A 'scientist of faith' is honored with BYU award

Intermountain Catholic

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Dr. Juliana Boerio-Goates, professor of chemistry at Brigham Young University and a member of St. Francis of Assisi Parish, Orem, is the second woman to be honored with the school's Karl G. Maeser Distinguished Faculty Lecturer Award. The president of the Diocesan Pastoral Council, she presides over the January 21 council meeting at St. Ann Parish, Salt Lake City. IC photo by Barbara S. Lee

SALT LAKE CITY — Dr. Juliana Boerio-Goates was tidying up after the Jan. 21 Diocesan Pastoral Council (DPC) meeting at St. Ann Catholic Church. As president of the council, she presided over the last meeting and, with Bishop-designate George Niederauer, for whom the council served as an advisory body, Boerio-Goates officially disbanded the council. With grace befitting a woman who always seems to know the right thing to say, she presented Bishop Niederauer with a gift and bid council members farewell.

Boerio-Goates, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Brigham Young University in Provo, will be honored Feb. 28 with the Karl G. Maeser Distinguished Faculty Lecturer Award, the school’s most prestigious faculty award. She is the second woman to receive the award in the 50 years of its existence. She will deliver the 2005 Maeser Distinguished Faculty Lecture at the university’s Forum Assembly that same day at 11 a.m. in the Marriott Center on the university campus. The event is open to the public.

Boerio-Goates’ work in chemical thermodynamics is internationally recognized, and in a press release, the university said: "With course assignments ranging from Physical Science 100 to graduate chemical thermodynamics, (Boerio-Goates) approaches every class with rigor, dedication, and sensitivity to the needs and educational level of the students. She is not only recognized as a demanding and stretching teacher, but is appreciated as a compassionate human being."

Boerio-Goates told the Intermountain Catholic while research is a vital aspect of her career, her real passion is teaching.

"This award is an affirmation that the kinds of things I have done have been worthwhile," she said. "Although I have always had a very active research program, I care a lot about teaching. I’ve served on every ‘black hole’ committee (which she defines in scientific terms as a committee that ‘sucks up all the light and nothing comes out’), I’ve been able to find balance, and I am committed to my students."

Calling herself "a believing scientist," Boerio-Goates speaks eloquently of the relationship between science and religion, and at the close of every school year, she openly shares her own beliefs and priorities, which are a healthy blend of Catholicism and science.

"Karl Maeser was one of the first presidents of Brigham Young University, and he was a man of vision" Boerio-Goates said. "He made many personal and financial sacrifices to keep the school alive."

With 23 years as a professor at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints-run university, Boerio-Goates said she doesn’t think she would be "anywhere near the Catholic I am without this Utah Catholic Church experience."

Married to Steve Goates, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Boerio-Goates said her faith has always been important, but living in Utah and teaching at BYU, she must live her faith every day. TheGoateses have two children, Sarah, 24, and James David (J.D.), 12.

Those who attend the Maeser Award lecture will find a brilliant woman who is as comfortable talking about prayer as she is about the science for which she is internationally known. "I ask myself, how would I want to be treated if I were a student, and I take comfort in prayer. Students often ask me about my faith, and I’ve spoken on Catholicism on several occasions. I talk about the Catholic perspective on prayer, on the Mass and the rosary."

Boerio-Goates explains the rituals of the Catholic Church, and that being Catholic means working, living, and praying in community. "We do things in union," she said. "I have had numerous opportunities to learn more about my faith and become more committed."

Boerio-Goates has 16 years of Catholic education behind her. A graduate of Seton Hill University, a Catholic women’s college in Greensburgh, Penn., run by the Sisters of Charity, she is a cancer survivor, and depended on the prayers of the sisters and the intercession of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton to help her through the crisis, just as her mother did before her. She recalls her grandmother, throughout her mother’s illness, saying five rosaries a night for her survival. Her prayers were answered.

"I will talk about my research and set up a short demonstration film," she said of the honors lecture. "I hope people will go away from the lecture knowing more about physical science and about the fact that science and belief are compatible. I’m a scientist, but I believe in miracles."

Boerio-Goates refers to C.P. Snow’s 1959 Rede Lecture, "The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution," which addressed the growing chasm between scientists and believing people. "I have also read the works of Pierre Telhard de Chardin, and his reconciliation of evolution and belief. Historically, I hope we can move past our errors to reconcile faith and science; faith and society."

While in the lab Boerio-Goates is cooling atoms down to minus 450 degrees Fahrenheit and measuring how much energy it takes to heat them up again, she also wonders each day at the creations God has wrought.