Empire of the SultansWill Close January 20th

“Empire of the Sultans: Ottoman Art from the Khalili Collection,” a spectacular exhibition highlight-ing the rich artistic heritage of one of the most extraordinary world powers in the history of Europe and the Middle East, will end its run January 20 at the Museum of Art.

This exhibition embraces every aspect of Ottoman art and a dynasty that spanned more than six centuries with more than 200 objects ranging from Holy Qur’ans, arms and armor to rich textiles, treasury objects, gilt manuscripts, ceramics, scientific instruments and more. The exhibition is organized and circulated by Art Services International, Alexandria, Virginia.

Admission for Museum Members is free. Regular tickets cost $8 for BYU faculty, staff or students with ID. Ticket price also includes an audio guide. Group and family pricing for the exhibit is also avail-able. To purchase tickets or for more

BYU chemistry professor Brian Woodfield has combined chemistry and computers so students can mix potent chemical cocktails on their computers without worrying about burning down the laboratory.

Currently, students in more than 20 colleges and universities in the United States and Canada use his software, Virtual ChemLab, as part of their course work.

“Because of cost and time restraints, most students are forced to spend lab

time simply following detailed instruc-tions to obtain the desired results,” said Woodfield. “They don’t often have the time to experiment freely.”

Virtual ChemLab includes all the amenities of a real laboratory setting, from Bunsen burners and C–clamps to limitless supplies of calcium, mag-nesium and expensive or hazardous substances to which students usually have infrequent access. With the click of a mouse students can set up, con-duct experiments and view results.

Continued on pg. 3Continued on pg. 3

Inside This Issue:Empire of the Sultan ................ p. 1 Accounting for Excellence ....... p. 2Trails of Hope Collection ........ p. 2 Men’s Volleyball ..................... p. 6

Campus Community

Professor’s Virtual Chem Lab Makes a BangKristin Prina

Brigham Young University Volume 3, March 2012

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Brigham Young University

History teachers and students can now access an on–line library to take a more personal look at the lives of their ancestors and other trailblazers who trekked westward during the Gold Rush and Mormon migration.

The “Trails of Hope” digital collection, developed at BYU, con-tains 59 diaries penned on the Mormon, California, Oregon and Montana trails between 1846 and 1869. Interactive maps, photos and essays supplement the diaries, most of which were previously unpublished.

“I can see teachers downloading sections and pieces to be viewed in the classroom,” said Susan Fales, curator of digital historical collections at the Harold B. Lee Library. “We hope school-children can read and see the actual handwriting as well as the transcripts.”

The youngest of the diarists is Emmeline B. Wells, who at 18 years of age was part of the Mormon exodus from Nauvoo, Illinois. After set-tling in Utah, Wells became known for her work as an

advocate of women’s suffrage and as the fifth general president of the Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter–day Saints. But she first experienced the hardships of trail life. “It looked like pictures I have seen of the ancients pitching their tents and journeying from place to place with their cattle and their goods,” wrote Wells when she joined the pioneer camp.

As time passed, punctuation vanished from her diary but vivid description remained. “Just across the creek someone had set the prairie on fire how we were to cross this was a question it ran like lightning through the grass making a crackling among the bushes resembling the noise of burning crackers.”

“The fact that both the original manuscript and a typed manuscript are

provided

makes the collection a very reliable source,” said Professor Richard Rieck of Western Illinois University, who used the Web site to research geography and death on the overland trails. “One day when using Google to look for any trail diaries I could find, up popped one from the collection and that day I dropped everything else and began to ‘mine’ it for everything I could use.” The Web site — located at http://overlandtrails.byu.edu — also features biographies of each of the diarists and search options to locate journal entries about specific places and events.

Construction of the collection began in 1998 when the Lee Library won a $65,000 grant from the Library of Congress/Ameritech Digital Library Competition. Library staff then combined materials from their Special Collections department with resources from other institutions. The finished product consists of 9,350

scanned images of the writings along with the searchable, text–

based transcripts of each diary. The information

is also hosted on the Library of

Congress Web site.

“Trails of Hope” Digital Collection Available

BYU Accounting Teams Dominate Tax Competition

A team of four accounting graduate students from the Marriott School won first place in the national Deloitte & Touche Tax Challenge competition. The school’s undergraduate team placed

second in a separate division.

“We’re extremely proud of our students’ performance,” says Ned C. Hill, dean of the Marriott School. “BYU is the only university to ever have both teams place in the top three in the same year. We have

achieved this for five consecutive years and six times since the competition began 11 years ago.”

Deloitte & Touche officials selected six graduate and six undergraduate teams as finalists to compete in two divisions from 60 teams representing 40 colleges and universities in regional competition.

Finalists were presented with a complex case study that required them to analyze data, identify issues and consider tax solutions for a fictitious client. Students were given only five hours to solve the

client’s problem and write a solution.Continued on pg. 3

Continued on pg. 5

Joseph Hadfield

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More than 2,500 pictures, 300 video clips and numerous animations help illustrate the outcome of each chemi-cal combination or experiment even if it proves disastrous.

Melissa Moore, a BYU graduate student in instructional psychology and technology, helped design the program and oversaw undergraduate BYU chemistry students as they tested the simulations. “It was neat to see them experiment on different things that I never had exposure to and equipment I wasn’t allowed access to when I was an undergraduate student,” said Moore.

The simulations, which Woodfield says have increased student perfor-mance in BYU organic chemistry labs by 30 percent, have also been implemented in high schools.

Steven Haderlie, a chemistry teacher of 25 years, introduced the program at Springville High School and has been impressed with the results. “It can help illustrate con-cepts that are difficult for students to visualize on the board or on an overhead—it really helps with under-standing,” said Haderlie.

He said the simulations accelerate the learning process, causing students

to take ownership of their own learning and take more initiative.

“Their attitudes change, and in a difficult course like chemistry, confidence plays an important role,” said Haderlie.

“Students work harder and feel more confident about trying new things when we provide an environment where making discoveries is possible. They may not all become chemistry majors, but we have succeeded in moving them to a higher level of learning.”

BYU’s Woodfield came up with the concept for Virtual ChemLab as a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley. He used a $50,000 grant from BYU and a $280,000 grant from the Department of Education to fund the project.

Four out of an eventual six simulations are complete and work has begun on the fifth. The finished collection will include simulations for inorganic qualitative analysis, fundamental experiments and quantum chemistry, gas properties, titrations, calorimetry and organic chemistry. •

information, call the Marriott Ticket Office at 1–800–422–BYU1 or ext. 2–BYU1.

The works are drawn from the Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, one of the largest collections of its kind. “Empire of the Sultans” marks the first time this collection has been seen in the United States.

Among the treasures are calligraphic medallions in gilded wood that decorated mosques, brilliantly decorated armor and jewel–encrusted weapons used in battle by Suleyman the Magnificent, exquisite Persian carpets and painstakingly illustrated albums and books. The spectacular exhibition reveals the origi-nality and resilience of Ottoman artistic expression in religious, military, administrative and daily life and the central role of imperial patronage.

The exhibition is arranged in four sections which are titled “In the Service of God,” “Sultans, Soldiers, and Clerks,” “Arts and Crafts” and “Books, Paintings and Scripts.” •

“This competition requires students to think creatively,” says

Ron Worsham, associate professor of accounting and graduate team advisor. “Some parts of the problem have basically one right

answer, but other parts are open–ended. Being able to apply creative solutions distinguishes the winners.”

Graduate team members Alicia Carlson, Aurora, Colorado; Laura Hancock, Bothell, Washington; Mats Dobberfuhl,

Barron, Wisconsin; and Jennifer Borneman, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, will each receive a $1,000 scholarship, and the

Marriott School’s School of Accounting and Information Systems will receive a $10,000 grant. Undergraduate team members Terry Jackson, Henderson, Nevada; Marianne

Hafen, Las Vegas, Nevada; Matt Walton, Campbell, California; and Linda Andrews, Taylorsville, Utah,

will each receive $500 scholarships and a $5,000 grant for the school. •

Continued from pg. 2Chem Lab Continued from pg. 1

SultansContinued from pg. 1

Above: Exceptional art from the Middle East on display until January 20th

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Brigham Young University

Recent BYU graduate Ben Rabner doesn’t plan to

pursue the English degree he earned in April in a tra-ditional fashion. His passion, he has discovered, is much more hands–on.

Rabner is an aspiring furniture designer with national awards and international

contracts to justify his career switch.

Despite the fact that BYU didn’t have a

furniture design pro-gram until this semester,

Ben slated every woodwork-ing class the university offered and worked closely with faculty

members like Kip Christensen to satisfy his desire to learn

the art and business of furniture design.

“Initially, it was a matter of utility—I needed a chair so I built one,” says Rabner. “Then I started noticing furniture form and design in magazines and decided functionality wasn’t enough.”

Ben’s extra–mile approach not only satiated

his thirst for design know–how but also earned him

second place in creative chair design last year at the Student Design Show in Anaheim.

Aside from being a giant pat on the back, the award has boosted his already budding career and convinced him that starting his own design business would be more fulfilling than pursuing graduate studies.

Ben’s brother, Peter, proved sawdust runs in the Rabner blood when he won first prize in the occasional category (tables and accent pieces) at the International Woodworking Fair in Atlanta August 22. With a for-midably demanding application process, few candidates are even

asked to attend the fair, which makes the award all the sweeter for Peter.

“I’m convinced many students come and go from BYU and have no idea we have a very nicely equipped studio where they could learn to design and build furniture,” says industrial design professor Kip Christensen. Recent restructuring within the BYU School of Technology has included the resurrec-tion of two furniture design classes—Industrial Design 33R (Introduction to Furniture Design) and 435R (Advanced Furniture Design).

Although these classes have been on the books for years,

BYU Resurrects Furniture Design Courses

“Initially, it was a matter of utility — I needed a chair so I built one”

Linguistics MeetingThe annual Deseret Language and

Linguistics Society Symposium will be Thursday and Friday, December 6–7, from 9 am

to 4 pm in 3241 WSC. The symposium will include 40 presentations on current research in language

and linguistics. For more information, contact David Bowie at ext. 2–9168.

Additional information about these and other cam-pus events is available at:

www.byu.edu/news/ynews

Breast Cancer ScreeningsHuman Resource Services is sponsoring the 10th annual

Early Breast Cancer Detection Campaign. BYU has arranged with DMBA and Utah Valley Regional Medical Center to provide high–quality care in a comfortable and profes-

sional atmosphere. Female personnel and spouses of male personnel with DMBA health care plans are

invited to make appointments during the BYU screening period November 3–19. Appointments

for the mammograms may be made online at http://www.byu.edu/hr/wellness. For

additional information, call Danielle Palmer at ext. 2–5723.

Happenings on Campus

Craig Kartchner

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they’ve not actually been taught for at least a decade.

The industrial design classes will replace the previous woodworking classes taught through Technology Teacher Education, and will increase emphasis on creative design and traditional production techniques.

“Both of these young men are really talented and have a passion for the art,” says Christensen. “All their work is of their own initiative. None of it fills a requirement for graduation.”

The Rabners’ studio looks more like a museum than a workshop. But a visitor is likely to see as much

stone, resins and glass as cherry wood and walnut.

“I mix a lot of media to get the contemporary, high–end studio effect,” says Ben. “I don’t see myself

as just a cabinetmaker.”Having already contracted to cus-

tom–build several pieces for houses in the Parade of Homes, and with a

mass–market international deal on the horizon, the future looks promising for Ethan Allen’s newest competitor.

“There’s a huge need in the 18– to 30–year–old market because it’s hard for them to find unique, clean designs that are also affordable,” says Ben. “I want to fill that void.” •

Producing digital versions of the diaries not only protects the original diaries from overuse but also makes the writing and history accessible to a broader audience, Fales said. “One of the key components is that we developed this for everybody,” she said. “We want to reach out to people who would never walk through our doors.”

In addition to “Trails of Hope,” the Lee Library hosts 12 other digital collections, such as the BYU Museum of Art Collection and the journal Marriage and Families (see www.lib.byu.edu/hbll/). •

“Trails of Hope” Continued from pg. 2

Sperry Symposium

The BYU Sperry Symposium on the Scriptures Friday and Saturday, October 27–28, will feature Elder L. Aldin Porter of

the First Quorum of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter–day Saints and Andrew Skinner, dean of Religious Education. The symposium will begin at 6:30 pm in the JSB auditorium. Lectures will continue until 9:30 pm in the auditorium and the nearby Martin Building. Lectures will resume Saturday morning at 9 am in the JSB auditorium and will continue through 11 am. No admission fee or

registration are required.

Devotional Elder Charles Didier of the First Quorum

of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter–day Saints will speak at a devotional

Tuesday, October 2, at 11:05 am in the Marriott Center.

The devotional will be broadcast live on KBYU–TV (Channel 11), the BYU–Television and BYU–Radio satel-

lite networks and at broadcasting.byu.edu. It will be rebroadcast Sunday (October 7) at 6 am on KBYU–TV,

on BYU–Television at 8 am and 4 pm, and on KBYU–FM at 8 pm.

Born in Belgium, Elder Didier is currently a member of the presidency of the First

Quorum of the Seventy.

“A visitor is likely to see as much stone, resins and glass as cherry wood and walnut.”

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Brigham Young University

The Marriott Center attendance at Friday night’s men’s volleyball game against Hawaii marked the second largest crowd in BYU volleyball his-tory. The 11,513 fans also marked the largest crowd to watch a men’s volley-ball match in the country this season.

“The crowd was great,” BYU head coach Tom Peterson said. “They were

absolutely fabulous. The Marriott Center is different than playing in the Smith Fieldhouse. It brings a different emotion, a different atmosphere. We went from the Fieldhouse to an arena that is like the arena Hawaii plays in. We’re not used to such a huge, cavernous place. But the fans were absolutely fabulous.” •

Above: Hitter (3) spikes the ball, scoring the winning point in game three.

Left: Setter (12) hits over the Hawaii block in game four.

BYU and Hawaii Collide at Marriott Center

Chuck Stiggins of the Department of Physical Education in the College of Health and Human Performance has been appointed to the Huntsman World Senior Games Board of Trustees.

Stiggins will be responsible for overseeing the health screening of the Senior Games’ participants. He and several other faculty members will also be conducting a study regarding balance, coordination and equilibrium.

He is considered to be a leading authority in the fields of athletic strength and conditioning, health, fitness and wellness.

John Lamb and the BYU Chemistry Department recently hosted 150 scientists from 25 countries for the 27th International Symposium on Macrocyclic Chemistry in Park City. Lamb chaired the organizing commit-tee, composed largely of Chemistry Department faculty.

The symposium focused on the chemistry of a class of molecules that form cavities which can trap other chemical species selectively.

A special session was held to honor retired BYU professor Reed M. Izatt, who started the program.

Lee T. Perry, Mark H. Hansen, C. Shane Reese, and Gilbert W.

Fellingham received the best paper prize from The Strategic Management Society at the organi-zation’s 22nd annual international conference in Paris, France.

Their paper, “A Bayesian Application of the Resource–Based View: Narrowing the Gap between Theory and Practice,” proposes an advanced statistical model that can be used to predict the consequences of an organization’s decisions on its financial performance. •

Campus Community is published monthly during the academic year by University Communications. Editor: Cecelia Fielding, C–347 ASB, BYU, Provo, UT 84602; 801–422–4377. Photo Editor: Mark A. Philbrick. News items are welcome. Send copy to the above address; fax to 801–422–6005; or email to CommunityNews@byu.edu.

Jeff Reynolds

Faculty/Staff Notes