College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences
Computer science professor Mark Clement, economics professor Joseph Price and a team of computer science students have developed a machine-learning feature that scans data from more than 32 million 1930 census records, which totals to nearly 137 million people. This feature is part of a newly released Web application, Vet Finder, which tells people who are World War I veterans in their family tree. The program includes what has been previously indexed as well as new data, like handwriting-recognition programs that link a veteran’s status to one’s name or other indexed information.
College of Family, Home and Social Sciences
Kara Duraccio received the Deseret Book Award for Excellence, which is given to only one BYU graduate every five years. The recipient of this award is described by Deseret Book as one with, “traits of excellence that will allow them to make a worthy contribution to the communities in which they live.” Duraccio studies clinical psychology at BYU, a passion she found after taking an introduction to psychology course and reading the textbook in its entirety in just a few weeks. At BYU, Durracio does research in her field and directly applies her findings in her work. Through study and application, she has learned how to care for her child as both a mother and as a practitioner in childhood behavioral studies.
Marriott School of Business
The BYU MBA program has been ranked No. 25 among all business schools nationwide. Bloomberg Businessweek also gave the BYU Marriott’s MBA individual rankings of No. 24 for networking, No. 26 for entrepreneurship and No. 31 for compensation.
College of Fine Arts and Communications
BYU art professor Joe Ostraff presented at the Faith and Works lecture series on Nov. 1. Throughout his lecture, Ostraff explained how his faith and beliefs are a major influence in creating collaborative art projects which celebrate human relationships. For Ostraff, art is more than an image. “I see an issue in myself and use art to eradicate it. We are the first patient of our art. It was meant to change us,” he said.
To learn more about upcoming speakers in the Faith and Works series, click here.
Harold B. Lee Library
The BYU Harold B. Lee Library released the winter schedule for the Library Film Series. The shows include “The Great Race,” “Charade” and “A Hard Day’s Night.” All films are free and are shown in the Alice Louise Reynolds Auditorium at 7 p.m. For a full list of showing dates and times, click here.
Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering
A BYU team, led by civil engineering professor Kevin Franke and chemical engineering professor John Hedengren, created a program that allows a drone to map its own route and fly independently. The team recently tested this algorithm to collect images and data of Italian cities destroyed by an earthquake, as well as to analyze the strength and endurance of infrastructures and what can be improved. Watch a video about this development below.
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