In August, 2017, Kaitlin McLean’s mom sent her a Facebook video about crocheting plastic yarn. McLean had been avoiding her mom’s hobby for years, but after reading an article about the number of deaths in Salt Lake City every winter due to cold temperatures, she thought she’d try it out. That month, McLean began crocheting […]

Roots is a student startup that wants to teach literacy to inmates by using music. “Reading is such an important skill to have in the modern world, and more than 60 percent of inmates cannot read above a fourth-grade reading level,” said Brendan Cody, a student and company founder. “Roots is trying to change that […]

Buildings consume huge amounts of energy, and as they become more wired and connected, it’s increasingly important to be able to predict how much energy they will use and when. Aowabin Rahman, a Ph.D. student in mechanical engineering, is helping solve this problem by using machine learning. “We are creating a model that can adapt […]

Utah is home to one of the nation’s few free PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) clinics, thanks to Jorgen Madsen, who came out during his first year at the U’s School of Medicine thinking he might never date openly as a medical student or be accepted as a gay physician. Any at-risk Utahn can now access the […]

When Casey Clifford, a graduate student in environmental humanities, moved from the San Francisco Bay area to Salt Lake City, she didn’t expect that air quality would be an issue. “The mountains are much taller, and it traps all the pollution,” Clifford said. With the mentorship of Professor Valerie Kim Martinez, Clifford created three original, […]

During the first six months into her intensive dance training as a freshman, Jessica Baynes suffered a traumatic brain injury. “I slipped on both feet forward, fell backward,” she said. “I underwent rehab. I went through speech therapy, I couldn’t exercise.” Eager to dance nonetheless, Baynes discovered adaptive dance therapy through “Grey Matters: A Dance […]

While on a family trip to Hawaii, Christopher Bradford, a sociology and percussion performance major, discovered crystal singing bowls, musical instruments typified in many Eastern spiritual traditions to promote healing that, when struck, make a pleasant, traveling ringing sound. After talking with the shop owner, Bradford learned that the leading manufacture of crystal singing bowls […]

All of us are familiar with peer-to-peer marketplaces like Uber and Airbnb. These disruptive companies are changing the way we get around and travel. A University of Utah alum is now working to disrupt the way you use storage. Neighbor, considered the “Airbnb of Storage,” is an online marketplace that connects hosts with extra space […]

The Index app, created by University of Utah students, in essence is a virtual business card. It puts all of your contact information — including social media accounts — into one spot. Not only that, but it also creates a QR code containing all of that information so that it can easily be scanned by […]

Utah Esports competed in four well-known online video games during the past year, including “Rocket League,” “League of Legends,” “Overwatch” and “Hearthstone.” Around the world, people of all ages compete in tournaments featuring high-profile video games for thousands of dollars in prize money. Aside from prize money, students on the team receive a $1,000 scholarship […]