UNIVERSITY OF UTAH

Not Just Another

Project
The value I see in the Crocker Science
Center
Curtis Grant Miller

00693330
Junior
Mathematics and Economics
cgmil@msn.com
801-694-6344

Essay for the Crocker Science Center Student Essay Contest.

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Most students would see a project like the Crocker Science Center (CSC) as
another unnecessary waste of their tuition money. I typically belong to that group;
having been in college since 2010 and after being an intern in Washington, D.C., where I
followed discussions on why tuition rates are rising and how that money is spent, I am
probably more skeptical and bitter than most regarding projects like the CSC. I
originally failed to see the benefit of a new project which appeared to merely duplicate
the functions of facilities already present on campus. I saw no benefit from what
appeared to be simply a vanity project.
That question hung with me for a while, lingering in the back of my mind as I
went about my studies. I study mathematics here at the University of Utah, so most of
my classes are held in the Leroy-Crowles (LCB) and John Widstoe (JWB) buildings.
With the new Math Center adjoining the two buildings, some days I can attend all my
classes, study, and work as a math tutor in the math center without ever needing to step
outdoors. As a result, most days I live in a very small world.
I began wondering whether living in that bubble inhibits my education. My area
of emphasisstatisticsfocuses on providing methods for scientists, engineers, policy
makers, and others that provide insight into data and help determine what data says,
whether it be as simple as whos in the lead in the polls before election or as critical as
determining the effectiveness of a new medical treatment. Few areas of mathematics
focus as intently on application and the utility of our research for other disciplines. With
that in mind, should my classes be so centralized that I live in a universe occupied only

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by other mathematicians? They may be my colleagues, but in principle they are not the
end user of the knowledge I hope to help create.
Sometimes I compare studying statistics to running a business. A successful
business must know and understand its customers. Likewise, if I desire to be a
successful statistician, I should know the challenges scientists using statistical inference
to reach conclusionsmy customersface in their studies. I should interact with my
clientele regularly so that when I study statistics, I can produce products that they
can use to contribute more to our societys understanding of reality.
With this in mind, I realized that the CSC, as conceived, would bridge this gap
between my field and the others for whom I study. The CSC aspires to be a nexus
through which the sciences meet, joining communities in the university together under
one roof by providing modern laboratories, study and commons areas, tutoring,
academic and professional services, and other facilities intended to meet the needs of
the subjects under the purview of the College of Science. This would provide a valuable
contribution to my education that I currently do not experience from studying in my
bubble: the perspectives of others with different backgrounds. I would acquire this
perspective as I network with students with different majors in the facilities of the CSC.
Thus, the CSC adds a key ingredient for making me a better statistician.
But the CSC does not limit itself to just the Universitys community; the designs
incorporate entities outside the campus into the Universitys community as well. As a
student at the University, I rarely conduct business outside the campus. Most of my life
occurs on campus, and if I lived on campus, I would probably forget that there is a world
beyond the mountains or west of the stadium. Campus life tends to limit my field of
vision to academia, but I believe that academia should attempt to answer questions that

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arise from experience outside a University campus. Academia ought to strive to make
our society better and advance the human experience and understanding as a whole. To
accomplish this goal, colleges should provide programs aimed at connecting students
academic experience with the unsterilized challenges faced in the real world.
Other colleges here at the University have programs that provide this critical link
between their students and the rest of society. Whenever I have a class at the Warnock
Engineering Building (WEB), I see how they work extensively with companies outside
the University; companies have presentations throughout the building and an office that
provides students with more information. The College of Social and Behavioral Science
has the Hinckley Institute of Politics, a well-reputed program providing a powerful link
between the University and other entities. The College of Science, at present, does not
have a program comparable to these.
The CSC aims to rectify this. The business and technology incubator at the CSC
will bring students into contact with innovators outside the University, introducing
another perspective into their education. With that, I would be better equipped to
understand the challenges innovators outside the University face, incorporate that into
my studies, and thus enhance my own understanding of my field and its role in the
bigger picture. The CSC also provides resources for students pursuing a career in
teaching STEM curricula in K-12 schools. That may not be my end goal, but I know
several friends who would benefit from and appreciate this. While programs such as the
Hinckley Institute of Politics do provide valuable experiences for students, I feel that
students in the College of Science deserve a program that focuses on their particular
studies so they will gain much more academically and professionally.

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After considering these ideas, I began to see the CSC as not just another vanity
project the University increases my tuition to build. The CSC may appear to simply be a
remodeled version of existing facilities at the University, but the planners of the CSC
have threaded its designs with an insight that has spurred innovation in Silicon Valley
and elsewhere: bringing various minds together to network in a pleasant central location
ignites creativity and insight beyond what otherwise would have been had everyone
stayed only within their cliques. This is something everyone, including myself, can
benefit from, both at the University and beyond.