BYU nursing students visit Japan to share disaster preparedness
BYU nursing students traveled to Japan this summer to train alongside students at Ishikawa Prefectural Nursing University in disaster preparedness and emergency response.
Led by professor Ryan Rasmussen, graduate program coordinator Craig Nuttall and visiting faculty Hiromi Tobe, the group taught mass casualty incident procedures, including triage and patient transport, through hands-on simulations and drills.
The training followed a deadly 7.6-magnitude earthquake in Ishikawa in January 2024, making the experience both timely and impactful as students strengthened clinical skills while preparing future nurses for real-world emergencies.
BYU life sciences professor publishes oat genomics research in Nature
BYU professor Rick Jellen published groundbreaking research on oat genomics in Nature, a prestigious scientific journal.
The study represents one of the most comprehensive efforts to map oat DNA to date and addresses long-standing challenges in breeding the crop.
Working alongside BYU professor Jeff Maughan and researchers from four countries, Jellen helped create the world’s first oat pan-genome by sequencing 30 oat genomes to better understand structural variation. The research explained why breeding oats is especially complex and provided new tools to help scientists develop hardier, healthier crops, while also confirming distinct genetic lineages in European oat varieties.
BYU professor finds simple reading improves language learning
BYU Japanese professor Jeff Peterson researched how easier reading materials can better support second-language learning than more difficult texts.
His work focused on a method called extensive reading, which encourages students to read large amounts of simple, understandable material to build fluency.
Peterson’s multi-year study tracked 234 intermediate Japanese learners across six semesters, comparing extensive reading, extensive listening, audio-assisted extensive reading and cultural video viewing. Results showed audio-assisted extensive reading produced the highest gains in vocabulary and reading speed, supporting the idea that combining audio and text reduces cognitive load and improves retention.