The National Science Foundation recently awarded $10 million to a six-state collaborative working to boost the underrepresentation of Alaska Native and American Indian (AI/AN) students in STEM disciplines and the workforce.

The grant award funds Cultivating Indigenous Research Communities for Leadership in Education, or the CIRCLES Alliance. The alliance is led by principal investigator Aaron Thomas, Diversity and Inclusion lead on the current RII Track-1 CREWS project, University of Montana (UM) chemistry professor, and director of UM Indigenous Research and STEM Education. Partners include universities and research institutions in Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. UM will receive $1.8 million of the total award to build a network for developing and disseminating science, technology, engineering and math educational resources, as well as implementing longitudinal programming, mentorship and teacher preparation in support of AI/AN student success. The CIRCLES Alliance launched in 2020 with support from NSF’s EPSCoR and INCLUDES programs (INCLUDES: Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science). READ MORE

Dr. Stephanie Ewing was recently named the new Director of the Water Center. Ewing was appointed after Dr. Wyatt Cross returned to his full-time faculty status after an impressive eight years leading the Water Center. Ewing is appointed to a three-year term as Director of the Water Center. Ewing is a professor in Land Resources and Environmental Sciences at Montana State University (MSU) and co-PI/Judith River Watershed research lead on CREWS. With funding from USGS through the Water Resources Research Act, Ewing will lead Montana’s Water Center to develop and support water research, outreach, and education across the Montana University System. READ MORE

The most recent edition of the University of Montana's (UM) Vision magazine features a story on CREWS research in the Upper Clark Fork River. Vision is published annually by the UM Office of the Vice President for Research and Creative Scholarship and includes stories on UM research, innovation, and imagination. The magazine article, titled "Resiliency through Restoration," features interviews with CREWS researchers Dr. Libby Metcalf and Dr. Maury Valett and focuses on their's and other's research on the perceptions and impacts of mining in the region. In addition, CREWS graduate student Taylor Gold Quiros is featured in the magazine's Student Spotlights section, which highlights her efforts to understand how copper mining has impacted fish communities in the Upper Clark Fork River. READ MORE

Emory Hoelscher-Hull, a Montana State University (MSU) junior, was recently awarded a prestigious public health grant from the Rocky Mountain Public Health Training Center based on her research into water quality in Montana, and Pilar Santos, a junior from Helena in the environmental health option in the Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology in the College of Agriculture, was one of four winners of the 2022 Association of Environmental Health Academic Programs Student Research Competition. The award highlights important environmental health research conducted by graduate and undergraduate students enrolled in accredited environmental health degree programs across the U.S. Sarah Warnke, a senior environmental health major from Eagle River, Alaska, was one of three runners-up for the 2022 Association of Environmental Health Academic Programs Student Research Competition. All three students were mentored with support from Montana NSF EPSCoR by Dr. Mari Eggers, an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at MSU and a CREWS scientist with the Powder River Basin team. READ MORE

Congratulations to Dr. Erik Grumstrup, who was recently named the new Director of the Montana Collaborative Materials Science Program at MSU. The Montana Collaborative Materials Science Program is a shared Ph.D. program between MSU and Montana Tech (MTU) in Butte. There are currently around 30 Ph.D. students in the program, a handful of whom are conducting CREWS-related research at both MSU and MTU. In addition to his new role, Dr. Grumstrup is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at MSU and a scientist with the Montana NSF EPSCoR CREWS research team.

From September 7-8, 2022, the CREWS project hosted its annual All Hands meeting. At this meeting, project researchers, students, staff, and partners gathered to share their work, learn about progress across CREWS teams, and engage in targeted discussions, working sessions, and networking opportunities with others on the project. Excitingly, this CREWS All Hands meeting, hosted in Anaconda, MT, was the first in-person project-wide meeting held since 2019. Thank you to all in attendance and we look forward to continued engagement with everyone in Year 5!

CREWS Research Helps Demonstrate Proficiency-based Education for STEM Teachers

When Montana State University educator-trainer Jeannie Chipps needed an authentic Montana research project to use as a model for teaching Proficiency Based Education, she turned to Montana NSF EPSCoR CREWS researcher Rob Payn (Proficiency-based Education is also commonly known as Competency-based Education in that it assesses for students’ level of proficiency or competency in understanding and engaging the content being taught). Chipps developed a summer professional development workshop for Montana STEM educators at the 2022 STEM Summer Institute that used the work of Payn, an associate professor of Land Resources & Environmental Sciences at MSU, and his collaborators to model PBE assessment. READ MORE

Montana NSF EPSCoR Develops Sensing for Science Professional Development Program for Teachers

The Sensing for Science Professional Development Program for Teachers is a new program that teaches educators how to use Arduino tools and create an electrical device that can collect data on water quality and simulates the research being done by CREWS researchers and students. This program was developed in partnership with Kayce Williams, an Instructor in the MSU Department of Agricultural and Technology Education. The program was first taught at the 2022 STEM Summer Institute, and all resources, including more information about how educators can receive their own kit, can be found for free on the Sensing for Science program webpage.

Montana NSF EPSCoR supports activities at MSU Inclusive Communities Camp

This summer, Montana NSF EPSCoR helped support adaptive water-based activities at the Inclusive Community Camp (ICC), hosted at MSU by the Department of Education. ICC is a summer day camp that has been carefully designed both for children with additional support needs – including those with Down syndrome and autism – and for those without additional support needs. MSU education students, who are students serving in the online, rural-focused Master of Arts in Teaching program, serve as camp guides to the elementary school-aged campers, developing valuable leadership and mentoring skills along the way. READ MORE