Research Projects

Montana EPSCoR Track 1: Consortium for Research on Environmental Water Systems (CREWS)

  • Consortium for Research on Environmental Water Systems (CREWS)
  • The project brings together faculty and students from molecular science and engineering, environmental and earth science, synoptic signal and sensors technology, and natural resource social sciences to address National Research Council-identified challenges to develop a better understanding of how contaminants affect water quality. 
  • The Upper Clark Fork River (UCFR) is one of three focal water systems addressedd by the CREWS project.  Along with Dr. Robert Walker from Montana State University (MSU), HM Valett serves as the Co-Lead Scienctist for the CREWS effort and also as the UCFR project lead.
  • The UCFR team includes:
    • Dr. Ben Colman (UM) - nanoparticles and the transport and reactivity of nutrients and contaminants
    • Dr. Libby Metcalf (UM) - natural resouce social science - human diemenstions, community resilience and water quality as a wicked problem
    • Dr. Wyatt Cross (MSU) - food web ecology in running water ecosystems
    • Dr. Jerry Downey (Montana Tech) - continuous flow metal removal technology

Nitrogen dynamics in a wetland-stream sequence - implications for restoration of the Upper Clark Fork River (UCFR)

  • Addressing ecological restoration as a socio-ecological system (i.e., RSES: Restoration Socio-Ecological System)
  • Linking mulitple drivers of restoration execution, assessment, and success
  • A multi-disciplinary assessment of restoration along the Upper Clark Fork River - coupled human and natural systems

Linking Ecological and Anthropological Dimensions of Riverscapes (LEADR)

  • Addressing how ecological and anthropological dimensions of riverscapes change with time in the developing west 
  • Joint project with the Dr. Kelly Dixon and the Dixon Archeology Lab  addressin changes in waterways of the Missoula, MT Clark Fork and patterns associated with the development of Missoula as a community 
  • A multi-disciplinary assessment of changin river complexity along the Upper Clark Fork River 

River PACE (Pharmaceutical Assessment, Collection, Education) Project

  • Investigating drugs in freshwater systems and their effects on river biota and processes
  • Joint project with 20 partner groups over 31 sites across the United States; Dr. Melony Bernot, Ball State University 

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