MNews Fall 2023
TABLE OF CONTENTS FEATURES
CREDITS New SAP Next-Gen Lab Opens Doors of Opportunity | 36 Business experts, Butte officials, and campus leadership touted the limitless possibilities for Montana Tech’s students at the grand opening of the SAP Next-Gen Lab in Engineering Hall.
Coach Bob Green Receives Montana Tech’s Most Prestigious Accolade | 40
Celebrating 10 Years of the Materials Science Ph.D. Program | 10 In our ever-changing world, materials science quietly shapes the fabric of our lives. Materials scientists and engineers are responsible for the very framework upon which our society rests, yet their work often goes unnoticed.
Environmental Engineering Celebrates 50 Years | 16 In the years leading up to the foundation of Montana Tech’s Environmental Engineering program in 1972, there was a growing national, state, and community demand for environmental accountability in both government and industry.
Center for Environmental Remediation and Assessment Explores Creative Solutions to Environmental Issues | 20 Researchers and students at Montana Tech’s Center for Environmental Remediation and Assessment are attempting to take “forever problems” like the Berkeley Pit contamination and reimagine solutions.
There is no doubt Coach Bob Green is the most famous Oredigger to ever set foot on Montana Tech’s campus. Over his 24-year coaching career at the university, from 1987 to 2010, he was the winningest football coach in the University’s history, posting a 140116-1 record that includes five trips to the NAIA National Playoffs and the 1996 NAIA championship game.
Life-Changing Service | 22 Though their experiences occurred on different continents, separated by decades, four Montana Tech alumni and faculty say that their time in the Peace Corps is highlighted not only by their commitment to serving as ambassadors of goodwill for America, but also by a transformational shift in their hearts and life paths.
Montana Tech Provided Launchpad to Ph.D. Study | 44 Brent Sordo has about one year left of study before he’s awarded a doctorate in Civil Engineering from one of the highest-ranked engineering programs in the world, and as he stands at the cusp of finally launching the career of his dreams, he says his time at Montana Tech provided him with an outstanding foundation.
Chancellor Les P. Cook Publisher Amanda Badovinac Writers Les Cook Jaime Heppler Megan Strickland Editorial Board Amanda Badovinac Stephanie Cook Jodie DeLay Megan Strickland Lisa Sullivan Editor Susan Barth Graphic Designers Brooke Benson Lisa Sullivan Photographers Lou Mason
From Big Sandy to NASA, Bahnmiller Hopes to Bring Industry Back to Montana | 46 Layton Bahnmiller’s journey as an Oredigger starts 4 miles down a dirt road on a family farm near the small town of Big Sandy, on Montana’s Hi-Line, but lately it has taken him far from his rural roots, to a summer internship with NASA in Cleveland, Ohio.
Energy Panelists Stress Interdisciplinary Approach Necessary to Meet Energy Demands | 27 National industry leaders stressed the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to solving global energy issues in a panel on campus this fall hosted by the Montana Tech Foundation.
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Transforming a University | 28 This fall, Montana Tech’s School of Mines and Engineering was renamed the Lance College of Mines & Engineering in honor of Ryan and Lisa Lance and their groundbreaking $31 million gift to the University.
LEGEND Studies Biogeochemistry in the Recovering Clark Fork Ecosystem | 32 Montana Tech researchers are using paired environmental DNA and comprehensive geochemical survey techniques to better understand these complex communities for insight into the health of the Clark Fork watershed as a whole.
Ray Retires after 48 Years | 34 On the last day of his 48th year of teaching at Montana Tech, Professor John Ray was spotted on campus by Chancellor Les Cook beaming from earto-ear. His demands for excellence in the classroom have been a cornerstone of a Montana Tech education.
SHORTS
Greetings from the Chancellor | 5 Digging In | 6 Foundation Update |26
MNews is published twice a year by Montana Technological University.
ON THE COVER Ryan ’84 and Lisa Lance are pictured on the cover of MNews. Their $31 million gift will transform Montana Tech for years to come.
Celebrating our Distinguished Alumni | 38 MNews Fall 2023 3
Greetings from the Chancellor Greetings alumni and friends, We have had an incredible start to the academic year at Montana Tech. We kicked off the semester with approval from the Montana Board of Regents to rename the School of Mines and Engineering as the Lance College of Mines & Engineering. This change not only elevates our reputation, but recognizes the Lance family’s generous $31 million gift. I’m pleased to share that our enrollment is steady and moving in the right direction, up 2% compared to fall 2022. A total of 2,321 students from 52 Montana counties, 44 states, and 16 international countries are enrolled this fall. Our new student enrollment is strong, with nearly 600 new undergraduate, transfer, and graduate students. It’s also reassuring that first- to secondyear retention on the north campus is equal to the highest it has ever been at 81%. Our residence halls are also thriving with 436 students, made up of both new and continuing Orediggers. We welcomed a record number of participants and industry partners to our fall career fair. That same week, we also celebrated Homecoming and the 2023 class of distinguished alumni with our very own Coach Bob Green receiving the Chancellor’s Award of Distinction. The American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) won the bed races, and the Orediggers beat Eastern Oregon in football. Preliminary plans are underway to renovate Main and Engineering Halls with $43 million allocated by the Montana legislature during the 2023 legislative session. We are hopeful to have a timeline for these projects established early in the new year. The second phase of the $6 million campus heating project is almost finished, and we look forward to project completion during the summer of ‘24. Tech faculty and staff continue to deliver a deliberately distinct, hands-on educational experience that offers ever-expanding opportunities to work with leading professional and academic partners. This fall, students shared their stories of representing Montana Tech during study abroad in Austria, working on necessary research for the U.S. Navy, exploring the unseen universe with our new $1 million scanning/transmission electron microscope, and interning at NASA. Some students also had the opportunity to pick the brains of leading national experts on the energy industry’s future by asking questions at a panel hosted by the Montana Tech Foundation. It remains evident that our small campus connects students with tremendous possibilities. Our mission to provide a transformative student experience grounded in science, technology, and engineering is alive and well,
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as you’ll see in this edition of MNews. You’ll read about researchers tackling problems like the contamination of the Berkeley Pit and how they are reimagining solutions for the environment today and tomorrow. You’ll learn about ground-breaking research in materials and you’ll meet former football lineman Clay Thomas, who’s using his Environmental Engineering degree to address deforestation in Zambia. We celebrate Professor John Ray’s 48 years at Montana Tech, and Coach Bob Green, and you’ll meet the farm boy from Big Sandy who spent part of his summer interning in Cleveland with NASA. Recently, I enjoyed golfing in the 6th Annual Natural Resources Denver Alumni Golf Tournament, where $92,000 was raised for student scholarships. This support and the Lance gift, which through the Lance Scholars Program will annually provide 50 in-state students an opportunity to receive a $4,000 per year scholarship, are significant. This investment in education and our students is one of the best possible investments in the future. I am honored to lead our incredible institution and grateful for the work we do together. It’s been an extraordinary year for Montana Tech, and we’re just getting started. Your passion, support, and investment help us continue the momentum. In gratitude,
Les P. Cook Chancellor Montana Technological University MNews Fall 2023 5
EGIEBOR JOINS EXECUTIVE TEAM
LAWS HITS THE STAGE
Dr. Nosa O. Egiebor has been hired as the University’s next Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor. Dr. Egiebor replaced retiring Dr. Steven Gammon. Dr. Egiebor is a Chemical and Environmental Engineering professor with a Ph.D. in Metallurgical Engineering from Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada, specializing in process engineering and environmental aspects of mineral processing and extractive metallurgy. Dr. Egiebor has more than 30 years of experience in teaching, research, and academic administration at numerous universities, including the University of Alberta, Tuskegee University, the University of Mississippi, and State University of New York–Syracuse.
Three years after graduating from Montana Tech, Tanner Laws’ job looks a little different than one might expect of someone who majored in Civil Engineering. The rising country music artist spends most of his days on the road, traveling to performances across the western U.S. “I think I have one free weekend all summer,” Laws noted. Every other weekend was spent playing at county fairs and music venues, including the Red Ants Pants Music Festival, which was headlined by country music legends Tanya Tucker and Marty Stewart. The hard work that has put Laws into the same venue as world-class musicians began in his time at Montana Tech. He started to be more dedicated to practicing guitar at the University. Outside the classroom, he spent hours watching the finger movements of some of his favorite artists, like Tyler Childers, on YouTube. He eventually started playing at local bars.
VICE PROVOST FOR STUDENT SUCCESS AND DEAN OF STUDENTS HIRED Dr. Joe Cooper has joined the Montana Tech team as the Vice Provost for Student Success and Dean of Students. Dr. Cooper most recently served as the Dean of Students at Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin. Previously Dr. Cooper served as Interim Vice President and Dean of Students, Executive Director of Student Financial Services, Interim Senior Director of Housing, Director of Student Activities, and Associate Director of Housing and Residential Life at Michigan Technological University. Cooper will be the senior student affairs officer at Montana Tech, providing vision, leadership, and strategic direction to the support services, functions, and programs that enhance the Oredigger student experience.
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Laws was able to connect with thousands of music lovers this summer. And if he ever gets tired of playing music, he’s confident his Montana Tech degree will be valuable.
CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT B.S. NOW OFFERED Montana Tech recently launched a new Bachelor of Science degree in Construction Management housed in the Lance College of Mines and Engineering’s Civil Engineering department. The new degree is a perfect fit for students who want to participate in Montana’s robust and growing construction economy and prefer to focus their studies on the multidisciplinary aspects of the field that include logistics, CAD design, communications, surveying, health and safety, budget and cost analysis, human resources, and personnel management.
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OREDIGGERS MAKE UNFORGETTABLE MEMORIES IN AUSTRIA
EXCHANGING IDEAS COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH WITH NAVY ALLOWS STUDENTS TO EXPAND HORIZONS Collaborative research between Montana Tech and the Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division, Keyport officially kicked off this fall, bringing expanded opportunities for talented student researchers to participate in projects for the U.S. Navy. “The Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division, Keyport team is thrilled about this new Naval Engineering and Education Consortium award to Dr. Lucon and his students. This is exactly the type of research we hoped to accomplish in establishing the Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with Montana Tech last year,” said Craig Bleile, a U.S. Navy engineer and scientist. “This grant is turning loose some of the best minds in Montana to solve the Navy’s challenges while also advancing Montana Tech’s education objectives.” Dr. Lucon, an associate Mechanical Engineering professor, leads the Montana Tech Advanced Materials (MTAM) research group at Montana Tech. He said, “This and future research through the Naval Engineering Education Consortium will help cultivate the Naval Engineering workforce while building collaboration between Montana Tech and the U.S. Navy. The undergraduate and graduate students performing the research in a multi-disciplinary team across Materials Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, and Chemistry will gain competitive experience for their future careers.” Montana Tech and the Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division, Keyport entered into a historic cooperative research and development agreement in fall 2022. The agreement builds from, and leverages, over 10 years of research at Montana Tech in materials and manufacturing for defense applications, enabled through the support of U.S. Senator Jon Tester. Emily Maynard is a first-year graduate student in the Materials Science and Engineering M.S. program and is a research member of MTAM. Her fully funded, interdisciplinary project focuses on improving the 3D printing process, testing the strength of the different printed parts. As 3D printing continues to proliferate, engineers are continuing work to perfect the process.
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Montana Tech and the University of Camerino in Italy launched a collaboration in the fall of 2023 that will provide a cultural and scientific exchange of ideas between the two institutions, including a research proposal to study how lodgepole pine forests are recovering after fire events and how the under canopy changes with maturity in relation to species composition in Yellowstone National Park. It is crucial to understand these topics because the majority of previous studies focused only on the recovery of the tree layer, but a majority of the changes indicating successional pathways will happen in the herb layer. The study also has ramifications for basic forest ecology, ecological restoration, and forest management.
Lasting international friendships, an appreciation for foreign culture, and a lifelong zest for the opportunity to travel are just a few benefits Orediggers received through Montana Tech’s 2023 Summer Study Abroad Program in Austria. The Dean of the School of Mines and Engineering, Dr. Kenneth Lee, and Assistant Professor Dr. Jessica Daignault took 15 Tech students to the Graz University of Technology for the twoweek trip. Students lived in the dormitory at the host university along with Austrian and international students. The trip took students to three countries, with day trips to Venice, Italy and Bratislava, Slovakia. It included lessons in conversational German and project management. Exploration included visiting a medieval castle with a vineyard where great food and beverages were available, the type of dinner where one savors every bite of deliciousness and every moment of pleasant company. At the end of the trip, the final assignment for the German class was to go to the farmers market and order food in German. The students took their orders to the top of a nearby mountain and had a picnic.
The exchange is funded by a grant from Erasmus+, the European Union’s program to support education, training, youth, and sport in Europe. In September, Montana Tech Associate Professor Robert Pal wrapped up his time at the University of Camerino campus, located in the Marche region of Italy. The partnership between the University of Camerino and Montana Tech is set to span a four-year period.
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CELEBRATING 10 YEARS OF THE MATERIALS SCIENCE PH.D. PROGRAM By Megan Strickland In our ever-changing world, materials science quietly shapes the fabric of our lives. Materials scientists and engineers are responsible for the very framework upon which our society rests, yet their work often goes unnoticed. Dr. Grant Wallace, a Research Associate at Montana Tech, noted the common misconception: “When people think of engineers, they don’t think about materials science as engineering. We take a lot of this engineering for granted daily. Your car is just there, and your house exists, but all of these things are made of materials, and someone has to make those materials.” Dr. Wallace is one of the 15 graduates who have earned a Ph.D. in Materials Science since Montana Tech, in collaboration with the University of Montana and Montana State University, introduced the program a decade ago. While UM paused its involvement in 2018, the partnership with Montana State University remains strong and continues to produce accomplished graduates. According to Dr. Jerry Downey, the Materials Science and Engineering Graduate Program Director and Metallurgical & Materials Engineering Department Head, “Since program inception, the Montana University System collaborative Materials Science Ph.D. program has produced a total of 23 graduates, 15 of whom earned their degree at Montana Tech. About one-third of our graduates opt to directly enter industry while the others remain in academia. Three of our graduates, Drs. Rick LaDouceur, Nathan Huft, and Blaine Berrington, have already assumed tenure-track Assistant Professor positions at Montana Tech, which testifies to the program’s quality.” This program plays a pivotal role in meeting the rising demand for materials scientists in both industry and academia. It has facilitated high-level groundbreaking research funded by some of the nation’s most wellrespected agencies to tackle some of the most challenging issues facing society. In 2014, Dr. Rick LaDouceur (B.S. General Engineering ’14 and PhD Materials Science ‘18) became part of the first cohort of graduates in Montana Tech’s groundbreaking Ph.D. program. Reflecting on the program’s distinctiveness, Dr. LaDouceur stated, “It’s a unique Ph.D. program. There isn’t another like it in the country.” He highlighted the program’s key strengths: “You get the benefits of both facilities, you get the benefits of both universities’ professors. You have this built-in inherent collaboration system already. The program requires you to have a committee member on your Ph.D. dissertation committee from the other university.” Dr. LaDouceur’s decision to pursue a Ph.D. was sparked by his fascination with the research process during his participation in the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program at Montana Tech. He shared his enthusiasm for the Ph.D. experience: “I enjoyed taking a problem that no one had solved before and trying to come up with a solution for it. Ph.D. work really allows you to complete projects in your own time, in your own way. You advance science in a way it hasn’t been advanced before. You only learn that skillset by doing that work.”
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Now, as an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Dr. LaDouceur imparts his knowledge and passion for research to Orediggers, some of whom gain valuable laboratory experience by assisting him on projects involving biochar. Biochar, a residue of biomass burning, holds great potential for various purposes, including its use as a soil amendment for ecological restoration on former mining lands. Additionally, LaDouceur is exploring the possibility of turning hemp waste and expired food items from the Oredigger Food Pantry into value-added products. Dr. LaDouceur’s lab-produced biochar is also being utilized to test novel separation techniques for rare earth elements. Dr. Teagan Leitzke (M.S. Materials Science and Engineering, ’20, Ph.D Materials Science ’22) is a post-doctoral researcher at Montana Tech who is charting a promising path in the world of materials science; she envisions a future working for a national laboratory. Dr. Leitzke’s Ph.D dissertation focused on the modification of a Continuous Flow Material Recovery (CFMR) system, which uses magnetite particles to remove and recover harmful contaminants from wastewaters. Dr. Leitzke’s research allowed her to delve into the adsorptive properties of magnetite and construct a larger version of the CFMR system. Dr. Leitzke is currently managing and providing technical oversight to two major projects. In a project funded by DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory, she is investigating a novel hightemperature method of refining and separating rare earth elements and, in a project funded by the Department of Energy, she is evaluating a method that utilizes waste plastics to recover iron and critical metals from the slags produced during copper smelting and electric arc furnace steelmaking. One of the key qualities Dr. Leitzke emphasizes for materials scientists is the ability to think on their feet. She believes that adaptability and the capacity to pivot between different types of work are essential in the ever-evolving field of materials science. “The field is very inter- and multi-disciplinary,” she explained. “Being flexible is also important, as things may change or not go as planned, and adapting to those changes or finding new ways to make things work is essential.” Dr. Leitzke’s own journey through materials science showcases the wide array of opportunities within the field. She highlights that while you may find a particular area of research that you are passionate about, you can also explore various paths. “As an example,” she said, “my bachelor’s was in physics, my master’s was on high-temperature processing, and then I moved into water chemistry for my Ph.D. Clearly, you don’t have to stick to one thing once you have your foot in the materials science door. You can find what works best for you, and as you grow and improve your skills, there may be other opportunities on a variety of topics involving different kinds of materials and materials processing that you might want to pursue.”
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Ph.D. candidate Katie Schumacher (B.S. Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, ’07 and M.S. Metallurgical Engineering, ’09) is focusing her research on aerogels, which are ultralight, ultraporous, super insulating materials that have many uses, including insulating spacecraft and building spacesuits. “Aerogels are synthesized by replacing the liquid portion of gel with a gas, leaving behind a light, ridged solid,” Schumacher said. “They are the lightest solid on Earth and Mars. They were traditionally made with silica, but researchers have expanded into using graphene, metal oxides, plant fibers, and so much more.” Schumacher’s passion for aerogels lies in the uncharted territory of research. “I love aerogels because there is so much research left to be done. We have been studying them for over 90 years and have barely touched the tip of the iceberg.” For Ph.D. candidate Alex George, metallic glass is the material of choice. These materials were only discovered in the 1960s, and are produced by rapidly cooling metal alloys made under high heat. They have bonds like metal, but the structure of their atoms is glasslike. While they are already used in medical equipment and surgical implants, many scientists believe they could lead a revolution in the materials industry. However, the high cost of producing metallic glass is a challenge. George is attempting to reduce corrosion and make the material stronger in his study. While most of the graduates of the program have gone on to work in academia, George is focused on a career in industry. “My goal has always been to go back into industrial research,” George said. “There are a lot of things that need to be done in the world, and there are demands for better performing materials. Going to school for this, you can be at the forefront of that.” With 17 students currently enrolled in Montana Tech’s Ph.D. program, Dr. Downey reports that the program has capacity for expansion as more sponsored research projects are secured and the number of research-active faculty continues to grow. The Metallurgical and Materials Engineering department’s outreach efforts included hosting 23 high school students from across Montana and three other states for its inaugural Metallurgical and Materials Engineering summer camp last June. The free week-long camp was organized to connect rising high school juniors and seniors with the diverse assortment of exciting career opportunities in this field. Activities included experiential learning exercises in the department’s extensive laboratory facilities, field trips to local industry, casting aluminum medallions, and forging steel knife blades. As Dr. Downey emphasized, “The U.S. is facing a severe shortage of metallurgical engineers and materials scientists. Perhaps we will spark interest through this camp so that these students will one day help to fill that need.”
Montana Tech Materials Science Ph.D. Graduates Spring 2018 Richard LaDouceur John P. Murphy
Summer 2018 David Hutchins
Spring 2019 Nathan Huft Simon Timbillah
Fall 2019 Prince Sarfo
Fall 2020 MD Salah Uddin
Summer 2020 Grant Wallace
Summer 2021 Trenin Bayless
Fall 2021 Molly Brockway Sean Dudley
Spring 2022 Julie Muretta
Fall 2022 Teagan Leitzke
Summer 2023 Abdul-Sommed Hadi Blaine Berrington MNews Fall 2023 13
CONGRATULATIONS! BANDY ALL–SPORTS TROPHY AWARD WINNER Montana Tech | 2022-2023 Basketball, Cross Country, Football, Golf, Track & Field, Volleyball
ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING CELEBRATES 50 YEARS By Megan Strickland
A decade earlier, Rachel Carson had published her widely acclaimed indictment on pesticide use in Silent Spring. In January and February 1969, a massive oil spill on the coast of Santa Barbara, California coated beaches in millions of gallons of gunk that killed thousands of wildlife. In June of that same year, the Cuyahoga River burst into flames in Cleveland, Ohio, when a train derailment sent oil-soaked debris into the water. Federal legislation was enacted to require clean air and water. In Anaconda, the massive Washoe Smelter was operating, releasing toxic contaminants that would later be deemed a Superfund area. In Butte, some of the first studies about the impact of mining on local soils, air, surface water, and groundwater were completed. In Helena, the Montana Constitution was enacted and included a clause that enshrines into law that “the state and each person shall maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations.” Over the past five decades, Montana Tech has answered the call to produce exceptional thinkers and doers ready to tackle the environmental challenges and questions of multiple generations. The Environmental Engineering program was founded under Associate Professor Floyd Bossard and with the strong individual advocacy of both Dr. Elmer Gless, head of the Biology Department, and Kohler Stout, the Dean of Engineering. Per Mr. Bossard, the strongest overall support for the new Environmental Engineering degree came from the “sciences and humanities divisions at this school.” The Environmental Engineering program started out with a primary focus in the biological sciences, with Mr. Bossard serving as Department Head from 1972 until 1979, at which time Dr. Tom Waring assumed that title. Dr. Waring, along with other faculty members, earned the first ABET accreditation for the Environmental Engineering degree in 1982. At that time, only five or six environmental programs in the U.S. were accredited by ABET. When Dr. Waring took the campus administrator position, Dr. Rod James became the Department Head.
In the years leading up to the foundation of Montana Technological University’s Environmental Engineering program in 1972, there was a growing national, state, and community demand for environmental accountability in both government and industry.
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Dr. James, who has a chemical engineering background, pushed the program to become more engineering focused. Today, there are more than 100 accredited programs for students to choose from in the U.S., but current Department Head Dr. Kumar Ganesan says Montana Tech’s commitment to offering a future-oriented curriculum and excellent research opportunities continues to attract high-quality students from around the world. Dr. Ganesan has also served as an ABET program evaluator for environmental engineering for over a decade. “When we build our courses, we are looking 5 to 10 years into the future,” Ganesan said. “One benefit of a small campus is that we don’t have to wait long for approvals. I remember in 1999, I finished a workshop with the National Science Foundation, and the next year we were able to use that knowledge to introduce a new course called Pollution Prevention.” No other Environmental Engineering program had such a course at that time. Students also worked on research projects with professors who received millions of dollars in funding over the years from leading federal, state, and community partners. Because students receive education with an engineering focus, incorporating problem-solving for relevant issues, they are well prepared for the workforce. “It’s because they can solve complex environmental problems. Our graduates have a reputation for creative solutions,
“All our graduates are contributing to the cleanup of the environment and are recognized regionally and nationally.” —Dr. Kumar Ganesan
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collaborative thinking, and teamwork. Companies realize we have a great program.”
Helfrich said students who are well prepared technically will grow into other skills required to succeed in the field.
Montana Tech” (EEMT) and the Environmental Engineering Design Teams over the years.
Karen Helfrich (B.S. ’09, M.S. ’11) works for Pioneer Technical Services, Inc. in Butte. Her work has taken her across the country, and she’s never surprised to meet graduates doing outstanding work.
“Politics are becoming more and more a piece of the puzzle. At times it’s more about the politics than the science,” Helfrich said. “It’s hard sometimes to navigate that and deal with those pressures. That’s not something they can teach in school. It’s a challenge you have to adapt to with your problem-solving skills.”
“These people are the premier ambassadors for prospective students in the field, and they are ambassadors for Montana Tech as a whole,” Eurick said. “They always need the support of the program, the environmental alumni, and the campus. I would encourage new alumni to stay involved.”
Graduates also learn people skills, which is important. “The faculty were one of the main reasons I chose to go to Tech,” Helfrich said. “The minute I visited and throughout my education I felt cared for. You weren’t just another number. I believe that how you treat people is one of the biggest parts of what you learn.”
Eurick is semi-retired now after more than four decades of environmental engineering practice. He’s confident that Montana Tech’s environmental graduates will rise to meet the demand.
“On the national level, we have graduates all over the place, doing all kinds of different things,” Helfrich said. “We hire a lot of Tech grads and they all do exceptionally well. When they come out, they can think through and solve problems. Tech grads are the best—if they don’t know the answer, then they can think through it and try to find the solution.” Helfrich says as the department moves into its next half-century, there are plenty of issues for future students to tackle. “From a technical standpoint, it’s going to be finding more natural resources, and how to develop sustainable solutions to complex environmental problems,” Helfrich said. “I think a better approach to taking care of our planet will be a bigger issue.”
Glenn Eurick (B.S. ’77) said the establishment of the department’s Industrial Advisory Board in the 1990s helped play a role in connecting students with mentors in the field and keeping curriculum relevant to demands in the field. He also notes the importance of Departmental and Alumni involvement and support for the student club “Environmental Engineers of
“I think the greatest impact of the department is the steady stream of very qualified environmental engineers to a variety of industry and government agencies,” Eurick said. “The biggest challenge of the future is to have environmental engineers who understand the current scenario and can assist in solving current and future issues like climate change, weather impacts, disaster recovery, resource recovery, the protection of air quality, and water quality and quantity.” MNews Fall 2023 19
CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL REMEDIATION AND ASSESSMENT
EXPLORES CREATIVE SOLUTIONS TO ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES By Megan Strickland As he grew up in Butte, Matthew Ingersoll (B.S. Environmental Engineering ’23) knew that the Berkeley Pit was often seen as an irredeemable environmental issue. “My whole life I’ve always heard that there’s not really anything we could do about the Berkeley Pit, and that it would be a problem forever,” Ingersoll remembered. Researchers and students at Montana Tech’s Center for Environmental Remediation and Assessment (CERA) are attempting to take “forever problems” like the Berkeley Pit contamination and reimagine solutions with community partners that aren’t just beneficial for the environment, but have the potential to breathe economic life back into areas that were once bastions of industry. CERA is a multidisciplinary cross-college collaboration that intertwines work with numerous academic departments, agencies, and research groups, extending solution-based thinking beyond traditional disciplinary lines. CERA was revitalized in 2022, after initially being established in 2000. The Berkeley Pit was formed when dewatering pumps were turned off at the Kelley Mine in 1982. Groundwater began to fill more than a century’s worth of underground mine workings that span more than 10,000 miles. The rock in the underground workings leached out toxic metals into the water, which collected in the Berkeley Pit. Today it’s estimated that the pit holds approximately 50 billion gallons of impacted water. But in September 2019, site managers flipped the pumps on for a new system. This one involves cleaning the water from the Berkeley Pit, and discharging within established EPA standards into Silver Bow Creek. Through August 2023, over 7.9 billion gallons of this treated water has been released. In addition, the level of water in
the Berkeley Pit has been maintained, instead of inching higher and threatening the groundwater aquifer. In his dual role as a Montana Resources Environmental Engineering intern and Montana Tech graduate student, Ingersoll is working with faculty in Metallurgical, Environmental, and Mechanical Engineering to recover critical minerals from the Berkeley Pit water. “It feels really cool to be able to feel like we’re at least getting some sort of additional benefit out of the Berkeley Pit,” Ingersoll said. “It’s not fixing the problem necessarily, but it is cleaning the water a little bit more.” Federal officials have said the development of domestic supply chains for critical minerals and rare earth elements is paramount to national security, and there’s a lot of interest in the Berkeley Pit because samples have shown concentrations of critical minerals and rare earth elements to be significant. Ingersoll’s project is just one of many CERA has undertaken since it was relaunched in 2022. If you travel down an old dirt mining road west of campus, you’ll find some other projects underway in the proposed Energy and Environment Innovation Field Campus Area. The land here is uneven and only accessible via a sandy, rutted primitive road—but Tech has big plans to make a place where students and faculty can work to test their research on a larger scale. There are large mounds of mine waste and rock that have been untouched for decades. Plants have gained a foothold in some areas, but in many places the ground is hard and orangish-yellow.
“There’s quite a bit of mine waste, particularly on this hillside, and not a lot of plants,” Earth Sciences and Engineering PhD student Paul Helfrich noted as he gave a tour of a remediation project area in June. “We’ve got all sorts of recreational use back here, and that has really allowed some of our invasive species of plants to take hold here.” Knapweed, crested wheatgrass, and a couple of other invasive species have moved into the area. The seeds were likely inadvertently brought in and have taken hold because of a combination of recent recreational activity in the area and historic disturbances related to mining. “The biggest problem with this area is the metals, the soil compaction, and lack of water we see in the soil,” Helfrich said. “The soil health is really poor right now. When you don’t have a lot of organic material and you have a lot of erosion, you get an inability of the soil to hold water. We need to figure out a way to successfully keep the water here, instead of it running right off.” Helfrich, Chris Austin, and Keenan Cassidy used agricultural equipment to till up small plots of the area. “We planted each plot with three different native species,” Helfrich said. “We selected some grass types that we thought would be good fits.” In addition to seeds of prairie junegrass, bluebunch wheatgrass, and Idaho fescue, the plots also include varying portions of biochar from Dr. Rick LaDouceur’s laboratories added to the plots. Biochar resembles charcoal, and is the substance that is left over after biomass has been burned. It is often used as a soil amendment. Ten days into the experiment, the native seeds had sprouted. The bluebunch wheatgrass was the first to appear and grew much more quickly than the other species. The control group, which had no biochar amendments and only had till done, had many sprouts as well, which surprised the group. “I think this really speaks to the problem of compaction in these historic mine waste sites,” Helfrich said. “A lot of times when they get wet, it becomes very stuck together, which makes it difficult for plant roots to pierce the soil.” Though the grass is growing, the team is also monitoring other biological indicators of successful restoration. Pit traps surround the plots so team members can taxonomize insects in the area. The traps are emptied and inventoried weekly. “We are trying to see if we can stimulate an ecological response through our biochar plots,” Helfrich said. “The jury is still out on that at the moment.” The experiment will run until snow flies, but the team will check to see if sprouts pop back up in the spring. In the future, students want to try different agricultural grasses to study those species as well.
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Student Emma Harrison is working to remediate the runoff coming off the site. She plans to design, build, and install containers of biochar and activated carbon that are sculpted from porous clays to look like natural rocks. The idea is that the carbon will act as a filter and absorber, pull mining waste metals from the runoff. Additional projects planned for the area include a demonstration solar project that Tech Senior Design students and students from Highlands College will design and construct this fall. The solar display will be built like a headframe, and will be paired with picnic tables and outlets to charge electronic devices like cellphones or laptops while people enjoy outdoor recreational space. The solar demo is being used for research as Montana Tech, Butte–Silver Bow, and Montana Resources explore opportunities to create solar energy developments on operating and abandoned mine lands. CERA is also coordinating with Kansas State University on a 3-year grant that will provide technical assistance to Brownfields projects in Butte and Anaconda. The EPA estimates that there are more than 450,000 Brownfields in the U.S. These are places contaminated by hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants. The Environmental Defense Fund notes there are more than 250 of these sites in Montana. An initial team from Montana Tech’s Industrial Health and Environmental Engineering departments and the Clark Fork Watershed Education Program will work with Kansas State University and additional KSU-affiliated organizations to use Butte and Anaconda communities to aid stakeholders in understanding complex Brownfields-related issues by providing specialized knowledge and guiding communities through the assessment, cleanup, and revitalization process. “This collaborative effort is an exciting opportunity to formalize Montana Tech’s efforts to share its expertise in environmental engineering and management with impacted communities,” Vice Chancellor for Research Dr. Angela Lueking said. “The grant provides resources and incentives for Tech faculty and staff to engage in community education and outreach, including ways to assess relevance of new and emerging remediation technologies. We appreciate the opportunity to collaborate with Kansas State and work with the EPA’s Technical Assistance to Brownfields program, as this program embodies the applied learning and technology translation that differentiates Montana Tech’s educational mission.” The relationships and progress CERA has made since its revival a year ago are blazing a trail to provide students hands-on opportunities to test their knowledge and conduct research to improve the environment, while maintaining a focus on using nature for energy and environmental solutions, economic viability of their ideas, community/social engagement, and integration and innovative research. To learn more or collaborate, visit mtech.edu/cera/.
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LIFE-CHANGING SERVICE By Megan Strickland
Mahatma Gandhi said, “the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” Though their experiences occurred on different continents, separated by decades, four Montana Tech alumni and faculty say that their time in the Peace Corps is highlighted not only by their commitment to serving as ambassadors of goodwill for America, but by a transformational shift in their hearts and life paths.
Dr. Charie Faught Clay Thomas
Dr. Charie Faught says she’s willing to talk with students or look over applications to the Peace Corps. Faught served in Fiji from 1991 to 1993, teaching Chemistry, Biology, and Mathematics at a Methodist high school for girls.
Former Oredigger offensive lineman Clay Thomas (Environmental Engineering, ’16) is currently in the middle of a term of service in Luapula Province in Zambia.
Faught said she decided to go into the Peace Corps because she knew she wanted to get a graduate degree, but she needed a break after earning a degree in Chemistry and minors in Math and French from the University of Montana. Faught originally had Côte d’Ivoire in mind, where she hoped her French would be more of an asset, but her first chance to serve clashed with finals week at UM. The Peace Corps eventually called back and offered her an assignment in Fiji. During the first three months of teacher and language training, Faught and her fellow volunteers visited a remote island where Peace Corps members were serving, and she asked if she could avoid the primitive conditions. Her request was honored, and she was assigned to the city of Lautoka, which is about the size of Butte. She lived in the boarding school’s compound, which had running hot water and electricity. Faught’s Peace Corps pals who served in more rural areas enjoyed using the amenities when they visited. Faught’s time in the Peace Corps changed her life. “I did not think I was going to set the world on fire,” Faught said. “I did want to make a difference. It probably impacted me more than the people I interacted with.” For the first time, Faught lived in a community as a minority. She saw poverty. She learned to live in a place that moved slower and
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was less schedule-oriented. By the end of her term of service, she knew how to soak in the value of a day spent sitting in the shade of a mango tree, eating its juicy fruit. “I grew up a lot,” Faught said. “You learn to slow down. You have to spend time by yourself and get to know yourself. One of my thoughts when I was in the Peace Corps was that you can’t run away from yourself. It was very therapeutic.” Faught went on to get a master’s in Health Administration from Tulane University and a Ph.D. in Human Services specializing in Health Care Administration from Capella University. It took her 12 years to work her way back to Montana. She’s been at Montana Tech since 2007. Her time in Fiji was the beginning of a life of travel. “Travel when you are young and have a chance,” Faught recommends. The Peace Corps takes extra care to send people to safe areas, and send volunteers to train in groups with a support network.
“The skills you learn are skills you will use the rest of your life,” Faught noted, emphasizing that she learned to teach from her time in the Peace Corps, more so than becoming a subject matter expert through a Ph.D. She also suggests that prospects weigh their commitment to service before they accept an assignment. “It’s not for the faint of heart,” Faught said. Some people have asked Faught why she chose to serve in a foreign country instead of just serving in America. “Serving in Fiji doesn’t mean our communities in America aren’t important,” Faught said. “Diplomacy is important for our country’s well-being in the world.”
“It is a very intense, rural experience,” Thomas said. “There is no running water or electricity. The people are great and so very friendly, peaceful, and welcoming. My job functions are basically as a forestry extension agent, and my main objective is to increase, conserve, and protect the trees in Zambia to fight off the rampant deforestation occurring. This is done by offering up other means of income generation and food security tactics such as agroforestry techniques, modern crop management, and beekeeping, among other things.” The tasks align well with Thomas’s Environmental Engineering degree. He came to Montana Tech from Long Beach, California, to play football on a scholarship.
“I have always loved the environment and nature and wanted to pursue a program in which I could work toward environmental stewardship and sustainability,” Thomas said. “I have always been mechanically inclined and good at math and science and believed this was the best way to have the greatest impact.” Thomas said his time at Montana Tech taught him to work hard and create realistic solutions to problems. He then put those skills to work in the Peace Corps. “It is a tough job but worth it,” Thomas said. “People will never be the same after their experience. They will change for the better, and become stronger, empathetic, independent, and smarter. My eyes have been opened about my perception of the world. I have been surprised by how adaptive and flexible I can be. It’s important to know these things about yourself because I can do anything once I am back in America. I have so much confidence in myself and my abilities.”
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Capoccia found that people would take her trash and turn it into treasure. She traded items for things she needed: carrots for avocados and other garden bounty for crops like wheat and oranges that required more space for growing than she had. By the end of Capoccia’s term, she was bartering for most of her household needs. She also had become accustomed to sitting with her boredom, something that people in developed nations often struggle with, as electrical distractions are widely available. While most people might want to rip a package open right when they get it, Capoccia saved packages for slow days when she had time to savor the mail. It’s a lesson she brought back to the U.S. When the pandemic struck in 2020, she found herself perfectly okay with finding things to do during the lockdown. Peace Corps taught her to find ways to exercise and entertain herself with very little or no infrastructure or entertainment devices.
Dr. Stella Capoccia Respect for host nations is something that Dr. Stella Capoccia tries to emphasize in her classroom each semester when she gives a presentation on her time in the Peace Corps, from 1998 to 2000. She stresses that American volunteers who want to “save” the developing world can do lots of damage. She tells students how her service required integration into a rural East African community in Kenya. Capoccia is the second generation of her family to join the Peace Corps. Her parents met while serving. “It seemed like a logical thing to do after college,” Capoccia remembers. Capoccia worked as a forester in a skirt, dressing as East African women are expected to. She lived in a small primitive home with no electricity or running water. She had a water catchment system that she could draw from most of the time, but she also used a donkey to haul water to her home. She quickly learned to make the most of every drop. “I wanted running water more than I wanted electricity. You use water countless times before you get rid of it,” Capoccia said. “And then you would throw it on the garden.” She would use clean water for a final rinse of clothes, dishes, or bathing. Dirty water was used to soak dirty laundry, clean food like potatoes, water animals, or put in her garden. If she wanted warm water, she had to heat it with a fire. “Everything you bring into your house has a purpose,” Capoccia said. “I learned to be more sustainable in my time there.” Capoccia cooked in clay pots. She grew tomatoes, turnips, carrots, and potatoes. If she wanted to bake with flour, it was a three-day process to get it. She’d buy it one day, take it to the mill the next, and finally bring it home to cook with. Soon her American habits, like eating a jar of peanut butter, were viewed with a more critical lens. After all, what happens to the jar once the delicious spread has run out? “There’s no waste service there,” Capoccia said. “As an environmental volunteer, I generated more trash than anyone.”
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Some of that exercise and entertainment consisted of walking for three hours with friends to see the wildlife on the Maasai Mara, the northern part of the Serengeti, where zebras, wildebeest, elephants, and giraffes roam. Trips like those were done on time off. In her regular workday, Capoccia focused on planting trees. Capoccia’s work in the village can still be seen there, decades later, from outer space in photos compiled on Google Earth. The town had a little shopping center, called a hotelie. The businesses were in primitive buildings with rusted tin roofs. Mamas of the village would sit under a single shade tree, selling their wares. Capoccia worked to gather up money from the local businesses to plant approximately 50 native trees around the market. They were protected from livestock and have grown to maturity. The money also paid for a sign that read, “Welcome to our market. Please enjoy the shade.” Every Peace Corps member who completes their term of service is given a readjustment allowance based on the time spent in service. Capoccia used hers to go around the U.S. with a good friend she met in the Peace Corps, Tracy. She and Tracy came through Butte and fell in love with the area. Tracy returned to Butte to get her master’s degree at Montana Tech and Capoccia got a job with the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, & Parks in Helena. The two both married Tech alumni, who were also best friends. Capoccia and her husband, Bill Henne, traveled back to Kenya for a year for Capoccia’s Ph.D. work. The couple returned to Butte for Bill to complete his master’s degree at Tech and Capoccia was hired as a Biology Professor. In 2017, Tracy passed away from breast cancer, but the couple is still close friends with her husband, Steve, and his new wife Janice, and Capoccia gets to tell Tracy’s children the stories of their adventurous mother. “The whole trajectory of my life changed after the Peace Corps— it’s part of the reason I’m at Montana Tech,” Capoccia said. Part of the Peace Corps’ mission is to commit to sharing the experience and the organization’s mission with others. It’s a lifelong objective. So, every year, Capoccia dedicates a lecture to her time in the Peace Corps, and also works with interested students to perfect their applications. She highly recommends that students consider serving. “There is the before, the during, and the after,” Capoccia says. “It will blow the ceiling off your life.”
Eric Hull Eric Hull (M.S. Environmental Engineering ’17, B.S. Environmental Engineering ’16) completed a 27-month term of service with the Peace Corps in Tanzania. Hull says Professor Stella Capoccia sparked his interest in the program. “I hadn’t thought much of it until Intro to Ecology and Biodiversity with Stella Capoccia, where she gives an overview of her Peace Corps experience every semester,” Hull said. “I also TA’d for her one semester and got a second dose of her presentation. It was in the back of my mind throughout school. I always thought it was such a cool life experience, something very different and challenging.” The Peace Corps is selective in choosing people for service. Nations have to request help for a specific task to be completed, and volunteers must have a skill set to meet that request for service. “I applied to the Peace Corps twice during my bachelor’s degree—once six months before graduation and again shortly before graduation,” Hull said. “I was not accepted either time. I then didn’t want to move home without a job, so I asked Dr. Kumar Ganesan if I could stay on and get my master’s degree. That went well, so I reapplied midway through and was accepted on my third try.” Hull’s time in Tanzania included three months with a host family to learn Swahili, attend teacher training, and student teaching at a local elementary school. Hull was assigned to Makunduchi Secondary School, located in a small village on the southeastern coast of the island of Zanzibar. He taught math and science, subjects with a high demand for teachers in Tanzania. “We were supposed to be teaching in English, but I’d have to teach mostly in Swahili to get topics across,” Hull said. “I tutored English in my free time to anyone willing to learn.”
country. You need to be open-minded and comfortable being in very uncomfortable situations.” Hull would recommend Peace Corps to other students, but noted that it’s not for everyone. The Peace Corps reports that in 2018, 11.6 percent of its members terminated their service early.
Hull lived in a home with a small courtyard and a separate bathroom/kitchen building.
“There isn’t a stereotypical person that does well over anyone else,” Hull said. “Some people had never been outside the U.S. and did amazing. Some people had traveled worldwide and hated it, resigning after a couple of months.”
“I was fortunate to have electricity and running water when the school turned on a well pump and filled a water tower at the school,” Hull said. “I had to keep water stored in barrels for whenever the tank at the school ran dry between semi-regular fillings.”
Peace Corps members are paid a local salary, meaning the term of service can be a financial sacrifice. Hull said it could put you a couple of years behind your peers in building a career or buying a home, but overall, the experience was worth it.
Hull adopted a kitten he found on a bike ride home from fishing one day. She kept the house clear of pests, and the volunteer who came after Hull adopted the cat.
“It in no way adversely affected my job prospects,” Hull said. “I interviewed and was offered a job the day after I returned to the States. My experience elevated my résumé to the top and gave me a competitive edge.”
“I had a regular teaching schedule with two or three classes a day and a prep period,” Hull said. “Lunch involved mothers of students bringing baked and fried goods for purchase every day. I had ‘summers’ and holidays off to travel around the country, meet with friends, and go on adventures. I stayed abroad during my entire 27 months of service but did travel to other African countries and even some countries in the Middle East.”
“Often, the volunteer will get more out of the experience than the host community,” Hull said. “This isn’t the ideal form of aiding developing nations, but to some host countries, we may be the only Americans they will ever meet. We must show the host nations the utmost respect and be gracious about everything they have to offer.”
“Nothing prepares you for the Peace Corps,” Hull said. “It takes a certain person to persevere for over two years in a foreign
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Energy Panelists Stress Interdisciplinary Approach Necessary to Meet Energy Demands National industry leaders stressed the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to solving global energy issues in a panel on campus this fall hosted by the Montana Tech Foundation.
Montana Tech Foundation Update The Montana Tech Foundation celebrated another banner year of giving! In FY23, the Foundation raised $13,562,064 in cash, and $7,262,311 in-kind. Total dollars raised was greatly impacted by a historic $31 million philanthropic commitment by alumnus and ConocoPhillips Chairman and CEO Ryan Lance and his wife Lisa Lance, which will come in installments over the next four years. This year, the Foundation has continued its progressive success! The seventh annual DayOne giving event saw its highest ever online giving, raising $488,230 from 641 unique donors and impacting 112 funds and programs across campus. This was a $282,927 increase over the prior year. All of this success is a credit to our alumni, family, friends, parents, faculty, staff, and students at home and across the globe! With your generosity, Montana Technological University continues to deliver graduates for the future who are prepared to tackle every opportunity, and make their mark on history. Don’t forget, #GivingTuesday is right around the corner on Tuesday, November 28, 2023! To learn more about how you can support the next class of Orediggers, please visit https://impact.mtech.edu/techvision or scan the QR code below. On behalf of the Montana Tech Foundation Board of Directors and staff, THANK YOU. It’s always a great day to be an OREDIGGER!
— CEO, Montana Tech Foundation
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Panelists included Chairman and CEO of ConocoPhillips Ryan Lance, founder and CEO of Validus Energy Skye Callantine, Engineering Director at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories Bill Glennon, and Interim Director of the Center for Environmental Remediation and Assessment at Montana Tech Dr. Robin Bullock. All panelists are Montana Tech alumni. “The reality of the situation is that all forms of energy are going to be required to power the world forward over the next few years,” Lance said. “If you are worried about the advancement of the human condition, there is nothing more important than affordable and reliable energy.” Lance said an “all of the above” approach will be needed to power the world as its population is expected to grow from approximately 8 billion to 10 billion people over the next two decades. “Where the wind blows, it’s going to take wind energy,” Lance said. “It’s going to take solar. It’s going to take nuclear. We’ve got to figure out how to make coal cleaner and probably some fossil fuels like oil and gas, and probably some nature-based solutions as well.” In that multi-faceted approach there are questions each industry has to answer. “How do you deal with the impacts of wind?” Lance noted. “Today blades are indestructible and non-biodegradable. What do we do about that? Solar takes up a big huge footprint. How are we going to deal with that… nuclear, how do we make it safe?”
nowhere to store it, and emissions from orphan wells that have been abandoned and leak methane into the atmosphere. Glennon explained that energy to power the electricity grid needs to be delivered instantaneously, which is difficult to do at times due to the intermittent nature of wind and solar. As his industry grapples with how to make these intermittent sources more reliable, the cost of energy has also risen, particularly in places where more traditional sources like coal have been retired. “Costs and reliability start to go hand in glove,” Glennon said. “Your costs skyrocket. It creates a lot of challenges for the designers and operators of the power system to be able to provide reliable power, and the impact of higher costs is really to those who have the least among us.” Dr. Robin Bullock spoke about Montana Tech’s recent efforts to create an Energy and Environment Innovation Field Campus Area and how it would connect students and researchers with those in need of energy solutions in industry. “You have innovation, you have integration, you have scientific rigor and collaboration,” Bullock said. “I think a lot of these things we are talking about is whether we have a scientific basis for the decisions that we make. Having Montana Tech be that unbiased scientific entity is a really good thing.” The goal is to explore energy solutions on campus that can be implemented in the real world. “Being able to drive innovation from bench scale to field scale is one of the concepts that we have,” Bullock said. “How can we make it so that we can create and energize our community to do things in a big way so we can actually make forward progress from our bench scale and our lab scale where we are doing great research? How can we get that into industry’s hands and community’s hands that much quicker?” Montana Tech’s diverse fields of study allow the campus community to tackle these questions from numerous angles, Callantine noted. “This university is designed to have the entire value chain of the entire energy system,” Callantine said. “Whether you are geoscience in exploration or in petroleum or mining and extraction, or all of the mechanical and electrical and things that go along with building the equipment and design, or the safety people alongside all those people who need to go work, or environmental—all this stuff needs to be sustainable.”
Within the oil and gas industry, three major issues have to be solved, according to Lance: methane emissions that leak from facilities, flaring of natural gas that occurs because there is MNews Fall 2023 27
Thousands of graduates of Montana Technological University’s programs over the years show the power of a small institution to play a pivotal role in the development of spectacular careers and big dreams fulfilled from humble beginnings. One of those success stories came full circle this fall as the School of Mines and Engineering was renamed the Lance College of Mines & Engineering in honor of Ryan and Lisa Lance and their groundbreaking $31 million gift to the University.
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develop unique multidisciplinary opportunities to expand research, modernize curriculum, and further industry engagement and commercialization. Digger Athletics will receive $1 million towards athletic scholarships, generating greater access for student-athletes to compete and achieve on and off the field. It’s an act of generosity that was brought to fruition because of a chance trip to Butte during Lance’s senior year of high school.
Chancellor Les Cook said, “We are honored and deeply grateful to Ryan and Lisa for their investment in Montana Tech, our students, and the future of energy and its impact on our world. Our strategic plan is focused on student success, programs of distinction, and a healthy and vibrant ecosystem. The support this gift will provide to generations of students along with shaping the energy workforce of tomorrow is tremendous. The impact of the Lance gift not only positions Montana Tech for the future, but accelerates our momentum.”
Ryan Lance (Petroleum Engineering, B.S. ’84) grew up in a traveling military family. His father was a native of Ryegate, and his mother was from Wolf Point. Though his family lived all over during his father’s Air Force career, Montana was always “home,” as the Lance children spent many summers back at the Wolf Point farm. When Ryan’s father received his last appointment to the 341st Strategic Missile Wing at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls, it allowed Ryan to spend all four years of high school in Great Falls.
The gift is the largest in Montana Tech’s history. Each year, it will provide 50 in-state students the opportunity to receive a $4,000 per year scholarship, renewable for up to an additional three years. The endowed Lance Energy Chair will expand Tech’s expertise in STEM and reaffirm the institution as a leader in energy, environment, and sustainability. That Chair will collaborate with academic programs across campus and
Lance did well in high school and played football and golf. He easily could have followed in the footsteps of his mother, father, and older siblings and enrolled at Montana State University. But he stopped at Montana Tech on a drive through Butte and ended up bringing four buddies back to take a look. He had fallen in love with the campus.
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Professor Gustav Stolz got Lance a job roughnecking in the summer, and he had an instant affinity for the petroleum industry. He continued to work his way through college in the oilfields. After graduation, he started out at Atlantic Richfield on Alaska’s Northern Slope. His next stop took him to Bakersfield, California, where he met his wife, Lisa. Over the past 40 years, the family lived in Houston and Midland, Texas, Singapore, and Anchorage. Through several corporate buyouts and mergers, Lance became an employee of British Petroleum, Philips Petroleum, and ConocoPhillips, where he has served as chairman and CEO since 2012. The company is the world’s largest independent exploration and production company. Lance still feels a strong tie to Montana Tech. “The entire Lance family wants to thank the Montana Board of Regents for the establishment of the Lance College of Mines and Engineering at Montana Tech. We are grateful and honored to be a part of this outstanding institution and are committed to its long-term success. Montana Tech has been educating students from all over the world for over 100 years. We want to build on that legacy for another century!” As the Class of 2027 enters the upcoming fall semester, the Lances’ donation will provide transformational support to its students, who will have their own opportunities to study and work hard to build their own stories of Oredigger success. Jaime Heppler, CEO of the Montana Tech Foundation, added, “Ryan and Lisa Lance’s legacy is permanently etched in Montana Technological University history. With their remarkable investment in naming the Lance College of Mines & Engineering and transformational promise to student scholarships, the university will accelerate its tradition of delivering highly skilled, disciplined, and industry-ready graduates for the future. On behalf of the Montana Tech Foundation Board of Directors and staff, we couldn’t be more proud and appreciative of the Lance family and their commitment to educational excellence at Montana Tech.”
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE LANCE SCHOLARS PROGRAM 30 MNews Fall 2023
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LEGEND Studies Biogeochemistry in the Recovering Clark Fork Ecosystem
Because each species has unique DNA, the samples contain information on a variety of organisms living in the creek.
By Megan Strickland
In addition to taking in samples of environmental DNA, the LEGEND researchers conduct comprehensive geochemical surveys of their investigation sites. The team records information about aqueous geochemistry, including measurements ranging from pH to metal concentrations. They use these data to predict chemical speciation in the water, providing a complete geochemical “snapshot” of the creek at each sampling site. After more than eight years of sampling, a more complete picture has begun to emerge of how conditions impact the species in the stream.
The ecological restoration of Silver Bow Creek and the Clark Fork River, underway since the 1980s, is visible at the macrolevel. After more than a century of degradation from mining, Silver Bow Creek is beginning to recover. Songbirds flit in willow branches, and fish sip mayflies from the surface. Although the creek shows signs of recovery, the health of the creek’s microbial communities is unknown. Montana Tech researchers are using paired environmental DNA and comprehensive geochemical survey techniques to better understand these complex communities for insight into the health of the watershed as a whole. The project is spearheaded by Dr. Alysia Cox, Associate Professor of Environmental Chemistry, through the Laboratory Exploring Geobiochemical Engineering and Natural Dynamics (LEGEND) at Montana Tech. Dr. Cox founded the lab in 2015. “Our lab investigates biotic and abiotic processes happening in the environment at a given time and place under the set of conditions present, as well as developing a framework for how life has evolved in coordination with Earth in the past. Our interest in our local creeks and river stems from our desire to create an ecosystem health metric based on microbes and geochemistry that can be applied locally as well as to other impacted rivers globally. We have an experiment in remediation and restoration happening right on our doorstep,” Dr. Cox said. Paul Helfrich (M.S. Ecological Restoration, ’21) is a student in the Earth Science and Engineering Ph.D. program. Over Labor Day weekend, he and other students could be seen on the banks of Silver Bow Creek, scooping water and sediment from the creek and other sites in the Clark Fork watershed for biogeochemical analysis. The LEGEND team samples 17 sites from Drummond to Thompson Park to bracket the center of historic contamination and other anthropogenic inputs. The process is then repeated every three months. The samples are taken back to the lab where the team extracts DNA from filters and sediments to collect environmental DNA. Environmental DNA is a method to determine which species are present in an ecosystem by analyzing the DNA shed by the organisms living in the area.
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“By studying the encoded functional potential of an organism, you can understand not only what that organism is, but also what it has the potential to do,” Helfrich said. The DNA analysis of samples taken from Silver Bow Creek have unlocked a trove of information. “The samples we’ve been working through have shown that the microbial communities in the creek are extremely rich and they have immense functional potential to shape the ecosystem around them and clearly continue to do so,” Helfrich said.
“Our goal is to begin to connect the information we see in the metagenomes with the environmental conditions of the river,” Helfrich said. “The amount of information that is held in these sediments and on these filters goes so deep. The river is a dynamic place that has immense potential in helping us understand the ongoing recovering state of Silver Bow Creek and the Clark Fork. The ultimate goal of the research is to aid in the restoration of the area by providing a comprehensive microbiological–geochemical record of the evolving status of the area. “Microorganisms are extremely abundant and active components of all ecosystems,” Helfrich noted. “Our understanding of microorganisms has really grown over the past few decades. What we understand now is that they are the drivers of extremely important processes, including the flow of nitrogen and carbon through ecosystems. It’s human nature to think these things are so tiny that they don’t make much of a difference, but the truth is that not only do they make a huge difference, they are the foundation for all ecosystems.” As the team’s log of data grows, so do the potential questions the research group could focus on. How do emerging contaminants impact the microbes in the creek and river? How do added nutrients impact the flow of energy through the system? “We have barely scratched the surface of what can be learned from our samples,” Helfrich noted. For more information about the LEGEND, visit https://mtechlegend.weebly.com/.
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RAY RETIRES
AFTER 48 YEARS By Megan Strickland
On the last day of his 48th year of teaching at Montana Tech, Professor John Ray was spotted on campus by Chancellor Les Cook beaming from ear-to-ear. When Ray and his wife, Dr. Roberta Ray, arrived at Montana Tech in 1975, the university was on shaky ground after the State’s blue-ribbon commission had suggested moving operations to Bozeman. He’s making his exit as the University celebrates a year full of record-breaking successes, having seen all the trials and tribulations in between. Whether it’s been 1 day or 35 years since taking his class, alumni unanimously remember Ray’s courses as rigorous and challenging. His demands for excellence in the classroom have been a cornerstone of a Montana Tech education. Ray knows his reputation as a “hard” professor, and he doesn’t apologize for it. His goal has always been to mold students to be critical thinkers and give them a course worth the tuition. “There’s a body of knowledge you need to know,” Ray said. “I was always motivated to give students that. They always knew what to expect; there was never any question. It may have been hard, but they also appreciate the body of knowledge they received. College classes aren’t cheap, so you have an obligation that what you give to the student is what they are paying for.” Ray taught speech and political science, which have always been subjects with the potential to ruffle feathers under the best circumstances. As social and online media have proliferated, the ability to communicate face-to-face, especially in a tone that rises above the sometimes downright vicious nature of online debate, has become almost an art form. “People lack knowledge of what’s going on in terms of the issues,” Ray said. “They tend to relate to issues in terms of slogans, and get information from social media, which means they aren’t going to learn a lot. It degenerates into name-calling because that’s all they know. One of the things that is important to me in any college class is that you learn the subject matter and political thinking skills. Don’t call names. What are they arguing? What’s their point? What
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department, new textbooks, so although you remain as a professor, everything is always changing,” Ray said. “The job stays the same. The classes change every semester. You can add things, you can subtract things. It’s not stagnant where you do the same thing every day.” Ray was involved in environmental work in Butte. He was active in Superfund issues and served the Clark Fork Coalition. He recommends that students and members of the university community get involved off-campus. “You also need to get involved with your community and volunteer your knowledge and expertise,” Ray said. “It’s not just that your classes are important. Get off the hill and get involved in the place you are living. That’s a frequent problem with colleges that are separate from the community. Get involved in what’s going on here. Develop multidimensions to your life.”
The Rays plan to move to Austin, where Roberta has family nearby. John will also be closer to his hometown of New Iberia, Louisiana, where his grandfather took him to political rallies as a child, and sparked the passion that fueled a long and meaningful career. He wants to wait a year or so before launching into any other teaching endeavors, though there are plenty of universities in the area if he should choose to go back to work. He wants to get the lay of the land and find a community to be active in. He has no intentions of sitting at home in a rocking chair. He plans to spend the rest of his days learning and growing, which is the same expectation he’s had for his students. “Education doesn’t stop, even when you get your Master’s or your PhD,” Ray said. “It’s a start, but it assumes that education, growth, and development will be a lifelong pursuit. It doesn’t stop when you walk across the stage.”
information, reasoning, and facts do they advance in support of that? Then you critically evaluate the data and the reasoning.” Ray has weathered the changes in society by altering very little in the classroom. He kept his content fresh, but his methodology was much more rigid. Students have complained that his textbooks don’t have illustrations and photographs. He banned cell phone use in class. “I think it is addictive, but it also interferes with listening,” Ray said. “It is essentially discourteous. I don’t know how you can do that and take notes or derive anything from the lecture. We don’t listen anymore because people are plugged in. Not listening critically and with some empathy is a big problem. We need critical listeners.” Nearly half a century after teaching his first class, Ray still believes in the transformational power of higher education. “You hear a lot of talk today, that people don’t need a college degree to get a good paying job, and to an extent, that’s true,” Ray said. “If in a broader sense, the point of education is to develop as a human being, that takes a certain amount of discipline, a certain amount of academic rigor, that is easier to learn in a college setting.” Ray also has advice for young people who are trying to find the right major. “If your life expectancy is 74, that’s 50 years,” Ray said. “You better get into a career you love doing. If you get stuck in an area that isn’t what you love doing then you’ll be miserable. Figure out what it is that turns you on, or what it is that you find interesting, what it is that you want to spend your whole life doing, and do that. Find enough discipline to stay focused on your goal. Know your goal and stay focused on it.” In a world where the average person has a dozen jobs, Ray said he stuck with one because it was full of transition. “You have new students, new faculty, new members of the
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New SAP Next-Gen Lab Opens Doors of Opportunity By Megan Strickland Business experts, Butte officials, and campus leadership touted the limitless possibilities for Montana Technological University’s students at the grand opening of the SAP Next-Gen Lab in Engineering Hall. The lab is one of only 13 nationwide, and offers students access to a number of System Applications and Products in Data Processing (SAP) proprietary software programs that perform data analytics and export graphics that give business professionals easily digestible information to make decisions easier. “It’s as if Excel and PowerPoint had a merger,” said Business and Information Technology senior Heaven Dagel. “These are tools we have in our arsenal that help create products you would deliver to CEOs or individuals at the C-Suite level.” It took Dagel about eight weeks to feel really proficient with the software. One product she produced with SAP software analyzed whether celebrity social media endorsements were worth their cost. Another project focused on whether numbers of cars sold in certain parts of the world warranted keeping those vehicles on the market. Dagel is one of five students that competed in the SAP ERPsim International competition in spring 2023. Her team placed third in the North American Qualifier. “I feel like it might look intimidating at first, but it can be easy to understand,” Dagel said. Zack Bennett, another Business and Information Technology senior from Billings, completed an analyzation of birth rate and life expectancy data for countries around the world. Information like this is useful because it allows product managers to determine the size of their target market years into the future.
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“It’s a useful skill to have for the future,” Bennett said. “It makes everything come together to make sense and every employer is going after candidates with that kind of experience.” College of Letters, Sciences, and Professional Studies Dean Michele Hardy said the new lab is important for students. “With these tools, they can go out into the world and solve real-world problems, no matter what career path they take,” Hardy said. Butte–Silver Bow Chief Executive J.P. Gallagher told the crowd he was impressed with the lab. “I’m blown away by the technology and direction we are able to go,” Gallagher said. “It shows the quality of work at Montana Tech. It’s going to impact not only our community, but the world.” Tom Wilder is the executive director of the SAP University Competence Center at California State University, Chico. He was in attendance at the lab opening and stressed the importance of SAP to employment prospects for students. “You are going to have knowledge going in that a lot of your seasoned co-workers won’t have,” Wilder said. Brandon Morley (B.S. Business and Information Technology, ‘22) is currently working for KPMG in Tempe, Arizona. Morley said SAP is the primary enterprise resource planning interface for one of his clients. Having experience with SAP helped him in his hiring interview. “I remember their faces lit up when I told them I had SAP experience in my coursework,” Morley said. “SAP is one of the best enterprise resource planning programs, and you will gain knowledge transferrable to several different fields.” Morley recommended that business students take advantage of the new lab and learn as much as they can. “It’s only going to help you,” Morley said. “There really is no downside. It was a huge help in getting me my job offer.”
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Engineering, and interim Director for the Center for Environmental Remediation and Assessment. “When I was looking for colleges, I knew that I wanted to go into environmental engineering. At that time, there were only three colleges in the U.S. that had this degree, and I am very fortunate to have received the education and careers that Montana Tech set me up for,“ Bullock said. She earned her doctorate in Environmental Engineering from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks in 2021. Prior to joining the faculty at Montana Tech, Bullock served on the faculty of the Colorado School of Mines, where she was named Outstanding Faculty by the undergraduate students. After Bullock’s daughter graduated from the Colorado School of Mines, Bullock headed back to Montana.
CELEBRATING OUR DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI Three outstanding alumni were recognized during Homecoming Week as Distinguished Alumni of Montana Technological University. The awards are conferred by the Montana Tech Alumni Association. “These three individuals are the true definition of what it means to be an Oredigger,” Director of Alumni Engagement Sean Ryan said. “As Montana Tech alumni, they have each made tremendous impacts in their professional fields and in their communities, all while proudly representing Montana Technological University.” Over the past 123 years, Montana Tech alumni have used their connections and opportunities to help change the world. This year’s honorees have been influential in the fields of energy and environmental engineering. They include Tom Vivian (Petroleum Engineering, B.S. ‘82, Master’s in Project Engineering and Management, ‘03), Dr. Robin Bullock (Environmental Engineering, B.S. ‘84, M.S. ‘91), and Josh Vincent (Environmental Engineering, B.S. ‘97). “The Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes those who have had outstanding success in their careers while also bringing recognition and distinction to themselves as well as their alma mater,” Chancellor Les Cook said. “These individuals have done all of this and more. I am incredibly proud of Tom, Robin, and Josh for all they have accomplished and the contributions they continue to provide to Montana Tech.” Tom Vivian is a Butte native. He is a retired Director of Gas
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Transmission and Storage for NorthWestern Energy. Vivian is proud of his 41-year career. “I knew I wanted to be an engineer, and after talking with counselors at Montana Tech, chose to enter the Petroleum Engineering curriculum because the energy industry is a huge contributor to society,” Vivian said. “Affordable energy is critical to our economy and success as a nation.” Vivian’s work was exciting, fun, and rewarding. He made a number of lifelong friends throughout his time at Montana Tech and in industry. “I worked with people all over Montana as well as in the northwest region and Alberta and Saskatchewan,” Vivian said. “Many of the folks I worked with were much more than colleagues; they truly are my best friends.” Vivian said receiving the Distinguished Alumni Award is a tremendous honor. “I believe that Montana Tech is an incredible place to learn and have worked with many successful Montana Tech graduates during my career,” Vivian said. “To be named a Distinguished Alumni after seeing the accomplishments of other Tech graduates is very humbling.” Dr. Robin Bullock has served on the faculty of Montana Tech for two years. She’s an Associate Professor in Environmental
“I thought it would be great to come home and return to where I began my college career as a first-generation student,” Bullock said. Dr. Bullock spent 30 years working in industry before embarking on a teaching career. Over the course of her career, Bullock worked in the pulp and paper industry and developed a water treatment project that was patented. She then became manager for Atlantic Richfield’s mining operations across the U.S.; Global Director of Onshore Oil and Gas, Manufacturing, and Mining Decommissioning for BP; and Vice President for Talisman Energy based in Canada. She also spent two years responding to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. “It was definitely the most challenging position that I have taken on,” Bullock said. Bullock said she’s been grateful for the opportunity to work with diverse groups of individuals and stakeholders whom she calls her friends. She enjoys working with the next generation of engineers and is always excited when they see new possibilities and have passion for their future careers. “I greatly appreciate the work ethic, experience, and can-do attitude that has been a hallmark of Montana Tech,” Bullock said. “I am also thankful for Tech introducing me to my husband Bill, who I met in my Environmental Engineering courses. I am very honored to receive this award and thank the Foundation and alumni, as well as students and my family, for their support.” Josh Vincent is president and co-founder of Water & Environmental Technologies, Inc. “Growing up in Butte, I always knew about Montana Tech but didn’t really understand what it offered,” Vincent said. “My older brother Matt attended school there and seemed to like it, so it seemed like a good fit for me. The Environmental Engineering department was appealing because it offered me a chance to help clean up my hometown and spend time outdoors, which is where I spent every free moment growing up.” Vincent graduated with honors and worked his way through college with various jobs at the Physical Plant, Computer Center, and HPER. He also worked with his dad at Vincent Masonry. Vincent was a captain on Coach Bob Green’s 1996 team that
won the Frontier Conference and played for the National Championship. “But without a doubt, my biggest accomplishment at Montana Tech was convincing my lovely wife Janelle (also a Montana Tech graduate) to marry me,” Vincent said. Vincent and two fellow Montana Tech graduates founded Water & Environmental Technologies (WET) in 2000. The company has grown from a small niche firm into a 120-employee, full-service environmental and civil engineering enterprise, with offices in Butte, Anaconda, Bozeman, Great Falls, Kalispell, and Sheridan, Wyoming. The company is 100% employee-owned. “I have worked on a variety of engineering and environmental projects throughout my career,” Vincent said. “Major projects I am proud of are helping develop and implement stormwater infrastructure, training, and regulatory solutions across Montana. Our firm has also been a key player in driving Superfund cleanup projects in both Butte and Anaconda.” Vincent also serves as a board member for Glacier Bank. He has served as president of the Environmental Engineering Industrial Advisory Board, president of the Digger Athletic Association, and finance chair of the Montana Tech Foundation Board of Directors. “I am deeply honored and humbled to be named a Distinguished Alumni at Montana Tech,” Vincent said. “I grew up a blue-collar son of a bricklayer and a nurse in Butte, Montana, and attending Montana Tech seemed like the next step in the life of a Butte kid. What I didn’t realize until I was older was that a degree from Montana Tech gave me the keys to a million opportunities that I didn’t know were possible. I was equipped with a great education and passion to make a difference in my community, which just happened to be the center of the largest Superfund site in the lower 48 states. I have been blessed to help found and grow a company that is invested in the long-term environmental health and stability of its communities, and employs a lot of Montana kids who want to stay in Montana.”
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COACH BOB GREEN
RECEIVES MONTANA TECH’S MOST PRESTIGIOUS ACCOLADE By Megan Strickland There is no doubt Coach Bob Green is the most famous Oredigger to ever set foot on Montana Tech’s campus. Over his 24-year coaching career at the university, from 1987 to 2010, he was the winningest football coach in the University’s history, posting a 140-116-1 record that includes five trips to the NAIA National Playoffs and the 1996 NAIA championship game. Green’s booming voice and unique aphorisms captured the hearts of fans in Montana while he was coach. Archival television footage shows some of his best hits, including: • “They got after it hard. They were like a hobo on a ham sandwich. They were going hard all the way.” • “I wanted to raise my kids with a depth chart, can you imagine that? I wanted that, but Pam Green vetoed that.” • “It’s kind of like George Jones going to a hip hop concert. There’s not much harmony there.” • “They are rougher than a pinecone toilet seat.” • “Some aspects look like we’re really ready to play, other aspects look like we just got off Wille Nelson’s tour bus,” and • “If his attitude’s positive, he thinks he can take on hell with a squirt gun.” “The internet came along and those things get on there,” Green noted. “I’m kind of like Halley’s Comet. I come around every five or six months.” Videos of Green on YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook have millions of views, though Green’s personal social media participation is limited to a post a week on Twitter and Facebook, facilitated by current Oredigger Coach Kyle Samson. It is a tool Green used during his time as a development officer for the Montana Tech Foundation from 2010 to 2018. Most of the time it’s a lot of fun to see the videos going around, but in the summer of 2022 a post titled “Remembering Coach Bob Green” got a lot of traction, and a lot of “Rest in Peace” comments. “Rumors of my demise were premature,” Green joked, adding a golf reference, “I might be on the back nine but I’ve got a lot of holes left to play.”
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OREDIGGER SPOTLIGHT
BOB GREEN
While Green’s sayings have endeared him to people around the world, those who had the privilege of being coached by him know that they are just a part of his larger personality. “I’ve always taken my job very seriously, but never myself too seriously,” Green said. Green was awarded the 2023 Chancellor’s Award of Distinction. The award, established in 2021, recognizes individuals who have achieved the most distinguished personal and professional accomplishments while also serving and bringing distinction to Montana Tech. “I’m not sure there is anyone that has brought more attention and notoriety to Montana Tech than Coach Green,” Montana Tech Chancellor Les Cook said. “He’s a legend at Tech, in our community and well beyond, and he’s poured his heart and soul into everything Oredigger. The lives he’s touched and continues to influence is staggering. We’re proud of his impact and look forward to celebrating him with this honor.” During a celebration for the award, former players and associates had a lot to say about Coach Green. Dave Barrick also had thoughts on why Coach Green was important to the community. “I never knew my father, as he died when I was one year old,” Barrick said. “When I was an equipment manager for Coach Green, he became my father figure. But Coach Green has also become the father figure to so many other Montana Tech Orediggers during his 24-year tenure as head football coach. Coach Green was an inspiration who made an indelible impression on Montana Tech’s students, as he always knew how to improvise, adjust, adapt, and overcome. In my opinion, Coach Green’s Greenisms are avant garde in the realm of English literature. Montana Tech, Butte, and the state of Montana are truly blessed to have an ambassador like Coach Green in its ranks.” MNews Fall 2023 41
Green has a mutual appreciation for his former players and assistant coaches. “It’s not the coaches who win,” Green acknowledged. “It’s the players. It’s the players who win the games and deserve all the credit in the world.” Green also credited his coaches at Kearney State University (now University of Nebraska State University at Kearney) for giving him his first opportunity to work as an assistant coach. Green had walked onto the football team as a freshman, after wrapping up Marine Corps service in Vietnam, and earned a scholarship. After senior season Green had a few more credits to earn, and his coaches offered him an assistant position in exchange for continuance of his scholarship through graduation. “I owe those coaches a great deal,” Green said. “I’m eternally grateful. My NFL career was cut short due to lack of ability.” From Kearny State, Green traveled to Minatare, Nebraska, where he was the high school head football coach, athletic director, and assistant basketball coach and track coach in
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a tiny town. He also enjoyed working as assistant coach at University of Northern Colorado, as a football coach and athletic director in Broken Bow, Nebraska, and as a defensive coordinator at Northwest Missouri State. “I really enjoyed everywhere I was,” Green said. “But Montana Tech was the best. The only job I was ever offered was the very first one. The rest I had to apply for. I wasn’t always the first candidate. I think Montana Tech probably offered the job to three or four people before me.” Green says coaching is hard work that often extends outside of the eight-hour work day.
pretty much bona fide Montanans. Bob and Pam enjoy watching their seven grandchildren, who are now in second grade through high school, in a number of activities. Daughter Katie is an attorney in Butte with two sons, Eddie and Jack Panisko. Abby lives in Dillon and operates the Office Bar. Her daughter Ivy just graduated from Beaverhead High School. Son Danny works in the oil business in Billings. He has four children, Danny, Jr., Elle, Rocky, and Mia.
they’ve been successful in life and they’ve been successful in their chosen profession, even though they may have been C students. Their attitude and their people skills enabled them to achieve success.”
“I consider myself from Butte. They are taking me out of Butte feet first,” Green said.
“We always strive for positive production,” Green noted. “If you have great expectations and expect people to be good, they have a chance to be good. If you keep telling a guy he’s bad, pretty soon he will believe you. We want people to believe they are good.”
Over the years Green did have other opportunities to coach elsewhere, but he stayed.
Coach beat cancer in 2022, and spends a lot of time these days playing golf. He’s spotted often in the HPER, working on his swing. Green says getting to work with and be part of a community of good people has been the highlight of his career. He still travels to the communities where he coached, and the meaningfulness of the relationships he made with players and communities resonates. Green figures if you can keep a positive attitude and treat people well, you are on the right path to success.
“If I moved, I wanted to take Pam Green with me and she was done moving,” Green said. Plus, all members of the Green family are
“Every business is a people business,” Green said. “There’s several people I’ve known at four universities I’ve coached at, where
“It totally encompasses your day,” Green said. “It’s long hours, 7 days a week, coaching and recruiting.”
Green has advice as well on how to help Orediggers unlock their potential for generations to come.
SCAN HERE FOR MORE COACH GREEN MNews Fall 2023 43
MONTANA TECH PROVIDED LAUNCHPAD TO PH.D. STUDY By Megan Strickland
Brent Sordo has about one year left of study before he’s awarded a doctorate in civil engineering from one of the highest-ranked engineering programs in the world, and as he stands at the cusp of the finally launching the career of his dreams, he says his time at Montana Tech provided him with an outstanding foundation. Sordo (B.S. Geological Engineering, 2019) completed his M.S. in civil engineering (with a geotechnical focus) from the Cockrell School of Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin in 2021. He’s expected to graduate with his Ph.D. in the same field in 2024. It’s a journey that started with an inbox message nearly a decade ago. “I first heard about Montana Tech through one of those random emails that most people just delete,” Sordo said. “It sounded really fun to me. It was a small school. I knew I wanted to do engineering at that point, and it had mountains, it was away from home, and it had a gym.” Sordo, a native of Modesto, California, enrolled after he received the Frances and Ralph Mitchell scholarship. It is for students from Northern California majoring in geological engineering. Students receive $20,000 per year.
“When I applied for grad school, it seemed very easy,” Sordo said. His graduate school application was also boosted by the fact that he won a 2018 Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship. The award is the most prestigious undergraduate scholarship awarded in America’s natural sciences, mathematics, and engineering. “When I got to the University of Texas, I found I was more prepared than most other students,” Sordo said. “That’s because my geological engineering background was a very good fit for the geotechnical engineering program at UT. Most of my peers in the master’s program had a civil engineering background, so they had taken one geology class or one soil mechanics class, maybe in their bachelor’s degree. I had taken multiple geology classes, several geotechnical engineering and soil mechanicsfocused classes, so a good half of my master’s program ended up being review.” Sordo has advice for students hoping to pursue a degree in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics at Montana Tech.
When Sordo got to campus, he ended up in the office of Geological Engineering Professor Mary MacLaughlin.
“Seek out additional ways besides your coursework to get involved with the school,” Sordo said. “It’s a great way of gaining experience, and connections. Undergraduate research, internships, tutoring, being a TA, all those sorts of things really opened the door for me so I could build relationships with faculty and other people that allowed me to get so much support in things like Goldwater process.”
“I remember Brent asking me to challenge him,” MacLaughlin said. “He said he’d heard I was one of the hardest professors on campus.”
Sordo plans to work as a consultant for a few years receiving his Ph.D., but eventually wants to move to education and teach at a university.
“It was kind of like serendipity,” Sordo said. “I got accepted very quickly, and they offered me the scholarship soon after that.”
Sordo was able to take graduate-level courses in his sophomore year. He also performed research in MacLaughlin’s lab and he believes that helped him stand out in the admissions process for his graduate program. 44 MNews Fall 2023
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FROM BIG SANDY TO NASA,
BAHNMILLER HOPES TO BRING INDUSTRY BACK TO MONTANA By Megan Strickland
In Memory We extend sympathy to the families of the following alumni who have passed away over the past few months. 1950s
2000s
1960s
John F. Callahan ‘64 B.S. Petroleum Engineering
Teressa L. Arthur ‘03 A.A.S. Accounting Technology/ Human Resources Option
1970s
2020s
George A. Mattson ’52 B.S. Mining Engineering
Carlos A. Villachica ‘76 M.P. Mineral Processing Engineering
Jacob Seitz ‘02 B.S. Chemistry/Professional Option
Austin T. Nieves ‘20 Pre-Apprentice Line Program
1980s
Rufus Whitaker ’85 Associate of Arts ‘87 B.S. Business Administration Layton Bahnmiller’s journey as an Oredigger starts 4 miles down a dirt road on a family farm near the small town of Big Sandy, on Montana’s Hi-Line, but lately it has taken him far from his rural roots, to a summer internship with NASA in Cleveland, Ohio. “I grew up working on vehicles and farm equipment, so I thought mechanical engineering would be something that interested me,” Bahnmiller said. “Three of the neighbors’ kids had been to Tech, and I didn’t want to go to a big school, so Tech was the only school I applied to.” Bahnmiller graduated with his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in December 2022. He’s currently working in the Montana Tech Advanced Materials research group of Mechanical Engineering Associate Professor Dr. Peter Lucon and Assistant Professor Dr. Nathan Huft, while pursuing his M.S. in General Engineering. “I’m working on developing alloys for additive manufacturing,” Bahnmiller noted. NASA has released several studies indicating that additive manufacturing enables many opportunities to reduce costs for space exploration. Additive manufacturing involves 3D printing, which is exceptionally cost effective for the complex parts and low part volumes needed for space missions. “This research project has been an excellent collaborative opportunity for our students to bring our mechanical engineering approach and solutions to the team while learning from the material science experts at NASA Glenn,” Dr. Lucon
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said. “Bahnmiller’s background and skills have made him an outstanding student for this multidisciplinary task.” Bahnmiller is using a new 3D printer on campus that creates metal parts. In his work he consults with advisors and mentors on campus, as well as at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. This summer he traveled to NASA Glenn and spent several weeks working with the team there in person. “I got to work with some brilliant people who taught me a great deal and are an inspiration to me,” Bahnmiller said. Bahnmiller was also able to squeeze in a trip to Austria this summer, with the Montana Tech Study Abroad Program. It dovetailed nicely with his training as an engineer. “Being mindful of other cultures is an important part of being a professional individual,” Bahnmiller said. “As an engineer, you work with a variety of people, and understanding that people have different mindsets and methods of approaching problem solving is valuable.”
1990s
Jennifer A. Sologub ‘90 B.S. Occupational Safety & Health/ Science & Engineering ‘91 M. Industrial Hygiene Nancy C. Kitchin ‘95 A.A.S. Information Processing Pam Smith Johnson ‘97 B.S. Computer Science/Business Information Systems Thomas W. McElderry ‘95 Certificate Practical Nursing
While Bahnmiller’s career could take him anywhere, his long-term goal is to end up back in Big Sky Country. “My goal is to help bring jobs and expertise back to Montana to help grow Montana’s industry as a whole,” Bahnmiller said. “I’d like to see the day that Montana students can graduate and not have to leave this wonderful state to get a good job.” MNews Fall 2023 47
Non-Profit U.S. Postage 1300 West Park Street, Butte, Montana 59701-8997
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