Sydney Springer

Earlene Durrant was hired as BYU’s first female athletic trainer in 1972. With little to no funding for the women’s athletic training program 50 years ago, Durrant worked from a small corner in the women’s locker room and even took leftover tape from the men’s training room trash in order to care for female athletes. These obstacles didn’t deter Durrant; she was passionate about advocating for female athletes because “women need to be just as conditioned as men to prevent injuries.”

The virus, Chikungunya, which means "that which bends up," has a cure coming for it after student Madison Gray's research and findings.

Over seventy Life Sciences students hung their research posters in the BYU Conference Center on Thursday, November 10, creating a maze of well-dressed scientists presenting developing discoveries before judges. All projects were partially funded by a College Undergraduate Research Award (CURA), grant money donated to innovative undergraduate students working with faculty members. Every year judges have the challenge of selecting only three presentations in each department to receive additional cash prizes, and every year the College of Life Sciences comes prepared with their knowledge and passion, ready to create ripples of impact in the scientific community.

BYU undergraduate food science students win the $10,000 grand prize at the 2022 Idaho Milk Processor's Association Conference for their dairy product, "Cream Cheese clouds."

Our Counselor, Friend, and Role Model

News From Our Life Sciences Departments

Bringing Focus to Diversity in the College of Life Sciences

In 2002, the death of legendary NFL center Mike Webster introduced the world to the degenerative brain disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). The disease is marked by depression, rage, substance abuse, cognitive dysfunction, and dementia, and diagnoses are rising rapidly among retired football players.

Connor Littlefield was raised in a family that was unafraid to ask questions and find answers. Two such questions led him to graduate with a degree in nutritional science: “What does it really mean to ‘burn’ a calorie? And what metabolic processes are keeping your body alive and healthy?”