Bruce L. Brown

I was born and raised in the small town of American Fork, Utah, in the shadow of Mount Timpanogos. In my middle school years I enjoyed backyard basketball, archery, making model aircraft of balsa wood covered with tissue paper, and cross-country skiing, and was active in the Boy Scouts. I was also enamored with the adventure of flying light aircraft. In my high school years I joined the Civil Air Patrol, went to summer camps at various U.S. Air Force bases, and participated in an air cadet exchange to Ontario and Quebec.

I have always loved mathematics and when I began college at the University of Utah I majored in aeronautical engineering. After one year of college I served an LDS mission in western Canada (Alberta and Saskatchewan), and upon returning home completed a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in psychology at Brigham Young University. In 1966 I married Susan. A few months later we moved to Montreal, where I completed a PhD at McGill University. We enjoyed our many friends and experiences in that city, including participation in the 1967 Montreal world exposition. After graduating from McGill, Susan and I and our two small daughters moved to Ann Arbor, where I did summer post-doctoral studies in mathematical psychology at the University of Michigan. The year 1968 was a big one for us, as I began teaching at Brigham Young University. We have very much enjoyed the BYU community, and I am still teaching there.

We enjoy being involved in the Church. We attend our Sunday meetings each week, do our best to serve in whatever assignments we are given, and have particularly enjoyed our monthly visits with the families to whom we have been assigned as home teachers.

I love the story of Joseph Smith and I know by the voice of the Spirit that it is true. It is still wonderfully edifying to me to read the accounts of the First Vision, the appearance of the Angel Moroni to Joseph Smith, the events in the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, and other events in the restoration of the Gospel nearly two hundred years ago.

The restoration of the Gospel of Christ through the Prophet Joseph Smith is firmly rooted in Hebrew scripture, beginning with the promises made to Abraham, the miraculous events of the Exodus from Egypt, the entry of Israel into the promised land, the accounts of the ministries of Israel’s holy prophets, the records of their prophecies, and also the records of the fulfillment of their prophecies in the coming of the Promised Messiah two thousand years ago. There is much joy in the accounts of the life and earthly ministry of Jesus, and the testimonies of his disciples, such as, “What manner of man is this that even the winds and seas obey him.” The account in the book of Third Nephi of his visit to the ancient inhabitants of America following his resurrection is also wonderfully joyous and edifying.

Truly the scriptural record of the promised Messiah and of the prophets who have testified of him is the greatest story ever told. There is much joy in striving to follow the Savior through following his living prophet. Christ’s life and his Atonement are the foundation of a rich and fulfilling life, one leading to eternal continuation of the joy of families connected through many generations of ancestors and of descendants.

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Bruce L. Brown (Ph.D. McGill University), is a professor of psychology at Brigham Young University, where his primary current research focus is the development of methods for neuropsychological measurement. In particular, his research team has been investigating the extraction of cognitive components from event-related potentials (EEG waves) as biomarkers for neuropsychiatric illnesses. He also works with students and faculty on the application of quantitative methods to organizational psychology problems, such as sexual harassment in the workplace.

Posted September 2014