um-research

[um-research]

UM #13 in Research Growth

The official NSF Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) Survey numbers for University Research for FY21 just came out. The HERD numbers are the national standard for reporting research activity.   Among the top-tier Carnegie Very High Research (R1) schools UM is at #13 (out of 146 R1 schools) in terms of growth with a 202% growth rate over the past decade.  Kudos to our faculty and students!

[um-research]

UM Faculty on National Council

Dr. Andrij Holian, UM Professor of Toxicology in the Department Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Director of the Center for Environmental Health Sciences has been invited to serve on the National Advisory Environmental Health Sciences Council (NAEHSC).

 According to Officials of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, “The National Advisory Environmental Health Sciences Council advises the Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) on matters related to the research direction across the NIEHS, along with research support, training, career development of the extramural community and relevant stakeholders, and in assisting in setting research priorities along with program balance to meet the Institute’s mission. Dr. Andrij Holian was nominated and selected for this Council as based on his outstanding scholarship, academic accomplishments, and experienced leadership. Dr. Holian substantial research efforts in the fields of toxicology/nanomaterials, inflammation and the immune response, and signal transduction pathways in tissue injury, and his knowledge of the NIEHS priority areas are expected to contribute considerably to the objectives of this Council and the Institute.”

[um-research]

UM Math Professor had Handbook Published

UM Mathematics Professor Bharath Sriraman had his Handbook of the Mathematics of the Arts and Sciences published by Springer.  The handbook Serves as an authoritative source for the interplay between mathematics and different disciplines and explores the most important questions on interdisciplinarity.

https://link.springer.com/referencework/10.1007/978-3-319-57072-3

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FLBS Hosts National Meeting

UM’s Flathead Lake Biological Station hosted the national Organization of Biological Field Stations (OBFS) for the second year in a row. Flathead Lake residents and FLBS Advisory Board Member Lysbeth Anderson Working and her husband John Working were awarded the 2021 Mary Hufty Local Hero Award.  FLBS Research Professor Art McKee was named the recipient of the inaugural OBFS Distinguished Service Award.

https://flbs.umt.edu/newflbs/outreach/news-blog/posts/flbs-hosts-virtual-obfs-annual-meeting/

[um-research]

UM NEH Award

University of Montana faculty member Tobin Shearer and a group of humanities faculty members have received a grant of $500k thru ARPA funding providing emergency relief to institutions and organizations working in the humanities that have been adversely affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

[um-research]

NSF Award addressing graduate mental health in STEM

A new research award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to University of Montana with an intended total amount of $189,253.00.  This is part of a $500,000 joint award to UM, Montana Tech and MSU-Billings to help address mental health for graduate and professional students in STEM disciplines. This project, entitled "Collaborative Research: Mental Health Opportunities for Professional Empowerment in STEM (HOPES)," is under the direction of Ashby Kinch, the Associate Dean of the Graduate School at UM.

[um-research]

NSF Award to FLBS

National Science Foundation (NSF) just announced a new research award of $793k to Jim Elser and the UM Flathead Lake Biological Station for "Collaborative Research: Testing for nutrient limitation in alpine snow algae ecosystems"

[um-research]

DHHS Award to NNCT

Just received notice of a US Department of Health and Human Services grant of $1.8M to UM’s National Native Children's Trauma Center and Meagan Rides At The Door and an additional $1.2M for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes for important work they are doing together.

[um-research]

Montana Code School is Back!

The Montana Code School is back! The18-week boot camp will prepare graduates to fill open roles within a tech industry that the global pandemic has accelerated due to the forced digitization of business and commerce. The school’s back-end program launches June 15. The front-end program begins July 22. https://www.umt.edu/news/2021/05/051721code.php

[um-research]

UM Research on Netflix

The research of Scott Mills, faculty member in Wildlife Biology at UM, is featured in two episodes of Sir David Attenborough’s three-part “Life in Color” series just released on Netflix. The “Chasing Color” episode shows videos of the difficulty Oregon snowshoe hares have being color mismatched in their white winter coats as snow duration becomes shorter and shorter. The “Hiding in Color” episode features the research of graduate student Marketa Zimova regarding the impact of climate change on ptarmigan in the Cairngorm mountains of Scotland.  A clip can be seen here: https://www.umt.edu/research/millslab/stories/lifeincolor.php

[um-research]

Anthropology Professor published in Nature

Dr. Meradeth Snow, UM Department of Anthropology, was part of an international team, led by the Harvard Medical School-affiliated Joslin Diabetes Center, that used human “paleofeces” to discover that ancient people had far different microorganisms living in their guts than we do in modern times. This research was published in the prestigious journal Nature “Reconstruction of ancient microbial genomes from the human gut": https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03532-0

[um-research]

UM Professor Receives NASA Award

UM geosciences professor Hilary Martens recently was awarded $443,000 from NASA to investigate the structure of the Earth’s interior using GPS observations of ocean tides. The California Institute of Technology is working with UM on the project. https://www.umt.edu/news/2021/05/050121nasa.php

[um-research]

Research Award in Multidisciplinary Training

Keith Bosak, Professor of Nature Based Tourism and Recreation at UM recently received a $281,266 award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for his research project entitled "IRES Track II: Multidisciplinary Training on Wildlife and Natural Resource Conservation From an Indigenous Perspective". The award starts May 01, 2021.

[um-research]

Producing Theatre in a Pandemic

Nice article in the Missoulian that answers the question: “How can you produce theater during a pandemic, and what can you produce with social distancing?”  The answer is provided by two students in the UM School of Theatre & Dance who wrote a musical.

https://missoulian.com/entertainment/arts-and-theatre/university-of-montana-students-write-original-musical-purpose-built-for-a-pandemic/article_0b84fcb3-60ee-5321-a825-a2f6adfd424b.html

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UM Graduate Students Receive Top Award

Eight graduate students with connections to UM received an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Award or Honorable Mention.  The NSF Graduate Fellowship is considered the national top STEM graduate fellowship. Two current UM graduate students received the Award and three current graduate students received Honorable Mention. The other students are UM alums who are studying elsewhere.  The list of students can be found here:

https://www.umt.edu/news/2021/03/033121nsfa.php

[um-research]

New Institute at UM

Both the Missoulian and Billings Gazette had nice stories about our new Skaggs Institute for Health Innovation. Congrats to professor Erica Woodahl and assistant professor Hayley Blackburn from the Skaggs School of Pharmacy in getting this going.

https://missoulian.com/news/local/um-creates-new-l-s-skaggs-institute-for-health-innovation/article_89b2bb20-3bb0-5ff7-be77-fcfd8d20bcb7.html

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UM eSports Design Challenge

The University of Montana’s Blackstone LaunchPad and eSports team presents the 2021 eSports Design Challenge. This will be a four-week-long program involving entrepreneurial concept design, pitch development, and innovation in regard to the eSports industry. During the program, you will meet eSport and business professionals in all aspects of the industry, learn about issues and opportunities in eSports, develop a conceptual design for a product, event, or solution, and present a pitch for your design for a chance to win money.  More info can be found here: https://www.umt.edu/events/event/#/6986495