In this Issue

  • News from the College of Ag
  • Announcements and Awards
  • Events
  • Publications and Funding Opportunities
  • Contact Us

News from the College of Ag

Announcements

At MSU, faculty and staff complete Indian Education for All training. If you started at MSU before 2023, you can complete the training at https://www.montana.edu/iefa/. The College of Agriculture is targeting 100% completion by all faculty and staff by May 2024. 

Former LRES student Jason Baldes is featured in the new film “A Buffalo Story,” which premiered at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival earlier this month. You can learn more about the film at https://abuffalostory.org/.

Check out this recent interview highlighting the Agritourism Fellows Program! Led by Dr. Shannon Arnold, the program highlights the intersection of agriculture and tourism and is supported by Western SARE.

New Faces in the COA

A warm welcome to our new COA IT lead, Shane Key! Shane began in mid-March and can be found in Linfield Hall. We are so glad to have Shane on board filling a critical position for our college.

It is a great pleasure to announce that Dr. Paul Nugent has been selected as the Whitney & Elizabeth MacMillan Chair in Precision Agriculture. Dr. Nugent will begin in his new position on August 15 and will have a joint appointment in the Department of Land Resources & Environmental Sciences and the Department of Agricultural & Technology Education. He will be a key part of MSU’s commitment to growing education, research and outreach in precision agriculture.

Awards

Congratulations to Amanda Bradbery, recipient of the 2024 American Society of Animal Science’s Western Section Young Scientist Award, and Tim Del Curto, recipient of the 2024 ASAS Western Section Distinguished Teaching Award! Both will be honored during the organization’s annual meeting in Calgary in July.

Congratulation to LRES doctoral students Lilly Sencenbaugh and Erin Teichroew, who took first and second, respectively, in the Range, Forestry and Natural Areas graduate student oral competition at the Western Society of Weed Science meeting in Denver earlier this month!Both are advised by Dr. Lisa Rew.

Another outstanding LRES grad student, Madisan Chavez, presented on mentoring Native American graduate students at the NIH NIEHS Centers of Excellence Conference at NIEHS headquarters in North Carolina at the end of February. She also helped to present the Crow Water Quality Project’s research poster, discussing her graduate work on PFAS contamination of surface waters on the Reservation, in collaboration with the USGS. Madisan is advised by Dr. Stephanie Ewing.

Events

  • The MSU Sale Horse Preview Day is set for Saturday, April 13 at 3 p.m. at Bob Miller Pavilion. Select yearlings will be available for purchase at the end of the semester. Email Alex Trauner at trauner@montana.edu for more information.
  • The Montana Nutrition Conference and Livestock Forum will be held April 16-17 at Bozeman's Best Western Plus GranTree Inn. Registration can be found on the ARS Extension website.
  • The deadline for submitting abstracts for the LRES/PSPP Student Research Symposium is March 29. The event will be held April 18 from 3-8 p.m. in Inspiration Hall with keynote speaker Dr. Liz Carlisle. More information on the event website.
  • Registration is open for the 2024 Mountain Meat Summit, set for May 21-23 at the AC Marriott Hotel in Bozeman. View the agenda and register on the event website.
  • Thank you to everyone who joined us for the (hopefully first-annual) Montana Wheat and Barley Committee March Madness event! More than a dozen undergraduate and graduate students presented their research to a packed house. We are so grateful to the MWBC for putting on this event, allowing us to strengthen connections with producers and partners around our state and highlight some of the high-impact research going on in the COA. Thank you to our students who participated, our judges, emcee Colter Brown and all who attended!

Publications and Funding Opportunities

  • You can find a full list of recent publications from MSU's Library and Office of Sponsored Programs here.
  • Recent COA/MAES grants include:
    • Megan Van Emon, Darrin Boss, Julia Dafoe, Katie Schlagel, Hannah Speer, Sam Wyffels. 2024. Impacts of Fit N Forget Calf Cover on Calf Growth and Health. Woolover Limited.
  • WSARE Research and Education Pre-proposal: Researchers from Western institutions may apply. Projects must incorporate research and education, and bring together a team of researchers, students, ag professionals, and producers. This grant program involves scientists, agricultural producers, and others using interdisciplinary approaches to advance sustainable agriculture at local and regional levels. Closing Date: May 23, 2024.
  • WSARE Sabbatical Grant Program: These grants provide an opportunity for faculty around the world to partner with farmers, ranchers, agricultural professionals and researchers of the Western U.S. region for conducting research, education and Extension activities. Projects focused on unexplored topics in underserved communities and understudied geographic locations are of special interest. Closing date: November 21, 2024.