This year’s conference, “Greater Yellowstone in Transition: Linking Science
and Decision Making,” brings together scientists, managers and other
decision makers to share [...]]]> The 11th Biennial Scientific Conference on the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
will be held Oct. 8-10 in Mammoth, Wyo. Registration opens June 1.
Discounted rates are available before Sept. 15.

This year’s conference, “Greater Yellowstone in Transition: Linking Science
and Decision Making,” brings together scientists, managers and other
decision makers to share information on resource challenges and research
needs throughout the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

Signature lecturers of the conference will be: noted botanist Estella B.
Leopold of the University of Washington, who will deliver the A. Starker
Leopold Lecture; Ian Dyson of Alberta Environment and Water, a leading
advocate and planner of resource management partnerships, who will present
the Superintendent’s International Lecture; and noted local author and
former Yellowstone park historian Paul Schullery, who will deliver the
Aubrey L. Haines Lecture.

Initiated in 1991, the conference series encourages awareness and
application of wide-ranging, scientific work on the region’s natural and
cultural resources.  With the active involvement of professional societies
and other institutions, the conferences provide a forum for hundreds of
researchers, park managers and the general public to share information.

Abstract submissions for presentations and posters will be accepted through
Tuesday, May 15.

For additional information, visit
http://gyesciconf.greateryellowstonescience.org/.  Conference staff may be
reached at yell_conference@nps.gov or by phone at 307-344-7123.

Weather permitting, nine teams will climb onto the roof of AJM Johnson Hall
with optical instruments they designed and built to answer questions about
[...]]]> College students from Maryland to California will gather May 16 to
18 at Montana State University for a national competition related to an
upcoming NASA satellite mission.

Weather permitting, nine teams will climb onto the roof of AJM Johnson Hall
with optical instruments they designed and built to answer questions about
the sun and other scientific topics, said Randy Larimer, deputy director of
the Montana Space Grant Consortium and director of the National Student
Solar Spectrograph Competition. In case of bad weather, the students will
work inside the building.

Students may use their spectrographs to look at the sun and choose solar
features they want to examine, Larimer said. They could otherwise use the
sun as a light source for any scientific question that interests them. In
Montana alone, scientists are using spectroscopy to learn about meth houses,
pine tree health, and water vapor in the Earth’s atmosphere.

Each member of the four winning teams will receive a $3,000 scholarship from
NASA, Larimer said. They will also have the opportunity to watch NASA’s
Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) satellite launch at Vandenberg
Air Force Base in California. The launch is scheduled for December.

MSU solar physicist Charles Kankelborg – who leads MSU’s efforts on IRIS  –
said spectrographs gather incoming light and separate out the wavelengths.
Prisms are a simple form of spectrograph that breaks apart visible light,
producing rainbows on walls and other surfaces. Other types of spectrographs
- such as IRIS – break apart ultraviolet light, which is invisible to
humans.

The Montana Space Grant Consortium, based at MSU, was selected to organize
and host the competition as a way to help fulfill NASA’s requirement that
the IRIS mission include education and public outreach, Larimer said. The
competition, in fact, is the second of three national spectrograph
competitions the consortium is holding at MSU.  The first, held last year,
was a pilot. The third will be held next year, with the possibility of 30
teams competing.

The National Student Solar Spectrograph Competition is meant especially for
smaller colleges that may not have much activity in aerospace or optics,
Larimer said.  Since the competition has four categories, it gives more
teams a chance to win, he added. Those categories are best science, best
build, best design, and best presentations. The presentations will be three
10-minute talks covering design and build, outreach, and scientific results.

Thirteen teams started the competition this year, and nine teams will be in
Bozeman for the 2012 competition. Montana teams this year will come from
Flathead Valley Community College in Kalispell, Montana Tech in Butte, MSU
in Bozeman (three teams) and the University of Montana in Missoula.
Out-of-state teams will come from Harding University at Searcy, Ark.,
Montgomery College in Rockville, Md., and San Diego State University in
California.

Kankelborg, who is one of the judges for the competition, said IRIS consists
of a telescope and spectrograph working together to help scientists figure
out how energy is transferred through the sun’s atmosphere.  This knowledge
will have many applications, he added. Ultraviolet radiation from the solar
atmosphere is highly variable and drives important chemical processes in
Earth’s upper atmosphere. The chromosphere is a conduit for energy that
accelerates the solar wind, a stream of charged particles from the sun that
- during intense episodes – has the potential to severely damage satellites,
global power grids, GPS systems and disrupt airline travel. The U.S.
government considers the understanding and predicting of solar winds and
other “space weather” so important to the country’s economic, transportation
and energy infrastructures that it formed the Space Weather Prediction
Center as part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. MSU,
an internationally recognized leader in solar physics, contributes to the
effort to understand and predict space weather.

The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics built the telescope that
allows the IRIS spectrograph to observe the sun. MSU supplied the
spectrograph optics and participated in its design. The spectrograph team is
headed by Lockheed Martin.

Once it’s launched, the telescope will face the sun at all times, orbit the
Earth at least three years and gather images from the sun’s chromosphere and
transition region, Kankelborg said. The transition region is invisible from
the ground. During a total eclipse of the sun, the chromosphere is seen as a
thin red layer of atmosphere just above the bright yellow photosphere.

Kankelborg wrote in the April issue of Physics Today that the IRIS mission
will observe the chromosphere in ultraviolet light and the transition region
in far-UV.  He said the smallest observed elements of the chromosphere are
spicules, which are thin shafts of plasma that can be found all over the
face of the sun. They rise and fall at tens of kilometers per second, and
come in two classes based on size and speed.

Other current or recent members of MSU’s IRIS team are senior research
engineer Larry Springer, who worked at Lockheed Martin before coming to MSU;
professor Joseph Shaw, postdoctoral researchers Sarah Jaeggli and Nathan
Pust, research engineers Keith Mashburn and Christy Dunn; and  Stefan
Eccles, a 2011 graduate in physics. Team members come from the Department of
Physics and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

The National Student Solar Spectrograph Competition is free and open to the
public. Events take place from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 16 to 18 with a special
public outreach event from 3 to 5 p.m. Friday, May 18, in the atrium of the
EPS Building.

For more information about the competition, go to
http://spacegrant.montana.edu/iris/index.html

Project MArt (More Art) and founders Allison McGree and Maggie Carlson are collaborating with the Downtown Bozeman Partnership to create a student-driven community mural that will soon be installed and on display at 229-233 East Main Street.  The 229-233 East [...]]]> The Downtown Bozeman Partnership and Project MArt (More Art) Present the

Project MArt (More Art) and founders Allison McGree and Maggie Carlson are collaborating with the Downtown Bozeman Partnership to create a student-driven community mural that will soon be installed and on display at 229-233 East Main Street.  The 229-233 East Main location currently sits empty with a plywood barrier after the 2009 downtown explosion when the building was significantly impacted by the explosion and was eventually torn down.  Now, with this location’s future uncertain, the Downtown Bozeman Partnership and Project MArt along with students from Hawthorne School are in the midst of creating a mural that will be installed at this location for the community to enjoy until this location’s future is decided.

The Community of Bozeman Mural Project has been supported by numerous local artists, businesses and organizations including; Owenhouse Ace Hardware, Kenyon Noble, Professional Brushworks, Hawthorne School (and their art teachers), Tarantino’s Pizza, The Leaf & Bean, MacKenzie River Pizza, The Bozeman Public School District, The Montana Arts Council, Heeb’s Grocery, Chris and Maddy Pope, Whole Art, Montana State University Art Practicum students, Bozeman High School Art Club and Rethink Thrift.

The mural will be installed the week of May 21st and will continue to be on display for all to enjoy until the property is purchased.  There will be an Unveiling Celebration at the First Downtown Bozeman Art Walk on June 8th at 5pm.

For more information about the Community of Bozeman Mural Project, please call the Downtown Bozeman Partnership Office at 406-586-4008 or visit  www.downtownbozeman.org.

Many pesticides that target broadleaf weeds can damage other broadleaf plants, such as peas or tomatoes, Tharp said.

MSU’s Schutter [...]]]> Herbicides can linger in grass clippings, compost and manure, so Montanans should be sure to read product labels to keep from contaminating gardens and ornamental plants, says Montana State University Pesticide Education Specialist Cecil Tharp.

Many pesticides that target broadleaf weeds can damage other broadleaf plants, such as peas or tomatoes, Tharp said.

MSU’s Schutter Diagnostic Laboratory reported 103 plant samples that exhibited symptoms of pesticide toxicity between 2009 and 2011, Tharp said. The plants came from Montana gardens and had symptoms that made it appear they had been exposed to a class of herbicides known as “plant growth regulators. “ Almost 80 percent of the contaminated samples were thought to be linked to compost, manure and grass clippings that had been introduced into the soil.

Plant growth regulator herbicides include the common active ingredients 2,4-D, dicamba, picloram, aminopyralid, clopyralid and the new active ingredient aminocyclopyrachlor. Of greatest concern are picloram, clopyralid, aminopyralid and aminocyclopyrachlor because they can remain active in hay, grass clippings, manure piles and compost for an unusually long time, Tharp said.

To avoid contamination, producers using those active ingredients should pay special attention to the pesticide product label requirements, Tharp said. Instructions vary slightly between products, but they often contain re-cropping , haying, composting and manure restrictions

One restriction that may be found on an aminopyralid product indicates that producers shouldn’t use manure in compost or mulch if the manure comes from animals that have grazed forage or eaten hay harvested from treated areas within the previous three days. It takes about three days for the forage or hay to run through the animal’s system, Tharp said.

Applicators should also be aware of new requirements regarding the products Milestone, ForeFront and Chaparral, Tharp said. Hay from grass treated in the preceding 18 months cannot be distributed or sold off the farm or ranch where harvested unless allowed by supplemental labeling. Montana, however, doesn’t have supplemental labeling to allow off-farm distribution. As a result, applicators must wait 18 months to cut and distribute hay off treated sites, thus allowing adequate time for the grass to metabolize the pesticide product.

Hay also cannot be used for silage, haylage, baylage and green chop if treated within the previous 18 months. Producers cannot use manure from animals feeding on treated hay in compost. Applicators may follow the less restrictive pesticide product label language of earlier purchased stocks of Milestone, Forefront and Chaparral products until stocks are exhausted.

For more information, contact your county Extension agent or go to www.pesticides.montana.edu and select the “Non-Target Plant Toxicity around the Home and Garden” link. For other questions, contact Tharp at (406) 994-5067 or ctharp@montana.edu

Free drip coffee and refreshments for bicycle commuters at these fine Bozeman Establishments:
Monday (May 14) Rockford Coffee by Team Rockford/Clif and the Bozeman Police Dept. (corner of Rouse/ E. Main)
Tuesday (May 15) Sola Café by Gallatin Alpine Sports (GAS) and Oracle (290 E. [...]]]> Coffee Stops
May 14-18, 2012, 7-9 AM

Free drip coffee and refreshments for bicycle commuters at these fine Bozeman Establishments:
Monday (May 14) Rockford Coffee by Team Rockford/Clif and the Bozeman Police Dept. (corner of Rouse/ E. Main)
Tuesday (May 15) Sola Café by Gallatin Alpine Sports (GAS) and Oracle (290 E. Kagy)
Wednesday (May 16) Costco -by Master’s Velo (refreshments: New Day Bakery food and Crema Roasting) (2505 Catron St) *For recommended bike routes to Costco- see facebook.com/bozemanbikeboard
Thursday (May 17) Lil Sherpa Java – by the Dirt Concern (111 E. Mendenhall)
Friday (May 18) Community Food Coop by Gallatin Valley Bicycle Club (908 W Main)

Bike From Work Party
Friday, May 18 5-8 pm Lindley Park Center (1102 E Curtiss St) Pasta Dinner (to first 75 arrivees) & Beverages (suggested $5 – 20 donation)/ Raffle Prizes/ Live Music/Bike Activities

Kid’s Events
Thursday, May 3 (4:30-6:30pm): Bozeman School District K-5 Bike Rodeo – Emily Dickinson School (2435 Annie St). For details contact Julie.smith@bsd7.org or Sharon Navas at 522-6650
Wednesday May 16: Bike to School day – Contact your school for details
Thursday May 17 (4-6pm): Bike and Board Rodeo (for Middle school students, ages 10-14) Chief Joseph Middle School (4255 Kimberwicke St). For details contact Amanda at 522-6312 or Amanda.ferrat@bsd7.org

Bike Commuter Challenge
Join Bozeman’s Bike to Work Challenge by creating a team at your workplace.  Any team member who bikes to work any day from May 7th – 17th can win prizes.  See RideShareMT.com for details.

Bicycle Shop Specials
Thursday, May 10 (4-7pm):
REI (2220 Tschache St) -  Bike maintenance and food from Baja Fresh (accessory give-aways -tire levers, patch kits or water bottles) and 20% off coupons (free)
Tuesday, May 15 (7pm):
Summit Bike & Ski (26 South Grand) – Basic bike tune-up/maintenance class (free)
Thursday, May 17 (6:30pm):
Bangtail Bikes (137 East Main) -  Bike maintenance clinic (free)
Now through May 18:
Bozeman Bike Peddler (101 East Oak) – Trade in ANY used bike and get a minimum of $50 off a new bike
May 12-18:
Chalet Sports (108 West Main) – 20% off of all commuter accessories (Panniers, fenders, bells, bike outerware…)
Owenhouse Bicycling and Fitness (25 South Black) – 20% off on helmets, 10% off on Burley trailers
Roundhouse Sports (1422 West Main) – discounting a full maintenance bike tune up from $60 to $39.95, or a safety check up from $30 to $19.95, and 10% off bike accessories (one time purchase)

BABAB (Bozeman Area Bike Advisory Board)
bozemanbikeboard@gmail.com – - www.facebook.com/bozemanbikeboard
Bozeman, Montana

Members: Jenna Fallaw, Allen Steckmest, Elizabeth Williamson, Audrey Wooding, Sarah Compton, Bill Cochran, Rebecca Gleason, Bill Bartlett, Nonnie Thompson, Sam Haraldson, Jason Delmue

The Blue and Gold Award is the most prestigious award granted by the [...]]]> Montana State University invites students, faculty, staff, alumni
and members of the community to nominate individuals for the annual Blue and
Gold Award and the Alumni Achievement Award. The awards are presented
annually during homecoming ceremonies in the fall.

The Blue and Gold Award is the most prestigious award granted by the Montana
State University Alumni Foundation. It honors an individual who has rendered
significant lifetime service or who has brought national or international
distinction to MSU or to the state of Montana. The candidate must have
achieved prominence through service to profession, family, country, world,
university, philanthropy and/or humanity.

The Alumni Achievement Award is given to alumni of Montana State University
who have distinguished themselves through significant achievements in a
specific field or endeavor.

The nomination deadline for the Blue and Gold and the Alumni Achievement
awards is June 1. Nomination forms are available at
http://alumni.montana.edu/resources/awards.html.

Montana TheatreWorks is holding auditions for…

Last year we had great success with Oklahoma! and White Christmas.
This summer, [...]]]> Have you ever wanted to be in a show?
Do you like to sing – or dance – or act – or all three?
Here is your chance to step into the spotlight.

Montana TheatreWorks is holding auditions for…

Last year we had great success with Oklahoma! and White Christmas.
This summer, you can join in on the fun.
There are many parts available for both men and women, ages high school and up.
Are you the leading man type? Interested in the ensemble?
Singers, dancers, actors… no previous experience is necessary -
We always look forward to meeting new people.

Auditions for Guys and Dolls will be:
May 12, 14 and 15 at The Ellen Theatre.
You, too, can be on stage and perform such hit songs as
A Bushel and a Peck, If I Were a Bell,
Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat,
Luck Be a Lady

Sixty robots will dodge boulders and craters and dig simulated moon dirt during the third annual contest, to be held May 21 to 26 at [...]]]> Eight Montana State University students and a robot named “Montana ALE” will soon head to Florida to see if they can reclaim the national title in NASA’s Lunabotics Mining Competition.

Sixty robots will dodge boulders and craters and dig simulated moon dirt during the third annual contest, to be held May 21 to 26 at the Kennedy Space Center, said team adviser Brock LaMeres, an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Students will be judged on their robot’s mining performance, team spirit, a slide presentation, an engineering paper and public outreach.

If MSU wins the overall title like it did in 2010, the team will receive $5,000, the opportunity to watch NASA test its future rovers in the high desert near Flagstaff, Ariz., and $1,000 for each team member and one faculty member to attend a NASA launch.

Montana ALE stands about two feet tall and weighs about 88 pounds, LaMeres said. That’s half the weight that’s allowed and several feet shorter than MSU’s first two robots. This year’s robot also has a suspension system and a different way of digging dirt. Instead of using buckets in a system that looks like a Ferris wheel, Montana ALE has a barrel with scoops.  The new design digs, holds and dumps the dirt.

MSU’s robot is much smaller this year because NASA drastically changed the goals for the competition, LaMeres said. Instead of just seeing which robot can dig the most dirt, NASA is now promoting autonomy and smaller robots.  Students can use wireless controls to operate their robots, but they won’t earn as many points as teams whose robots work independently.  Montana ALE, in fact, refers to Autonomous Lunar Excavator.

Creating an autonomous robot means the robot has to be programmed to handle every task itself, LaMeres said. It has to cross a giant sandbox called a “LunaArena,” sense obstacles and decide whether to climb over them or navigate around them.  It has to dig as much simulated moon dirt – called regolith – as possible in 10 minutes. Regolith is powdery and extremely fine on the surface, but beneath it are small jagged particles as hard as concrete. The robot then has to make its way back through the LunaArena and dump the dirt so it can be weighed.

“If you can do that and deliver at least 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of dirt, you collect a whole bunch of points,” LaMeres said.

LaMeres said the team knew that building an autonomous robot would be its biggest challenge this year, so the electrical and mechanical engineering students sped up their work to give the computer science students more time to do theirs.  The robot was built by April 1, giving the computer science students about a month to test computer systems and make sure Montana ALE could work autonomously. NASA required each team to submit a video by April 30 that shows its robot moving, digging and dumping. The video is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BN6YlYR3XJY

Logan Warberg, an MSU sophomore from Kalispell, said it was also a challenge for underclassmen like him to apply knowledge they haven’t yet learned in class.

“At times, it was pretty overwhelming,” he said.

Alison Figueria, a sophomore from Lake Carmel, N.Y., said, “We ended up learning a lot, especially from our older team mate.”

Warberg,  Figueira, and senior Seth Berardinelli of Bozeman are the team’s computer science majors.

Kevin Love of Dillon, a senior in mechanical engineering technology, was responsible for welding the robot. Welding took up a large portion of his spring break and Christmas break, but the team saved about $3,000 by not hiring someone outside the team, he said.

“It was a great experience, a lot of work and a lot of time, but it was definitely worth it in the end,” Love added.

Other team members are Daniel Benson of Bozeman and Lars Osborne of Fairbanks, Alaska, both majoring in mechanical engineering;  and Garth Grubb of Conrad and Bethany Higgins of Bremerton, Wash.,  both majoring in electrical engineering.  All eight team members going to Florida are undergraduates.

Jennifer Hane from Fort Shaw, an MSU graduate student in electrical engineering and part of the championship team in 2010, handled public outreach this year.  For that, MSU built a miniature version of Montana ALE and the LunaArena  and shared the lunabot experience with area elementary students. Instead of moving the robot through the regolith that NASA uses in national competition or the masonry sand that MSU uses in its practice pit, elementary students ran the robot through dried red beans.

Team advisers in addition to LaMeres are Hunter Lloyd in computer science and Mike Edens in mechanical engineering. LaMeres and Lloyd will accompany the undergraduates to Florida.

Funding this year – approximately $23,000 – included corporate donations for the first time, LaMeres said. Corporate donations covered about half of the total cost.  Sponsors included Newmont Mining, NorthWestern Energy, Blattner Energy, Electrical Consultants Inc. Advanced Electronic Design, and both the Central and Eastern Sections of IEEE Region 6.The rest was funded by NASA, the MSU College of Engineering and the Montana Space Grant Consortium.