Oftentimes in science, finding answers results in more questions, but Dr. Adam Woolley understands that it’s just part of the process.
“The fun is often in the question and in finding out how to answer it,” Woolley said. “Usually when you get an answer, it leads to a host of other questions.”
Woolley, who has taught in the BYU Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry for fourteen years, was awarded the Karl G. Maeser Research and Creative Arts Award at the Annual University Conference (AUC) on August 26, 2014 in the Marriott Center.
Woolley received his BS in chemistry from BYU in 1992 and his PhD in chemistry from the University of California in 1997. Woolley was awarded the Young Scholar award in 2008 and was appointed associate chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in 2010.
While Woolley is committed to his responsibilities in teaching, and administration, he always leaves time on his schedule for research. Currently, his research focuses on miniaturization of chemical analysis tools. In that research, he and his team work in three areas.
“One of [the projects] is a really simple, low cost, diagnostic that could be used in the field, third-world countries, and resource-limited environments,” Woolley said. “Our goal with [the second system] is to be able to take a small blood sample—just a drop—and be able to take certain components of the blood and figure out how much of those components are in the sample. [With the third project] we’ve done a lot of work using DNA as a scaffold to make small things. In particular, we’ve been interested in making wires and semi-conductors, and those are kind of the nuts and bolts of integrated circuits.”
Woolley was quick to acknowledge that his successful research work owes much to his collaborators.
“I’ve been really fortunate to have great people work with me,” Woolley said. “We’ve bounced ideas off of each other and worked together to solve problems. I’ve also been very fortunate to have some great graduate and undergraduate students who’ve worked in my lab and done some really nice work.”
Teaching these students is where Woolley gets to share his passion for science with the students.
“Yes, I love the research, but I wouldn’t want to be just a researcher,” Woolley said. “It’s also great having that opportunity to share the knowledge and help people learn. I’ve realized a lot of times that when students come in with questions, I usually bounce back with a question to get them to go through, answer it, and kind of figure things out that way. When students think (the problem or topic) is cool or they think, ‘Oh, I really want to understand that!’—that’s when students can really grow and learn.”
The best thing, Woolley said, is when students find that passion and get to apply their wonder in research.
“Really good research projects that students do always lead to more questions than answers,” Woolley said. “The answers are satisfying, but the questions—there are just so many more of them.”