2006

MESSAGE FROM THE VICE PRESIDENT
UM science reveals an interconnected world.

QUICK LOOKS
A rundown of the past year's research stories.

BLAZING THE FOSSIL TRAIL
The University's new Paleontology Center and its partnership with Eastern Montana.

Sidebar: New center lands big grant

UM WOMEN OF SCIENCE
Five diverse female scientists advancing the frontiers of knowledge.

THE BUSINESS BUILDERS
UM's economy-boosting business school and its innovative programs.

STUDENT SCIENTIST Q & A
Dynamic undergrad helps explore Saturn and its moons.

THE INVADERS
Exotic species continually alter Montana's landscape and creatures.

LIVING WELL
UM institute a leader in studying people with disabilities.

ARCHIVE
2005
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2003
2002
2001
2000

Cover: UM paleontologist George Stanley holds a rhinoceros jaw fossil in the storage room of the University’s paleontology research collection. Found in Montana, the fossil is from the Miocene epoch, which extended from 23 million to 5.3 million years before the present.

Vision is published annually by University Relations and the UM Office of the Vice President for Research and Development. It is printed by UM Printing & Graphic Services.

PUBLISHER: Daniel J. Dwyer. MANAGING EDITOR AND GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Cary Shimek. PHOTOGRAPHER: Todd Goodrich. CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Brianne Burrowes, Alex Strickland, Judy Fredenberg, Erik Leithe, Rita Munzenrider and Patia Stephens. WEB DESIGN: Patia Stephens. EDITORIAL OFFICE: University Relations, Brantly Hall 330, Missoula, MT 59812, 406-243-5914. MANAGEMENT: Judy Fredenberg, Office of the Vice President for Research and Development, 116 Main Hall, Missoula, MT 59812, 406-243-6670.

New center lands big grant

A new $1.3 million grant to UM will train middle school teachers and their students to better use the incredible natural classroom that is Eastern Montana — one of the world’s premier fossil-hunting grounds.

The three-year, National Science Foundation grant will fund the Paleo Exploration Project: Spatial Analysis of Fossil Finds in the Northern Plains. The effort will be a project of UM’s new Paleontology Center.

Heather Almquist, a faculty affiliate and associate researcher, says the project will train 60 middle school teachers from Eastern Montana. These math, science and technology instructors and their students will learn how to use geospatial technologies such as handheld global-positioning system units and ArcView Geographic Information System software.

“They will learn to use this data to do scientific inquiry,” Almquist says. “It’s a way of bringing technology into the classroom that enhances teaching and learning. We plan to use the excitement people have about fossils to make them think about various scientific concepts in new ways.”

Almquist prepared the grant request with George Stanley. He says the teachers and their students will venture outdoors to find fossil locations and learn how to transfer that data onto topographic or geologic maps. Middle school classes also will develop their own research projects.

“We’ll have ideas for them, but they will select their own research projects,” Stanley says. “They may want to talk about the mass extinction of the dinosaurs, or turtles or plesiosaurs and other swimming marine reptiles. The idea is they experience scientific research for themselves firsthand.”

Stanley and his students will teach teachers and students to find fossil material, collect it, take it back to the lab, prep it and catalog it. UM students also will assist in conducting summer field institutes at Fort Peck.
Almquist says the project will create online resources that all teachers will be able to access even after the grant ends. She says Stanley will provide the paleontology expertise to help Lisa Blank, a UM associate professor in curriculum and instruction, develop coursework for the project. Blank is another co-author of the grant.

Cary Shimek, Managing Editor
Judy Fredenberg, Office of the Vice President for Research and Development
The University of Montana-Missoula
32 Campus Drive | Missoula, MT 59812
phone 406-243-2522 | fax 406-243-4520
Copyright 2007 The University of Montana