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Alumni Spotlights
Faculty & Staff Spotlights
Graduate & Undergraduate Student Spotlights
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All Spotlights

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Student Spotlight: Simon Charles

Marielle Sutton
By Marielle Sutton
October 01, 2025 10:54 AM
"Mechanical Engineering is about expanding our capacity to create and understand."
3 Min Read
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Alumni Spotlight: Landon Andrews

Marielle Sutton
By Marielle Sutton
February 18, 2025 09:47 PM
"I'd advise students to pursue what you're interested in, whether it's joining a club or taking a graduate-level class in something you find fascinating."
2 Min Read
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Alumni Spotlight: Chris Brough

March 13, 2024 09:23 PM
Read his story!
2 Min Read
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Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Jason Porter

By Larissa Beatty
December 02, 2023 01:30 PM
Batteries can be found in almost anything, but what happens when you push them to their limit? That’s what Dr. Jason Porter, one of the newest mechanical engineering faculty members at Brigham Young University, is researching to find out. 
3 Min Read
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Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Nathan Speirs

November 29, 2023 12:26 PM
After post-doctoral work in Saudi Arabia and research for the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Rhode Island, Dr. Nathan Speirs has found his way back to Brigham Young University to teach fluids.
3 Min Read
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Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Nathan Usevitch

By Larissa Beatty
October 27, 2023 11:16 AM
Is it a man or a robot? Dr. Nathan Usevitch, one of the newest faculty members in the mechanical engineering department, works in his soft robotics research to blur the lines between the robotic and the real.
2 Min Read
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Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Carl Sorensen

By Larissa Beatty
April 18, 2023 06:42 PM
Dr. Carl Sorensen is concluding his 36 year career as a professor at Brigham Young University this summer. During his time here he has changed the face of engineering at BYU and made contributions that will last for generations.
4 Min Read
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Student Spotlight: Cody Messick

By Larissa Beatty
March 10, 2023 02:20 PM
Mechanical Engineering senior Cody Messick has a passion for doing anything and everything to help others. For the Shanghai native, this currently means preparing to go from medical assisting, MCAT tutoring and mechanical engineering to medical school at the Mayo Clinic.
4 Min Read
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Alumni Spotlight: Matthew Dalebout

By Larissa Beatty
February 14, 2023 04:56 PM
Passing a new Ford vehicle on the road today wouldn’t be possible without the work of Brigham Young University alumnus Matt Dalebout. The former mechanical engineering student has spent the past 16 years working at Ford on both the building and the business of automobiles.
2 Min Read
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Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Anton Bowden

By Larissa Beatty
January 17, 2023 04:12 PM
In more ways than one, Dr. Anton Bowden is a mechanical engineering professor who’s “got your back.” He’s been changing lives — and more specifically spines — for the better in the biomedical engineering industry, the lab and the classroom for over 20 years.
4 Min Read
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Alumni Spotlight: Katie Cardon

December 09, 2022 08:39 AM
Have you ever wondered about what it really takes to live and work on other planets? Katie Cardon, mechanical engineering manager for Lockheed Martin's lunar mobility vehicle, is currently working with space exploration teams exploring that possibility.
4 Min Read
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Student Spotlight: Anna Shields

October 28, 2022 03:35 PM
Junior Anna Shields has had her sights set on engineering since she was twelve years old. Her childhood dream is now coming true as she studies mechanical engineering at Brigham Young University with an emphasis in robotics and biomechanics.
3 Min Read
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Staff Spotlight: External Relations Manager Lisa Barrager

By Larissa Beatty
May 26, 2022 04:01 PM
Lisa Barrager has experience managing a wide variety of projects — from the Super Duty truck program at Ford, to water park attraction development. This prepared her for her unique position as the External Relations Manager for the Brigham Young University Mechanical Engineering department.
3 Min Read
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Alumni Spotlight: Cory Tholl

By Larissa Beatty
February 25, 2022 03:44 PM
Thinking outside the box — and outside in general — is what took Cory Tholl from a mechanical engineering graduate at Brigham Young University in 2004, to the president of Klymit, a multimillion-dollar camping gear company 15 years later.
2 Min Read
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Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Dillon

By Larissa Beatty
February 11, 2022 03:26 PM
Coming straight out of the fire (or rather the study of objects in fire) at Sandia National Laboratories, assistant professor Dr. Christopher Dillon is bringing his heat transfer expertise to the Brigham Young University Mechanical Engineering department.
3 Min Read
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Student Spotlight: Andres Peña

By Larissa Beatty
January 24, 2022 04:39 PM
Brigham Young University student Andres Peña has had a unique education involving three universities, three languages, two countries and a salvage car. As a junior studying aerospace in mechanical engineering, he is working toward a career that will take his studies out of this world.
2 Min Read
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Alumni Spotlight: Boise Pearson

By Larissa Beatty
January 07, 2022 03:31 PM
In 1991, an internship working on thermal analysis for NASA launched Brigham Young University alumnus Boise Pearson into a 30-year career with the agency.
3 Min Read
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Alumni Spotlight: Jenny Pate

By Larissa Beatty
October 26, 2021 12:27 PM
A Decade of Energy Improvement and Advocacy
3 Min Read
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Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Jeff Hill

By Larissa Beatty
October 18, 2021 03:28 PM
Dr. Jeff Hill was half a mile away when he helped set off a half a pound of high explosive for a work experiment that bent the grass waves as the shock rolled toward him. This kind of high impact in both engineering and people is Dr. Hill’s focus as the newest faculty member in the Brigham Young University Mechanical Engineering Department.
2 Min Read
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Faculty Spotlight: Meet Dr. Matt Allen

September 20, 2021 03:31 PM
When rockets take off or airplanes fly, all of their internal parts move, shake and bend because of various forces. How do you design those parts so they don’t break? Dr. Matt Allen’s structural dynamics research group is working on solutions to these types of problems.
3 Min Read
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Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Daniel Maynes

By Lauren Maynes
June 16, 2021 02:44 PM
Dr. Daniel Maynes decided to major in Mechanical Engineering through what he called “a process of elimination,” because he liked Chemistry, Math, Physics and did not like subjects like history. Maynes had narrowed down his focus to Engineering, Physics or Math before he left for his mission.
3 Min Read
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Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Brian Jensen

By Larissa Beatty
April 26, 2021 09:24 AM
When Dr. Brian Jensen was in first grade, his favorite subjects were math and science, so his mom told him he should become an engineer. That early introduction led to the Brigham Young University professors major focus in the field of microsystems.
3 Min Read
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Alumni Spotlight: Thomas Utley

By Larissa Beatty
April 08, 2021 02:58 PM
Experiments in the basement of the Clyde building on Brigham Young University campus was the beginning of an over two-decade career in mechanical engineering for BYU Alum Thomas Utley.
3 Min Read
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Student Spotlight: David Calabuig Jr.

By Larissa Beatty
March 25, 2021 01:59 PM
Cars have always captivated Brigham Young University student David Calabuig Jr. When he found a similar fascination with physics in high school, he set his sights on working as an engineer in the automotive industry.
2 Min Read
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Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Mark Colton

By Larissa Beatty
March 12, 2021 10:01 AM
Where Engineering, Entertainment, and Education Collide
3 Min Read
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Student Spotlight: Alex Wonnacott

By Larissa Beatty
February 24, 2021 04:40 PM
Walking with Wonnacott: Pipsqueak engine malfunctions, contributions to work on a mars rover are just a few things that make life as a mechanical engineering major exciting for Alex Wonnacott.
2 Min Read
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Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Dale Tree

By Larissa Beatty
February 02, 2021 12:03 PM
Combustion and Commitment
3 Min Read
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Michael Tonks: Alumni Spotlight

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