Skip to main content
Intellect

New department chairs for BYU College of Physical, Mathematical Sciences

Earl Woolley, dean of the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences at Brigham Young University, recently announced changes to the leadership in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the Department of Mathematics Education.

Paul Farnsworth, who served as associate chair for the past three years, has replaced Fran Nordmeyer as chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Paul Savage has accepted the appointment to replace Farnsworth as associate chair.

Blake Peterson has replaced Steve Williams as the new associate chair for the Department of Mathematics Education. Williams was recently appointed editor of the Journal of Research in Mathematics Education.

"We look forward to our association with the new leadership," Woolley says. "We also thank Fran Nordmeyer and Steve Williams for their tireless efforts."

As chair, Nordmeyer led the department through significant student-enrollment growth and facilitated the hiring of a dozen new faculty members. He now returns to full-time teaching and committee work.

Farnsworth has published many articles and served as an editor of an international spectroscopy journal. He also initiated the plans to offer a computer-aided hybrid introductory chemistry course.

Savage maintains a reputation of being an inspired teacher among students since joining the faculty in 1995, and was the recipient of a 2004 Karl G. Maeser Teaching Award.

For information or questions, contact the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, (801) 422-2674.

Writer: Devin Knighton

Related Articles

data-content-type="article"

Wildflowers not wildfires: How BYU and Provo City are helping to restore Rock Canyon Trailhead

July 10, 2025
At Rock Canyon Trailhead in Provo, Utah, BYU researchers are fighting fires with flowers. By replacing a problematic weed called cheatgrass with wildflowers, students and faculty are working to protect and restore one of Provo’s most popular hiking spots.
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

Wildfires in residential areas are on the rise; why hydrants and the water system behind them were never meant to stop those fires

July 01, 2025
BYU professor Rob Sowby teaches and studies environmental engineering, urban water infrastructure and sustainability. He has particular expertise in the planning, design, construction and operation of public water systems. That expertise has been increasingly important (and regularly sought out) in the wake of apocalyptic wildfires that have taxed those public water systems.
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

Meet the BYU math student helping make wildfire predictions faster and smarter

June 25, 2025
Using machine learning and math, a BYU student improved a key tool firefighters rely on during wildfire season
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText=