"Reaching Out" is the theme for the Spring 2020 issue of the College of Science's
"Discovery" alumni magazine
. The issue highlights community outreach efforts by the college's alumni, ranging from introducing youngsters to science and mathematics to supplying data to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The feature story spotlights Boston-area cardiologist Uyen Lam '08, whose endeavors take her to divergent ends of the health care spectrum.
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Above - Uyen Lam, right, with Mariar Tinshein, senior medical director of Mawlamyine General Hospital in Myanmar. Lam visited hospital in 2019, as part of a medical mission.
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Uyen Lam wants to make a difference. The cardiologist, who graduated from Utah State in 2008 with degrees in Cellular and Molecular Biology and Public Health, is working toward that aim at divergent ends of the health care spectrum.
Lam’s work traverses cultures, resources and continents, but her focus remains the same: Discerning patients’ needs, providing them with care and empowering them to make healthy lifestyle choices.
“The old adage, ‘An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,’ rings true,” says the 2012 graduate of the University of Utah’s School of Medicine. “I can employ cutting-edge medicine to keep you alive, but I can’t improve your quality of life without your partnership.”
Her stern assessment takes on increased urgency in the midst of a global pandemic.
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Above - USU alumna Anastassia N. Alexandrova (PhD’05, Chemistry), professor and vice chair for Undergraduate Education, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, UCLA.
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Anastassia N. Alexandrova, professor and vice chair for Undergraduate Education in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles, is the 2020 recipient of the American Chemical Society’s Early Career Award in Theoretical Chemistry from the society’s Physical Chemistry Division.
It’s not the first time the ACS has recognized Alexandrova’s accomplishments. In 2011, she received the society’s Younger Chemists Committee Leadership Development Award, along with the Rising Star Award from the ACS Women Chemists Committee in 2015.
For the Early Career Award, the ACS Physical Chemistry Division cited Alexandrova for her “development of theory of catalysis on dynamic heterogeneous interfaces based on statistical ensembles of metastable states, and applications to surface-supported catalytic clusters.”
Her research endeavors are substantial.
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Above - Conservation Biologist Joseph Wilson (BS’05, PhD’10, Biology) poses with 'Bees are the Best!' book.
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Conservation biologist Joseph S. Wilson is on a mission. The USU alum, and now a Utah State faculty member, wants to encourage efforts to protect bees, but he realizes a lot of people know little about them.
“Most people have a bee sting story or they know some bees produce honey,” says Wilson, associate professor in the Department of Biology at USU Tooele. “Most are familiar with at least honey bees and bumble bees."
But those are just a few of the more than 4,000 bee species living in North America.
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Above - Lori Hennigan, senior director of development for the College of Science.
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As the College of Science greeted a new decade, we also greeted Texas native Lori Hennigan as our new senior director of development. Just a few months into her new position, she brings new energy and insights to our efforts. We invite you to get to know Lori through the following Q & A.
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Above - USU College of Science alum Bradley Hintze (BS’09, Biochemistry) with wife, anesthesiologist Anne Cherry, and sons Alden, left, and Otto, right.
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"Curiosity killed the cat.” It is a popular refrain used to warn against having too much curiority. I suppose in the extreme, under just the right circumstances, the saying may have merit. But, I would guess that these cases are quite few. Curiosity, I would argue, is more essential to survival than food, water or shelter.
As humans, we are highly dependent on our parents for survival for an extended period of time. In the early years, that dependence is complete. But even under that circumstance, we are curious and learning. My 7-month-old son is learning to crawl. The motivation? Curiosity about objects around him that he can’t reach. Certainly, this progression to walking is a crucial survival trait, more so for humans in primitive times.
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