October 4, 2016

Table of Contents

RESEARCH AND REGIONAL IMPACT

MSU Leads $6 Million NSF Project on Biofuels, Carbon Capture, and Food-Energy-Water Systems

A multi-state research team will study whether biofuel production and carbon capture technologies can be sustainably integrated into the Upper Missouri River Basin without compromising food security, water quality, biodiversity, or rural economies.

Key topics include:

• Climate change mitigation
• Carbon sequestration
• Bioenergy systems
• Agricultural sustainability
• Water resources management
• Tribal and federal partnerships

Research Team Studies How Communities Respond to Flood-Risk Messages

An interdisciplinary project explores whether storytelling-based communication can improve disaster preparedness and public responses to flood hazards.

Research combines:

• Political science
• Hydrology
• Computer science
• Community-based research
• Hazard communication

Institute on Ecosystems Fellowships Support Graduate Research Across Montana

Six graduate students receive fellowships to investigate topics including water conservation, elk ecology, wolverine habitat, nitrogen cycling, tribal water quality, and fire history.

PEOPLE AND PROJECTS

Researchers Receive Funding for Water, Forest, and Urban Ecology Studies

Highlights include:

• Gallatin River watershed geochemistry research
• Climate adaptation studies for ponderosa and whitebark pine
• Urban landscape performance and water conservation design
• Distinguished lecture by ecosystem scientist William Schlesinger

SPECIAL REPORT: RESEARCH AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Montana Research and Economic Development Initiative Invests in Innovation

A special feature examines how state research investments are supporting economic growth, workforce development, commercialization, and industry partnerships across Montana.

Featured initiatives include:

• Agricultural profitability and precision agriculture
• Optics and photonics technologies
• Traumatic brain injury research
• One Medicine and infectious disease studies
• Mental health and suicide prevention
• Water quality monitoring
• Energy and resource development
• Wildfire drone technologies
• Bio-based fuels
• Industrial wastewater remediation
• Environmental cleanup technologies

EDUCATION AND OUTREACH

Montana Girls STEM Collaborative Selected for National Science Action Club Program

Fifteen after-school sites across Montana receive STEM kits and training focused on citizen science, biodiversity, and outdoor education.

Program highlights:

• iNaturalist citizen science projects
• Rural STEM engagement
• Small Town STEM initiative
• Middle-school environmental research

NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

Montana Selected to Host National NSF EPSCoR Conference

The 2017 national conference will bring hundreds of researchers, educators, and administrators to Missoula to discuss science capacity building and STEM competitiveness.

New EPSCoR-Supported Faculty Join UM and MSU

Profiles of new faculty members whose research spans disease ecology, fire ecology, hydrologic modeling, and ecosystem change.

Featured researchers:

• Angie Luis
• Philip Higuera
• Hongyi Li
• Dave McWethy

STUDENT RESEARCH

UM Graduate Student Awarded $20,000 for Mountain Lion Research

Wildlife biology researcher Lara Brenner investigates how hunting practices influence mountain lion populations and public attitudes toward predator management.

UPCOMING EVENTS

• Montana’s Changing Climate online course
• NanoDays / MicroDays family science night
• EPSCoR All-Hands Meeting and IoE Science Summit
• Montana Aquatic Ecology Research Symposium
• Peter Vitousek distinguished lecture
• NSF EPSCoR National Conference