Confluence 2019-2020

THE COLLEGE OF LETTERS AND SCIENCE • MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY • 2019-2020 • VOLUME 16

U N D E R G R A D U AT E R E S E A R C H IN THE COLLEGE OF LETTERS AND SCIENCE

Dear friends and alumni, COLLEGE OF LETTERS AND SCIENCE Dean, Nicol C. Rae Associate Dean, David Cherry Associate Dean, David Eitle Director of Finance and Administration, Mindy Brown Assistant to the Dean, Sarah Miller Communications Director, Jody Sanford Academic Services Manager, Amanda Smith Administrative Associate, Cheryl McDonald

COLLEGE OF LETTERS AND SCIENCE ADVISORY COUNCIL Michael Beehler Paula Beswick Julianne Bye Marshall Gingery Gary Popiel Betsy Quammen

Peter Sadowski Bradley Snow Gary Stoner John Tietz William Yellowtail Jr.

D E PA R T M E N T S A N D D E PA R T M E N T H E A D S Agricultural Economics and Economics, Gregory Gilpin Chemistry and Biochemistry, Joan Broderick Earth Sciences, Mike Babcock Ecology, Diane Debinski English, Kirk Branch History and Philosophy, Susan Cohen Mathematical Sciences, Elizabeth Burroughs Microbiology and Immunology, Mark Jutila Modern Languages and Literatures, Galen Brokaw Native American Studies, Walter Fleming Physics, Yves Idzerda Political Science, David Parker (Fall) and Franke Wilmer (Spring) Psychology, Keith Hutchison Sociology and Anthropology, Michael Neeley

I N T E R D I S C I P L I N A R Y P RO G R A M S A N D D I R E C TO R S American Studies, Robert Rydell Asian Studies, Peter Tillack Liberal Studies, Bridget Kevane Master of Science in Science Education Program, Gregory Francis Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Tomomi Yamaguchi

During the 2019-2020 academic year, Montana State University is celebrating the Year of Undergraduate Research (YOUR) where undergraduate Nicol Rae. research and creative activity in all corners of the MSU campus will be highlighted. Monthly events will showcase outstanding research by undergraduate students and highlight research opportunities for students in all disciplines.

The YOUR will culminate with the 2020 National Conference on Undergraduate Research, or NCUR, which will bring more than 4,000 undergraduate researchers from around the world to Bozeman to celebrate research, scholarship and creative achievement. This once-in-a-lifetime event will be hosted by MSU on March 26-28 and will provide a tremendous opportunity for our students to present their scholarly work to an international audience of peers, faculty mentors, graduate school representatives and corporate recruiters.

Having recently earned a top tier research designation in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, MSU sees research as an important part of the university’s mission. The university’s commitment to research, scholarship and creative inquiry endeavors extends to undergraduate education. The College of Letters and Science shares this commitment and prides itself on providing unparalleled opportunities for our students to engage in research and creative activity. Undergraduate research is one of the great strengths of the college, benefitting our students with a competitive edge in the job market and in their pursuit of advanced degrees.

Fittingly, this issue of Confluence highlights undergraduate research in the College of Letters and Science. You’ll read about a variety of exciting projects ranging from measuring the reflectivity of snow to studying gravity waves, from psychological studies of human emotions to archiving and analyzing the experiences of South American refugees from a historical perspective. Two of our premier field schools—a paleontology field dig in Eastern Montana and an archaeological excavation in Central Montana—are also featured.

We’re so proud of our undergraduate researchers and can’t wait to show off their talent in this issue of Confluence and at NCUR. As always, we invite you to learn more about what’s happening across the college.

You can visit our website at www.montana.edu/lettersandscience for frequently updated news and to find out about upcoming events. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter at www.facebook.com/letters.science and twitter.com/ LettersScience.

Best regards,

Nicol C. Rae Dean

2019-2020

TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S U N D E R G R A D UAT E R E S E A R C H I N T H E COLLEGE OF LETTERS AND SCIENCE MSU EARTH SCIENCES DUO TAKES SNOW MEASUREMENT TO NEW HEIGHTS...........................................................................2 FINDING THE PERFECT WAVE: SOLAR ECLIPSE PROVIDES UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY FOR STUDENT TO STUDY GRAVITY WAVES....................4 A JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY: UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCHER INVESTIGATES HUMAN EMOTIONS...................................................6

O U T R E AC H . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 5 D E PA R T M E N T H I G H L I G H T S .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 8 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS AND ECONOMICS .............................28 CHEMISTRY AND BIOCHEMISTRY...................................................29 EARTH SCIENCES........................................................................29 ECOLOGY....................................................................................30 ENGLISH.....................................................................................30

WHY HISTORY MATTERS: PROFESSOR MENTORS NEXT GENERATION OF HISTORY SCHOLARS..............................................8

HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY...........................................................31

PUZZLING OUT THE PIECES: ANCIENT FOSSILS GIVE STUDENTS HANDS-ON RESEARCH EXPERIENCE.............................10

MICROBIOLOGY AND IMMUNOLOGY..............................................32

FILLING THE GAP: ARCHAEOLOGY FIELD SCHOOL SEEKS ANSWERS, PROVIDES EXPERIENCE................................................12

NATIVE AMERICAN STUDIES..........................................................33

STUDENT HIGHLIGHTS.......................... 14 FA C U LT Y H I G H L I G H T S .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 6 RESEARCH......................................... 18 ALUMNI............................................ 24

College of Letters and Science Montana State University P.O. Box 172360 2-205 Wilson Hall Bozeman, Montana 59717-2360 406-994-4288 406-994-7580 (fax)

MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES............................................................32 MODERN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES......................................33 PHYSICS.....................................................................................34 POLITICAL SCIENCE.....................................................................34 PSYCHOLOGY..............................................................................35 SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY.................................................35

P H I L A N T H RO P Y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 6

CONFLUENCE is published annually by the College of Letters and Science, Montana State University.

Photography, Kelly Gorham and Adrian Sanchez Gonzalez, MSU News, unless otherwise noted

Editor, Jody Sanford

Printing, Thomas Printing

Assistant Editor, Sarah Miller

Thank you to MSU News Service

Design, University Communications

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Shown: A hands-on class examines prehistoric stone technology with flintknapping methods.

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MSU E ARTH SCIENCES DUO TAKES SNOW ME ASUREMENT

TO NEW HEIGHTS

By Suzanne Taylor

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Andrew Mullen testing the prototype mounts for the sensors that were fabricated using 3D printing technologies. Image courtesy of Eric Sproles.

Confluence College of Letters and Science 2018–2019

W

hen Montana State University earth scientist Eric Sproles hatched an innovative plan for studying an important climate indicator, he knew exactly which student he wanted on his team: Andrew Mullen, a senior in geology at MSU.

Sproles, an assistant professor in the Department of Earth Sciences in the College of Letters and Science, specializes in remote sensing and snow science. He was curious about whether the albedo of snow—the measurement of how much sunlight reflects off of the snow surface—could be measured by an unmanned aerial vehicle, more commonly known as a drone.

Mullen, who will graduate in December, said he loved the multifaceted problem-solving aspects of the project.

“It’s required a lot of different types of thinking,” he said. “There’s the science aspect, the engineering aspect, and then the actual implementation of our design in the field.”

In addition, Mullen holds a drone pilot license, a certification required by the Federal Aviation Association for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) used in non-recreational settings. Sproles and Mullen also needed some backcountry ski skills to reach their study site. Mullen spent extensive time with a 3D printer creating custom mounts for the sensors, which must be positioned precisely on the drone so that one faces straight “ MSU has allowed me to pave my own path up toward the Sun and the other based on personal goals and interests.” down toward the snow.

Sproles said his curiosity was piqued a few years ago when researchers measured snowpack following big wildfires in Oregon. They acquired data at two scales: from satellites,

which at 438 miles above the Earth offer a broad-scale picture but with little detail; and from point measurements at weather stations in the mountains, which only document the area right around them. Sproles speculated that piloting a sensor-laden drone across the mountain topography could bridge the gap between the two forms of measurement and offer a more accurate picture.

Sproles wrote an incubator proposal to Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP)—a non-profit consortium that advances the use of earth science data—and learned in January that his project was funded.

Sproles immediately tapped Mullen, whom he met when the senior from St. Paul, Minn. presented a drone-based project within the Department of Earth Sciences. Sproles said he was impressed by Mullen’s skills and ingenuity and had filed his abilities away for future work.

“Andrew is impressive on multiple levels,” said Sproles. “First and foremost, he is a problem solver. He likes the challenge of solving a design, computational or spatial problem. And he almost always solves the problem that he is presented. He definitely has a can-do spirit.”

The duo was on a tight deadline for their ESIP incubator project, which seeks creative solutions to earth science problems. Sproles and Mullen jumped into action, ordering three drones and strategizing on how to mount the fragile sensors and a data logger.

Mullen said their project could offer an innovative new way to measure albedo, an important indicator of Earth’s energy balance and a data point used in hydrology and climate modeling.

Albedo is the proportion of incoming solar energy that is reflected from a surface. Snow, a very light-colored surface, has a high reflective rate, so mountainous areas covered in snow will reflect more sunlight back into the atmosphere than bare areas will. An accurate measurement of albedo helps us better understand snow melt and the timing of peak stream flows, as well as other hydrologic measurements that are especially critical in the mountainous West.

– ANDRE W MULLEN

Mullen’s first challenge was to make sure the drone could actually hold both the data logger and the sensors—expensive investments that might not survive a drone crash. Again, using 3D printing, Mullen created two exact replicas of the fist-sized sensors, modeling their exact weight, shape and dimensions, so the team could attach them to the drone and fly some practice runs without risk.

Sproles and Mullen worked quickly last spring and were able to conduct two test flights over snow—one in April and another in early May with the support of ski patrollers from the Yellowstone Club near Big Sky. Mullen said they chose a site that directly overlaps with an area mapped and measured by Landsat, a satellite program run jointly by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey, so they can compare the accuracy of their drone-collected data with that from satellites.

Sproles said the data are promising thus far, and he presented the preliminary work at the ESIP meeting last summer. Mullen said they also hope to co-author a journal article.

“MSU has allowed me to pave my own path based on personal goals and interests,” said Mullen. “The high-caliber professors in the Department of Earth Sciences have motivated me inside the classroom and have been more than willing to provide help and resources outside the classroom for my own research interests.”

Sproles said it has been a joy to work with Mullen. “In addition to being creative, determined and very intelligent, Andrew is trustworthy, grateful, humble and fun,” he said. “He sees the big picture and understands the details that go into making things happen.”

Other partners on the project include Jordy Hendrikx, associate professor in the Department of Earth Sciences and director of MSU’s Snow and Avalanche Lab, NASA Goddard Flight Center, MSU’s Office of Academic Technology and Outreach, and Kipp & Zonen, the Dutch company that developed the sensors.

For more information about the project, visit https://albedosnow. weebly.com/.

www.montana.edu/lettersandscience

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Jaxen Godfrey.

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Confluence College of Letters and Science 2019–2020

FINDING THE PERFECT WAVE S OL A R E C L IP SE P ROV IDE S UN IQUE OP P OR T UNI T Y F OR S T UDE N T T O S T UDY G R AV I T Y WAV E S

By Marshall Swearingen, MSU News

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itnessing one total solar eclipse—the one that swept across the continental U.S. in 2017—wasn’t enough for Montana State University senior Jaxen Godfrey. But when she flew to Chile in July to experience another, it wasn’t just for the thrill. It was to continue studying an elusive atmospheric phenomenon.

In 2019, the team of six launched slightly bigger balloons capable of rising to greater altitudes. From their launch site at the Collowara Observatory in the mountains north of Santiago, they launched more balloons than in 2017, and launched them every hour during a 24-hour period leading up to the eclipse.

Godfrey, a Great Falls, Mont. native majoring in physics in the Department of Physics in MSU’s College of Letters and Science, was part of a Montana Space Grant Consortium team that used the rare celestial event to conduct an experiment on gravity waves—disturbances in the Earth’s envelope of gases that drive weather patterns and affect wildfire behavior and wind turbine performance, among other things.

When the moon’s shadow blanketed the observatory, Godfrey took a break from launching balloons and downloading data to experience the same eerie, midday darkness she did two years ago.

College, launched 19 helium-filled weather balloons from sites in Wyoming as part of the Montana Space Grant Consortium’s Eclipse Ballooning Project. The balloons carried sensors called radiosondes to altitudes of 80,000 feet or more.

The palm-sized devices measured temperature, pressure and other variables in an effort to detect gravity waves during an eclipse for the first time.

According to Fowler, the team’s measurements constitute a valuable dataset that could help atmospheric scientists more accurately predict when and where gravity waves will occur.

The three-year study has provided a unique opportunity for undergraduates like Godfrey to be involved in a long-term science project.

Since July, Godfrey has been working with Fowler and Thomas Colligan, master’s student in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Montana, to “Gravity waves are basically like waves “ Gravity waves are basically like waves analyze the data. “We have on water,” Godfrey explained. The one or two strong candidates on water.” – J A X E N G O D F R E Y waves, which occur between layers of for gravity waves caused the upper atmosphere, are relatively by the eclipse, but we need common and can be caused when winds flow over a mountain to look at the data more closely,” said Godfrey, whose range, but they remain poorly understood. An eclipse presents involvement with this year’s project and the one in 2017 has a special opportunity to study the phenomenon because the been supported by an internship with the Montana Space sudden blockage of sunlight creates abrupt thermal changes.

Grant Consortium’s high-altitude ballooning program called The moon’s shadow “is like a boat moving through water,” BOREALIS. The Montana Space Grant Consortium, which Godfrey said. includes 23 Montana colleges and universities, is part of a NASA-sponsored national network that works to strengthen During the 2017 eclipse, Godfrey, along with students from aerospace research and education.

MSU, the University of Montana and Chief Dull Knife

According to Jen Fowler, Montana Space Grant Consortium assistant director, the results hinted at the waves’ presence but fell short of measuring them directly. “We thought it was because we didn’t target the proper altitudes,” she said.

Godfrey, who is planning to go to graduate school for physics, will present the team’s findings at an American Geophysical Union conference in San Francisco in December. “It has been great research experience,” she said.

www.montana.edu/lettersandscience

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A JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY

U N D E RG R A D UAT E R E S E A RC H E R I N V E S T I G AT E S HUMAN EMOTIONS

By Jessianne Castle

Keegan Diehl.

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A

fter a year of preliminary study, Keegan Diehl was overjoyed last year when he was awarded funds through Montana State University’s Undergraduate Scholars Program (USP) to research how young adults regulate emotions.

The grant, bestowed in October of 2018, allowed Diehl to embark on a journey of discovery, giving him an opportunity to explore something he’s dreamed of for half a dozen years.

“I was so excited and grateful to see that all of my hard work was recognized,” he said. “I was proud. It made me feel like I was taking a step in the right direction.”

see if there is a relationship between emotion dysregulation, physiological responses, and aggressive behaviors and anxiety.

Diehl’s research could shed light on how to improve the college experience and better overall mental health, Scott says. College students often undergo a significant amount of stress—it’s usually the first time they’re living on their own, they take on new responsibilities, and it’s a time when many mental health disorders emerge. “We need to better understand the physiological responses,” Scott said, adding that a lot of information on appropriate treatments comes from this type of research.

Diehl, 22, grew up in Bozeman and Speaking specifically about Diehl’s “A strong mentor makes all the is on track to graduate from MSU’s study, Scott called it ground-breaking Department of Psychology in December. difference when tackling some work.

“He has all the great skills of a He plans to pursue graduate school – KEEGAN DIEHL of these projects.” future researcher.” in the fall to obtain a doctorate in clinical psychology. Inspired by former Originally, Diehl expected to see a Bozeman High psychology instructor correlation between physiological dysregulation and problematic Joyce Hannula, Diehl says he has an intense desire to learn behaviors, but he’s been surprised to learn that that hypothesis more about human behavior. He knew right away after might only be half-right: While anxiety was related to taking Hannula’s course that he wanted to be an independent physiological emotion regulation, the relationship to aggression researcher. seems to be different.

After high school, Diehl approached former MSU psychology assistant professor Rebecca Brooker, who is now with Texas A&M University. “I voiced my interests in becoming a researcher one day down the line after my million years of school,” he said. “She took me under her wing and really allowed me to grow as a researcher.”

“Through this process, I get exposed to a side of research that answers your question, but also brings up more questions,” he said, adding that now he’s planning to take a closer look at aggression, which is something he could build upon in his future career. “With more puzzle pieces on the table, the picture has to get bigger.”

Diehl’s patient gaze and his humble bearing are indicative of someone poised to learn. Early in his student career at MSU, Diehl worked with Brooker investigating the potential overlap between neural markers for emotional hyperarousal and behavioral emotion regulation strategies in children, having received MSU’s Presidential Emerging Scholars Grant.

Beyond reaffirming Diehl’s passion for research, this project funded by USP has given him invaluable lab experience and skills that he says will be competitive in graduate school.

Specifically, he’s learned how to create a research question that is actually testable, how to synthesize results, and ways of applying research to the larger scientific conversation.

Now under the mentorship of assistant professor Brandon Scott, Diehl is completing his analysis of a project that looks at whether a person’s physiological inability to regulate emotions can lead to reports of problematic aggression and anxiety-disorder related symptoms. He is currently drafting a scientific article as the first author—something Scott says is rare for an undergraduate—and during the spring of 2019, he presented his preliminary work at the Student Research Celebration on campus.

The undergraduate researcher was responsible for every aspect of his study, from project design and implementation, to final analysis. However, he largely credits Scott for providing the necessary guidance to conduct the research.

“A strong mentor makes all the difference when tackling some of these projects,” Diehl said. “With his strong support and guidance, I found my footing . . . I know I’d never be in the position where I am now without having the guidance of Dr. Scott and Dr. Rebecca Brooker and the financial support from the USP office.”

For his study, Diehl sampled 121 undergraduate students at MSU. He completed a physiological assessment of each participant and administered questionnaires assessing Above all else, Diehl offers one piece of advice for other aggression and anxiety symptoms. A large portion of the USP undergraduates interested in conducting their own research. “Ask stipend helped pay for the electrodes used to gather heart rate a lot of questions,” he said, an easy smile breaking across his face. and respiration information while the student research assistants “I think it’s a big feat to voice your desire to be an independent in Scott’s lab assisted Diehl with sorting data. researcher, so building up that courage, self-confidence, to ask questions, develop some research questions . . . You have to start “Emotion regulation, broadly, is the ability to modulate positive somewhere,” he added. “I think it falls on us as students to seek and negative emotions,” Diehl said, adding that this can be out faculty members to help us develop these skills and really behavioral, such as aggression; cognitive, such as anxiety; ground us in the reality of what research looks like. or physiological, such as heart rate. Overall, he’s looking to www.montana.edu/lettersandscience

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WHY HISTORY MATTERS P R O F E S S O R M E N T O R S N E X T G E N E R AT I O N O F H I S T O R Y S C H O L A R S

By Evelyn Boswell

M

olly Todd has been a big believer in undergraduate mentoring since attending a private liberal arts college in Oregon. She was impressed by professors guiding students across all disciplines and she greatly appreciated those who reached out to her.

through the College of Letters and Science’s Liberal Studies Program. She has since traveled to Arcatao, El Salvador, while pursuing independent research projects relating to the effect of U.S. foreign policy on displacement, and she was also selected as co-director of the Public History Lab. She was a student leader on an MSU BreaksAway trip that focused on refugees resettling in Arizona.

“It was really mind-opening to see these professors doing their work and to be able to be mentored by them and learn the tools of their “I feel like I have been super lucky in finding an opportunity that trade. I remember how much of an impact that had on me, being fits my interests and expands on that,” Dunlap said. that closely engaged with faculty,” said Todd, now an associate professor of history in the Department of History and Philosophy.

Jacey Anderson, coInspired by their example, Todd brought that mentality to MSU when she arrived in 2013.

In 2019, she was honored with a Provost’s Award for Undergraduate Research/Creativity Mentoring at MSU. The award recognized Todd for spending more than 1,000 hours mentoring more than 65 undergraduate students while researching the displacement and migration that resulted from civil wars and dictatorships in Central and South America. The award honored Todd for creating a successful model for humanities research with practical applications. It applauded her for helping undergraduates produce research that matters and has an impact beyond the university.

Besides writing her book, Beyond Displacement: Campesinos, Refugees and Collective Action in the Salvadoran Civil War, Todd has worked with living history museums, youth theater, “theater of the oppressed” and oral history projects to investigate memory survival. Through it all, she has involved her students.

“I found out that real-world projects that ask students to take knowledge and apply it beyond the classroom are often more compelling in arguments about why history matters,” Todd said.

To help her students succeed, Todd has given them access to United Nations (U.N.) documents and thousands of photos from refugee camps, and has opened the doors for students to travel to El Salvador and interview former refugees. She has guided students through the process of conducting research and presenting their findings, and created MSU’s Public History Lab where students learn skills such as archiving photos, building databases and public outreach.

“I feel super fortunate. She’s an incredible instructor,” said MSU senior Rachel Dunlap, adding that, “Research has totally changed the trajectory of my path in life. It’s been a tool of empowerment.

It has given me the space to explore.”

Dunlap was a sophomore when she met Todd. She had changed her major from nursing to global and multicultural studies 8

director of the Public History Lab, is still amazed at the access she had to U.N. documents as an undergraduate. In them, she detected a growing assertiveness in refugees and wrote about it in her undergraduate thesis. The refugees had fled to Honduras during El Salvador’s civil war of 1979 to 1992. Some of them lived in U.N. camps for more than a decade before organizing a movement to return home.

“ I found out that real-world projects that ask students to take knowledge and apply it beyond the classroom are often more compelling in arguments about why history matters.”– M O L LY T O D D

“It was really awesome how Molly set up this class with some training wheels,” Anderson said. “. . . It was a unique experience, but it was nice to still have the guidance and not have to figure everything out on our own. We wouldn’t have been able to access those documents without her.”

With Todd’s encouragement, Anderson presented her findings at the 2015 National Conference on Undergraduate Research. Two years later, after teaching Spanish in Colorado, she returned to MSU as a doctoral student under Todd’s supervision.

“I was sort of itching to come back and do research,” Anderson said.

Building on her undergraduate work, she has discovered that the former refugees are continuing to organize. In November 2015, for example, Arcatao residents voted to ban metallic mining in their community. Other communities followed. In 2017, metallic mining was outlawed throughout El Salvador.

“My research is going to look at the roots in the civil war of these same groups organizing,” Anderson said.

Such outcomes are what Todd was hoping for after thinking about her undergraduate experience at Reed College and wondering how she could help her own students adjust to MSU. “How can I make a big school feel smaller and how can I offer opportunities to students in history, many of whom sign up for history classes because they have to?,” she asked. “How can I get them jazzed about doing history, if possible, in a really short period of time?”

Confluence College of Letters and Science 2019–2020

Center photo: Molly Todd. Surrounding photos: History students enter descriptions and metadata while archiving photographs of refugees from El Salvador.

www.montana.edu/lettersandscience

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A N C I E N T F O S S I L S G I V E S T U D E N T S H A N D S - O N R E S E A RC H E X P E R I E N C E

By Marshall Swearingen, MSU News

“ It’s a mutual benefit for both the students and the museum. There are a lot of moving parts on a dino dig, and students provide needed help. There’s no way we could handle all of it ourselves.” – S C O T T W I L L I A M S

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or Montana State University undergraduate Isabelle Brenes, Using small picks, she pries off remaining dirt from each find.

“Sometimes you can’t remove all the dirt right away or the fossil digging a triceratops out of a hillside in the badlands near will collapse on itself,” she said.

Ekalaka, Mont. in July marked only the beginning of a long, familiar process of readying fossils for study and display.

Next, she does a gentle scrub with a toothbrush and water.

That’s when the high-tech art of fossil preparing really begins, When she isn’t volunteering on field digs with the Museum of the Rockies at MSU, Brenes, a senior majoring in paleontology often with a device called an air abrasion machine, which in the Department of Earth Sciences in the College of resembles a small, enclosed sandblaster. Another tool of her trade, called an air scribe, “is like a mini jackhammer” that Letters and Science, works at the museum as a fossil preparer, removes spots of hardened crust, she said. “The trick is to not meticulously cleaning the preserved remains of dinosaurs and remove any bone.” other ancient life.

“It’s my dream job,” said Brenes as she used a laser transit and grid paper to map the lay of the ribs, vertebrae and other 67 million-year-old bones uncovered by fellow crew members wielding shovels, chisels and a variety of brushes. Brenes is an example of how MSU undergraduates get hands-on experience while contributing to new discoveries about ancient life.

Back in the lab, Brenes’ first step in preparing each specimen is to remove the plaster and burlap cast that protects them for transport and storage. “I never really know what I’m getting into when I open one,” she said.

It’s an iterative and labor-intensive process that can take weeks for a single fossil, especially if the specimen is broken in pieces.

Assembling 10 baggies of bone fragments from a triceratops’ nasal horn occupied more than a month’s worth of her working hours this spring. “It’s like doing a jigsaw puzzle except you might be missing half the pieces,” she said.

Once a fossil is completely cleaned and put together, it often heads to the museum’s paleohistology lab, where Brenes started volunteering as a sophomore. The lab removes thin slices of preserved bone and examines them under specialized

The field crew begins another day's work opening the quarry where the Triceratops skeleton "Captain Chuck" is carefully being removed to be taken to its new home at the Museum of the Rockies.

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Confluence College of Letters and Science 2019–2020

From left to right: Museum of the Rockies volunteer Whitney Wilson, Isabelle Brenes and Scott Williams place a protective plaster jacket on a recently removed rib.

microscopes. The structure of the bone can give clues about a dinosaur’s age, among other things.

dig, and students provide needed help. There’s no way we could handle all of it ourselves.”

Brenes’ internship is sponsored by the Bureau of Land Management, the agency that oversees the vast areas of public land in the Western U.S. where many fossils are unearthed.

Helping with digs like the one near Ekalaka gives her experience with the whole process from start to finish, she said.

Beneath a shade tarp on the Ekalaka dig, Tom LaBarge, another senior majoring in paleontology, chiseled hard badlands clay from around a vertebra. “Being out here with these other paleo people is a great way to bounce ideas around,” he said.

Brenes, the incoming president of the MSU student paleontology club called the Dead Lizard Society, said that one of her goals for the organization is to help students learn about ways to be involved with research, whether in the lab or in the field.

Those experiences “have really enhanced my understanding of the field as a whole,” she said. “The things that have had the most impact for me as a student have been the opportunities that the museum has given me.”

“It’s a mutual benefit for both the students and the museum,” said Scott Williams, Museum of the Rockies paleontology lab and field specialist. “There are a lot of moving parts on a dino

When not in the field, he works in the lab of Christopher Organ, an assistant teaching professor in the Department of Earth Sciences, using computer models to chart evolutionary trees of large South American birds that went extinct more recently than triceratops. The field work complements his research by giving him a better appreciation of all that’s involved in producing knowledge of ancient creatures, he said.

“I love looking at the diversity of the past, how many forms animals take and how they lived,” said LaBarge, who started his work with Organ as a freshman and went on his first dinosaur dig last summer. “Engaging in research so early in my career has been amazing.”

John Scannella, the John R. Horner Curator of Paleontology at the Museum of the Rockies, discusses a find with Isabelle Brenes.

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Filling theGap A RC H A E O L O GY F I E L D S C H O O L S E E K S A N S W E R S , P R O V I D E S E X P E R I E N C E

By Jessianne Castle

B

rian Carr was nearly three feet deep in a muddy pit when he pulled an object from the ground. He held the item, distorted with dirt, up to his digging partner, Danielle Buchanan.

“Bone or stone,” Carr asked.

The researchers have identified two locations on the Bradley property where early hunters killed bison some 1,000 to 2,000 years ago. They’ve found areas where there are more bones than dirt and the presence of two different types of projectile points gives a small glimpse into the past.

The students, working in groups of two or three, were assigned Stone was Buchanan’s declaration and Carr chucked the rock one-meter-square dig plots. With from the pit. He was working around “ It’s an amazing experience. It allows supervision from Mahoney and a huge rock firmly embedded in the Neeley, the undergrads delved into soil, while trying to accurately identify you to directly touch the history that what was, for many of them, their artifacts and animal remains from you are researching.” – B R I A N C A R R first time on an actual dig. clods of dirt, gooey mud and stone.

Carr said he’s chasing a dream of Buchanan and Carr, a junior and senior in Montana State becoming an archaeologist and the field school gave him a great University’s Department of Sociology and Anthropology, were taste of the discipline. He learned how to set up a dig site, how among the nine undergraduate students undertaking a monthto map and identify bones, and how to recognize lithics. long archaeological dig last May and June in the little town of “Instead of being in the books all of the time, to get in there Judith Gap, in the dead center of Montana. The student crew, and be in the dirt, to be the first person in thousands of years working during the notoriously wet 2019 spring, literally got to handle artifacts,” he paused, reflective. “It’s an amazing their hands dirty and toes wet with the experience. experience. It allows you to directly touch the history that you “Everyone thinks about the process of discovery and how are researching.” exciting that is,” said department head and associate professor Buchanan echoed Carr, saying the field school reassured her Michael Neeley several months after the field school. “But that she’s pursuing the right career. there’s also a lot of tedium, slowness; you’re digging, crouched “This is what I enjoy. This is what I want to do. The experience down on your hands and knees in a tight space." was the glue for me,” she said. “It’s helped me to become more “The field work is the tip of the iceberg in terms of the work and confident in my schoolwork. I can apply schoolwork in the field the understanding of what’s happening in the past,” he added. and I know it will apply in the future.”

“The lab work is several times more labor intensive than what Amid the many bison bones, Carr, Buchanan and their we’re doing in the field.” comrades found the thin projectiles known as Avonlea points Neeley, instructor Nancy Mahoney, and their small student often used on arrows, as well as larger, chunkier Besant points cohort are looking to better understand the early people who from the ends of spears and darts used with an atlatl. called Central Montana home. Not a whole lot is known about the early hunting technologies utilized in the central part of the “We have two groups of people basically using two different Treasure State because most of the area is private land, Mahoney hunting technologies to hunt the same animal at about the same spot,” Mahoney said. Now, through the use of carbon-dating explained. So, when landowner David Bradley contacted MSU and bone analysis, the researchers are hoping to understand and told them about artifacts found on his property, Neeley and whether the projectiles indicate the kills happened at different Mahoney were excited to take a look. time periods, were used by different people, or are indicative of “David Bradley really opened up an opportunity for us to come different hunting seasons. back into Central Montana, on private land in rural areas,” A number of the students are completing individual Mahoney said, adding that James Bergstrom, who previously undergraduate research projects, taking a closer look at their leased the Bradley land, has also allowed the archaeologists to specific dig sites, and will present their findings in the spring at document information from his personal artifact collection the Montana Archaeological Society meeting and the National from the area.

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Confluence College of Letters and Science 2019–2020

Clockwise from the top, MSU archaeology field school students engaged in measuring, drawing, screening and note-taking at the Bergstrom site. Photos courtesy of Michael Neeley.

Conference on Undergraduate Research held at MSU on March 26 to 28, 2020.

“To be able to achieve that [kind of experience] at an undergraduate level is not always common everywhere,” Mahoney said. “It really sets them up well to become professionals in the field.”

Recent graduate Emily Askey attested to Mahoney’s words. “It ended up being an incredible experience,” she said. “It was a good foundation going into the beginning of my archaeology career.”

significant archaeological sites for federal land managers.

Beyond actual field experience, the dig allowed for important relationship building between students as well as across communities. The researchers were welcomed by the Judith Gap community, and locals offered them housing for the duration of the dig. In return, the archaeologists welcomed the community at the dig site, inviting residents, as well as elementary, middle and high school students, to visit, learn and participate.

According to Mahoney, Bradley has expressed interest in working with the Judith Gap school or community in order to construct a museum for the artifacts after MSU is finished with their research.

Askey, who graduated in the spring of 2019, just before participating in the field school, went on to obtain a position with the cultural resources management firm Hope “There was wonderful comradery, this sense of togetherness,” Archaeological Consultants in Bozeman and said the field Mahoney said. “The students learned how to work with each experience was a requirement for her job, where she surveys land other, how to work in difficult conditions, and how to make in Montana, Wyoming and the Dakotas in order to identify what you’re doing relevant to the people living around you.” www.montana.edu/lettersandscience

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STUDENT HIGHLIGHTS

GRADUATE WHO EARNED THREE BACHELOR’S DEGREES RECEIVES FULBRIGHT TO LAOS McCall Voy, a recent MSU graduate from Great Falls, Mont., earned a Fulbright Teaching English Assistantship to spend a year in the Asian country of Laos.

Voy graduated with three bachelor’s degrees: liberal studies with the global and multicultural studies option from the Liberal Studies Program; anthropology from the Department of Sociology and Anthropology; and French from the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures. All her disciplines fall within the College of Letters and Sciences. A member of the Honors College, Voy also has a minor in museum studies through the Department of History and Philosophy.

Along with her primary duties teaching English, the assistantship also requires Voy to develop a side project, for which Voy will create a club to teach French. Laos is a former French colony and Voy has been working on a research project on French colonialism with her mentor, Ada Giusti, professor of French in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures.

“McCall is passionate about learning and engaging in scholarship,” Giusti said, who taught Voy in four classes and said she earned high marks, despite taking a heavy course load and pursuing multiple majors. “In the classroom, she consistently imparts her passion for knowledge to her professors and classmates. I am certain that her future students in Laos will benefit from her pure love of learning and teaching.”

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program is the largest U.S. exchange program and offers opportunities for recent graduates and graduate students to undertake international graduate study, advanced research, university teaching, and primary and secondary school teaching. The program currently awards approximately 2,000 grants annually in all fields of study in more than 140 different countries.

Excerpted from Meaghan MacDonald, MSU News Service Want to know more? www.montana.edu/news/18720

Brianna Bull Shows.

BRIANNA BULL SHOWS WINS PRESTIGIOUS UDALL SCHOLARSHIP FOR TRIBAL HEALTHCARE Brianna Bull Shows, an enrolled member of the Apsáalooke (Crow) Nation from Pryor, Mont., was selected as a Udall Scholar in the tribal health care category. Bull Shows is currently a senior in the microbiology and pre-medicine major in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology in the College of Letters and Science and the College of Agriculture.

“I’ve always known that I wanted to be a doctor and come back to my reservation,” Bull Shows said. “I think how I could be valuable on my reservation is by being an internal medicine doctor. I want to make a big difference in my community . . . and create community-driven programs focusing on improving the health of the Crow people.”

At MSU, Bull Shows has been working since 2015 with Messengers for Health, a collaborative partnership between MSU and members of the Apsáalooke Nation. Also called simply “Messengers,” the program is based on the Crow reservation and originally focused on culturally appropriate ways to educate and encourage women to receive cancer screenings. The partnership has since expanded to multiple topic areas including women’s health, men’s health, health care provider cultural competency, healthy relationships and chronic illness self-management.

Bull Shows’ contributions to the program focus on patientprovider communication, such as a letter that patients can give to their healthcare providers about cultural nuances for working with Apsáalooke patients.

Bull Shows was one of 55 awardees from 50 colleges and universities selected nationwide from among 443 applicants.

Given by the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation, the Udall Scholarship provides up to $7,000 to college sophomores and juniors for leadership and public service on issues related to Native American health care, tribal policy or the environment.

McCall Voy.

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Excerpted from Anne Cantrell, MSU News Service Want to know more? www.montana.edu/news/18659 Confluence College of Letters and Science 2019–2020

STUDENT HIGHLIGHTS

ZARIAH TOLMAN WINS COMPETITIVE TRUMAN SCHOLARSHIP Zariah Tolman, a senior from Otto, Wyo., who is double majoring in biochemistry and cell biology and neuroscience, won a 2019 Truman Scholarship. The prestigious scholarship is given to students who have demonstrated leadership potential and commitment to public service.

During her time at MSU, Tolman has been involved in a Montana IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) research project with professor Frances Lefcort studying familial dysautonomia in mice. She is an involved member of Expanding Your Horizons, presenting sessions about finding one’s passion as well as overcoming adversity. She is a member of Phi Kappa Phi and a Cameron Presidential Scholar.

She was an MSU SmartyCats tutor in chemistry, French and biology and started her own nonprofit, the Positively Project, an app and website that promote positivity, particularly for those living in rural communities, in addition to working as a mentor for young women with depression.

Tolman, who is also minoring in global health and biomedical engineering and is a member of MSU’s Honors College, plans to attend medical school while concurrently earning a doctorate in global health. Her future plan is to use her medical degree to provide essential health care to small towns in either Montana or Wyoming and her doctorate in global health to work with communities across the world in policy and research.

“The Truman will give me a great stepping-stone to get into graduate school and help me establish a network of people who are also dedicated to changing the world,” Tolman said.

The highly coveted scholarship is given to 62 students from 58 institutions across the nation. Created by Congress in 1975 to be the nation’s living memorial to President Harry S. Truman, the scholarship has become one of the most prestigious national scholarships in the United States.

Excerpted from Carol Schmidt, MSU News Service Want to know more? www.montana.edu/news/18609

Lyla Brown.

CLS STUDENT RECOGNIZED AS AN AFRICAN AMERICAN LEADER Lyla Brown, a senior from Billings, Mont., was recognized as one of nine African American leaders in the Pacific Northwest

by Education Northwest, an organization that aims to improve learning by building capacity in schools, families and communities through applied research and development. The leaders, who are connected to public schools, higher education and the development of young people, were honored in February in celebration of Black History Month.

Brown, who is studying psychology and sociology with a focus on criminology, has been involved in a variety of campus programs and activities, including restarting MSU’s chapter of the Black Student Union (BSU), a student cultural organization that had become inactive.

Those who have witnessed Brown’s efforts with the BSU said she was a driving force in its reestablishment.

Ariel Donohue, MSU senior diversity and inclusion officer, noted that it’s not uncommon for students of color to feel increased isolation and lack of belonging within a primarily white institution.

“Lyla and other members of the BSU leadership team saw the importance of creating a group for black students to find and strengthen their voices, be themselves, discuss topics of interest and support one another in succeeding academically, personally and emotionally,” Donohue said. “The BSU has done a great job of highlighting the challenges of being black at MSU while celebrating the significant contributions of black students.”

The BSU will mark its one-year anniversary in March. In addition to its regular meetings, Brown said some of the club’s accomplishments include hosting panels about what it’s like to be a student of color on campus and taking students to attend a Black Solidarity Summit.

“Its most important accomplishment is building community,” she said.

Excerpted from Anne Cantrell, MSU News Service Want to know more? www.montana.edu/news/18456

Zariah Tolman.

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FACULT Y HIGHLIGHTS

2019 AWARDS COLLEGE OF LETTERS AND SCIENCE AWARDS Dean’s Award for Meritorious Research and Creativity Monica Skewes, Department of Psychology David Ayala, Department of Mathematical Sciences Outstanding Teaching Awards Neha John-Henderson, Department of Psychology (Tenure Track) Jennifer Woodcock, Department of Native American Studies (Non-Tenure Track) Jennifer Dunn, Department of History and Philosophy (Graduate Teaching Assistant) Allison Theobold, Department of Mathematical Sciences (Graduate Teaching Assistant) Kathy E. Griffith Employee Excellence Award Diana Paterson, Master of Science in Science Education Program Katie Sutich, Department of Mathematical Sciences

MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY AWARDS Betty Coffey Outstanding Achievement Award Kelly Knight, Department of Sociology and Anthropology Charles and Nora Wiley Faculty Award for Meritorious Research Jennifer DuBois, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Provost’s Award for Undergraduate Research/Creativity Mentoring Mollly Todd, Department of History and Philosophy Teaching Innovation Award Megan Wickstrom, Department of Mathematical Sciences Women’s Faculty Caucus Distinguished Mentor Award Elizabeth Burroughs, Department of Mathematical Sciences

RETIRING FACULTY (and the year they joined MSU faculty) Galyna Malovychko, Physics (2002) Linda Young, Political Science (1998)

Erik Grumstrup.

ERIK GRUMSTRUP WINS PRESTIGIOUS PRESIDENTIAL EARLY CAREER AWARD FOR SCIENTISTS AND ENGINEERS Erik Grumstrup, an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, earned a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest honor the U.S. government gives to independent researchers near the beginning of their careers.

Grumstrup has been at MSU since 2014 when he was the first person hired for the Materials Science Graduate Program, a collaboration with Montana Tech and the University of Montana that spans the fields of chemistry, physics and engineering.

His lab now houses more than 10 researchers ranging from undergraduate to postdoctoral level who study materials based on the way electrons move through them.

Material defects hinder the movement of electrons and thus prevent technologies from reaching higher levels of efficiency.

The Grumstrup Research Group looks at the movement of these microscopic particles within substances to understand these defects in materials at the very basic level in hopes of finding a way to remove obstacles from the electrons’ paths.

“This PECASE award is a well-deserved recognition of an extraordinary young faculty member,” said chemistry and biochemistry department head Joan Broderick. “Erik’s research is characterized by creativity, combined with an unusual breadth of understanding across the fields of chemistry, physics and materials science. He is also an outstanding and inspiring mentor to the research students working in his lab.”

According to a release from the White House, PECASE winners “show exceptional promise for leadership in science and technology.” The PECASE honors those who are doing more than conducting innovative research. Awardees must also have a commitment to outreach, education and leadership within their community.

Excerpted from Rachel Hergett, MSU News Service Want to know more? www.montana.edu/news/18844

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ORGANIC CHEMIST SHARON NEUFELDT EARNS PRESTIGIOUS NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION CAREER AWARD

Cathy Whitlock.

MSU’S CATHY WHITLOCK NAMED MONTANA UNIVERSITY SYSTEM REGENTS PROFESSOR Cathy Whitlock, a professor in the Department of Earth Sciences and internationally respected earth scientist who studies past climate and environmental change, was named a Montana University System Regents Professor, the most prestigious designation to be attained by a professor in the system.

Whitlock was nominated for her contributions to the university and its students, and for her “phenomenal research record that has brought luster to Montana State University and the state of Montana,” said Nicol Rae, dean of the College of Letters and Science.

Over the course of her nearly 40-year career, Whitlock has produced a broad body of groundbreaking research that has earned her national and international recognition for her scholarship and leadership in the field of past climate and environmental change. She has published more than 190 peerreviewed journal articles and book chapters on the topics of vegetation, fire and climate history in leading scientific journals.

In 2011, Whitlock co-founded the Montana Institute on Ecosystems to “facilitate interdisciplinary environmental research, educate next-generation environmental scientists, and share research discoveries across universities and across the world,” said Whitlock who served as its director from 2011 to 2017.

Whitlock was lead author of the 2017 Montana Climate Assessment, a report released by the Institute on Ecosystems that details climate trends and their consequences for Montana’s water, forests and agriculture. The first in a planned series, the assessment is the result of over two years of research conducted in collaboration with the Montana Climate Office, Montana Water Center and Montana State University Extension.

Sharon Neufeldt, an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, won the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) award, the agency’s most prestigious award for developing young researchers. The award supports early-career faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through research, education and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organization.

The award will give Neufeldt $675,000 over five years and allow her to develop catalysts for more selective and efficient chemical reactions. It will also support her as she organizes activities and programs encouraging students at Chief Dull Knife College in Lame Deer, Mont., to participate in research and develop skills in computational chemistry.

Neufeldt’s lab explores strategies for using catalysts to induce molecules to react in novel ways. Neufeldt explained that catalysts make chemical reactions easier without being consumed in the process. The goal, Neufeldt said, is to save time, money and resources in the production of chemicals and materials.

“The award will certainly help my research progress much more quickly because it supports some of my students,” said Neufeldt.

She currently supervises four doctoral students, one master’s student and three undergraduates.

“Dr. Neufeldt is an outstanding scholar and teacher who directs an innovative organic chemistry research program involving graduate and undergraduate students, and this award will provide critical support for these efforts,” said Joan Broderick, head of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

Excerpted from Evelyn Boswell for the MSU News Service Want to know more? www.montana.edu/news/18393

Whitlock is currently the lead investigator on the National Science Foundation Wildfire Partnership in Research and Education (WildFIRE PIRE) project and MSU co-investigator for recent National Science Foundation Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR RII Track 1) projects in Montana.

Excerpted from Denise Hoepfner, MSU News Service Want to know more? www.montana.edu/news/18176

Sharon Neufeldt.

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Montana State University ecology professor and department head Diane Debinski, left, and research assistants Erin McCall and Logan Crees, study butterflies during a July research trip in an alpine meadow near Jackson, Wyo.

MONTANA STATE RESEARCH TIES BUTTERFLY POPULATION TO MOUNTAIN SYSTEMS ECOLOGY A Montana State University ecologist whose long-term research into butterfly populations in the Grand Teton mountains and their implications for mountain systems ecology has received a grant from the Disney Conservation Fund.

Diane Debinski, head of the Department of Ecology in the College of Letters and Science, has been studying Parnassius clodius butterflies for 30 years, dating back to when she was an MSU graduate student in the late ‘80s.

“What we’re doing is looking at how environmental variations like snowpack and the timing of snowmelt are affecting Parnassius clodius populations in Wyoming and Montana,” said Debinski.

She explained that mountain meadows have high levels of plant diversity and plant productivity that are important to elk, deer and other herbivores, and butterflies and other pollinators also use these meadows, particularly if there are a lot of flowers.

“So, the question is: If the world gets warmer and drier, how are these mountain meadows going to change and how will those changes affect the pollinators?” Debinski said.

Debinski and her collaborators hope to answer that question through their seasonal count of Parnassius clodius, a white, medium-sized butterfly found primarily in high-elevation meadows in North America and Europe, and also in Asia.

The research was recently published in the Journal of Insect 18

Conservation and awarded a $50,000 grant from the Disney Conservation Fund.

Debinski explained that insects are good indicators of environmental change because they are numerous and respond quickly to environmental variation—meaning population numbers will fluctuate each year in connection with environmental conditions, such as winter temperature.

“The reason for using butterflies is that they are easily surveyed for population numbers and they are also a good choice of insect with which to tell a conservation story,” she said. “People are interested in butterflies and usually not afraid of them. Because butterflies don’t sting or bite and they are beautiful, they are an effective taxonomic group with which to engage the public.”

Changes in the populations of Parnassius butterflies can serve as an indicator of potential changes in the many other insects which are much less easy to survey or identify, Debinski said. Because insects serve important ecosystem roles as pollinators and food for species higher in the food chain, changes in insect populations could presage changes in other animal and plant populations within the ecosystem.

Each year, Debinski and her research team travel to a roughly 2-mile-wide alpine meadow during the time the butterflies fly— mid-June to mid-July, depending on the weather that year. Their

Confluence College of Letters and Science 2019–2020

goal is to capture and mark each butterfly so they can estimate the total population.

After a butterfly is netted, the researchers carefully use a permanent marker to number it on its wings then release it unharmed. They do this each day the butterflies are flying.

Debinski said a “good” number can range from 400 to 800 Parnassius butterflies marked in a season, although there have been years the number has been as low as 200. This year, the research team marked 664 individual butterflies.

concentrated on Glacier National Park, where she surveyed biodiversity patterns of birds and butterflies. She then began to focus on the hundreds of species of butterflies in the Mountain West, including the 120 or so species that live in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, on which she authored a book.

She returned to MSU in 2017 as department head, in the same office where Brussard once worked, where her research focuses on understanding and predicting species distribution and abundance patterns across the landscape at local and regional scales. Trends in these patterns can become bioindicators of environmental change.

“If the snow melts early and the caterpillars emerge and then it gets really cold again, that’s when we expect to have a poor population “I’m a conservation biologist, so I study what makes a species rare, size because we know the caterpillars will die if temperatures and how we can recover those species. I am also interested in get particularly cold—minus 13 degrees Fahrenheit or below,” whether rarity is influenced by habitat loss, habitat modification Debinski said. “This year, the snow stayed around a long time or climate change,” Debinski said. “As a scientist, those are some and it was deep snow, so we had a good population size.” of the questions I ask.”

Overall, she said, the Parnassius clodius population in the Tetons Nicol Rae, dean of MSU’s College of Letters and Science, said is “probably stable,” which makes it a good example of how a Debinski’s work has important downstream effects regarding population can naturally vary over time. This information is other insect, animal and plant species. important to conservation efforts to save the genus in other parts of the world, where sister species are threatened due to habitat loss, “Professor Debinski’s research on conservation of the butterflies as pollinators in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is especially change in habitat or climate change. critical since butterflies can be a significant bellwether for Debinski’s research began in 1987 at MSU under the late Peter ecosystem changes,” Rae said.

Brussard, her former adviser and department head of what was then the Department of Biology. During that time, her work

Excerpted from Denise Hoepfner, MSU News Service

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Randy Rucker.

MSU ECONOMIST’S RESEARCH ON HONEYBEE COLONY COLLAPSE DISORDER PUBLISHED Randy Rucker, a professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Economics in the College of Letters and Science and College of Agriculture had the results of his work examining the economic impacts of colony collapse disorder (CCD) among commercial honeybees published in the Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.

Rucker began looking into colony collapse disorder several years ago with colleagues from North Carolina State University and Oregon State University, for the purpose of estimating its economic impacts. The onset of the disorder was an unexpected shock to commercial beekeeping and pollination markets that first received national attention in the winter of 2006-07 when mortality rates were estimated to be almost 30%.

Colony collapse disorder is still a poorly understood phenomenon, wrote Rucker and his co-authors in the paper’s introduction. Since its onset, along with other pollinator health issues such as the Varroa mite, which feeds on developing bees, it has caused significant concern among beekeepers and the public.

“With colony collapse disorder, a beekeeper goes out and virtually all the worker bees are gone,” said Rucker. “Twenty thousand, 30,000, 40,000 worker bees, just gone. There are very few dead worker bees on the ground near the colony, and 20

the queen, the brood and all the food are still there. But the bees are just gone.”

With so little known about what causes colony collapse disorder, Rucker and his team set out to identify its economic ripple effects by examining trends in four categories: number of commercial honeybee colonies nationwide, honey production, prices of queens and packaged bees, and pollination fees charged by commercial beekeepers to growers.

The team found some surprising results.

Bee population is known to fall during the winter, said Rucker.

Prior to the onset of colony collapse disorder, the average winter mortality rate was about 15%. Beekeepers have long known how to replace dead hives and are prepared to deal with losses, typically in one of two ways.

The first method of offsetting winter losses is called splitting, where a beekeeper takes half the bees in a healthy colony, moves them to a struggling colony and adds a newly fertilized queen, purchased for $18-25 and received through the mail.

After about six weeks, there are once again two healthy hives.

The other way to increase colony numbers after winter losses is to simply buy a package of bees, also through the mail, which includes a fertilized queen and several thousand worker bees.

Beekeepers place the bees in the dead hive and then watch as a healthy hive develops. Both methods are relatively easy and

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inexpensive for beekeepers—and have remained so after the onset of colony collapse disorder, the study found.

“Beekeepers know how to replace dead hives,” said Rucker.

“As winter mortality increased after CCD appeared and beekeepers worried about having enough hives to meet their pollination contracts in the spring, they responded by splitting more hives in mid- to late summer and would then end up with the number they needed.”

Even with more hives split and more bees purchased, the prices of queens and packaged bees have not increased dramatically, the study found. From this result, the authors infer that “the supply of queens and packaged bees is sufficiently elastic that any increases in demand associated with CCD have not resulted in measurable increases in price.”

The team found similar results when they examined trends in colony numbers and honey production. While there were preexisting downward trends in both metrics before the onset of colony collapse disorder, the rate of decline has not increased, said Rucker. In fact, colony numbers in 2018 were higher than they had been over the last 20 years.

went up before CCD hit,” said Rucker. “You can’t attribute those increases to colony collapse disorder.”

The bottom line, he said, is that while there have been changes in the commercial pollinator markets, few can be directly linked to colony collapse disorder or any other recent pollinator health concerns. This is good news for beekeepers and consumers alike, he added.

The reason the disorder’s impacts are so small, said Rucker, is directly linked to the fact that most beekeepers know that bees and honeybee colonies are going to die over the course of the year, and they have developed methods of dealing with those fluctuations. As a result, they have been able to react quickly to disruptions like CCD. But there are still a lot of unknowns about the disorder, and the paper focused on the particular overlap of colony collapse disorder and economics.

The sole instance of a pronounced negative impact came when the team studied trends in pollination fees for commercial crops. Even there, however, only one commercially important crop showed a significant increase in price: almonds.

“The bottom line is that beekeepers are savvy [businesspeople],” he said. “Our research provides reason for optimism about the future ability of commercial beekeepers to adapt to environmental or biological shocks to their operations and to pollination markets. It says nothing, however, about nonmanaged pollinators. Data on those pollinators’ populations are sparse, and the impacts of maladies like CCD on their populations are not well understood. There is definitely much more work to be done to grasp the effects of CCD and other threats to bee health.”

“Almond pollination fees did go up substantially, but they

Excerpted from Reagan Colyer, MSU News Service

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John Sample.

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MSU LEADS PROJECT TO STUDY MYSTERIOUS RELATIVE OF THE AURORA When the shimmering hues of the aurora dance in the night sky, they illuminate for scientists a complex phenomenon: light is emitted when charged particles, ejected by the multimilliondegree surface of the Sun, interact with Earth’s magnetic field and collide with atoms in the atmosphere.

“Every time we look at the aurora on finer scales, we see new structures, new swirls and details,” said John Sample, assistant professor in the Department of Physics. Besides being beautiful, he said, the images provide insights into the physics behind the spectacle.

On the other hand, a more energetic cousin of the aurora remains in many ways a mystery because it is invisible to the human eye. Scientists know that particles more energetic than the aurora’s create splitsecond bursts of X-rays. But what do these microbursts, as they are called, look like?

Other observations have come from two NASA spacecraft called the Van Allen Probes, as well as from Antarctic balloon flights conducted during a 2012-2013 project called BARREL, which Sample contributed to as a graduate student. More recently, a pair of small satellites built by undergraduates in MSU’s Space Science and Engineering Laboratory as part of a collaborative research project called FIREBIRD have provided the main data for scientists to estimate the microbursts’ overall size.

But researchers have lacked detailed images of the microbursts to help bring all this data together, according to Robyn Millan, a physics professor at Dartmouth College who led the BARREL project and is now a partner in BOOMS. “We’re getting to the point where we can ask a lot more detailed questions about what’s going on,” she said.

Millan is leading another NASA-funded project “Nobody has a clue,” Sample that will work together FIREBIRD Flight Units 3 and 4 shown with antennas deployed. Both units were launched on January said. “Nobody has ever 31, 2015 with the ELaNa X (SMAP) mission. MSU’s Space Science and Engineering Laboratory has with BOOMS to study recorded and downlinked hundreds of microbursts to date. taken a picture.” the same microbursts at the same time. That project, which is called Relativistic Sample’s team, which includes researchers from four other universities, hopes to change that by using a helium filled balloon Electron Atmospheric Loss (REAL) will be centered on a small satellite—called a CubeSat—similar to FIREBIRDs and also larger than MSU’s football stadium. The balloon will carry an built by undergraduates in MSU’s Space Science and Engineering X-ray camera to an altitude of 130,000 feet as it travels from Laboratory.

Sweden across the Atlantic Ocean to Canada. The project, called Balloon Observations of Microburst Scale, or BOOMS, is backed “Montana State has a unique expertise with CubeSats,” as the by a $3 million grant from NASA. bread loaf-sized spacecraft are called, Millan said. The REAL “With BOOMS, we’ll take the first ever high-resolution X-ray images (of microbursts),” Sample said.

The results could not only provide insights about the phenomenon but also help NASA and others predict and design for the powerful electrons that react with Earth’s atmosphere to create the X-rays. “These electrons are going so fast—about the speed of light—that they can punch through the aluminum skin of satellites and damage the satellite’s computer,” Sample said. The atmosphere blocks the X-rays from reaching the Earth’s surface, which is why the balloon will be used to carry the X-ray camera aloft.

Some of the first observations of the microbursts were made in the 1960s with balloons carrying X-ray cameras. But the cameras were primitive by today’s standards, according to Sample.

CubeSat will be launched ahead of the BOOMS flight and will orbit the Earth roughly every 90 minutes, measuring the quantity of microburst electrons, among other things.

Several MSU undergrads majoring in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer science and physics will also help design and build the BOOMS equipment. BOOMS includes researchers at the University of Washington, University of California at Berkeley and University of California at Santa Cruz.

According to Sample, the missions could prove a major step forward in advancing scientists’ understanding of the mysterious X-ray counterpart of the aurora. He will have more to say once he sees the X-ray images because, he said, “a picture is worth a thousand words.”

Marshall Swearingen, MSU News Service

www.montana.edu/lettersandscience

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A L UM N I

MSU ALUMNA WINS BIOLOGIST OF THE YEAR AWARD FROM MONTANA CHAPTER OF THE WILDLIFE SOCIETY non-governmental organization biologists operating in varied capacities and rank Kelly as among the most capable, effective and productive professionals I have known.”

Kelly Proffitt. Image courtesy of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

Kelly Proffitt, an MSU alumna who received her doctoral degree in fish and wildlife biology through the Department of Ecology in 2008, won the 2019 Biologist of the Year Award from the Montana Chapter of The Wildlife Society. The award is presented annually for significant achievements in wildlife conservation. She was recognized during the organization’s annual conference in February.

Mike Thompson, Region 2 Wildlife Program Manager for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) wrote the following about Proffitt in her nomination letter: “Kelly works and excels as a practicing field researcher in the most demanding outdoor conditions. She builds and maintains ever-expanding partnerships across multiple regions, institutions and states. She juggles an incredible array of projects occurring at the same time in various stages across a wide area of Montana. All this, while remaining eminently available, accessible and responsive on a day-to-day basis.”

During her time at MSU, Proffitt contributed to a long-term study of Weddell seal population and ecosystem processes in Antarctica. Her work on the study, which is led by professors Robert Garrott and Jay Rotella in the Department of Ecology, resulted in co-authorship of nine peer-reviewed journal articles as a student and post-doctoral researcher.

In a letter of support, Garrott wrote that, “During my 40-plus year career I have worked with hundreds of state, federal and 24

Proffitt has worked as a wildlife research biologist for FWP since 2009. During her time at FWP, she has contributed to two longterm (10 or more years) largescale research projects that are foundational for the state, focused on the effects of carnivore harvest on elk populations and bighorn sheep ecology and population dynamics. Proffitt remains involved in ongoing, long-term research into elk brucellosis dynamics and transmission risk.

She has been central to defining and implementing the next longterm research endeavor for FWP that is focused on mule deer and elk habitat and population dynamics statewide. She has also contributed to nearly 20 shortterm (five years or less) projects.

During her young career, she has worked on studies of a great variety of animals, including trumpeter swans, seals, mountain lions, wolves, bighorn sheep, elk, polar bears and grizzly bears.

The topics of her work have also been diverse including papers on reproduction, survival, density-dependence, senescence, nutrition, climate impacts, behavior, habitat selection, disease, predator-prey interactions, ungulate migration, impacts of human harvest, and population monitoring and modelling methodologies. The unifying feature of her work is that they have direct application to on-the-ground management decisions and programs to enhance conservation of Montana’s wildlife.

According to ResearchGate, she has served as the primary author or co-author for nearly 50 articles in academic journals.

Proffitt also excels at mentoring the next generation of wildlife biologists, working with post-doctoral researchers, research associates and graduate students. Her award nomination letter noted that, “Over the past five years of unparalleled achievement, Kelly has modeled not only an exhausting work ethic and the highest scientific proficiency, but also the attitude, demeanor and mentorship of a person in our profession to be emulated. At this stage in her career, we point aspiring young biologists toward Kelly as a role model.”

Confluence College of Letters and Science 2019–2020

OU T R E AC H

“BIG C PROJECT” PAIRS WRIT 101 STUDENTS WITH CANCER SURVIVORS FOR MEANINGFUL ENGAGEMENT Since 2016, Jill Davis’ WRIT 101 students have taken their writing and interviewing skills to the Montana Cancer Support Community, pairing a student with a cancer survivor for conversational interviews in order to create a lifetime video for their families and loved ones. The students create a one- to twohour interview video, as well as a digital scrapbook with family photos put to a musical soundtrack. At the end of the semester, students gift the video production to their cancer partners and their families.

“Working with the Cancer Support Community, students connect with local citizens in a meaningful way,” said Davis, an instructor in the Department of English. “The videos capture the true essence of their cancer partners, revealing who they are, challenges faced, career choices, proud moments and wishes for family members once they are gone. This project helps families to keep the voices of their loved ones alive and honors not only the one interviewed but also the lives of the loved ones witnessing the video.”

Students spend one hour per week for eight to twelve weeks having a conversation with an elder or an individual experiencing cancer for this life story video project. After several weeks of conversations, students craft a lifetime map showcasing the many experiences the interviewee wants to share with family and friends. Using the lifetime map as a blueprint, students begin filming insightful biographical interviews with the partner in their home.

“Most of us have lost a loved one to cancer and know what it would mean to have a video of that individual speaking about his or her life and what it all meant,” said Ashley Sheyner, a junior who participated in the project as a freshman. “A primary goal in doing this work is to give something of value back to a cancer patient going through hard times.”

The project builds students’ interview, writing and community engagement skills in a meaningful way, as well as offer community members a powerful document of a life well lived.

Top left: Mechanical engineering major Drake Torstenson gives Michelle, his “Big C Project” partner, a hug at a celebration party. Top right: University studies student Elizabeth Roberts and her “Big C Project” partner Teri heading out for one of their “walks and talks.” Bottom: Political science major Casey Crosby and culinary arts major Denise Jessop sharing their final video production with Pam, a cancer survivor, at The Bozeman Cancer Support Community Center. Photos by Jill Davis.

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David Parker with political science students.

MSU RELEASES DATA FROM 2018 MONTANA ELECTION POLLS In July, Montana State University political scientists released a new treasure trove of raw data about Montanans and how they viewed the 2018 election.

Professor David Parker and associate professor Eric Raile of the Department of Political Science coordinated the collection of some of the most extensive pre- and post-election polling in the state’s history, made the complete set of data available to the public through the website of the Human Ecology Learning and Problem Solving (HELPS) Lab, at MSU, helpslab.montana.edu/.

“This is a straight-up report of all the survey results without any accompanying analysis,” Parker said. He said the university has released the data as a service to the public. “It’s important, as a land-grant institution, to allow individuals to engage in their own exploration of data.”

Parker and Raile worked with fellow political scientists, associate professor Elizabeth Shanahan and post-doctoral reaearcher Sara Guenther, from the Department of Political Science, as well as MSU undergraduate students working in the HELPS Lab, to poll and analyze data both before the 2018 election as well as after it. They mailed 10,400 questionnaires to registered Montana voters in mid-September and 2,057 respondents sent the pre-election poll back by Oct. 6, which is considered a very good response rate at about 20%. While MSU’s pre-election and post-election results covered about 50 variables, the set of information released over the summer contains 186 variables. It offers detailed information about Montanans’ opinions and thoughts about politics and public 26

policies. For instance, the new information includes data about Montanans’ confidence in institutions, as well as their opinions about different media and about government spending, none of which was discussed in previous releases.

Raile said the newly released data is more expansive than the earlier release of information and fills an informational gap.

“There isn’t a lot of good information about how people in Montana think about policies and elections,” he said.

The data are presented several ways, including 138 pages of graphs. The data have been made available in an Excel spreadsheet and Stata files used by statisticians and analysts.

The data can also be accessed through the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, a public data repository. All the data are anonymous, he said.

Raile added that while the information will be a bonanza for academics and statisticians, it may also be fascinating for anyone interested in Montanans and their opinions about a variety of topics. The Montana Television Network and MSU provided funding for these surveys, and the Montana IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence provides support for the HELPS Lab. Raile is the director of the HELPS Lab, which is a social science research lab based at MSU since 2015. Raile said the lab allows students to learn about research methods used in the social sciences. In 2018, the lab worked on 35 projects.

Excerpted from Carol Schmidt, MSU News Service

Confluence College of Letters and Science 2019–2020

OU T R E AC H

FISHES OF MONTANA APP BRINGS FIELD GUIDE TO MOBILE DEVICES If you were to catch a lake trout or a bull trout in Montana waters, would you know which is which? Now there’s an app for that.

Tom McMahon, a professor in the Fish and Wildlife Ecology and Management Program within the Department of Ecology, collaborated with ecology department colleagues Alexander Zale and Christopher Guy, leader and assistant leader of the U.S. Geological Survey Montana Cooperative Fishery Research Unit, to develop the new “Fishes of Montana” app that includes information on 90 native and introduced species to help people identify fish.

“It’s harder than most people think to identify fish correctly,” said McMahon. “There are a lot of fish that kind of look alike.”

Making correct identifications is important. Montana’s fishing regulations center around being able to identify the species. For example, Guy said lake trout are considered at risk of becoming endangered due to declining populations in their native waters, but invasive when introduced elsewhere. Bull trout are listed as a threatened species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Daily limits, or fishing bans, reflect these designations.

“Lake trout we want gone in many waters,” Guy said. “Bull trout must stay. But they look similar.”

glossary, a map of major drainages in Montana, diagrams on fish anatomy and links to more resources.

Users identify fish species through a polyclave key, which uses a process of elimination based on observed characteristics.

Choose the location within the state, the shape of the tail or if an adipose fin is present. If you don’t know what an adipose fin is, a graphic with an arrow points to its location (between the main back fin and the tail). The a­ pp then provides a list of fish meeting the specified characteristics.

To develop the app, the MSU team enlisted Whitney Tilt, a Bozeman conservationist, as project manager and Katie Gibson of the Bozeman company MountainWorks as the developer.

They then called on Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, partners in the Cooperative Fishery Research Unit, to provide expertise.

The app, which is available for Android and iOS devices and is free to download, was funded by a $10,000 grant from retailer Patagonia that was awarded to the Department of Ecology to promote the restoration of native fish populations as part of the Trout and Cold Water Fisheries Initiative.

Excerpted from Rachel Hergett, MSU News Service

The app, which does not require cellular coverage or a wireless connection for basic identification, includes a comprehensive species list for quick reference, which includes the common and scientific names. It tells whether the fish is native or introduced, threatened or a game fish. Fishes of Montana also contains a

Chris Guy, left, Alexander Zale and Thomas McMahon developed a fish identification app in collaboration with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. The Fishes of Montana app includes information on 90 native and introduced fish species in the state.

www.montana.edu/lettersandscience

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DE PA R T ME N T HIG HL IG H T S

DEPARTMENT HIGHLIGHTS

AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS & ECONOMICS Mariana Carrera, assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Economics, was part of a research team that conducted several experiments testing different approaches, motivated by behavioral economics, to help people exercise more often.

The team evaluated the use of a “nudge,” which is a light-touch intervention aimed at influencing behavior without truly restricting choices. Behavioral economists, starting with Nobel-prize Mariana Carrera. winner Richard Thaler, have been curious about how nudges can be designed to help people overcome challenges like forgetfulness or procrastination and achieve personal goals such as saving more for retirement, getting their annual flu shot or exercising more.

In one recently published study, Carrera and her collaborators, which includes researchers from the University of California, University of Wisconsin and Drexel University, tested whether a popular nudge known as a “planning prompt” could help gym members increase their gym visits. They randomly divided 877 members into two groups. Those in the treatment group were asked to complete a two-week schedule with the days and times that they planned to go to the gym, and they received electronic calendar invites for their selected times. The control group was instead asked about their visits over the previous two weeks.

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The researchers were surprised to find that the group with the planning prompts did not visit any more often than the control group. In fact, they visited slightly less often—2.3 visits versus 2.6 visits by the control group during the two-week planning period—a statistical zero effect. This was despite the fact that 90% of people in the planning group made plans to exercise and they were more likely to visit during the times they had planned than at unplanned times. They just didn’t increase their total number of visits relative to the control group or their own past behavior.

These findings pose a stark contrast to the existing literature on planning prompts. Similar simple planning prompts—asking people to write down when they plan to take an action—had proven effective in other studies on getting people to vote or obtain preventive health screenings. The researchers speculate that a nudge may be more useful for one-time tasks, like flu shots or doctor’s appointments.

“Repeated behaviors like exercise . . . are very unlikely to produce a feeling of urgency since many individuals likely have the mind-set that they can always exercise later,” the authors explain. They are now working on a follow-up study to further explore this possibility.

Confluence College of Letters and Science 2019–2020

DE PA R T ME N T HIG HL IG H T S

EARTH SCIENCES Devon Orme, assistant professor in the Department of Earth Sciences, was awarded a Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) Fellowship from the German Academic Exchange Service to spend five weeks at the University of Potsdam conducting research and learning new research techniques in a fission track thermochronology laboratory.

Roland Hatzenpichler.

CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY Roland Hatzenpichler, an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, took a submersible 6,600 feet down to the bottom of the Guaymas Basin in the Gulf of California to gather sediment samples and samples from microbial mats for analysis in his lab at MSU. Hatzenpichler is seeking answers about what microorganisms live in the basin’s hydrothermally active sediments, where they get their energy from, and how the microorganisms degrade the complex organic carbon that falls from the water’s surface and collects on the basin floor.

“There are very large amounts of material that is being degraded in oceans every day and we have no idea how this is being performed,” Hatzenpichler said. “So, on a very fundamental level, we need to understand how the atmosphere, the deep sea and the water column are connected through the biogeochemical cycling of elements.”

The submersible is owned by the U.S. Navy and operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution for use in oceanographic research. The trip was funded with a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation received

by Hatzenpichler and his collaborators, Brett Baker of the University of Texas at Austin and Andreas Teske of the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

On the ocean floor, Hatzenpichler found golf-ball-sized colonies of microorganisms, similar to what he has seen in the hot springs of Yellowstone National Park, near the basin’s hydrothermal vents. The water temperature at the vents hovers near 212 degrees Fahrenheit, the boiling point of water at Earth’s surface.

Geologists use fission track thermochronology—a radiometric dating technique based on analyses of the damage trails, or tracks, left by fission fragments in certain uranium-bearing minerals and glasses—to determine geologic processes such as maximum burial temperatures of sedimentary basins and rates of exhumation and uplift during mountain building events. The lab at the University of Potsdam is a world leader in fission track thermochronology and Orme was able to experiment with new preparation techniques and fission track counting methods during her visit.

Orme’s visit to Germany aided her efforts to set up the new Tectonic Sedimentology and Thermochronology (TeST) Laboratory at MSU. In addition, she was able to prepare age standards that will be used for training and analyses at MSU into the foreseeable future. The addition of the TeST lab to the Department of Earth Sciences provides students and researchers the opportunity to participate in original cutting-edge thermochronological research in-house at MSU. At MSU, Orme’s research program focuses on sedimentary basin analysis and the tectono-thermal history of mountain-building, or orogenic, systems. In the field, she analyzes the sedimentary character of rock—expressed by its formation, composition and fossil content—that’s archived in basins to reconstruct depositional environments and the physical processes that govern basin evolution. In turn, she seeks to understand the thermal evolution of sedimentary basins and their source regions through the application of analytical techniques such as geochronology and thermochronology.

Altogether, his lab ended up with 25 sediment core samples to research at MSU, he said.

He explained that understanding how the microorganisms break down the naturally occurring gases, natural oil and dead biomass in the deep sea could potentially lead to exploiting those enzymes to clean up oil spills or other contaminants that are hard to break down.

Excerpted from Denise Hoepfner, MSU News Service

Devon Orme at her fission track microscope, part of MSU’s Tectonic Sedimentology and Thermochronology (TeST) Laboratory. Photo courtesy of Devon Orme.

www.montana.edu/lettersandscience

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ECOLOGY Blake Lowrey, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Ecology who earned his Ph.D. from MSU in 2018, was the lead author of a paper that was recently published in the journal Ecology and Evolution about the diverse patterns of migration among different bighorn sheep populations.

The paper draws from an extensive data set compiled by the Greater Yellowstone Mountain Ungulate Project and the Montana Bighorn Initiative, both of which are led

by MSU ecology professor and co-author Robert Garrott.

Data was collected from 209 female bighorn sheep in the Rocky Mountains in collaboration with national parks, state wildlife agencies, land managers and researchers in Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and Colorado. Rather than focus on a single herd, the partnership allows for comparative studies across 18 populations of bighorn sheep.

Lowrey, a spatial ecologist who studies the distribution of animal species over the landscape, used the locations collected from GPS collars to investigate migration patterns in the bighorn sheep. He defined core summer and winter ranges for individuals and measured elevation and geographic distances between the ranges. These migration patterns were then compared between types of herds: native herds that have never been removed from their historic ranges and herds within the historic bighorn sheep range in the Rockies but had been restored or augmented through species translocation.

Lowrey found not only do the bighorn sheep in native populations tend to migrate more on average, they also exhibit longer migrations and have more diversity in how they migrate.

Bighorn sheep.

Sheep within a single native herd may migrate upward of 25 miles, they may travel short distances between high and low elevations, or they may stay at high elevations year-round.

Yet within the restored and augmented populations, there is less variety. Most individuals have the same relatively short migration or do not migrate at all. Understanding these patterns could one day help wildlife officials make more informed management decisions.

“Migratory patterns in ungulates are thought to be learned,” Lowrey said. “If you remove animals from the landscape, you lose the herd memory needed to maintain a diversity of migratory patterns.”

Excerpted from Rachel Hergett, MSU News Service

ENGLISH The “Rural Voices on the Big Screen: Connecting Teachers and Students Through Film” project, which is a program of the MSU-based Yellowstone Writing Project (YWP), creates a supportive and resource-rich network for teachers across the Yellowstone region whose students are creating silent films to submit to the International Youth Silent Film Festival (IYSFF).

Allison Wynhoff Olsen, associate professor in the Department of English Department and director of YWP, applied for and received a seed grant from MSU’s Outreach and Engagement Council to develop the project. Wynhoff Olsen produces the Yellowstone Regional Competition where films are reviewed and ranked by local jurors according to standards set by the IYSFF. Through its partnership with YWP and IYSFF, “Rural Voices” provides teachers in the region access to resources, curriculum 30

and a network of colleagues through the writing and creating of silent films. Students working on these silent films go through a rigorous process to develop stories and storyboards before they work on the process of filming and editing. These complex, multimedia writing opportunities foster student creativity and technical capacity, and create authentic learning experiences that connect students from across the state, region and ultimately from around the world. Student work is also exposed to film industry professionals.

Pre-service teachers, including MSU undergrads from the English teaching option, facilitated a Festival Day for local K-6 students prior to an April 8 screening of regional films. The Festival Day included breakout sessions on topics such as “stoking the creative process,” interviews with panels of youth filmmakers, campus tours and guided conversation about college. The Festival Day provided pre-service teachers with opportunities to apply what

Confluence College of Letters and Science 2019–2020

HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY For six weeks during the summer of 2019, history graduate student Evan Kelly joined Susan Cohen, professor and chair of the Department of History and Philosophy, for the excavation of a Roman legionary base in the north of Israel at a site called Legio. The archaeological excavation was part of the larger Jezreel Valley Regional Project (JVRP), which aims to shed light on different periods of human occupation in the Jezreel Valley from the Bronze Age through the Islamic Era.

Evan Kelly. Photo courtesy of Evan Kelly.

Legio was once home to the Roman VI Ferrata Legion (the “Iron Legion”) from the early 2nd century CE until the early 4th Mornings on the excavation began early due to the summer heat century CE. During this time of occupation, over 5,000 Roman and the days were long, hard and rewarding. After digging in the legionary soldiers lived within the walled military camp, also field all morning, staff and volunteers returned to the kibbutz, an known as a castra. The soldiers had been stationed in the Jezreel Israeli commune, to process all of the finds from the morning.

Valley as part of an occupying force to keep the local Semitic This involved carefully cleaning all of the pottery, glass, metal, populations in check and under the control of Roman governance. bones and other objects excavated from the ground, documenting Through excavation at Legio, archaeologists are gaining a them and organizing them for further analysis. Over the course greater understanding of the relationship between Rome and of the dig, these objects included thousands of pieces of pottery, the Southern Levant during this tumultuous two-hundred-year glass and metal, over a hundred Roman coins, the broken head of period, as well as analyzing how the soldiers residing at Legio a marble statue, and the toes of a bronze statue. There was even a interacted with local populations. little bit of gold leaf.

The 2019 excavation was the third full season of digging at Legio Beyond the physical excavation, Kelly was able to participate in and focused on uncovering the headquarters of the camp, the courses offered by JVRP to students and volunteers for college principia. After using ground-penetrating radar to identify credit. These included a lecture course on the history of the area architectural elements underground, the 2019 Legio excavation as well as an archaeological field methods course. Each weekend proceeded to uncover the central courtyard of the camp and also during the dig season, JVRP students also participated in identified the camp’s sacellum, a sacred space where the legion excursions to important archaeological sites in the north of Israel. would have kept their legionary standard and treasury. In these These field trips included exploring places such as the Roman port areas, students uncovered many architectural elements such city of Caesarea, on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, and the as floors and walls, as well as ceramic drainage pipes and large headwaters of the River Jordan at Tel Dan. column bases.

they are learning in the classroom, develop group leadership skills and practice educational facilitation. They also connected with practicing teachers from across the state, increasing their network and gaining extended insights from teachers in communities like the ones they hope to teach in when they graduate.

Additional “Rural Voices” activities include a presentation at Montana’s statewide educators’ conference in 2018 and development of a webinar series. The program is also developing digital resources for SchoolTube: IYSFF Channel.

The program will host the 3rd Annual Yellowstone Regional Film Screening on April 6, 2020, at the Hagar Auditorium at the Museum of the Rockies.

For more information about the “Rural Voices” project and other YWP programs, as well as the IYSFF, please visit www.yellowstonewritingproject.com.

Students at the Global Awards Ceremony for the International Youth Silent Film Festival held in Portland, Ore. Photo courtesy of Ned Thanhouser/International Youth Silent Film Festival.

www.montana.edu/lettersandscience

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MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES Anna Schenfisch, a second-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Mathematical Sciences, received a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship to support her research using computational geometry to improve the analysis of images on a biopsy slide to identify prostate cancer.

Through the NSF fellowship, Schenfisch will receive a $34,000 annual stipend and a $12,000 annual allowance for tuition and fees.

Schenfisch’s research is focused on using mathematical algorithms to distinguish minute differences in the shapes, based on different properties such as height or curvature, seen on the biopsy slides in order to reduce the subjectivity that comes with evaluating those shapes using the naked eye. This makes it easier to separate more severe cancer cases from less severe ones and allow doctors to fine-tune the most effective treatment programs for individual patients.

“A patient’s treatment recommendations are based on that severity classification,” she said. “So having that be more accurate is definitely a good goal.”

Through more complex algorithms, Schenfisch hopes to one day develop one that can automatically identify red flags for cancer in prostate biopsies.

“Those [biopsies] produce images that look essentially like a bunch of circles formed by dots, which is very topological in nature already,” she said. “Right now, patients are diagnosed based on a scale that’s all based on look rather than an automated process.

The goal is to help automate that.”

Excerpted from Reagan Colyer, MSU News Service

MICROBIOLOGY & IMMUNOLOGY Garrett Peters, a senior from Eugene, Ore., who is majoring in microbiology with a minor in business administration, received a 2019 Goldwater Scholarship.

Garrett Peters.

The scholarship is the nation’s premier scholarship for undergraduates studying math, natural sciences and engineering. It provides recipients up to $7,500 a year for tuition, fees, books, and room and board.

In addition to the Goldwater Scholarship, Peters was also the recipient of a 2019 Cameron Presidential Scholarship, MSU’s most prestigious academic scholarship that is awarded on the basis of scholastic achievement, demonstrated leadership and exemplary public service.

He volunteers as an AdvoCat, giving guided walking tours of campus to educate visitors about academics and campus life, as well as the history, traditions and achievements of the university. He is also a member of the Phi Kappa Phi honor society and volunteers for Bozeman Health’s Emergency Services and Eagle Mount.

Since his freshman year, Peters has conducted undergraduate research in the lab of Seth Walk, associate professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology in the College of Letters and Science and the College of Agriculture. He studies the metabolism of resident bacteria in the human gut microbiome in adults.

Peters said the Goldwater will aid his plans to attend medical school while earning a doctorate to let him continue his research into the function of the microbiome. “(Peters’) work is highly relevant to future clinical training in medical school and will give him a deeper perspective of the emerging microbiome field,” Walk said. “Garrett is poised to become a leader in medicine and in particular to contribute fundamental information on how microorganisms in the gut promote human health.”

With Peters’ Goldwater, MSU has now produced 74 Goldwater scholars, keeping the university one of the nation’s top institutions for number of recipients.

Excerpted from the MSU News Service

Anna Schenfisch.

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Confluence College of Letters and Science 2019–2020

NATIVE AMERICAN STUDIES A partnership between the Department of Native American Studies and the Blackfeet Nation received a grant valued at $2 million from the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR) to support sustainable agriculture for the Piikani people.

Back row, left to right: Rachel Park, Ellie Jackson, Mariah Erhart, Rachel Dunlap, Enzo Mejia, Molly Adams-Hyde, Hannah Willis, Colton Schlag. Front row, left to right: Hallie Swain, Natalee Wheeler. Not pictured: Wesley Smith, Olivia Cruickshank Duquin. Photo courtesy of Wesley Smith.

MODERN LANGUAGES & LITERATURES Bridget Kevane, professor of Spanish in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures and director of the Liberal Studies Program, and LaTrelle Scherffius, an instructor in the Liberal Studies Program and Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, led a group of students on a trip to the southern border between Arizona and Mexico to witness the immigration crises at the border first-hand.

The students, which included undergraduate students from different departments and colleges ranging from global health to computer science, spent 10 days at the border in May. The trip, which was organized through MSU’s BreaksAway program, had an educational and humanitarian component.

Kevane and Scherffius designed the trip so that students would learn from experts about border policies and humanitarian non-profit aid. At the beginning of the trip, the students received training from Tucson Samaritans, witnessed the Operation Streamline court proceedings, visited detainees in the Florence Detention Camp, and visited the home of a maquiladora family in Nogales, Mexico. Hosted by Border Links, students also heard from the Sanctuary Movement founders, Sierra Club, Florence Immigrant & Refugee Project, journalist Todd Miller, and Las Mariposas, a non-profit that seeks to protect the LGBTQ community in detention centers.

The trip ended in Ajo, Ariz. with students working with No More Deaths/No más muertes, a non-profit that leaves water and food on heavily trafficked migrant trails. In conducting water drops deep in the desert, students witnessed trails littered with debris and small artifacts left behind by border crossers. They also encountered human remains.

Kristin Ruppel, associate professor of Native American studies and director of MSU’s Native Land Project, and Loren BirdRattler, director of the Blackfeet Nation’s Agriculture Resource Management Plan (ARMP) and the Katz Family Chair in Native American Studies at MSU, are both coprincipal investigators of the grant. Additional co-principal investigators include Kimberly Paul, director of Piikani Lodge Health Institute and Christopher Carter, regional planner and filmmaker at Nunataq Inc. At MSU, the grant will support the Native Land Project’s effort working with Native landowners and federal experts to develop a series of guides to help landowners make decisions around fractionated land. “Fractionation” occurs when land is inherited by increasing numbers of co-owners, creating challenges for agricultural production, according to Ruppel.

Additionally, the funds will be used to help implement the Blackfeet ARMP which outlines a strategy for sustainable agriculture, food sovereignty and natural climate solutions that are consistent with Amskapi Piikani cultural values. The grant will also position the tribe to attain its own USDA Agricultural Research Station, the first established on reservation land anywhere in the U.S. Paul and a team of Blackfeet researchers will use the grant to study how a traditional indigenous diet influences the health of Piikani people.

FFAR is providing a million dollars to be matched with services and support by the university, the tribe and its other partners.

“MSU is proud to be part of an innovative and systemic response to the evolution of tribal food sovereignty,” said Walter After the trip, students reported that the issues surrounding Fleming, head of the immigration and the southern border are much more complicated Department of Native than portrayed in the media. Because of this experience, some American Studies. students have decided to focus their post-graduation careers on immigration law, working for non-profits and becoming involved Excerpted from the MSU in border policies.

News Service www.montana.edu/lettersandscience

Kristin Ruppel. Image courtesy of Kristin Ruppel.

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PHYSICS On September 30, two scientific instruments designed and built by a team at MSU to observe explosive events in the Sun’s atmosphere were successfully launched from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico aboard a NASA sounding rocket. Sounding rockets are suborbital rockets that carry instruments into outer space for scientific research but do not go fast or high enough to orbit the Earth.

It was the first flight for ESIS, an Extreme ultraviolet Snapshot Imaging Spectrograph built by MSU’s Space Science and Engineering Laboratory (SSEL) and the Marshall Space Flight Center. Its predecessor, MOSES, or Multi-Order Solar Extreme ultraviolet Spectrograph, was also on board.

ESIS observes the Sun’s atmosphere, specifically looking for explosive events in the solar transition region at the roots of the corona. The explosive events are powered by magnetic reconnection, where magnetic fields within a plasma rearrange and discharge heat and kinetic energy. This is the same process behind solar flares. With the gathered data, MSU researchers will seek insights into how the Sun stores and releases energy through magnetic reconnection. Large energy releases on the Sun can hurl clouds of magnetized plasma into space. When that plasma nears Earth, it causes some beautiful phenomena, such as the northern lights. However, it could also expose flight crews to radiation or interrupt satellite signals.

The interdisciplinary SSEL was founded in 2000 and has about four active projects with launches expected in the next few years. Those include tiny satellites between 2 and 15 pounds that will end up in orbit around the Earth and giant 1000-pound instrument From left, Catharine Bunn, Roy Smart, Charles payloads for large balloons Kankelborg and Jacob Parker pose by a rocket that will carry a payload they designed at the that reach the edge of the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

Photo courtesy Charles Kankelborg. atmosphere. Teams for each project include both undergraduate and graduate students.

“We work proactively to have students at all levels involved in what it takes to design and build and operate hardware for research in space,” said David Klumpar, a retired physics professor and director of the laboratory.

The ESIS team consists of physics graduate students Catherine Bunn, Roy Smart and Jacob Parker, along with Klumpar and Charles Kankelborg, a professor in the Department of Physics in the College of Letters and Science.

Excerpted from Rachel Hergett, MSU News Service.

Want to know more? www.montana.edu/news/19196

POLITICAL SCIENCE

Elizabeth Shanahan.

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Pteropus conspicillatus. Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Shanahan.

Associate professor Elizabeth Shanahan and postdoctoral researcher Sara Guenther of the Department of Political Science received a National Science Foundation RAPID grant to measure temporal and spatial changes in stakeholder risk narratives, information use and policy preferences. Their project, “Risk Narratives Across Time and Space in Urban-Wildlife Conflict” examines a sudden humanwildlife conflict in northern Queensland, Australia.

In November 2018, Northern Queensland experienced unprecedented high temperatures over multiple days that resulted in mass mortality of spectacled flying

foxes or bats (Pteropus conspicillatus). Inadequate state and local resources to deal with this record event led to a crisis, whereby state and local concerns have flared over bat welfare, potential risks of disease being passed to humans (e.g., Lyssavirus), and illness from rotting bat corpses and maggot infestation.

In response to the crisis, some residents and governmental officials are seeking policies such as removing roost trees to reduce the potential for human illness and exposure to disease from bat-human interactions. In contrast, bat conservation workers and some residents advocate for policies to move the spectacled flying fox to the endangered species list to ensure habitat protection and rehabilitation. For their study, Shanahan and Guenther are assessing changes in risk assessments, risk perceptions and support for policy decisions across space, or distance from the area of major impact, and time by conducting panel interviews and surveying residents during the event and one year later.

The one-year NSF grant runs through early 2020 with findings expected later next year.

Confluence College of Letters and Science 2019–2020

DE PA R T ME N T HIG HL IG H T S

PSYCHOLOGY

SOCIOLOGY & ANTHROPOLOGY

Monica Skewes, an associate professor in the Department of Psychology, has been working in partnership with tribal communities in Montana to understand facilitators and barriers to recovery from substance use disorder and to develop new, culturally grounded approaches to intervention.

Over the summer, students from anthropology, sociology and Asian studies traveled to Japan to consider the impact of the summer 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo.

Monica Skewes.

Substance use represents a serious health disparity and contributes to early death in many rural American Indian communities. However, treatment programs often fail to consider culturally relevant contributors to addiction such as historical trauma and inadequate access to medical care. Skewes and her community partners have developed an intervention that can be delivered by lay health providers in the community. This intervention will be pilot tested with funding from the Center for American Indian and Rural Health Equity at MSU. Skewes also is working with a team of researchers and community members from American Indian tribes in Washington to examine recovery from opioid use disorder. Funded by the National Institutes of Health, this Native American Research Center for Health project involves conducting life history interviews with tribal members in recovery to identify the strengths, resilience and protective factors associated with achieving remission from opioid dependence.

Skewes recently learned that she has been selected for participation in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Interdisciplinary Research Leaders Program, a program that helps researchers build their leadership skills, implement a community-engaged research project and learn effective strategies to increase the impact of their research through dissemination, communication and community organizing.

This program selects teams of two researchers and one community leader to work on a collaborative research study or project working in local communities to investigate critical issues and apply findings in real time to advance health and equity.

Skewes and her collaborators—Adriann Ricker from Fort Peck Community College and Elizabeth Rink, an associate professor in MSU’s Department of Health and Human Development— will use the three-year program for their project entitled “Wichoabdeza: Trauma-Informed Policy Change to Improve Health in a Tribal Community.”

As part of a study abroad course through the Office of International Programs, 21 students from MSU traveled to Japan and visited multiple Olympic game and cultural sites in Tokyo. The group also visited historic sites, such as the Tōshōgu shrine, a world heritage site, in the Nikko/Kinugawa area. This area is known for its beautiful landscape and hot springs but is struggling economically.

Associate professor and anthropologist Tomomi Yamaguchi, along with Steven Swinford, an associate professor in sociology, led the 15-day trip that focused on themes related to culture and the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games, especially the socio-economic impacts of facility construction. Students met with representatives from various governmental and nongovernmental organizations and were able to see first-hand the preparations for next summer’s games, as well as the problems caused by the games.

Beyond exploring the impacts of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, students experienced several theme parks in the area to explore how American and Japanese cultural messages are transformed and delivered through the experience of fantasy. The class also visited a theme park that depicts the Tokugawa period (1603-1867) in order to experience how life at an earlier time is represented and consumed for leisure and tourism.

The students had the opportunity to enjoy cultural experiences with various food traditions and observe a professional baseball game and matches at a national sumo tournament. They also visited major commerce, shopping and arts districts. Each student selected a research project and used the trip to collect data for use in their project and preparation of a research paper.

Akihabara area of Tokyo, known as a massive shopping district for electronic goods, video games, anime and manga. Photo by Andy Nelson.

www.montana.edu/lettersandscience

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P HIL A N T HROP Y PHIL ANTHROPY THE KATZ FAMILY CHAIR IN NATIVE AMERICAN STUDIES The Department of Native American Studies is pleased to announce that Loren BirdRattler will hold the Katz Family Chair in Native American Studies for a three-year appointment.

A member of the Amskapi Pikuni (Blackfeet) Nation, BirdRattler grew up on his family’s ranch south of Browning, Mont. He operates BirdRattler Consulting, Loren BirdRattler. Photo by Christopher J. Carter, Native Land Project. providing services in organizational development, strategic planning and civic engagement for federal, state and Tribal organizations, and The most recent chair, Joseph Gone, a Montana native and private sector businesses. He is also currently serving as the an enrolled member of the Aaniiih-Gros Ventre Nation, is a project manager for the development of the Blackfeet Tribe’s professor of psychology and American studies at the University Agriculture Resource Management Plan (ARMP), a long-range of Michigan. He brought a cross-disciplinary approach to MSU, plan for the Blackfeet Nation that provides for the utilization, applying psychology and sociology to better understand the protection, conservation and restoration of agricultural lands for influence a person’s culture has on their mental health. the benefit of the Blackfeet people and future generations.

Established in 2000 by Sheldon and Audrey Katz, this partiallyDuring his time at MSU, BirdRattler will be active on campus, funded chair is one of only a few in the nation focused on serving as a resource and guest lecturer on a wide variety of Native American Studies, positioning MSU as an educational topics. Because of his work as a tribal planner, BirdRattler’s leader in the study and support for Native American cultures expertise about research on reservations and working with and peoples. Fully-funded, this chair will enable MSU to bring tribal communities will be very beneficial for graduate students more scholars like BirdRattler into the Department of Native in Native American Studies. BirdRattler will collaborate with American Studies, and provide more opportunities for students tribes on a number of programs, especially those related to across campus to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation food sovereignty and the Native Land Project. He will also for the enduring impact Native American culture contributes to assist in the development of strategies to improve and increase our region. cooperative partnerships with Tribal Nations and communities, one of the goals in MSU’s Strategic Plan.

Contact Shannon Schumacher, Senior Director of Development, at 406-994-4157 or shannon.schumacher@musaf.org for more “The scholars who hold this chair have accomplished a great information about growing the capabilities of the Katz Family deal in their respective fields,” said Walter Fleming, department Chair in Native American Studies. head in MSU’s Department of Native American Studies. “They serve as role models for our students and invigorate our faculty through the perspectives they bring to campus.”

The broad range of perspectives that each chair brings with them to MSU offers students a chance to look at new subject areas or to view their studies through a different lens. Henrietta Mann, an enrolled member of the Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma and once named one of the ten leading professors in the nation by Rolling Stone Magazine, focused students’ attention on preserving Native American language, culture, traditions and land. Bill Yellowtail, a member of the Apsáalooke (Crow) Nation who once served as regional director of the Environmental Protection Agency, challenged students to think in terms of personal sovereignty—the idea of people being in charge of themselves, their family and their future—and to consider the future of Native American peoples in the West.

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For more information about giving to the COLLEGE OF LETTERS AND SCIENCE please contact Shannon Schumacher, Director of Development, at 406-994-4157 or shannon.schumacher@msuaf.org.

Confluence College of Letters and Science 2019–2020

T HE DE A N ’S C IRC L E The Dean’s Circle recognizes alumni and friends whose cumulative lifetime gifts to the College of Letters and Science total $10,000 or more. We are grateful to this growing group for its loyalty and tremendous support of the college.

1969 Irrevocable Trust #2 of SarahMaud W. Sivertsen Abbott Laboratories Dr. Loren & Mrs. Evelyn Acton Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Mr. Glenn & Mrs. Lee Allinger Mrs. Joann & Dr. John Amend American Chemical Society American Indian Education Foundation Amgen Foundation Andrew M Bernhard Irrevocable Trust Apache Corp Mr. Richard Aram Artcraft Printers ASARCO Incorporated Mrs. Alma Baker Mrs. Anne Banks Mrs. Victoria & Mr. Peter Barnick Dr. Michael & Dr. Sharon Beehler Bell Jones Quinlisk & Palmer Big Sky Western Bank, Division of Glacier Bank Bill & Charlotte Mathers Family Foundation, Inc. Mrs. Lila Bishop Mr. Daniel Boyd & Ms. Gabriela Guzman Mrs. Dorothy Bracken Dr. Charles Bradley Jr. & Mrs. Susanna Bradley Ms. Dorothy Bradley Dr. James & Dr. Corale Brierley Mrs. Vanessa Brittan & Dr. Gordon Brittan Jr. Ms. Sherry Brown Mr. Buster IV & Mrs. Corinne Bryant Mr. Evan & Mrs. Amy Buchanan Mr. Robert & Mrs. Kathryn Buckles Mrs. Marjorie Burgan Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Ms. Julianne Bye Dr. Harlan & Mrs. Terri Byker Mr. David & Ms. Andrea Caron Ms. Susan Carstensen & Mr. Larry Haferman Charles A. Weyerhaeuser Memorial Foundation Charlotte & Edward Wheeler Foundation Inc. Charlotte Johnson Fund Mr. Frank & Mrs. Diane Chauner Cinnabar Foundation Dr. Patrick & Mrs. Victoria Cleveland Mrs. Barbara & Mr. Gerald Clow Dr. Jerry Coffey & Ms. Karen Williams Community Foundation Serving SW Colorado ConocoPhillips Mrs. Margaret Craig Mr. Tim Crawford & Dr. Kathy Hansen Crawford

Mr. Robert Crecelius Dr. Dorothy Dannis Ms. Nancy Davidson Mrs. Vicki Davison Mr. Judson & Mrs. Elisabeth Dayton Mrs. Ingrid & Mr. Leo DeGreef Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation Ms. Susan Dougherty Dow Chemical Company Foundation Dow Corning Corporation Mr. Doug Downs Duensing Memorial Golf Tournament Mrs. Ann Dye Mr. Bert & Ms. Jo Ann Eder Elise R. Donohue Charitable Trust Energy Laboratories Estate of James Belsey Exxon Mobil Corporation Exxon Mobil Foundation Mr. William Fay Mr. Mike & Mrs. Donna Ferris Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund First Interstate Bank Foundation Foundation for Community Vitality Foundation for Research on Ethnic Group Stressors Lt. Col. Ronald & Dr. Julie Furstenau Mr. Charles & Mrs. Gloria Garrison Mr. Jim Goetz & Ms. Jill Davenport Mrs. Helori Graff Greater Montana Foundation Ms. Karen Greytak Hach Scientific Foundation Mr. Lawrence & Mrs. Anne Hambly Dr. Marty & Mrs. Mary Hamilton Harold J. & Reta Haynes Family Foundation Mrs. Margaret Hausser Mrs. Reta Haynes Hearst Foundations Dr. John & Mrs. Patricia Hermanson Dr. Nicholas Hether & Ms. Carol Belohlavek Mrs. Susan Heyneman Ms. Beverly Hihnala Homer A. & Mildred S. Scott Foundation Mr. Reed & Mrs. Elaine Howald ImpactAssets, Inc. Mr. Bob & Mrs. Bette Jaedicke Ms. Meri Jaye Dr. Al & Mrs. Ellen Jesaitis Mr. Howard & Mrs. Janece Johnson Mr. Richard & Mrs. Marjorie Johnson Mr. Bill Johnstone Jr. & Mrs. Andrea Johnstone Ms. Lucy Jones Dr. John & Mrs. Judith Jurist Mr. Sheldon & Mrs. Audrey Katz Mrs. Julie Kidd

Mr. John Kiely PhD & Mrs. Deborah Kiely Mrs. Joan Kitchens Mr. Dave & Mrs. Serene Klumpar Mrs. Mary Kopriva Dr. Mary Kujawa Dr. Rebecca & Mr. Scott Larson Laura Jane Musser Fund Mrs. Anadel Law Mrs. Colleen & Mr. Parker Lee Dr. Chi-Tang Li Mrs. Yen Li Dr. Thomas Livinghouse Liz Claiborne & Art Ortenberg Foundation Lockheed Martin Corporation Mr. Jeremiah & Mrs. Teri Lynch Dr. Marlene Mackie-Deal Mr. Whitney MacMillan Jr. & Mrs. Elizabeth MacMillan Marathon Oil Corporation Microsoft Corporation Dr. Arthur & Mrs. Kathleen Miller Montana Association of Geographic Information Professionals Montana Community Foundation Montana Grains Foundation Montana Trout Foundation Montana Trout Unlimited Dr. David & Mrs. Linda Nelson New England Aquarium NewFields Mining & Energy Services, LLC Northrop Grumman Space Technology Ortho Pharmaceutical Dr. Rodney & Mrs. Del Otzenberger Mrs. Patti Pagels Patagonia Mr. James & Mrs. Carol Patton Mr. Terry & Mrs. Patt Payne Pew Charitable Trusts Ms. Elise Phares Phillip Kopriva Family Charitable Foundation Mr. Charles Pinkava Piper Family Fund-Minneapolis Foundation PPV Mr. David Quammen & Dr. Betsy Gaines Quammen Renaissance Charitable Foundation, Inc. Robert S. & Grayce B. Kerr Foundation Dr. Jean Robinson Mrs. Sandra Roe Rosenberry Charitable Term Trust Mr. Philip & Mrs. Elizabeth Rosenberry Mr. Phil Jr. & Mrs. Lee Rostad Mr. Steve Rovig & Mr. Brian Giddens Ms. Pleasant Rowland Ms. Hallie Rugheimer Dr. Gary Sackett

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Dr. Joseph Sample Dr. Jerry Sanders Mr. Ben & Mrs. Sue Schmitt Mr. Paul & Ms. Janette Schuele Schwab Fund for Charitable Giving Mr. Jim & Mrs. Chris Scott Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community Shell Oil Co. Foundation Simms Fishing Products Dr. Donald & Mrs. Noralee Singer Mr. Denys & Ms. Jane Slater Dr. Clara Splittstoesser Mrs. Jennifer Stanley Dr. William & Mrs. Donna Stannard Stannebein Family LLC Mr. Harry Stannebein CPA & Mrs. Marlys Stannebein Ms. Trish Stevenson Dr. Gary Stoner Mrs. Natalie Stoner Mrs. Karen Street Susan Scott Heyneman Foundation Dr. Timothy & Mrs. Anne Swager Dr. William Swartz Jr. Mrs. Janet Swenson Mrs. Judith Taylor & Mr. Edward Brown Tektronix Company The Sheldon and Audrey Katz Foundation, Inc. The Taylor Group The Wildwood Foundation Dr. Bill Tietz & Mrs. Gwen Massey-Tietz Dr. John Tkach Tordik Wildlife Foundation, Inc. Dr. Krishna Tummala Ms. Hilary Vandal-Mednick Vecta Oil & Gas Ltd. Mrs. Janice & Mr. Norm Vigre Mr. Michael Wagner CPA & Mrs. Judy Wagner RN Dr. Russell Walker & Mrs. Judy Tucker Mr. Edward Walsh Mr. Dennis & Mrs. Phyllis Washington Mr. James Watson & Ms. Carol Bibler Dr. Irving Weissman & Mrs. Ann Tsukamoto-Weissman Mr. Albert & Mrs. Susan Wells WEM Foundation Mr. Jerry Wenger Mr. Robert Weyerhaeuser Mr. Gregory White Wild Sheep Foundation Mr. Jamie Wilder Mrs. Sandra Wilkins Dr. Andrea Williams Mr. Kendrick Wilson & Ms. Ann Jackson Dr. Lee Woodriff Mr. John & Mrs. J. Kristi Yarnall Dr. Wayne & Mrs. Helen York Mr. Thomas Zadick

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A N NUA L G I V ING This report gratefully recognizes the generosity of the many alumni and friends who provide vital support to the College of Letters and Science.

The college, like the university, operates on a fiscal-year calendar. Gifts listed in the Annual Giving section were received between July 1, 2018 and June 30, 2019. If you believe we have made an error, please contact the college’s director of development at 406-994-4157 so that we may recognize you appropriately and accurately in future publications. $10,000 AND OVER Mrs. Anne Banks* Mrs. Victoria & Mr. Peter Barnick Ms. Diana Blank Dr. James & Dr. Corale Brierley Mr. Evan & Mrs. Amy Buchanan Dr. Jeffrey Carpenter Ms. Susan Carstensen & Mr. Larry Haferman* Dr. Patrick & Mrs. Victoria Cleveland Community Foundation Serving SW Colorado Disney Conservation Fund Mrs. Carol Doig Donors Trust, Inc. Ms. Susan Dougherty* Mrs. Ann Dye Exxon Mobil Foundation* Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund Dr. Richard Gillette & Dr. Susan Hinkins Mr. Lawrence & Mrs. Anne Hambly Mr. Bill & Mrs. Marilyn Henderson Mr. Reed & Mrs. Elaine Howald* Dr. Kevin Kilty Dr. Edward Miller Mr. Don & Mrs. Marilyn Murdock Mr. Roy & Mrs. Becky Nelson Mr. Gerry Ohrstrom Mr. James & Mrs. Carol Patton Mr. Terry & Mrs. Patt Payne Mr. Jim & Mrs. Jan Peters Ms. Elise Phares Mr. Ned & Mrs. Beverly Phares Phillip Kopriva Family Charitable Foundation Rosenberry Charitable Term Trust Mr. Steve Rovig & Mr. Brian Giddens* Dr. Gary Sackett* Salish-Kootenai Tribal Council Mr. Frank Schurz & Mrs. Bethany Lark Schurz Mr. Jim & Mrs. Chris Scott Dr. Mike Simmonds & Mrs. Teresa Thompson Mr. Joseph Sullivan Susan Scott Heyneman Foundation Mrs. Judith Taylor & Mr. Edward Brown The Kendeda Fund Dr. Krishna Tummala Mr. Michael Wagner CPA & Mrs. Judy Wagner RN Mr. Gregory White

$5,000 AND OVER Mr. Jerry & Mrs. Marlene Abercrombie Mr. Robert & Mrs. Kathryn Buckles* Ms. Julianne Bye

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Mr. Steve Cassriel Mrs. Debra & Mr. Jack Hensold Dr. Jack Horner Dr. Arthur & Mrs. Kathleen Miller Mr. Harry Stannebein CPA & Mrs. Marlys Stannebein Dr. Otto Stevens Dr. Anuradha Tummala & Dr. Peter Dahlberg United Way of the Bay Area Mrs. Janice & Mr. Norm Vigre Dr. Wayne & Mrs. Helen York

$1,000 AND OVER Mr. Glenn & Mrs. Lee Allinger Mrs. Joann & Dr. John Amend* Andrew M Bernhard Irrevocable Trust* Barnard Construction Co., Inc. Mr. Timothy & Mrs. Mary Barnard Mr. Jon & Mrs. Elaine Blankmeyer Mr. Daniel Boyd & Ms. Gabriela Guzman Mrs. Marjorie Burgan Dr. Ronald Burghard* Charles A. Weyerhaeuser Memorial Foundation Mr. Greg & Mrs. Kelly Collins Dr. Eddy Crowley DDS & Mrs. Mary Crowley Prof. Dennis Daley* Dr. Warren & Dr. Najaria Esty Fanwood Foundation* Mr. Tom & Mrs. Dianne Farrell Mr. Thomas & Mrs. Karen Flynn Mr. Frank Freyer III & Mrs. Jo-El Freyer Dr. Pati Glee Goethe-Institute Washington Griffith Environmental Consulting, Inc. Mr. Earl & Mrs. Dorothy Griffith* Mr. Colin & Mrs. Claire Hames* Ms. Janice Hand & Mr. Rick Sanders Mr. Bill & Mrs. Rose Hanson Mrs. Karin Ilg* Dr. Al & Mrs. Ellen Jesaitis Dr. Tracy Johannsen Mrs. Marjorie Johnson Mr. Dave & Mrs. Elaine Kinnard Mrs. Rena & Mr. Michael Koinis Dr. Kenneth & Mrs. Karen Kress Dr. Rebecca & Mr. Scott Larson Lockheed Martin Corporation* Ms. Mary Lukin* Mr. Kenneth Mares Ms. Mary Jane McGarity Mr. Jim & Mrs. Mary Mitchell* Ms. Georgia Moulton* Mr. Kent & Mrs. Lois Norby Dr. Rodney & Mrs. Del Otzenberger Mr. Rob Phares

Mr. David Quammen & Dr. Betsy Gaines Quammen* Dr. Jean Robinson Mr. Paul & Ms. Janette Schuele* Seattle Foundation Ms. Jyl Shaffer Shell Oil Co. Foundation Mr. Suryakant & Mrs. Mrudula Shukla Mr. Gerald & Mrs. Marian Siegmyer Dr. William & Mrs. Donna Stannard* Dr. Timothy & Mrs. Anne Swager* The Wildwood Foundation* United Technologies Corporation Dr. Russell Walker & Mrs. Judy Tucker* Ms. Jean Walkinshaw Mr. James Watson & Ms. Carol Bibler* Mr. Jamie Wilder* Mr. Thomas Zadick*

$500 AND OVER Dr. Greg Adams & Dr. Chris Fastnow Dr. James Anderson & Dr. Carol Grimm Mr. Richard Aram Boeing Company* Dr. Sonja Brock & Dr. Jack Brock MD Mr. Brett & Mrs. Dawn Busch Mrs. Cindy Carlton Charlotte & Edward Wheeler Foundation Inc. ConocoPhillips* Mr. Mick & Mrs. Kris Diede Doris Stipech State Farm Insurance Companies Dr. Jerry & Mrs. Judy Elwood Mrs. Jo & Mr. Waldo Forbes Lt. Col. Ronald & Dr. Julie Furstenau* Mr. Charles & Mrs. Gloria Garrison Mr. Marshall & Mrs. Elaine Gingery* Dr. Timothy Hanks & Ms. Claudia Veas Dr. Daniel Hawkins PhD* Mr. Tom & Mrs. Karen Heyneman Dr. Rodney Hoxsey MD & Mrs. Claudia Hoxsey Mr. Russell Icenoggle Johnson Charitable Gift Fund Mr. Garrett Lankford Mr. John & Mrs. Susan Leland* Mr. James Ley* Mr. James & Mrs. Cheryl Lingle* Mr. Jeffrey & Dr. Janey Maki Ms. Timmie McArthur Ms. Sally Metz Dr. Sig Nottingham DVM & Ms. Kathryn Nottingham Mr. Kevin & Mrs. Monica O’Brien Mrs. Judith Onslow Mr. Bill Peters

Confluence College of Letters and Science 2019–2020

Dr. James Phillips PhD & Mrs. Nancy Phillips Piper Jaffray, Inc. Ms. Linda Reynolds Mr. Brian Roberts & Mrs. Louisa Zimermann-Roberts Mr. Major & Mrs. Michelle Robinson Mr. Jim & Mrs. Jeanne Rolph* Mr. Bill & Mrs. Cheryl Schwarzkoph Mr. Joshua & Mrs. Jenna Sears Dr. Scott Settle & Ms. Kelly Flaherty-Settle Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community Mr. Bruce Shively Mrs. Kathleen Shively Mr. Gregory & Mrs. Monica Shouse* Dr. Donald & Mrs. Noralee Singer* Mr. Bradley & Mrs. Reilly Snow* Mrs. Doris & Mr. John Stipech Mr. J.P. Taylor* The Capital Group Companies Charitable Foundation The U.S. Charitable Gift Trust Mr. Roger Thorvilson Dr. Irving Weissman & Mrs. Ann Tsukamoto-Weissman Dr. Malcolm & Mrs. Kim Winter Mrs. Christal Winterrowd

$250 AND OVER Mr. David Adams & Mrs. Courtenay Marvin Mr. Curt Ater Mrs. Faye Bergan & Mr. Jerry Wells* Mrs. Tamie Blair & Senior Master Sgt. Jerroll Blair USAF Ret. Mr. Jay Boak* Mr. Ron & Ms. Carol Brownotter Mr. William Burris Jr. Dr. Robert Chew* Ms. Julie Clay Ms. Janelle Coburn Dr. Willis Conover Jr. Ms. Erin Corcoran & Mr. Cory Smith Mr. Thomas Cowan & Mrs. Judy Cowan RN Dr. Paul & Mrs. Catherine Dawson* Dr. Michael DeGrandpre Mr. David DeLap Jr. & Mrs. Miriam DeLap Mr. Paul & Mrs. Sandra Druyvestein Dr. Tamela & Dr. David Eitle Mr. Jeffrey & Mrs. Donna Farber Dr. Donald Fenbert & Dr. Valerie Randolph Ms. Lori Gates Ms. Candace Goodman Mr. Terry Grotbo & Mrs. Lorrie Grotbo RN* Dr. Leonard & Mrs. Katheryn Gunderson* Dr. Jim Hansen* Mr. Stephen Harlan* Mr. Steven & Mrs. Joni Harman*

Dr. Huddee Ho PhD & Mrs. Zhuoning Ho Homer A. & Mildred S. Scott Foundation IBM Intel Foundation Mr. Gordon Jackson Mr. Benedict Kerkvliet Mr. Timothy Kryzer & Mrs. Monica MitzelKryzer Mr. Daniel Kyler Mrs. Nancy Landgren & Mr. Robert Clark* Langhorne Associates Dr. John Langhorne Jr. PhD & Mrs. Mary Langhorne* Mrs. Jean Liang & Dr. Carl Stafstrom Mr. Rock & Mrs. Tina Lovec Col. Gerald & Mrs. Marian Luce Ms. Sue Luptovic The Honorable Jeremiah & Mrs. Teri Lynch Mr. Ronald Matelich & Ms. Swithin McGrath* Mr. Sahil Mehta Monsanto Co. Mr. Mike & Mrs. Nancy Mortier Dr. Raymond Mueller* Mr. Gordon & Mrs. Chris Mundt Mr. Timothy & Mrs. Joann O’Brien Mr. Joseph Olson & Ms. Susan Kha-Olson Mr. Ronald Olson Col. Jerry Osburnsen USAF Ret. & Mrs. Arlene Osburnsen* Mr. John & Mrs. Kathryn Parker Dr. Raymond M. Peterson MD & Ms. Sylvia Peterson Mr. Bert & Mrs. Jo Ann Reinauer Dr. Abbie & Mr. Lee Richards Mr. Craig Romary Dr. Randall Ryti & Dr. Wendy Swanson* Dr. Richard Schroeckenstein Mr. William & Mrs. Teresa Schulz Mr. Patrick & Ms. Lorraine Springer Mr. Richard Swanson Mr. Dale Tischmak Dr. Robert & Mrs. Paulette Van Nice Warden & Associates, LLC Mr. William Warden Jr. & Mrs. Kathleen Warden Ms. Julie Watson Mr. Mark Zipperer*

UP TO $250 Dr. Leon & Mrs. Sallie Abbas Mr. Bennett Ahearn Mrs. Virginia & Mr. Gary Aho Mr. Roger & Mrs. Marcia Ala* Mrs. Rita & Mr. Larry Allen Dr. Bruce Anderson & Dr. Kathleen Brunke Ms. Pamela Anderson Mr. Richard Anderson Mrs. Bonnie Andrew Mr. Paul & Mrs. Carol Andrus* Mr. Stephen Arnon Mrs. Nancy Atwater Mr. Dana & Mrs. Kelly Audet* Mr. David & Mrs. Karen Ayers

Mr. John & Mrs. Diane Bader Ms. Allison Bailey Mr. Vaughn Baker* Mrs. Nancy & Mr. Rob Balcer Mrs. Jane & Mr. Kevin Baldwin Ball Corporation Mrs. Susan Banet Mr. George Barnett Mr. Elliott Barnhart Mr. Tom Barnhart* Ms. Sandra & Mr. Darrell Bauman Mr. Steven Bay Ms. Gloria Bayer Ms. Kathy Bayers Mr. Ronald & Mrs. Marcia Beaumont Mrs. Barbara Benson* Mr. William & Ms. Marni Bentley Mr. Larry Bentsen PhD & Mrs. Susan Bentsen Dr. James & Mrs. Janet Bergum* Mr. William Betts Mr. David Beyer Ms. Katie Biehl* Big Hole Lodge* Mr. Richard & Mrs. Sarah Bishop Dr. Gary Bissonnette Mrs. Beth Bitzer RN & Mr. Donald Bitzer Dr. Kristi & Mr. Kendall Blackburn Ms. Katherine Boerner Mr. Steven Bolton Boston Scientific Corporation Ms. Denise Boucher Dr. Peter Boveng Mrs. Linda Boyko-Cornue & Mr. Michael Cornue Mr. Richard Boylan Ms. Glenda & Mr. Stan Bradshaw* Mr. Ronald & Ms. Arlene Braff Dr. Dean & Mrs. Sharon Branson Mr. Jim & Mrs. Suzanne Bratsky Dr. Robert Brebrick Jr. Mr. Lawrence Briggs Mr. Scott Bristol Ms. Ruth & Mr. Kent Brocklebank Mr. Carroll Brown Dr. Donald Brown Mrs. Cheryl & Dr. Mark Brunson Mr. Lennie Buhmann Mrs. Candice Buley Wagner & Mr. Patrick Wagner Bunkhouse Brewery Mr. Robert Butera Mr. Paul Butkay & Mrs. Jane BelknapButkay Mr. Patrick & Ms. Susan Byorth Ms. Martha Byrd Mr. Mike & Mrs. Shannon Callaghan Ms. Jeanne Marie Callahan & Mr. Scott Bohr Cambia Health Solutions Foundation Mr. Jeffrey & Mrs. Michelle Carda Ms. Kari Cargill Mrs. Carri Carothers Dr. Peter & Mrs. Kathleen Castric Mr. David & Mrs. Maria Caussyn

Mr. Greg Chart* Dr. Wynde Cheek Ford & Dr. Nicholas Ford* Mrs. Trucilla & Mr. H.P. Chin* Mr. John Christensen Jr. & Mrs. Ellen Christensen* Dr. Norma Clark Mr. Raymond & Mrs. Marcia Cline Ms. Liz & Mr. Andy Comstock Mrs. Ann & Mr. Joseph Costello Dr. George & Ms. Marjorie Courville Ms. Sharon Crawford* D.A. Davidson & Co. Ms. Mary Danielson & Mr. Edward Kumian Mr. Nicholas & Mrs. Brenda Davis Mr. Casey Denning Mr. Walter Dennis Capt. Harry Denson USN Ret. & CDR Jenette Denson USN Ret. Dr. Alexander & Mrs. Lois Dickison Dr. Matthew Domek Dow Chemical Company Foundation Mr. Larry Downer & Mrs. Nancy FergusonDowner* Ms. Anne Draper* Mr. Edward & Mrs. Iris Driscoll Mrs. Angie Dudney Mr. Stephen Dunham Mr. Josh & Ms. Stephanie Earhart Lt. Col. Dennis Ecord Mr. Maurice & Mrs. Donna Edwards* Mr. Matthew & Mrs. Shellena Eichner Mr. Jeffery Eidson MD & Mrs. Mary Eidson Dr. Douglas & Mrs. Nancy Elliott* Mr. Jeffery & Mrs. Jennifer Erickson* Mr. Thomas & Mrs. Charlene Esch Mr. David & Mrs. Candyce Eugenio Mr. Charles Eustace Mr. Okechukwu Ezeonu Mr. Michael Fanning & Ms. Tammy Plubell Mrs. Cynthia & Mr. Ken Farago Mr. Richard Farrant Mrs. Bernadine Featherly Mr. Craig Fellin* Ms. Catherine Ferguson Dr. Stephen & Mrs. Constance Ferguson* Mr. Michael Ferris Mr. Bryan & Mrs. Jeanine Fillinger Mr. Bill & Mrs. Colleen Fillion Mr. James & Mrs. Marcy Fisher Mrs. Susie Fleming Ms. Nancy Flikkema Mr. Perry & Mrs. Maria Francis Mr. Gary Fraser Prof. Susan Freeman* Mr. Wesley Friske Ms. Dede & Mr. Andy Frothingham Mr. James & Mrs. Gayle Fry Rev. Joseph & Mrs. Ellen Galligan Ms. Lauren Galloway Coates Ms. Jordan Garceau Mr. William Gavin Mr. Nicholas Geranios & Ms. Ann Joyce Mr. Stephen Gerl & Mrs. Jan Gerl CPA Dr. Patricia Gillis

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Mr. Zachary Gilmor Mr. Patrick & Mrs. Julia Glancy Mr. Daniel & Ms. Susan Glenn GM Chart Carpentry* Mr. Marc & Mrs. Carla Gomez* Mr. Tom & Mrs. Elizabeth Goodrich Google, Inc. Mr. Greg Gorbach Ms. Pamela Gore Mrs. Kathleen Gowen Ms. Susan Grad Mr. Allen & Mrs. Kim Grammens Mrs. Marilyn & Mr. Richard Granell Mr. James Gransbery & Mrs. Karen Gransbery RN Mrs. Carolyn Grant Dr. Darren & Mrs. Michelle Gray Ms. Sanna Green Dr. Phillip Griffin Jr. & Mrs. Barbara Griffin Mr. Donald Gunderson Ms. Melanie Gustafson-Ropski & Dr. Steven Ropski Mr. Carl Gysler Mrs. Cathy & Mr. Stuart Haden Mrs. Debora Hall Dr. Marla Hall* Ms. Teresa Halvorson Mrs. Jennifer & Mr. Douglas Hamberger Mr. Bruce & Mrs. Beth Hammell Ms. Sara Hampton Mr. Jack & Mrs. Cindy Hanewald Mrs. Lisa Hansen Mr. Clifford Hanson Jr. & Mrs. Sheila Hanson Ms. Stephenne Harding Mr. John P. Hargrove Mr. Robert Harney* Mr. Edward Harri Jr. & Mrs. Patricia Harri* Ms. Helen Hart Mr. Douglas & Mrs. Cheryl Hatton Mr. Chester & Mrs. Margaret Haun Ms. Janine Hay Mrs. Karen Hedden & Dr. Steven Hedden DVM Mr. Steven & Mrs. Donna Hedman Mr. Lenny Held & Ms. Marilynn Hausser* Ms. Karen Henderson Mr. Miles & Mrs. Arlene Henke Mrs. Molly & Mr. Gary Hepper* Mr. Mark Herbert Ms. Jean Hill Mr. Donald & Mrs. Ann Hoffmann Mrs. Heidi Hogan Mr. Zachary Holmes Dr. Laura & Mr. John Holte Mrs. Virginia Holton Mr. Tom Hom & Mrs. Mae Rosok* Mr. Charles & Mrs. Vicki Hone* Mrs. Deanna & Mr. Michael Hovland Ms. Tammy Hovland Mr. Jonathan & Mrs. Britta Hubbard Dr. Mary Hubbard & Mr. Jobie Carlisle Mrs. Samantha & Mr. Troy Humphrey Mr. Jesse Hunter Mr. Robin & Mrs. Roberta Hurless

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Mrs. Jeannette Hyatt Mrs. Bethany Ihle Ms. Chris Imhoff* Dr. Larry Jackson & Mrs. Patricia Jackson RN Mrs. Tamra & Mr. Grady Jackson Dr. Bruce & Mrs. Tina Jacobsen Mr. Thomas Jarzynka Jess Thomas Schwidde, Esq. Mr. David Jinneman Dr. Frank & Mrs. Linda Johnson Ms. Gay Johnson Mr. Howard & Mrs. Janece Johnson* Dr. John & Mrs. Barbara Johnson* Mrs. Maurine Jones Ms. Laurie Jungling Dr. Melissa Jurica & Mr. Hidebumi Kawatsure Dr. John Jutila Sr. & Mrs. Charlotte Jutila Kaiser Permanente Northwest Mr. Bart Kane III Mr. Gregory & Mrs. Wendy Kastelitz* Mr. Brian Keller Mrs. Vicki Kennedy Overfelt & Mr. Mark Overfelt Mr. David & Mrs. Heidi Kennedy Mrs. Nancy Kerner Mr. Neal & Mrs. Ann Kerzman Mr. Michael Kiehn Dr. Amy Kieke & Mr. Burney Kieke Jr. Mr. David Kingsbury Ms. Malina Kirn Mr. Rob & Mrs. Shannon Klatt Mr. Berk Knighton IV & Mrs. Shirley Knighton Lt. Col. James & Maj. Susan Knoll Mr. Alfred & Mrs. Jessica Knotts Mr. David Knoyle & Ms. Glenda Johnson Mr. Ted Koenig Mrs. Dana Kopp* Ms. Kristel & Mr. Kodjo Koukoua Mr. Volker & Mrs. Beth Krasemann Mr. Bradley & Ms. Patricia Kremensek Mr. Cole Krenik Mr. Chris Krouse Mrs. Grace Lacy Mr. Fredric & Mrs. Kimbra Lake Mrs. Renee Lanan & Mr. Jim Hogin Ms. Jeanna Lapp Mr. John Larned USAF (Ret) & Ms. Jody Millette-Larned Mr. Delano & Mrs. Sherri Lawin Maj. Tony & Mrs. Jerilyn Lecce Dr. Mark & Mrs. Cecilia LeChevallier Mrs. Tanya Lee-Greig Ms. Ariana Lee Ms. Ginger Lee Mrs. Shauna & Mr. Doug Leeds Mr. Mark Lehman Leidos, Inc. Mr. Terry Lemley PhD & Mrs. Susan Lemley Mr. David Lentz* Mr. Scott & Mrs. Teresa LeProwse Mrs. Dorothea & Mr. Ralph Lintz

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Mrs. Allyson & Mr. Brian Lipscomb Dr. Lance Loberg Mr. Kevin & Mrs. Debra Lombardozzi Mr. Bart Longacre Mr. Ivan & Mrs. Connie Lorentzen Los Alamos National Laboratory Dr. Allan Louden Mr. Joseph & Mrs. Jennifer Lowther Mrs. Karen & Mr. Norm Lubahn Ms. Sarah & Mr. Matthew Ludin Mr. Arthur Luedeke Jr. & Mrs. Mary Luedeke Dr. Bruce & Mrs. Sue Lund Dr. Dennis Lutz MD & Mrs. Meryl Lutz* Mrs. Amy Lybbert Mrs. Betsy Lyle Mr. Arthur & Mrs. Linda Lynch Mr. Charles & Mrs. Shelly Lynch* Ms. Jean MacInnes* Ms. Susan Main & Mr. Elliot Rockler Mrs. Brenda & Mr. Jerry Majdic* Majerus Farms, Inc. Mr. John Majerus* Mr. Alex & Mrs. Dawn Major Mr. Shane Majszak Dr. Kirk Manfredi* Dr. Gregory Manley & Mrs. Pamela Swanson Mr. Douglas Mann* Mrs. Lee & Mr. James Manning Dr. William Marchese Mr. Colin Marcoux Mr. Ron & Mrs. Barb Marcoux Dr. Robert Marley & Mrs. Margaret Maben Ms. Brooke Marshall Dr. James Masuoka & Dr. Elizabeth Machunis-Masuoka Ms. Lynda & Mr. Jim Matthews Mr. Michael Maxey Dr. Daniel McAllister Mrs. Kathy McArthur Mr. Richard McBee Jr. & Mrs. Pamela McBee Mr. John McCarthy Mr. Michael McCord Dr. Joe & Mrs. Sherri McDonald Mr. James McDonnell & Mrs. Bethany Ihle Mr. John McEwen & Ms. Mary Musil Dr. Jeffrey & Ms. Eeva McFeely Mr. Jim & Mrs. Marilyn McGinnis Mr. John & Mrs. Mia McGreevey Mrs. Elizabeth McGuire Ms. Michele McGuirl Ms. Kathleen McKenna Browne & Mr. Alan Browne* Mr. Peter McNamee & Mrs. Patricia McNamee CPA Mr. Wallace & Mrs. Ruth McRae Ms. Marily McWilliams Mr. Mike & Ms. Teri Mehn Microsoft Corporation Ms. Samantha Middlestead Mr. John Mihall Mr. David & Mrs. Brenda Mikelson Ms. Camille Miller

Mr. Charles & Mrs. Diane Miller Ms. Heidi Miller Mr. John & Mrs. Debra Miller* Mrs. Marcia & Mr. Chris Miller Mr. Rob Miller Ms. Sue Miller Mr. Felix Millhouse Dr. James & Mrs. Gwynne Mohl Ms. Susan Mohr Montana Trout Unlimited Mrs. Anna Moody Mr. Clark & Mrs. Georgia Morgan* Ms. Maria & Mr. Mark Munro-Schuster Ms. Dawn Murray Mr. Urbie & Mrs. Marilyn Nash Mr. James & Ms. Karma Nelson Mr. Todd & Mrs. Kimberly Nichols Mrs. Gwen & Mr. Glenn Nickleski Mr. Ting Ning Mr. Lance Novak Mr. Harvey Nyberg Dr. Karen Nyrop* Mr. Jeff Ohman* Dr. Mariana Olsen Mr. Bryan Ostdiek Mr. Brant Oswald & Ms. Pauline Ziniker* Mr. Marc Paffhausen Mr. George & Mrs. Laurie Palmer Mr. Phillip & Mrs. Mary Parker Mr. Ron & Mrs. Kris Patterson Mr. Anthony Payne Ms. Darlene Peck Mr. Raleigh & Mrs. Deb Peck Mrs. Susan Perry Mr. Stephen Personius* Mr. David Peterson Mr. Joel & Mrs. Lucy Peterson Pfizer, Inc. Ms. Sydney Philipps Ms. Jessica Pickens Mr. Frank Pickett Jr. & Mrs. Donna Pickett Dr. Harold Picton* Ms. Melodie & Mr. Darin Pike Mr. Owen & Dr. Lynnelle Pittet Mr. Lee Powelson Mr. Matthew Poynter Dr. William & Mrs. Lucille Prenevost Dr. Lori Pritchett-Sheats R & S Wilson Ranch LLC Dr. Ron & Mrs. Jane Rada Ms. Cynthia Rakowski* Ms. Hilary Ransdell-Lewin Mr. Bryce & Mrs. Crystal Redgrave Dr. Marjorie Reed Mrs. Kim Rehm & Dr. Dave Lageson Ms. Britta Reyier Ms. Dana Richardson Mr. Mark Richman Mrs. Susan & Mr. Robert Riehl* Dr. Bruce & Mrs. Peggie Riley* Dr. Kyle & Ms. Beth Riley* Mr. Vernon & Mrs. Kay Roberts Dr. Carley Robertson Roche Diagnostics Corporation, USA Mr. Charles Ronemus

Confluence College of Letters and Science 2019–2020

Mr. Jonas Rosenthal Mrs. Donna & Rev. James Rudiger* Dr. Vaughn & Mrs. Lorenne Rundquist Ms. Katharine Rutecki Ms. Sheila Rutherford Ms. Laura Ryan & Mr. J. Chris Naumann Ms. Carolyn Ryffel* Ms. Shelly Salvevold Mrs. Julie Sande Mr. Ronald & Mrs. Bonnie Sanders Ms. Elisa Santori Sather Eye Clinic & Optical, P.C. Dr. Tom & Mrs. Jackie Sather Mr. Bradley & Mrs. Valerie Scheevel Mrs. Chantel & Mr. Dax Schieffer Dr. Robert Schmunk Mr. Gary Schneider Mrs. Karen & Dr. Dennis Schreffler Ms. Julie Schreibvogel Mr. William Schroeder Mrs. Lynda & Mr. Skeez Schuldheisz Mrs. Holly & Mr. Stephen Schwab Mr. Timothy & Ms. Sandra Schwartz Mr. Jess Schwidde & Dr. Cynthia Moulton Mrs. Jenny Scothern Mrs. Susan Senn CPA & Mr. Kenneth Senn* Mr. Edward Shanley Mr. Ronald & Mrs. Cyndie Sherer* Ms. Lisa & Mr. David Shotwell Dr. Darryl & Ms. Shelly Siemer* Mr. Michael & Mrs. Mary Ann Sierz Mr. Robert Sikonia Dr. Agata Sikora Smoots & Dr. Daniel Smoots Mr. Jay Sinnott Mr. George & Mrs. Christel Skaer* Mr. Gary & Mrs. Chloe Skinner Dr. Brendon Smith Mr. Jason & Ms. Karen Smith Mr. Mark & Mrs. Debbie Smith* Mrs. Valerie & Mr. Scott Smith Mr. Jim Snyder & Ms. Allison Hupp Mr. Russell Spaan Mr. Monte & Mrs. Beth Sparby Mrs. Karen & Mr. Thomas Spencer Ms. Judy Staigmiller Mr. Kolter Steadman Ms. Suzy Sterling Mr. Roger Stewart Jr. & Mrs. Gayl Stewart* Mr. John & Mrs. Sandra Stice Ms. Roslyn Stone Ms. Louise & Mr. Scott Stoner Dr. Jon & Mrs. Sarah Storvick Mr. Glenn Stroud & Mrs. Tamara Studebaker-Stroud Mr. John Stroup* Mrs. Gretchen & Mr. David Stubenvoll Mr. Doyle & Mrs. Christine Stucky Mr. Brent & Mrs. Jennifer Sumner Mr. Jack Sutton Mr. John & Mrs. Debera Swaney Mrs. Carolyn & Mr. Stan Taylor Ms. Jo Taylor Mrs. Susan Temple

Mr. Ray & Mrs. Joanette Thies Mrs. Lisa & Mr. Marty Thievin Mr. Dave & Mrs. Mary Thomas Mr. Mark Thompson Mr. Joshua Thornton Mrs. Bobette Thorsen Ms. Megan Thrash Tierney Fine Art, Inc. Mr. Garry Timm Timothy Visscher, M.D. Mr. Stephen & Mrs. Barbara Tuss Mr. Lawrence Urban Mr. Donald Van Ryzin Mr. Richard & Mrs. Marlene Van Tuinen Mr. Gerard Vandeberg Ms. Deborah Vanderlip & Mr. Wayne Kasworm*

Dr. Timothy & Mrs. Tina Visscher Mr. Garret Vo Mrs. Helen & Mr. John Volk Ms. Katherine Wall & Mr. James Slama Ms. Paige Wanner Dr. Richard Ward PhD & Mrs. Shirley Ward* Mr. Peter & Mrs. Virginia Ware Mr. Christopher & Mrs. Angie Wasia Dr. Keith & Mrs. Joyce Watenpaugh Mr. Lee Waters Dr. Bruce Watne & Mrs. Carol Watne RN Mr. Lee Watson Rev. Gary Way & Ms. Judith Maness-Way Ms. Daniela Weber Ms. M’liss & Mr. Gary Weisner* Mrs. Susan & Mr. Rob Weller

Mr. Pete & Ms. Susan Welliver Mr. Harold & Mrs. Dolores Wentland Mr. Donald Wenzlick Mrs. Gail Westleigh Mr. Richard Wharton Mr. Daniel & Mrs. Diana Widhalm Dr. Kenneth & Dr. JoAnn Wiggins Mr. Jerry & Mrs. Debra Williams Ms. Mary Williams Mr. Frank & Mrs. Cheryl Williss Wilson Gallaher Family Trust Dr. Richard & Mrs. Beverly Wilson Mr. Ron & Ms. Jeraquel Wilson* Mrs. Shirley Wilson Mrs. Brenda & Mr. Mark Winberg Mr. Randle & Ms. Vicky Winter Mr. Alfred Wippermann

Mr. Richard & Mrs. Elsie Wodnik* Dr. Kay Wohlhuter Mr. Timothy Worley* Mr. Steven & Mrs. Diane Wulf Mr. Glen & Mrs. Cathy Wyatt Mrs. Barbara Yeoman Mr. Cyril & Mrs. Marla Young* Mr. Kenneth & Mrs. Melinda Young Mr. Ron Young* Mr. Dale Zachary Mr. David Zeeck Mr. Shuai Zhao Mr. Jim & Mrs. Carolyn Zimmerman

* Denotes those donors who have faithfully supported the college in each of the last five years or more.

Montana State University’s success is rooted in the vision and investment of its founders and the dedication of many to create the state’s first institution of higher learning in 1893. Today, members of the 1893 Society continue to invest in the future of the University.

The 1893 Society honors and recognizes those who have made a planned gift commitment, as a gift through their estate, a charitable gift annuity or charitable remainder trust.

Through planned gifts, more than 500 alumni and friends have shared their vision for the University’s next generation of successes.

Please consider making MSU and the College of Letters and Science part of your legacy. To learn more, contact the Estate, Trust and Gift Planning team at the MSU Alumni Foundation, 800-457-1696 or email plannedgiving@msuaf.org.

Dr. Loren & Mrs. Evelyn Acton Dr. Ed Anacker° Mrs. Anne Banks Mrs. Anne & Mr. Jim° Banks Mrs. Victoria & Mr. Peter Barnick Dr. A Beber° Chief Petty Officer Teddy Birnie° Mrs. Dorothy Burke° Dr. Merrill Burlingame° Ms. Julianne Bye Dr. Jeffrey Carpenter Dr. Charles Caughlan° Mrs. Martha Cetina Dr. Patrick & Mrs. Victoria Cleveland Dr. Jerry Coffey & Ms. Karen Williams Dr. Dorothy Dannis Mrs. Marge Dogterom° Mrs. Carol Doig

Mrs. Mary Ely Dr. Arthur Fry° Lt. Col. Ronald & Dr. Julie Furstenau Mr. Charles & Mrs. Gloria Garrison Mr. Jim Goetz & Ms. Jill Davenport Mrs. Margaret Hausser Mrs. Helen Heaton° Dr. John & Mrs. Patricia Hermanson Mr. John Heyneman° Mr. Reed & Mrs. Elaine Howald Mr. Richard & Mrs. Marjorie Johnson Estate of Robert Lee Kearns° Mr. Randolph & Dr. Paula Kosted Mr. Bill & Mrs. Patricia Law Mr. Stuart Hutton & Mrs. Ying Liu Hutton Mr. Gary & Mrs. Maggie Long Dr. Marlene Mackie-Deal Mr. John Magaret°

Ms. Kay McConnell° Ms. Deborah Nebel Dr. David Nelson° Mr. Elliott Nowacky Ms. Viola O’Connor° Mr. Charles Pinkava Mr. Steve Rovig & Mr. Brian Giddens Mrs. Connie Rumely° Mr. Alexander Saxton° Mr. Ben & Mrs. Sue Schmitt Ms. Mary Shale° Dr. Donald & Mrs. Noralee Singer Dr. David Street MD° & Mrs. Karen Street Dr. John Tkach Ms. Dorothy Tone° Mr. George Van Fleet° Mr. William Van Horn°

www.montana.edu/lettersandscience

Mr. Peter VonPrittwitz° Mr. Michael Wagner CPA & Mrs. Judy Wagner RN Mrs. Sandra Wilkins Dr. Lee Woodriff Dr. William Zeleznyº Symbols °Deceased

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U N D E R G R A D U AT E R E S E A R C H IN THE COLLEGE OF LETTERS AND SCIENCE

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