Student News

PACE Fellow joins USGS research team.

April 15th, 2010
The USGS would like to congratulate Erin Towler on receiving a PACE Fellowship (Postdocs Applying Climate Expertise) appointment for 2010-2012. To learn more about Erin's upcoming work, visit the Science Applications & Decision Support element the USGS National Global Change Program.

Doctoral student receives presentation award.

February 26th, 2010
NOROCK PhD candidate and University of Montana research associate Jeff Stetz received the award for Best PhD Student Presentation at the Montana Chapter of the Wildlife Society annual meeting February 25th & 26th. Jeff presented the talk "Evaluation of bear rub surveys to monitor grizzly bear population trends". Congratulations, Jeff!

Student receives USGS continuation funding.

February 11th, 2010
Todd Preston has been awarded continuation funding through the USGS Science Support Partnership (SSP) program for his graduate project entitled "Stratigraphic controls on brine movement in the Prairie Pothole Region". Todd is working with NOROCK scientist Rick Sojda on the USGS project Brine Contamination to Prairie Potholes from Energy Development in the Williston Basin. Congratulations, Todd!

Student receives high honor.

February 10th, 2010
Jason Baldes received the second place award in the 2009 Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) Best Student Platform Presentation Competition. Jason is currently working with USGS researcher Jackson Gross on a study looking at the effects of CO2 on fish survival and development. Congratulations, Jason!

NOROCK science gets boost from Ronald E. McNair grant.

October 20th, 2009
USGS researcher Jackson Gross is working as a mentor through Montana State University’s American Indian Research Opportunity program (AIRO). Gross is currently working with Jason Baldes, an LRES undergraduate from the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. Baldes studies the effects of CO2 on fish survival and development. The technique is being tested as an alternative fish management approach for invasive fish species, as well as to assess the effects of increasing aqueous carbon dioxide associated with climate change on native and invasive salmonids at the Bozeman Fish Technology Center. This project is one of a diverse suite of alternative fish management approaches which Gross is heading up through collaborative efforts with NOROCK and USFWS.

Recently, Baldes supplemented his project by becoming a recipient of funding awarded through the U.S. Department of Education Ronald E. McNair post-baccalaureate program grant to support graduate studies for MSU undergraduate students who are minorities, income eligible, and first generation college students.

NOROCK researchers mentor the next generation of scientists.

July 16th, 2009
Scientist at the NOROCK are hosting three students through the National Association of Geoscience Teachers-U.S. Geological Survey Cooperative Summer Field Training Program (NAGT-USGS CSFTP). Launched in 1965 NAGT-USGS CSFTP is the longest continuously running internship program in the earth sciences and was expanded in recent years to include all USGS disciplines. Top students selected from university field camps are nominated and matched with mentors and projects at the USGS. Over the past 40 years, more than 1,600 students have participated in this program, with an impressive number of these individuals going on to distinguished careers in the USGS and throughout government and academia. The summer interns, their mentors, project titles, and duty stations are listed below:

Zachary Lauffenburger (Colorado State University); Mentor: Katherine Kendall; Project: Noninvasive Grizzly Bear Population Monitoring in Northwestern Montana, West Glacier, Montana.

Zach is working as a field technician on a new USGS-NOROCK project to evaluate the effectiveness of monitoring grizzly bear population trend in NW Montana by sampling hair at natural bear rub sites. During this first year of fieldwork, Zach and the other members of our field crew are hiking thousands of miles of trails, powerlines, and fence lines to identify places where bears rub. Sites selected to be included in bear rub survey routes are equipped with short pieces of barbed wire to promote hair collection and are tagged with a unique identifier. Basic data are collected about each site such as GPS location, and physical characteristics. After a network of bear rubs is set up during spring and early summer, field crews will visit each site two more times to collect any hair that has accumulated since the last visit. Genetic analysis will be used to identify the individual bears that deposited the hair. That information, when collected over multiple years, will be used in statistical models to estimate population growth rate, apparent survival rate, and abundance. The study area cover 8 M acres in northwestern Montana; Zach is working primarily in Glacier NP.

Catherine Beck (Tufts University); Mentor: Geneva Chong; Project: Quantifying Landscape Change Impacts on Habitat Characteristics; Jackson, Wyoming.

Rebecca Saunders (Augustana College); Mentor: Geneva Chong; Project: Quantifying Landscape Change Impacts on Habitat Characteristics, Jackson, Wyoming.

Students receive honors

June 9th, 2009
Montana State University student Lora Tennant was a recipient of the Skinner Memorial Award on behalf of the 2009 Skinner Award Committee. The Committee named 10 Award recipients and five Honorable Mentions from among 43 applications. The Skinner Memorial Award is intended to assist with expenses to attend the annual meeting of the American Fisheries Society. Tennant is a student working with NOROCK scientist Bob Gresswell. Her master's thesis is in proress and titled Spawning Demographics and Early Life History of Bull Trout in Quartz Lake, Glacier National Park.

April 27th, 2009
Three Montana State University students working with NOROCK scientists Rick Sojda and Bob Gresswell received scholastic awards at the 2009 MSU Earth Science Colloquium.

Reggie Mead received a "Certificate of Recognition for Excellence in M.S. Research". The award is given annually to one master's student in the Computer Science Department who has taken an active role in a research project and authored or co-authored one or more peer reviewed papers.

Shane Vatland received a Matthew F. Clow Memorial Award - Matthew Clow was a graduate student who died in 1998 while conducting research on whirling disease and wild trout. The award was established by his parents in his honor to recognize graduate students who share Matt’s love and commitment to wild trout and native fishes.

Todd Preston received the award for all-out best poster and an academic scholarship from Marathon Oil for his research related to energy development.

NOROCK congratulates Reggie, Todd, and Shane!