Confluence 2016-2017

In 2016, math major Zane Huttinga and microbiology major Josh Carter received Goldwater Scholarships, the nation's premier scholarship for undergraduates studying math, natural sciences and engineering.

Montana Wilson, a double major in economics and political science with a minor in Native American studies, received a 2016 Udall Scholarship in recognition of his service to his tribal community.

Kristen Emmett, a doctoral student in the Department of Ecology, was awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Program Fellowship that will support her work using a computer model to build and analyze "virtual" forests.

Melody Lindsay, a doctoral student in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, received a NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship to continue her research on early life on Earth and the potential for life on other planets.

Earth sciences professor Cathy Whitlock received the Association for Women Geoscientists Professional Excellence Award which recognizes exceptional women who have made distinguished contributions in their professions throughout their careers.

Robert Rydell, professor of history in the Department of History and Philosophy and in the interdisciplinary American Studies program, won the 2016 Mary C. Turpie Prize from the American Studies Association.

Mark Fiege, a historian known for his writing and scholarship about the environment of the American West and the country's national parks, was selected as the Wallace Stegner Endowed Chair in Western American Studies at MSU.

Colter Ellis and Kelly Knight, both assistant professors in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, received a grant from the Montana Healthcare Foundation to expand their research into health disparities and victim service provider needs among American Indians in Montana.

Associate professor Christiana Stoddard and assistant professor Carly Urban, both in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Economics, received a grant from the Montana Office of Public Instruction to study the impacts of high school financial education on college financial aid and load decisions.

Thom Hughes, a professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, is part of a team working with genetically encoded voltage indicators (GEVIs) which is a biotechnology that enables researchers to see the electrical activity of individual neural cells "light up" when active.

Raina Plowright, assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, co-authored a paper that found that bat deaths worldwide are markedly rising due to human causes largely unique to the 21st century.