The Department contains an
extremely broad diversity of faculty and student research interests,
covering the full spectrum of modern biology from biochemistry through
environmental biology. Even in this age of specialization, many of the
most important and exciting discoveries occur at the boundaries between
traditional fields of research. We believe that both students and faculty
need to develop as much understanding as possible of the problems and
findings of specialties far removed from their own, and that the best way
to do this is to interact on a daily basis with colleagues who are working
in those areas.
Despite its large size and great diversity, the Department functions in
almost all respects as a single entity. The only subdivisions are four
informal "interest groups" that meet occasionally to discuss matters of
common concern and to elect representatives to the executive committee.
These groups are: Molecular Biology and Biochemistry; Genetics, Cell
Biology and Developmental Biology; Physiology and Organismal Biology; and
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. The four groups are nearly identical in
size, showing how successful we have been in maintaining balance among the
major areas of modern biology. In addition, the interests of many
individual faculty members are unusually broad, in some cases making the
choice of interest group a somewhat arbitrary decision. Most faculty
appear in several of the ten research areas listed on the Biology home page, and many
appear in surprising combinations of areas.
Formal and informal collaborations of many kinds are a major feature of
life in the Department, and they frequently cut across interest group
lines. The flow of ideas and techniques is facilitated at every turn by an
almost complete absence of territoriality. For example, many graduate
students do substantial amounts of work in laboratories other than those
of their nominal advisor. There is also a great deal of interaction
between our Department and the several biological sciences departments in
the nearby School of Medicine. Most students and faculty members place a
high value on the stimulation they receive from belonging to such a
diverse scientific community. In recent years three of our faculty have
been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, for work done here, and
a recent major review of the Department concluded that it is among "the
best departments in the nation of a similar scope and type." Among the
criteria used to make this assessment were quality of publications and
quality of graduate students. Work in the Department is supported by more
than $10 million per year in external funding.
The facilities and other resources available to members of the
Department are outstanding. Individual laboratories are well
equipped, and the long list of general facilities includes
animal care, greenhouses, an experimental garden, electron microscopes,
oligonucleotide synthesizers, mass spectrometers devoted to the analysis
of stable isotopes, and networked mini-and micro-computers with extensive
research software including sequence databases, bibliographic databases,
and mathematical, statistical, and phylogenetic analysis packages.
Additional facilities for molecular biology and biochemistry are available
in the School of Medicine, as is the Eccles Library of Medicine. The
nearby Utah Museum of Natural History houses the state herbarium and some
other notable regional collections (especially of mammals and fossils).
Immediately adjacent to campus is the nearly pristine 6,000 acre Red Butte
Canyon Research Natural Area. Utah State University is in Logan, a
90-minute drive to the north, and Brigham Young University is in
Provo, a 50-minute drive to the south. Both are full of biological
colleagues and other valuable resources.
Also a great cultural and recreational environment. Salt Lake City
is a cosmopolitan center of more than half a million people, located in the
heart of the intermountain west. The city supports a distinguished symphony,
an opera company, three award-winning dance companies, numerous theater
groups, an arts festival, a jazz festival, and of course the Sundance Film
Festival. A great diversity of languages and religions from all over the
world are alive and well here. Eating out is easy and rewarding: there are
many fine and affordable restaurants representing a huge diversity of tastes
and national cuisines. And yes you can get a drink, both in the restaurants
(most of them) and a diversity of clubs, bars and brew pubs. There are also
several professional sports teams, including the Utah Jazz (NBA), the Salt
Lake Bees (AAA baseball), and Real Salt Lake (Major League Soccer).
Outside the city proper, mountain and desert areas are close at hand
providing opportunity for all kinds of outdoor recreational activities.
The University is located at the base of the Wasatch mountains, which
provide superb terrain for back-country and resort skiing in the winter
and for hiking and mountain biking in the summer. Utah is home to five
national parks and several wilderness areas, which are ideal for
backpacking, river-running, fishing, climbing, and hiking. Of course
you'll be working too hard to make much use of these wonderful
opportunities, but it's nice to know they're there should you ever need
them, and your friends will be sick with envy.