BYU employee since… November 2020.
My job at BYU is… dean of the College of Computational, Mathematical and Physical Sciences. It’s like being the principal of your high school but of one college at BYU. Or if a department is like a ward, this is like being the stake president.
I’m currently working on... making a database of about 50 thousand 3D images of bacterial cells that my group recorded public.
I’m currently reading… a biography of President David O. McKay.
My favorite book is... "The Great Divorce," by C.S. Lewis — read it! Life-changing, and only takes a couple of hours.
I get most excited about my work when… we identify some new way we can move BYU closer to being the Everest of education in math and science.
Seeing posters of the structures of large macromolecular complexes inside cells in the hallways of the Eyring Science Center as a physics student ...sparked my interest in my field.
My favorite part about teaching is... the appreciation I feel from students when I’ve helped them understand something complex that they need to know.
My favorite lecture to teach is... how electron microscopes produce atomic-resolution images.
When I have 30 minutes of free time, you can find me... either working in my yard or sitting in my big green La-Z-Boy chair reading The Wall Street Journal.
My advice to incoming freshmen is… go to office hours — your professors are waiting for you — you’re crazy not to.
My advice to graduating seniors is… have kids.
My favorite BYU tradition is… floating down the Provo River in inner tubes.
My most cherished memory at BYU is… meeting my wife in my freshman family home evening group.
On Saturday mornings you’ll find me… working in my yard — cutting grass, fixing sprinklers, trimming trees.
I’m most looking forward to… buying one of those new electric bikes that can go 50 mph.
My favorite quote is… "Hurrah for Israel!”
