June 15, 2008

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Introduction

• Montana NSF EPSCoR Year 1 Annual Report (August 1, 2007 – July 31, 2008)
• Overview of research focus areas: Hydrogen and the Environment, Large River Ecosystems, and Cyberinfrastructure

Year 1 Highlights

• Hydrogen and the Environment research collaborations
• Statewide EPSCoR Conference
• Tribal college engagement in river ecosystems research
• spectrUM outreach and award-winning science communication campaign

Scientific Achievements

Hydrogen and the Environment

• Advances in hydrogenase enzyme structure research
• Biomimetic synthesis of titania nanoparticles
• Yellowstone metagenomics and astrobiology projects

Large River Ecosystems

• Establishment of the River Center
• Research to improve river management and restoration practices

Programmatic Achievements

Faculty and Research Capacity Building

• New faculty hires
  • Dr. Abigail Richards
  • Dr. Wyatt Cross
  • Dr. Kevin Wanner
• Approval of the Center for Riverine Science and Stream Renaturalization

Student Support and Workforce Development

• Graduate student stipends
• Undergraduate research awards
• Research training opportunities

Tribal College Partnerships

• Large River Ecosystems subawards and collaborative projects
• Watershed, habitat, and environmental microbiology research

Cyberinfrastructure and Research Facilities

• Office of Research Computing development
• Bioinformatics, microscopy, and analytical laboratory support

Outreach and Community Engagement

• spectrUM Discovery Area
• NASA Astrobiology partnerships
• FIRST Lego League and educational collaborations

Conferences and Meetings Supported

• National and international scientific conferences
• Yellowstone Research Coordination Network Conference
• Montana NSF EPSCoR State Conference
• Tribal college collaboration meetings

Participant Demographics

• Gender and ethnicity of Year 1 participants

Budget and Investment Overview

• Expenditure distribution across research, outreach, student support, cyberinfrastructure, and administration

Research, Education, and Outreach in Action

• Large River Ecosystems field research
• Tribal college student participation
• Graduate student laboratory research
• Water quality monitoring projects
• K–12 science outreach through spectrUM
• NSF site visits and engagement activities

Contact Information

• Montana NSF EPSCoR program offices
• University of Montana and Montana State University contacts