While preparing for a university education, President Henry B. Eyring was encouraged by his father — renowned chemist Henry Eyring — to explore physical sciences in college.
“He said that we would need that foundation to be effective in the rapidly changing world,” recalled President Eyring at the July 16 ceremony at the University of Utah celebrating completion of the school’s Applied Science Project.
Just weeks after receiving a physics degree from the University of Utah, the younger Eyring, who now serves as the second counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was serving as a newly commissioned second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. To his surprise, he was assigned to a leadership position in the military special weapons project.
“The only information that the [Air Force] had about me was that I had graduated from the University of Utah two weeks earlier,” said President Eyring.
“In the two years I served in that assignment, I saw my father’s promise fulfilled as I found myself able to resolve problems and make judgments which had the potential to affect the lives of people and nations across the world.”
Utah’s Crocker Science Complex: A scientific discovery hub
The ribbon-cutting ceremony marked the official completion of the school’s Applied Science Project, which combines the newly built L.S. Skaggs Applied Science Building with the renovated historic William Stewart Building and the Crocker Science Center.
The three facilities form the Crocker Science Complex — a 275,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art locale for scientific study and research.
The new Applied Science Building “provides a 56% increase in the capacity of undergraduate physics labs,” Peter Trapa, vice provost and senior dean of the University’s College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, told the Deseret News.
Almost every STEM — science, technology, engineering and math — student at the University of Utah will learn, collaborate and even conduct research in the building at some point during their time on campus, he added.
In his remarks at the ceremony, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox saluted the individuals and organizations that donated to the university’s science complex project.
“The same values that we use to teach science correlate perfectly to how we do things here in Utah: collaboration and creativity with a commitment to putting the greater good in the forefront and always seeking truth.
“When we invest in science, we invest in people.”
A place where ‘dreams will happen’
In his remarks, President Eyring spoke of how science has helped define his educational, professional and ecclesiastical experiences.
He spoke of his appreciation for teachers and professors who “help us to see the vastness of the physical world and the beauty of understanding it and the power that it gives us.
“I am grateful for teachers who strengthen my confidence that there is order in the physical world — which has and will be continuously better understood."
President Eyring then saluted the generosity of donors and university leaders who have made the Crocker Science Complex a reality. “My hope is that those who study here may follow your example to use whatever powers and resources they gain to lift and to bless others in future generations.”
In his remarks, University of Utah President Taylor Randall noted the essential role faith-driven educators such as W.W. Phelps, Orson Pratt and Henry Eyring played in establishing the school’s science bona fides and global reputation.
“This is actually a place where students’ dreams will happen,” said Randall. “Whether they are undergraduates or graduate students, they will happen here. And many of the individuals that enter applied areas later on will begin in this college with physics and mathematics.”
The University of Utah’s College of Science, he added, leads the country with its science research initiative.
“This is a place where dreams will come true,” he said.
Donors express faith in science and research
Gary Crocker, the president of Crocker Ventures, spoke of his and his family’s decadeslong relationship with the University of Utah’s science education community — and his gratitude for Utah’s elected leaders.
Crocker saluted the Eyring family and the generosity of the religious organization in which he serves.
“The pivotal difference that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints makes in our community is literally impossible to measure — and its impact ripples through lives, worldwide."
The new L.S. Skaggs Applied Science Building, Crocker added, is going to “ripple through the lives of tens of thousands of students.
“They will become our future physicians and our future nurses, our future scientists, our future pharmacists and astronomers and environmental scientists.”
