The Utah Governor's Medal for Science and Technology is the highest civilian award bestowed by the U.S. state of

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

in those fields. It is awarded in the five categories of academia, science education, industry, government, and a special category. The award was initiated in 1987 and is sponsored by the Utah Science and Technology Research Initiative and the Governor’s Office of Economic Development. Nominations are reviewed by the Utah State Science Advisory Council before being presented to the governor.

Award winners

1980s

;1987: Academia: *Del Allen,

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

*Sidney R. Ash,

Weber State College Weber State University (pronounced ) is a public university in Ogden, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1889 as Weber Stake Academy and earned its current name in 1991. As of fall 2023, the student population reached 30,536 students, cons ...

*Wilford Hansen, Utah State University * Eugene Loh,

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

*James Mac Mahon, Utah State University * William Odell, University of Utah * Robert W. Parry,

*Richard Riesenfeld, University of Utah * John Roth, University of Utah * L. Douglas Smoot, Brigham Young University *Milton E. Wadsworth,

* Homer F. Walker,

Utah State University Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public university, public land grant colleges, land-grant research university with its main campus in Logan, Utah, United States. Founded in 1888 under the Morrill Land-Grant Acts as Utah's federal ...

Education: *Richard Dix Cloward, Bonneville High School *Shu Ming Chang, Clearfield High School *Wade W. Gleary, Davis High School *Rachelle Argyle, Park City High School *Wendy Hendrickson, Richfield High School Industry: * David Evans,

Evans & Sutherland Evans & Sutherland is an American computer graphics firm founded in 1968 by David C. Evans (computer scientist), David Evans and Ivan Sutherland. Its current products are used in digital projection environments like planetariums. Its simulation b ...

* Milton Lee, Lee Scientific *Michael Alder, NPI *Benjamin V. Cox,

Unisys Unisys Corporation is a global technology solutions company founded in 1986 and headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. The company provides cloud, AI, digital workplace, logistics, and enterprise computing services. History Founding Unis ...

*Wayne Brown, Utah Innovation Center ;1988: Academia: *Douglas Chabries, Brigham Young University *Eldon Gardner, Utah State University *William J. Higuchi, University of Utah *Jack Keller, Utah State University * Sung Wan Kim, University of Utah *Carl D. Marti, Jr., Weber State College *Don Olsen, University of Utah *Robert W. Schunk, Utah State University *Robert W. Sidwell, Utah State University Education: *Rober Cefalo,

Box Elder High School Box Elder High School (BEHS) is a public high school located in Brigham City, Utah. Part of the Box Elder School District, it serves approximately 1,500 students in the 10th through 12th grades in Utah's Box Elder County. The school's boundaries ...

*RuthAnn Yahne,

Layton High School Layton High School is a secondary school located in Layton, Utah, United States. Part of the Davis School District, Layton High School educates students in grades 10 to 12. As of the 2014–2015 school year, 1,743 students were enrolled and ac ...

*David G. Rettie,

Olympus High School Olympus High School is a public high school in the Granite School District in Holladay, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City. Description The school opened on September 1, 1953, with an original enrollment of 1028 students. In the fall of 1960, th ...

*Linda Jean Preston,

Park City High School Park City High School is a public high school located at 1750 Kearns Boulevard in Park City, Utah, Park City, Utah, United States. It is one of eight public schools in the Park City School District and serves tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grad ...

*Merrill Webb,

Provo High School Provo High School is a public secondary school located in Provo, Utah, United States. It is one of three high schools in the Provo City School District and was the oldest secondary school in the city. In the Summer of 2017 the school district be ...

Industry: * Alan Ashton,

WordPerfect WordPerfect (WP) is a word processing application, now owned by Alludo, with a long history on multiple personal computer platforms. At the height of its popularity in the 1980s and early 1990s, it was the market leader of word processors, disp ...

;1989: Academia: * James W. Cronin, University of Utah *Doran J. Baker, Utah State University *Dean F. Peterson, Jr., Utah State University Education: *Pamela P. Giles, Brighton High School *Gerald B. Lord, Granger High School Industry: *Robert A. Schumacker,

*Aaron W. Farr, Jetway Systems *Ronald K. Bell,

1990s

;1990: Academia: *John A. Dixon, University of Utah * Reed M. Izatt, Brigham Young University *

Stephen Jacobsen Stephen Charles Jacobsen (1940–2016) was an American bioengineer, a pioneer in his field, specifically in developing medical devices and tools, including an artificial kidney and an exoskeleton, and was Distinguished Professor at University of ...

, University of Utah *

Fritz Luty Fritz Luty (1928 – 11 September 2017) was an American physicist. He was born in Essen, Germany, and briefly saw action as a teenager in the German Army towards the end of World War II. He then studied physics and was awarded a PhD by the Univer ...

*Cyrus M. Mckell, Weber State College *Ronald Ragsdale, University of Utah *John Paul Riley, Utah State University Education: *Dwight O. Brown, Bountiful High School *John W. Barainca, Brighton High School *Michael B. Harris, Layton High School Industry: *Allan Steed,

Space Dynamics Laboratory Space Dynamics Laboratory (SDL) is a nonprofit government contractor owned by Utah State University. SDL is the sole University Affiliated Research Center (UARC) for the United States Missile Defense Agency; and, is one of 15 UARCs in the nati ...

*William Partridge, Technical Research Associates, Inc. ;1991: Academia: *Jerald Bradshaw, Brigham Young University * J. Calvin Giddings, University of Utah *Douglas James, Utah State University *Verlaine McPhie,

Salt Lake Community College Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) is a public community college in Salt Lake County, Utah. It is the state's largest two-year college with the most diverse student body. It serves almost 50,000 students on 8 campuses as well as through online ...

*Gilbert Moore, Utah State University *

Baldomero Olivera Baldomero Olivera (born 1941) is a Filipino chemist known for discovery of many cone snail toxins important for neuroscience. These molecules, called conotoxins, led to a breakthrough in the study of ion channels and neuromuscular synapses. He dis ...

, University of Utah *Frank Redd, Utah State University Education: Marcie Wolfe, Mt. Ogden Middle School Government: *Gene Amman,

United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency within the United States Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture. It administers the nation's 154 United States National Forest, national forests and 20 United States Natio ...

Industry: *Ruth Novak,

Hercules Inc. Hercules, Inc. was a chemical and munitions manufacturing company based in Wilmington, Delaware, United States, incorporated in 1912 as the Hercules Powder Company following the breakup of the DuPont explosives monopoly by the U.S. Circuit Co ...

;1992: Academia: *Joseph Andrade, University of Utah *A. Bruce Bishop, Utah State University *Karin Caldwell, University of Utah *David M. Grant, University of Utah *Levi Hintze, Brigham Young University *Bartell Jensen, Utah State University *J. Bevan Ott, Brigham Young University *Edward B. Walker, Weber State University Education: *Jan Vander Hooft, Brighton High School *Larry Larson,

North Cache Middle School Cache County School District is a school district located in Cache County, Utah, United States. It serves all the communities within Cache County, except most of the city of Logan (which is served by Logan City School District). It is one o ...

*Vern W. Bangerter,

Timpview High School Timpview High School (THS) is a public secondary school located in Provo, Utah, United States. Timpview is a 5A school and is one of the three high schools in the Provo City School District. The current principal is Momi Tu'ua. Academics ...

Industry: * Homer R. Warner,

American College of Medical Informatics The American College of Medical Informatics (ACMI) is a college of elected fellows from the United States and abroad who have made significant and sustained contributions to the field of medical informatics. Initially incorporated in 1984, the o ...

*J.D. Mortensen, Midmid, Inc. *

Ray Noorda Raymond John "Ray" Noorda (19 June 1924 – 9 October 2006) was a U.S. computer businessman. He was CEO of Novell between 1982 and 1994. He also served as chairman of Novell until he was replaced in 1994. Early life Noorda was born in Ogd ...

Novell, Inc. Novell, Inc. () was an American software and services company headquartered in Provo, Utah, that existed from 1980 until 2014. Its most significant product was the multi-platform network operating system known as NetWare. Novell technolog ...

;1993: Academia: *K. L. DeVries, University of Utah *Helga E. T. Kolb, University of Utah *Ronald Sims, Utah State University * Peter Stang, University of Utah * Raymond L. White, University of Utah Education: *Larry J. Peterson, Bonneville High School *LaMont Jensen, Clearfield High School Government: *Hellmut H. Doelling,

Utah Geological Survey The Utah Geological Survey is based in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It also has an office in Cedar City, Utah. It is a division of the Utah Department of Natural Resources and is an applied scientific agency, which creates, interprets, ...

Industry: *J. McKay Anderson, Hercules, Inc. *O. Lew Wood, Quartztronics, Inc. *Raymond J. Ganowsky, Ram Company ;1994: Academia: * Tracy Hall, Brigham Young University * Raymond Gesteland, University of Utah *Sherman Coleman, University of Utah *William Lee Stokes, University of Utah *Linda Powers, Utah State University Education: *Ty Robinson, Spanish Fork Intermediate Government: *Kevin T. Jones, Division of Utah State History Industry: *Keith Wilson,

Dynix DYNIX (''DYNamic UnIX'') was a Unix-like operating system developed by Sequent Computer Systems, based on 4.2BSD and modified to run on Intel-based symmetric multiprocessor hardware. The third major (Dynix 3.0) version was released May, 1987; b ...

*Errol P. EerNisse, Quartztronics ;1995: Academia: *Peter F. Gerity, Utah State University * David W. Pershing, University of Utah *C. Dale Poulter, University of Utah * Thomas G. Stockham, University of Utah Education: *Sherman Dickman,

Salt Lake City School District The Salt Lake City School District (SLCSD) is the oldest public school district in Utah. Boundaries for the district are identical to the city limits for Salt Lake City. Employing about 1,300 teachers who instruct about 25,000 students K-12, the ...

Government: *Charles B. Hunt,

U.S. Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on March ...

Industry: * Mark Skolnick,

Myriad Genetics Myriad Genetics, Inc. is an American genetic testing and precision medicine company based in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. Myriad employs a number of proprietary technologies that permit doctors and patients to understand the genetic basi ...

;1996: Academia: *C. Anthon Ernstrom, Utah State University * Richard A. Normann, University of Utah *Morris Robbins, Brigham Young University Education: *Walter Saunders, Utah State University Government: *Von Del Chamberlain, Hansen Planetarium *Walter Arabasz, University of Utah Industry: *Dinesh Patel, TheraTech, Inc. *Harold Ritchey,

Thiokol Thiokol was an American corporation concerned initially with rubber and related chemicals, and later with rocket and missile propulsion systems. Its name is a portmanteau of the Greek words for sulfur () and glue (), an allusion to the company ...

*Laurence Reaveley, University of Utah ;1997: Academia *Gerald B. Stringfellow, University of Utah Education: *Rose Marie Voce, Jackson Elementary Industry: *Bryant F. Anderson,

Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American Arms industry, defense and aerospace manufacturer with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta on March 15, 1995. It is headquartered in North ...

*Peter Meldrum,

*Dan Fischer, Ultradent Products, Inc. ;1998: Academia: *John O. Evans, Utah State University *Spotswood Spruance, University of Utah Education: *Joseph Hugh Baird, Brigham Young University *Duane Merrell, Emery High School Government: *David Madsen,

Industry: *David Burt,

;1999: Academia: * Christopher R. Johnson, University of Utah * James Ehleringer, University of Utah *Stephen M. Prescott, University of Utah *Marvin N. Tolman, Brigham Young University ED *Don Carl Smellie, Utah State University ED Government: *Eva C. Nieminski, Utah Department of Environmental Quality *Alan J. Mohr,

Dugway Proving Ground Dugway Proving Ground (DPG) is a United States Army facility established in 1942 to test biological and chemical weapons, located about southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah and south of the Utah Test and Training Range. Location Dugway Provin ...

*Bruce Barrett, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Industry: *Robert F. Keller,

Alliant Techsystems Alliant Techsystems Inc. (ATK) was an American Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and arms industry, arms manufacturer headquartered in Arlington County, Virginia. The company operated across 22 states, Puerto Rico, and internationally. ATK reven ...

*Marlin Shelley, Cirris Systems Corporation

2000s

;2000: Academia: *Thomas Henderson, University of Utah *William Carroll, University of Utah *Gary Belovsky, Utah State University Education: *Richard Tolman, Brigham Young University *Donald Burge,

College of Eastern Utah Utah State University Eastern (USU Eastern) is a public regional college within the Utah State University system. The USU Eastern campus is located in Price, Utah, United States. Founded as Carbon College in 1937, the college joined the Universit ...

*Donald Jensen, Utah State University Government: *James Kohler,

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands, U.S. federal lands. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the BLM oversees more than of land, or one ...

*Stanley Perkes, Bureau of Land Management *James Bowers,

*Suzanne Winters, The Escalante Center Industry: *Gilson Newman Bingham Team: Bradley S. Gilson, Mark Newman, Judd Lawrence, Scott Hill *James Boye,

Varian Medical Systems Varian Medical Systems is an American radiation oncology treatments and software maker based in Palo Alto, California. Their medical devices include linear accelerators (LINACs) and software for treating cancer and other medical conditions with ...

;2001: Academia: * Mary Beckerle, University of Utah *Gail Bingham, Utah State University Education: *Janet Ross, Four Corners School Government: *Doyle Stephens,

US Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on March ...

Industry: *Bob Randolph,

;2002: Academia: *Steven D. Aust, Utah State University *Randall W. Burt, University of Utah *Om P. Gandhi, University of Utah Industry: *Larry J. Ashton, Rocky Mountain Composites, Inc. *Hunter Jackson, NPS Pharmaceuticals *Bill Jordan Pope, Diamicron, Inc. Education: *Kathleen P. Ochsenbein, Roy Junior High School Special: *

Mario Capecchi Mario Ramberg Capecchi (born 6 October 1937) is an Italian-born molecular geneticist and a co-awardee of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering a method to create mice in which a specific gene is turned off, known as knoc ...

, University of Utah ;2003: Academia: *Clair Batty, Utah State University *David Bowles, Utah State University *Carl Wittwer, University of Utah Education: *Virgina Ord, Davis School District *William Smith, Granite School District Government: *Jerry Miller, US Bureau of Reclamation *Brett Moulding, Utah State Office of Education Industry: *Fred Lampropoulos, Merit Medical Systems, Inc. *Ashok Joshi, Ceramatec, Inc. ;2004: Academia: *A. Lorris Betz, University of Utah * Noelle E. Cockett, Utah State University *Karl Gordon Lark, University of Utah *Joel S. Miller, University of Utah * C. Arden Pope, Brigham Young University *Wynn R. Walker, Utah State University Education: *Richard Halterman,

Granite School District The Granite School District is a public school district spread across central Salt Lake County, Utah, serving West Valley City, Millcreek, Taylorsville, South Salt Lake, Holladay, Kearns, and Magna; and parts of West Jordan, Murray and ...

Government: *Michael Glass,

Industry: *Stephen R. Carter, Novell, Inc. Special: *Rex S. Spendlove, HyClone ;2005: Academia: *David W. Hoeppner, University of Utah * Daniel L. Simmons, Brigham Young University *Z. Valy Vardeny, University of Utah Education *Barbara Gentry, Jordan School District *Donna Lee Trease, Davis County School District Government: *Loren Morton, Utah Department of Environmental Quality Industry: *Dean Lester, ATK

* James LeVoy Sorenson, Sorenson Companies Special: *Richard K. Koehn, SentrX Surgical, Inc. *Richard W. Grow, University of Utah ;2006: Academia: *Merrill W. Beckstead, Brigham Young University * Jan D. Miller, University of Utah *

Pierre Sokolsky Pierre Vsevolod Sokolsky is an American physicist, currently a Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy and Dean Emeritus of the University of Utah College of Science and also a Fellow of the American Physical Society. Biography Pierre S ...

, University of Utah * Anil Virkar, University of Utah Education: *Gina Sanzenbacher, Jordan Applied Technology Center Government: *Theron Miller, Utah Department of Environmental Quality Industry: *Glenn D. Prestwich, Carbylan BioSurgery, Inc. ;2007: Academia: *Chris Ireland, University of Utah *Thomas Wilkerson, Utah State University *Bonnie Baxter, Westminster College Education: *Paul Nance, Jordan School District Government: *Greg Jones, Moran Eye Center Industry: *Jerry R. Nelson, Nelson Laboratories, Inc. * Josh James,

Omniture Omniture is an online marketing and web analytics business unit in Orem, Utah. It was acquired by Adobe Systems in 2009. Until 2011, Omniture operated as a business unit within Adobe as the "Omniture Business Unit", but as of 2012 Adobe began ret ...

Special: *Jack Sunderlage, ContentWatch ;2008: Academia: *Brent Adams, Brigham Young University *David S. Chapman, University of Utah Education: *Lee Siegel, University of Utah *Bonnie Bourgeous, Clearfield High School *Vickie Ahlstrom, Sego Lily Elementary Industry: *H. Dewayne Ashmead, Albion Laboratories, Inc. Government: *David Wakefield, Utah Department of Public Safety/Forensic Services Special: *

, University of Utah ;2009: Academia: *Randall J. Olsen, Moran Eye Center Education: *W. Farrell Edwards, Utah State University *Glen Westbroek,

Alpine School District Alpine School District. The district was founded in 1915, and includes all grades from kindergarten through high school (K-12). As of 2018, there were 58 elementary schools, 14 junior high schools, 11 high schools, and 9 special purpose sch ...

*National Library of Virtual Manipulatives, Utah State University Industry: *Ashok C. Khandkar, Amedica Corp *Reaveley Engineers & Associates Government: *William R. Lund, Utah Geological Survey

2010s

;2010 Academia: *Paul Israelsen, Utah State University * Peter B. Armentrout, University of Utah Education: *Louisa Stark, Genetic Science Learning Center *Doug Panee, Oak Canyon Jr. High Industry: *Dennis Farrar, Upstart Ventures *D. Clark Turner, Aribex, Inc Government: *Kevin Jensen, Forage & Range Research Lab ;2011 Academia: *Byard D. Wood, Utah State University * Bruce Bugbee, Utah State University *Edward M. Eyring, University of Utah Education: *

Hugo Rossi Hugo E. Rossi (born 1935) is an American mathematician working in complex analysis. Rossi graduated from the City College of New York with bachelor's degree in 1956, and graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with the master's degre ...

Industry: *Tim Miller, Echelon Biosciences *Kelly B. Powers, CR Bard Access Systems Government: *Amanda Smith, Department of Environmental Quality Special: *Richard R. Nelson, Utah Technology Council *Gary Harter, Governor's Office of Economic Development *Jeff Edwards, EDCUtah *Steve Rodgers, EmergenTek ;2012 Academia: *David Kieda, University of Utah *Geraldine Mineau University of Utah * Thure E. Cerling, University of Utah Education: *Adam Johnston, Weber State University *Amy Pace, Open High School of Utah Industry: *Dale Taylor, Ceramics Material Technologies *Theodore Stanley, Anesta and ZARS Government: *Ted McAleer,

USTAR The Utah Science Technology and Research Initiative (USTAR) is a technology-based economic development agency funded by the state of Utah. The organization works to develop ideas and research into marketable products and successful companies throu ...

*Nicole Toomey Davis, Enclavix, LLC *Scott Anderson, Zions Bank ;2013 Academia: *Henry S. White, University of Utah ACA *Kenneth L. White, Utah State University ACA Education: *Aloysius S. Church, University of Utah Industry: *

IM Flash Technologies IM Flash Technologies, LLC was the semiconductor company founded in January 2006, by Intel Corporation and Micron Technology, Inc. IM Flash produced 3D XPoint used in data centers and high end computers. It had a 300mm wafer fab in Lehi, Utah, Un ...

*Larry Grandia, Health Catalyst *Larry Rigby, Larada Sciences Government: *Tamara Goetz, Utah Valley University ;2014 Academia: * Phyllis Coley, University of Utah *

Erik Jorgensen The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, Eirik, or Eiríkur is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Nor ...

, University of Utah Education: *Christine Celestino,

Juan Diego Catholic High School Juan Diego Catholic High School (JDCHS) is a private, Catholic high school located in the Salt Lake City suburb of Draper, Utah, operated by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City. History American Stores's Chief Executive Officer Leona ...

*Helen Hu, Westminster College Industry: *Niel Holt,

*Ronald Weiss,

ARUP Laboratories Associated Regional and University Pathologists, Inc. (ARUP Laboratories) is a Salt Lake City, Utah-based nonprofit laboratory at University of Utah's Department of Pathology. It is located in the University of Utah Research Park The Universi ...

* US Synthetic Special: *Troy D’Ambrosio, University of Utah ;2015 Academia: * Noelle E. Cockett, Utah State University *Joel Harris, University of Utah Education: *Michelle Baker, Utah State University *Christine Hailey, Utah State University *Richard B. Brown, University of Utah *Paul Hill, Utah State University Industry: *Susan Opp,

L-3 Communications L3 Technologies, formerly L-3 Communications Holdings, was an American company that supplied command and control, communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance ( C3ISR) systems and products, avionics, ocean products, training ...

*Rich Linder, CoNextions Medical *Nelson Laboratories Special: *Sarah George, University of Utah *Tom Parks, University of Utah ;2016 Academia: * Cynthia Burrows, University of Utah * Cynthia Furse, University of Utah *Timothy McLain, Brigham Young University *Terry Messmer, Utah State University *John Morrey, Utah State University *Kyle Rollins, Brigham Young University Education: *Debra Spielmaker, Utah State University *Adam Beehler, University of Utah Industry: *ENVE Composites *Lawrence Thatcher, The Thatcher Company Government: *Robert Baskin, US Geological Survey Special: * Vivian S. Lee, University of Utah

External links

Governors Medals for Science and Technology winners

References

{{reflist Awards established in 1987 1987 establishments in Utah Government of Utah State awards and decorations of the United States Utah culture Science and technology in Utah