Chemistry Professor Recognized for Internationally Accepted Virtual Lab Programs
Sept. 10, 2012
Physical chemistry professor Brian F. Woodfield was honored with two colleagues in the Department of Biology at the Annual University Conference August 21.
Drs. Woodfield, Keith A. Crandall and C. Riley Nelson each received the Creative Works Award, which, according to the conference program, “recognizes faculty members and university personnel who demonstrate outstanding achievement in the development of creative works that have had wide acceptance and distribution nationally or internationally.”
The three highlighted professors all worked on the Virtual Biology Lab, an intricate computer program that allows biology students to obtain needed lab experience without the expense of a real lab. Dr. Woodfield has also worked on a Virtual ChemLab, Virtual Physics, Virtual Earth Science, and Virtual Physical Science. All were developed at BYU, for BYU, but are licensed to Pearson Education, which sells them to middle schools, high schools and higher education institutions worldwide.
“There are estimated to be somewhere around a million users a year around the world,” Dr. Woodfield said. “If you go to our web site at yscience.byu.edu you can find a lot of information about the labs.”
By Jessica Henrie