Michael Frank Whiting is the director of the Brigham Young University (BYU) DNA Sequencing Center and an associate professor in BYU's Department of Integrative Biology. Whiting received his bachelor's degree from BYU and his Ph.D. from Cornell University.
Whiting is an expert on the evolution of Diptera and other insects and was the author of the article on Strepsiptera in the Encyclopedia of Insects . His research has mainly focused on using DNA sequencing to unlock the evolutionary history of insects.
Whiting has also written on why the critics of the Book of Mormon on DNA issues have overstated their case.
Whiting was also involved in the research that led to the discovery of how stick insects had lost their wings and then re-evolved them several million years later. [1]
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The Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS) was an informal collaboration of academics devoted to Latter-day Saint historical scholarship. The organization was established in 1979 as a non-profit organization by John. W. Welch. In 1997, the group became a formal part of Brigham Young University (BYU), which is owned and operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 2006, the group became a formal part of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, formerly known as the Institute for the Study and Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts, BYU. FARMS has since been absorbed into the Maxwell Institute's Laura F. Willes Center for Book of Mormon Studies.
George O. Poinar Jr. is an American entomologist and writer. He is known for popularizing the idea of extracting DNA from insects fossilized in amber, an idea which received widespread attention when adapted by Michael Crichton for the book and movie Jurassic Park.
The Book of Mormon, the founding document of the Latter Day Saint movement and one of the four books of scripture of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is an account of three groups of people. According to the book, two of these groups originated from ancient Israel. There is generally no direct support amongst mainstream historians and archaeologists for the historicity of the Book of Mormon.
Bruce Clark Hafen is an American attorney, academic and religious leader. He has been a general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since 1996.
John Woodland "Jack" Welch is a scholar of law and religion. Welch is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and currently teaches at the J. Reuben Clark Law School (JRCLS) at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah, where he is the Robert K. Thomas University Professor of Law. He is notable for his contributions to LDS (Mormon) scholarship, including his discovery of the ancient literary form chiasmus in the Book of Mormon.
Fred Emmett Woods IV is a Brigham Young University professor of Latter-day Saint Church History and Mormon Doctrine, an author specializing in Mormon migration and the Globalization of Mormonism.
Richard Charles Neitzel Holzapfel is a former professor of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University (BYU) and an author on topics related to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Western and Utah History, and the New Testament. As of 2018, Holzapfel is working in the LDS Church's Missionary Department as a senior manager.
Many members of the Latter Day Saint movement believe that the Book of Mormon is historically accurate. Most, but not all, Mormons hold the book's connection to ancient American history as an article of their faith. This view finds no confirmation outside of Mormonism in the broader scientific community. Mainstream archaeological, historical, and scientific communities do not consider the Book of Mormon an ancient record of actual historical events.
Scott Ray Woodward is a microbiologist and molecular biologist who specializes in genetic genealogy and ancient DNA studies. He was a professor at Brigham Young University (BYU) from 1989 to 2003. He was the president and principal investigator for the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation between 2005 and 2012, and the chief scientific officer from 2007 to 2012 at Genetree. He was the executive director of Genomic Study at Ancestry.com from 2012 to 2015. He currently teaches at Utah Valley University. He is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Victor Leifson Ludlow is an emeritus religion professor at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah and the author of several books on the Book of Isaiah, most notably Isaiah, Prophet Seer and Poet.
Stephen David Ricks is a professor of Hebrew at Brigham Young University (BYU) and an author and co-author of several books and articles defending the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its teachings.
James Brown "Jim" Allen is an American historian of Mormonism and was an official Assistant Church Historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1972 to 1979. While working as Assistant Church Historian, he co-authored The Story of the Latter-day Saints with Glen Leonard. After Ezra Taft Benson dismissed the book as secular new history, other events led to the dissolution of the LDS Church History department in 1982. Allen resigned as Assistant Church Historian in 1979, returning to work at Brigham Young University (BYU) full-time.
Edward Lawrence Kimball was an American scholar, lawyer, and historian who was a law professor at Brigham Young University (BYU).
Henry Johnson Eyring is an American academic administrator who served as the 17th president of Brigham Young University–Idaho (BYU–Idaho) from 2017 to 2023. From 2019 to 2023, he also served as an area seventy in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He previously served as both the academic and the advancement vice president at BYU-Idaho, as well as director of the Marriott School of Business (MSB) MBA program at Brigham Young University (BYU).
Carol Cornwall Madsen is an emeritus professor of history at Brigham Young University (BYU) where she was a research historian with the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Church History. She also served as associate director of BYU's Women's Research Institute. She has written 50 scholarly articles and several books.
Valerie M. Hudson is an American professor of political science in the Department of International Affairs at The Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University as of January 2012. Prior to coming to Texas A&M, Hudson was a professor of political science at Brigham Young University for over 24 years. She is most noted for having co-authored the book Bare Branches which discussed the effects of China's demographic decisions on sex ratios in China and other countries.
Jeffrey N. Walker is an American attorney and academic working as an adjunct professor at the J. Reuben Clark Law School (BYU).
Adam T. Woolley is a professor of chemistry at Brigham Young University (BYU) and the recipient of the 2007 Award for young investigators in Separation Science. Woolley and his group are applying microfabrication methods in making microfluidic systems for bioanalysis.
Neal Elwood Lambert is an emeritus professor of English and American Studies at Brigham Young University (BYU). His most notable work was A Believing People: Literature of Latter-day Saints an anthology co-edited with Richard Cracroft.
Camille Fronk Olson is a retired professor and former chair of Brigham Young University's (BYU) Department of Ancient Scripture in Religious Education and a scholar who has written multiple books on the role of women in the scriptures. She has also spoken widely in various forums on Latter-day Saint beliefs, especially as they relate to women.
