Sarah Coyne, will speak about media affects on families at BYU’s Continuing Education “Families at Risk” lecture series on December 13. Coyne’s recent research includes studying mother’s media monitoring styles and adolescent media use and the impact of texting on adolescent behavior.Dr. Sarah Coyne will speak about media affecting families on December 13.

Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology

• Manufacturing engineering technology alumnus Regan Homer snagged a career with BD medical, a Fortune 500 company, after graduating from BYU and interning with the company for two and a half years. He currently leads teams of professionals on long-term improvement, quality control and cost projects, as well as being used as an engineering resource for other BD projects.

Marriott School of Business

• Two teams of BYU students each won first place in different divisions of the Purdue Human Resources Case Competition. Though one team was made up of undergraduate students and the other of MBA students, both teams worked on a case involving civil engineering company CH2M. Teams were asked to address the issues of retaining, recruiting and incentivizing relocation to remote areas. Thirty minutes before their presentations, they were also asked to show how at least one of CH2M’s five company values was connected to their solution. Both teams were already prepared for the curveball, however, and the undergraduate team won $3,000 while the MBA team won $5,000.

College of Life Sciences

• BYU recently published researched in Genome Medicine detailing a new approach in Alzheimer’s treatment. BYU professors Perry Ridge and John Kauwe discovered a rare genetic variant that provides a protective effect for high-risk individuals who never acquired the disease. This means there’s a specific reason why people who should get Alzheimer’s remain healthy. Study authors believe this genetic function could be targeted with medicine to reduce the risk of getting the disease.

College of Fine Arts and Communications

• Piano performance majors recently had the opportunity to participate in a master class with professional pianist Spencer Meyer via video conference. In addition to the video, the Yamaha Disklavier piano Meyer played in Boston was connected to the HFAC piano students played. While participants played their selections in Provo, Myer heard and saw the notes played in real time at his piano and viewed the performer’s technique on screen. The masterclass was the School of Music’s second use of distance learning.

College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences

• BYU research commissioned by the Federal Highway Administration shows highway features that make accidents less likely. The research was co-authored by statistics professor Matt Heaton, professor Shannon Neely Tass and former master’s student Kaitlin Gibson. The team combined two separate statistical analyses to explore potential factors from crashes on interstate highways in Washington.

College of Nursing

• Visiting nursing scholar Fen Yang from Wuhan, Hubei Province, China will be working on evidence nursing and community management of chronic disease research at BYU through April 2018. Yang is currently studying to obtain her doctorate.