Outreach

Where did you grow up?I grew up in Kentucky. I was born in a very rural part of Kentucky, and that's where I spent the first several years of my life before I moved to the big city of Lexington, Kentucky.How did you get into STEM and research?

On Thursday, September 27th, employees of the Montana State University Science Math Resource Center attended Chief Joseph Middle School Outdoor Days at Gallatin County Regional Park. They set up an activity station and information table for six classes of sixth grade students. The students participated in three hands-on, citizen science activities.

On a beautiful fall day in September, a team of Montana NSF EPSCoR researchers, students and outreach professionals from several Montana colleges and universities gathered at the University of Montana’s Lubrecht Experimental Forest near Greenough, Mont.

All participants in the EPSCoR All-Hands Meeting on Sept. 16-17, 2024 are invited to participate in citizen science investigation using a free app supported by NASA that allows volunteers to learn more about our shared environment by taking observations of the land, clouds, trees and mosquito habitat.We will use the app, called GLOBE Observer, during our trip to the Lubrecht Experimental Forest on Tuesday, Sept. 17.

Kristen Intemann, Professor of Philosophy and Director for the Center for Science, Technology, Ethics, and Society (C-STES) at Montana State University (MSU), is working with graduate students in Land Resources and Environmental Sciences (LRES) at MSU to construct maps to analyze which communities and Tribal Nations are particularly impacted by both wildfire smoke and smoke from prescribed burns in Montana and across the U.S. This project is a product of the Social Psychology, Economics, and Ethics (SPEE) thrust of the SMART FIRES project.

Learn more about Libby Metcalf, her work on EPSCOR projects, and what inspired her to pursue a career in science!

Staff from the Science Math Resource Center facilitated SMART FIRES activities for over 200 fifth grade students as part of MSU Family Science Day.

Students from Polson and Ronan High Schools on the Flathead Reservation visited the University of Montana on January 29, 2024, for a day of smoke and fire science with SMART FIRES. During a morning field trip to spectrUM Discovery Area, UM’s hands-on science center, the students explored the concept of the fire triangle and experienced a matchstick “forest” simulation, activities from the USFS’s FireWorks curriculum.