Briefs: Top honors for USU students, staff; new exhibit

    Biological and Irrigation Engineering students from Utah State University took the top awards at the annual conference of the Institute of Biological Engineering recently in Santa Clara, Calif. The BIE students were awarded five out of the nine awards presented. They received awards in the areas of Undergraduate Poster Competition, Graduate Student Poster Competition and the National Bioethics Essay Competition.
    Eight faculty members and 16 BIE-supported students participated in the event. There were 200 attendees from more than 40 national and international organizations participating. This included universities, private industry and national government units through platform and poster presentations as well as plenary sessions.
    The department recognizes financial support from the Graduate Student Senate, the office of the Vice President for Research, individual faculty advisors and mentors.

    Jared Farmer, who graduated from Utah State University in 1996, recently won the prestigious 2009 Francis Parkman Prize from the Society for American Historians for his book “On Zion’s Mount: Mormons, Indians, and the American Landscape” (Harvard University Press, 2008). The award honors the literary value of the work in addition to the book’s historical significance.
    During his time at USU, Farmer earned his undergraduate degree in history and was an undergraduate intern at the “Western Historical Quarterly,” working with its editor at the time Clyde Milner. David Lewis was a faculty member in the history department at that time and is now the journal’s editor.
    “Jared was one of those rare undergraduates who come along once or twice in a professor’s career,” Lewis said. “Very early, it became clear he was an exceptional student.”
    According to Lewis, Farmer studied broadly during his time at USU, with a distinct focus on Utah, western, environmental and folklore topics.
    “On Zion’s Mount” is Farmer’s second book. His first, “Glen Canyon Dammed: Inventing Lake Powell and the Canyon Country,” was published in 1999.

    The Utah State University Museum of Anthropology hosts a grand opening for four new exhibits Monday, April 20, at 5 p.m.
    The featured exhibits are “Fibers of Inheritance” which showcases Middle Eastern textiles from the Lyman and Vivian B. Willardson Collection; “Message on a Body” which discusses body modification practices across the globe; “Otzi, The Iceman” a redesigned exhibit of a favorite installation; and “Anthropology, What’s it to You?,” also a redesigned installation to enhance the entryway of the museum space.
    For more information on this event, call museum staff at 797-7545.