BOZEMAN – A Montana State University physicist who studies the interactions between light and matter has received a prestigious Air Force Office of Scientific Research award for basic research on atom-photon interactions that could lead to advances in quantum computing and quantum sensing.

Matt Jaffe, a Montana State University assistant professor of physics, has been recognized with an Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator award. MSU photo by Marcus "Doc" Cravens

Matt Jaffe, an assistant professor in MSU’s Department of Physics in the College of Letters and Science, will receive $150,000 in research funding each year for three years from the Air Force’s Young Investigator Program. The program is intended to support early-in-career scientists and engineers who show exceptional ability and promise for basic research.

“This prestigious award recognizes Matt as an outstanding researcher and mentor in an area of science that is of fundamental and strategic importance,” said John Neumeier, head of the physics department. “We are certain that Matt’s research will lead to significant discoveries in the field of atomic and molecular physics and are very pleased to have him at MSU.”

The Air Force funding will cover Jaffe’s investigation into the feasibility of changing how atoms and light interact in an optical cavity to facilitate innovative quantum applications. Optical cavities, also called optical resonators, are devices in which scientists bounce beams of light back and forth between mirrors.

Jaffe’s research group has discovered that by manipulating the placement of mirrors and lenses inside cavities, it’s possible to modify the usual shape of light beams to change the way they interact with atoms. A flattened laser beam, for example, could control atoms in a cavity more precisely and uniformly than the typically bell-shaped paraxial and Gaussian laser beams, which diffract and expand. However, the process isn’t quite as simple as it sounds, Jaffe said.

“It turns out that just using the regular kind of lenses and mirrors doesn’t do it – it just turns Gaussian beams into Gaussian beams,” he said. “But we’ve come up with a way of calculating and describing these beyond the simplest description. That allows us to design cavities that can host these non-Gaussian, non-paraxial beam shapes.”

Jaffe, along with two students whose work is funded by the award, will attempt to harness the manipulated beams to carry out specific tasks.

For the quantum computing application, they will investigate transferring qubits stored inside single atoms into single particles of light called photons. Qubits are the base units of data in quantum computing, but scientists haven’t yet figured out how to link and transmit them efficiently between two remote nodes through a process called entanglement distribution. Jaffe said that distributing entanglement, the “quantum resource” of quantum computation, is necessary for scaling quantum computing devices to a useful size.

“In order to wire arrays of neutral atom qubits up to each other, we’d like to write their quantum information out using photons, which can travel through optical fibers,” he said. “Photons from multiple modules can then link up to form a larger quantum processor out of this array of submodules.”

The sensing application – a new method of measuring gravity very precisely – would use light differently. Instead of transporting information, light would build up inside the cavity, resulting in a clean, optical field to reliably control an atom. Using a new kind of geometry developed by Jaffe’s group, the technique would involve splitting, redirecting and recombining the atom in the cavity through a process called atom interferometry. Because atoms have mass and are acted upon by gravity, the process is useful for measuring gravity, Jaffe said.

“The quantum computing project dipped our toe into more complex optical cavity design to get new and useful performance – in this case, stronger interactions between an atom and a photon,” Jaffe said. “Once we opened that door, we realized there are all kinds of degrees of freedom we can explore for designing these cavities to get new types of light-matter interactions, so new ways of interfacing atoms and photons.”

He said the potential, strategic applications of manipulating light and matter to enable entanglement distribution include enhanced decryption capabilities and potential developments in chemistry, materials and biological molecules where quantum effects play a role.

Jaffe was drawn to AMO, which stands for the atomic-molecular-optical branch of physics, because of the field’s built-in balance between practicality and complex science.

“You have to have the technology and the sophistication there where you need it, but it also just has to work,” he said. “Hopefully the end product is a new, weird cavity talking to atoms in a new, weird way.”

MISSOULA, MT – This morning, Americans for Prosperity-Montana (AFP-MT) State Director Jesse Ramos has a new opinion piece in the New York Post urging lawmakers to address overregulation, delays and litigation windows that have nearly killed American logging. Ramos calls upon Congress to take up the bipartisan SPEED Act, which will modernize America’s broken permitting system, accelerate energy infrastructure projects nationwide and help secure affordable, reliable energy for families and businesses.

In Case You Missed It…

Blame Uncle Sam for US megafires that turn money and jobs into ashes |
New York Post

Since 1944, Smokey, a cartoon bear in a ranger hat, has told generations of Americans that “Only you can prevent forest fires.”

But that’s not entirely true. Because Smokey Bear, like the rest of us, has overlooked the biggest villain behind today’s wildfires.

In fact, the greatest threat to America’s forests isn’t the family around a campfire. For decades, it’s been a federal system waging war on logging, turning public forests into tinderboxes one blocked timber sale and lawsuit at a time.

This year alone, over 7 million acres have burned nationwide across more than 49,000 wildfires, 68% more than the 10-year average.

Fires have already destroyed over 1,000 homes and structures, displacing families and stretching firefighting resources across the West.

Oregon alone has seen more than 2.3 million acres burned this year, breaking the state record set two years ago.

The damage doesn’t stop at the fire line: Smoke has blanketed the West, with Prineville, Ore., hitting an Air Quality Index reading of 670 (under 50 is considered “good”) on Aug. 5 — so extreme it’s barely measurable on the standard scale.

Tens of millions of Americans have been exposed to unhealthy air, and cities have repeatedly had the worst air quality on Earth.

“Climate change” has become the ultimate scapegoat, the explanation that lets everyone off the hook.

If the fires are climate’s fault, no one answers for the lawsuits or the delayed logging permits.

But here’s the number that blows that excuse apart: A wildfire on federal land is, on average, five times the size of one on nonfederal land nearby, per the Congressional Budget Office.

Same drought. Same heat. Same lightning. Weather doesn’t stop at a property line, but federal land burns five times bigger.

Bureaucracy has consequences.

Here’s what else you probably don’t know: Your tax dollars have funded the war on logging for decades.

It started with the 1980 Equal Access to Justice Act, which was meant to help small businesses and veterans recover legal fees when they win a lawsuit against the federal government.

Instead, it became a tool environmental lawyers use to collect attorney’s fees from taxpayers instead of clients, while blocking efforts to thin out forests.

The Government Accountability Office admits it doesn’t have a full accounting of how much has been paid.

What we do know: From 2019 to 2024, the US Departments of Agriculture and Interior paid nearly $25 million under EAJA, much of it to groups suing to stop thinning and logging on public forests.

And they have succeeded. While the lawsuits piled up, harvests collapsed.

Federal timber harvests have fallen nearly 80% since their 1987 peak, from 11 billion board feet a year to under 3 billion today.

And average acreage burned nationwide has more than doubled since the 1990s, from 3.3 million acres a year to over 7 million.

These aren’t just trees. As Smokey himself said on a 1946 Forest Service poster: burned timber builds no homes.

A single well-stocked acre of timberland can hold enough board feet to frame an entire house.

Every acre that burns represents enormous waste — lumber that never reaches a sawmill, wages never earned, timber sales that never got approved, value that goes up in smoke instead of strengthening a local economy.

The same local economy that watched its sawmills close while forests holding millions of homes’ worth of timber turned to ash.

And yet we’re told these fires are inevitable, that logging wouldn’t stop them anyway.

That’s like saying dams don’t prevent floods. The forest equivalent of a levee is thinning overgrown stands, prescribed burning, removing insect-killed timber and responsible logging.

We know how to build that levee, but Congress has made it nearly impossible to get permission to do it.

This week, the Trump administration took a swing at building a forest-equivalent levee of its own.

The USDA proposed rescinding the Clinton-era Roadless Rule, which has kept 59 million acres, nearly a third of the National Forest System, off-limits to fire management for a quarter century.

The process will take time, but it’s a step in the right direction.

Now Congress needs to do its part: The bipartisan SPEED Act would cut through the logging-permit delays and litigation windows that have allowed these fuel loads to pile up.

It passed the House in December, but Senate Democrats have blocked it since.

It’s time to send it to President Donald Trump’s desk.

But until we can manage our forests again, we’ll need to update Smokey’s slogan: “Only Congress can prevent the next megafire.”

Jesse Ramos is the state director of Americans for Prosperity-Montana and a former Missoula, Mont., city councilman.

VIRGINIA CITY – Lands in Madison County managed by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks are under Stage I fire restrictions.

Under Stage I restrictions, building, maintaining, attending, or using a fire or campfire is prohibited unless an exemption is made. People may only smoke within an enclosed vehicle or building, a developed recreation site or while stopped in an area at least 3 feet in diameter clear of flammable materials. People may cook on a liquid petroleum gas or propane stove that can be turned off.

FWP follows the county’s lead in placing fire restrictions on properties it manages within that county, including fishing access sites, wildlife management areas and state parks. These restrictions at FWP sites will be in place until further notice. FWP urges people to use caution while recreating due to dry conditions and fire danger.

Learn more about wildfire prevention and the latest information on fires in Montana at mtfireinfo.org. For information on restrictions and closures at FWP sites, click here. 

The modern warehouse is no longer what it used to be. Gone are the days when people would walk through miles of aisles with nothing but pick list papers in hand. Today’s warehouses have been revolutionized using advanced automation, robotics, conveyor belts, and advanced software systems capable of completing processes faster than ever before possible just a few years back. As warehouse processes accelerate, the challenge shifts downstream to transport services.

This acceleration is not a small shift. Providers like IGT Freight represent the services that must keep pace.

DC Velocity reported on MHI's 2026 Annual Industry Report, which found 56% of supply chain leaders increasing automation investment, with over half planning to spend more than $1 million this year. As distribution centers get faster at picking and packing, the pressure shifts downstream - onto the LTL freight shipping expected to move product out the door just as quickly.

Internal bottlenecks are easily sorted out through automation. Picking is faster, packing is more precise, and accuracy of orders has increased. However, rapid production is pointless if the freight remains at the dock awaiting transportation. Freight shipping through LTL has emerged as the crucial point between automation and customer delivery.

The Ripple Effect
When a facility processes orders in hours instead of days, every part of the supply chain must keep pace. A fully automated warehouse can stage pallets within minutes of order release. This creates a new expectation-that carriers will be equally responsive.

In today’s world, LTL carriers act as the key link between high-speed fulfillment and final delivery. If no truck is available when the automated process completes, that speed advantage disappears. LTL shipments are becoming an essential part of just-in-time consolidation operations.

Meeting the New Standard
Transportation providers are rethinking their operations. Faster dock turnaround is now essential-warehouse automation reduces staging time dramatically. Carriers that minimize pickup windows keep the flow moving.

Real-time coordination is equally important. Automated warehouses generate precise order data.Carriers with real-time visibility can dispatch trucks proactively, arriving when the load is ready. This reduces detention fees and improves asset utilization.

Flexible capacity has also become non-negotiable. Automated distribution centers often handle volume spikes without warning. Transportation networks that flex capacity to match fulfillment speed become essential partners.

The Cost of Falling Behind
When LTL freight shipping cannot keep up with warehouse output, the costs multiply. Staged pallets consume valuable dock space. Employees manage congestion instead of fulfilling orders. Customer expectations for rapid delivery go unmet.

The Bottom Line
Warehouse automation is transforming fulfillment, but its full value depends on what happens after the order is picked. LTL freight shipping must operate with the same precision as the automated facilities it serves. With over half of supply chain leaders committing million-dollar budgets to automation, the pressure on transportation networks will only intensify. LTL freight shipping is no longer just a cost to manage-it is a strategic capability. The warehouses have been upgraded. The transportation networks that power them need to be just as advanced.

Moving into or out of an apartment in a busy city can feel more complicated than a standard move. Renters often have to deal with tight stairways, small elevators, limited parking, building rules, street traffic, loading zones, and strict move-in or move-out times. Add packing, utilities, lease dates, and security deposits, and the process can quickly become stressful.

The good news is that apartment moves can be much easier with the right planning. Whether you are moving into a high-rise, a walk-up, a studio, or a larger apartment, a clear plan can help you avoid delays, extra costs, and last-minute problems.

Read Your Lease Before Moving Day

Before you start packing, review your lease agreement. Many renters focus only on the moving date, but the lease may include important details about move-out notice, cleaning requirements, elevator use, damage fees, key return deadlines, and security deposit rules.

Some apartment buildings require written notice 30 or 60 days before moving out. Others may charge fees if you move outside approved hours or leave items behind. Knowing these rules early gives you time to avoid penalties and protect your deposit.

If you are moving into a new apartment, read that lease carefully too. Confirm when you can pick up keys, when your move-in time starts, whether you need insurance documentation, and where movers are allowed to park.

Confirm Building Rules Early

Busy city apartment buildings often have strict moving policies. Property managers may require elevator reservations, certificates of insurance, loading dock appointments, parking permits, or specific move-in windows.

Do not assume you can move at any time. Some buildings only allow moves on weekdays. Others may block moves during rush hour, weekends, or holidays. If you wait until the last minute, you may not get the time slot you need.

Contact both your current building and your new building as soon as your moving date is confirmed. Ask about move-out and move-in rules, elevator access, parking, hallway protection, and any required documents.

Reserve the Elevator

If your apartment building has an elevator, reserve it early. In large buildings, elevator slots can fill up quickly, especially at the end of the month when many leases turn over.

Ask whether the building provides padding for the elevator or if that is your responsibility. Also confirm whether the elevator can fit large furniture, such as sofas, mattresses, dressers, and dining tables.

If your building does not have an elevator, plan for stairs. Walk-up apartment moves take more time and physical effort, especially when carrying heavy furniture or boxes through narrow stairwells.

Plan for Parking and Loading

Parking is one of the biggest challenges in city apartment moves. A moving truck needs enough space to load and unload safely, but many urban streets have limited parking, meters, bus lanes, bike lanes, fire hydrants, and street cleaning rules.

Check whether your city requires a temporary parking permit for moving trucks. Some apartment buildings also have designated loading zones or alleys. If there is no legal place to park, the move can take longer and may become more expensive.

Take photos of the parking area before moving day and share details with your movers. Include street names, loading dock instructions, gate codes, and any restrictions they should know before arrival.

Declutter Before Packing

Apartment space is limited, which makes decluttering especially important. Moving is the perfect time to decide what should come with you and what should not.

Go through closets, kitchen cabinets, storage bins, bathroom shelves, furniture, and old boxes. Donate items you no longer use, sell furniture that will not fit the new place, and throw away anything broken or expired.

The fewer items you move, the faster and easier the relocation becomes. Decluttering can also help reduce moving costs because there is less to pack, carry, load, and unload.

Pack With Small Spaces in Mind

Apartment moves often involve tight hallways, small elevators, and limited staging areas. This makes organized packing very important.

Use sturdy boxes that are easy to stack. Avoid overpacking large boxes because they can become too heavy to carry through stairs or narrow spaces. Pack books, dishes, and heavy items in smaller boxes. Use larger boxes for lighter items like bedding, pillows, and clothing.

Label each box clearly with the room name and a short description of what is inside. For example, “Kitchen, plates and bowls” is much more helpful than simply writing “kitchen.”

Measure Furniture Before Moving

City apartments can have narrow doors, tight corners, low ceilings, and small stairwells. Before moving day, measure your large furniture and compare it with doorways, hallways, elevators, and staircases at both locations.

Measure sofas, bed frames, dressers, desks, dining tables, and large shelving units. If something may not fit, decide whether it can be disassembled. Remove legs from tables, take apart bed frames, and empty drawers before moving.

This step can save a lot of time on moving day. It also helps prevent damage to furniture, walls, doors, and flooring.

Protect Floors, Walls, and Common Areas

Apartment buildings often charge renters for damage to hallways, elevators, doors, or lobby areas. Even small scratches or dents can create problems with management.

Ask your building whether floor protection, elevator padding, or wall protection is required. If it is, make sure everything is ready before the move starts.

Inside your apartment, protect floors and doorways where heavy items will pass through. This is especially important if you are trying to get your security deposit back after moving out.

Keep Essentials Separate

Do not pack everything into the moving truck. Keep a small essentials bag with the items you will need during the first 24 hours.

This should include keys, wallet, lease documents, chargers, toiletries, medication, a change of clothes, basic cleaning supplies, snacks, and anything needed for work the next day.

You should also keep important documents with you, not inside a random box. This includes passports, financial paperwork, medical records, and apartment paperwork.

Update Utilities and Address Information

City renters often have several accounts connected to their apartment. Before moving, schedule utility shutoff at the old apartment and setup at the new one. This may include electricity, gas, water, internet, cable, and renter’s insurance.

Also update your address with banks, credit cards, employer records, subscriptions, delivery apps, medical providers, and the postal service. Doing this early helps prevent missed bills, lost packages, and service delays.

Clean Before You Leave

A clean apartment can help protect your security deposit. Before turning in keys, remove all trash, clean appliances, wipe cabinets, vacuum or sweep floors, patch small nail holes if allowed, and take photos of the space.

Photos are useful because they document the condition of the apartment when you moved out. If there is a dispute later, you will have a record.

Check closets, cabinets, drawers, balconies, storage rooms, and laundry areas before leaving. Renters often forget items in hidden spaces during a rushed move.

Consider Professional Help

Apartment moves in busy cities can be physically and logistically difficult. Parking, stairs, elevators, building rules, and tight spaces all add extra pressure. Working with experienced apartment movers can make the process easier by helping with the heavy lifting, truck loading, furniture handling, and building access challenges.

This can be especially helpful if you are moving from a high-rise, a walk-up, a downtown apartment, or a building with strict move-in rules.

Final Thoughts

Apartment moving in a busy city takes more planning than many renters expect. The key is to prepare early, understand building rules, reserve elevators, plan parking, declutter, pack carefully, and keep important items separate.

A smooth apartment move is not only about getting your belongings from one place to another. It is about avoiding delays, protecting your deposit, reducing stress, and making your new apartment feel organized from the start.

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Developing social media advertisements that actually work can be frustrating when there is no reciprocation of the effort. You spend hours creating images, writing comments and editing videos, but the interest remains low, and the conversions are hardly moving. Simultaneously, engaging a professional or training on complicated editing software can seem costly and time-intensive, thus complicating consistency further.  

This is where the free promo video maker tool begins to pay off. They eliminate technical obstacles and assist you in concentrating on message, speed, and consistency as opposed to complex editing. With time, experience with these tools provides some useful lessons that extend beyond merely video making.  

This article discusses six very important lessons you learn by using the free promo video maker to make social media ads and how those lessons can help you do a better overall marketing plan.

1. Simplicity Drives Faster Execution 
As you begin to use a free promo video maker, it quickly becomes apparent that the time saved would otherwise be spent using traditional editing software. You do not have to deal with complicated timelines or sophisticated features; rather, you use templates, drag-and-drop elements, and pre-built scenes.  

Consequently, you begin to change your mindset that is centered on how to edit, to what you need to communicate. This is an important change as speed is a central factor in the success of social media. Trends change quickly, and delayed content is likely to become irrelevant.  

Furthermore, the expedited performance enables you to experiment with a greater number of ideas. Rather than spending hours to get a single video perfect, you can make several variations and then see which one works. In the long run, this creates a more data-driven methodology instead of assumptions.

2. Consistency Outperforms Occasional Perfection

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Most marketers want to make a single, ideal video, hoping it will achieve good results. Nevertheless, frequent posting can, in many cases, become more effective than the infrequent high-effort content.  

Ready-made templates and reusable formats make it simpler to ensure consistency. You can create video content regularly without having to spend excessive amounts of time or energy. Consequently, your audience gets to know more about your brand and message.  

Moreover, regular activity can assist platforms in identifying your activity that may enhance visibility. You create momentum by creating regular content, instead of waiting to gain a perfect idea. This continuity has a tendency to provide improved engagement in the long term.

3. Message Clarity Matters More Than Visual Complexity 
Initially, it is easy to devote much of your attention to such aspects of design as animations, transitions, and effects. Nevertheless, with time, you find out that effective messaging is more effective than visual sophistication.  

A very powerful and direct message of simple videos can be more successful than content that is overloaded with visuals. This is due to the fact that the viewers scroll fast and require a few seconds to get your message.  

Thus, the tools that help make video-making simpler prompt you to focus on being clear. Instead of unnecessary details of design, you concentrate on headlines, key benefits and calls to action. This change enhances the level of engagement and conversion.

4. Short Format Content Delivers Better Results

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The other valuable lesson is based on the observation of audience behavior. Shorter videos are always more effective than longer ones, particularly on social media sites where attention span is minimal.  

Pre-built formats help to create concise videos that provide value in a shorter time. You get to know how to cut out unnecessary stuff and to emphasize only the most critical points.  

Consequently, this makes your advertisements more targeted and effective. Rather than attempting to explain it all, you convey one idea in a clear manner. This would be more aligned with the way users consume content, resulting in increased retention and engagement.

5. Adaptation Across Platforms Becomes Essential 
Different platforms require different video formats, aspect ratios, and styles. Initially, this can feel overwhelming, especially when creating content manually.

However, using flexible video tools teaches you to adapt content efficiently. You can quickly resize videos, adjust layouts, and tailor messaging for each platform without starting from scratch.

This adaptability becomes a major advantage. Instead of creating separate campaigns for each platform, you repurpose content strategically. Over time, this not only saves effort but also improves campaign performance by aligning content with platform expectations.

6. Data Feedback Shapes Better Creative Decisions

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One of the most valuable lessons comes from analyzing performance data. When creating videos quickly, you can test different versions and gather insights faster.

You begin to notice patterns such as which headlines attract attention, which visuals drive clicks, and which formats perform best. This feedback loop helps you refine your approach with each new video.

Moreover, faster production cycles mean you can respond to data almost immediately. Instead of sticking to one idea for too long, you continuously improve based on real results. This leads to more effective campaigns over time.

Conclusion 
Using a free promo video maker for social media ads is not just about simplifying video creation, but about improving your overall marketing mindset. You learn to prioritize speed, consistency, and clarity while adapting content for different platforms and audiences. At the same time, regular testing and data analysis help you move away from guesswork and toward more informed decisions.

These lessons build a more practical and sustainable approach to content creation. Instead of chasing perfection, you focus on progress and performance. Over time, this shift leads to stronger engagement, better results, and a more efficient workflow that supports long-term growth. 

Mitch Alvord, Montana State University a mechanical engineering doctoral student, works with a electrodynamic shaker to study how bees remove pollen from flowers. MSU photo by Colter Peterson

BOZEMAN — Scientists have long understoog that bees sometimes shake flowers to collect pollen in a process called buzz pollination. But how the pollen mobilizes within the flower is not clearly understood. Now, a mechanical engineer at Montana State University is using nearly $585,000 in recent funding from the National Science Foundation to learn precisely how some bees vibrate their way through their critical role in the pollination process.

In order for some plants to bear fruit or vegetables, the pollen from the male part of the plant – the anther – must be transferred to the female parts of the plant, called the stigma and pistil. Plants rely on pollinators such as birds, bees and other insects to jump-start this process.

This research is especially timely as the number of pollinators continues to decline globally.

“It’s generally accepted that bumblebee populations are shrinking, and bumblebees are one of the big species that is performing buzz pollination,” said Mark Jankauski, associate professor of mechanical and industrial engineering in MSU’s Norm Asbjornson College of Engineering. “If those populations are declining, it’s a bad thing in terms of food security.”

And as pollinators such as bees continue to decline, he said, so does the amount of food the plants would otherwise produce. That’s why farmers and scientists alike, in the interest of food security, would like to create efficient means of artificially pollinating plants.

“We’re hoping that this research can, in the long term, facilitate the development of artificial pollination technology so that there’s a robotic system, or something along those lines, that can come in and kind of supplement the natural pollinators,” Jankauski said.

Pollen is easily accessible in most plants because their pollen-producing anthers typically split open to expose it. But pollen in a small percentage of flowering plants, including tomatoes, huckleberries and eggplants, remains sealed inside the anthers until it is forced loose. This is facilitated by certain bees, who grasp the anthers with their jaw-like mandibles and rapidly vibrate their flight muscles, shaking the pollen through tiny openings in the tip of the anther like salt from a saltshaker.

“Bees of different species will apply different frequencies to the anther; they’ll shake it at 100 times per second or 200 times per second up to about 400 times per second,” Jankauski said. “But why they choose a specific frequency isn’t particularly well known. And so, we want to understand more about kind of the relationship between what the bee is doing, how hard is it forcing, how fast is it shaking it and what that actually does to the pollen inside.”

To help answer these questions, Jankauski and mechanical and industrial engineering doctoral student Mitch Alvord, have built a shoebox-size contraption designed to vibrate pollen out of a tomato plant’s anther. At one end of the box, two studio lights illuminate the anther from behind. At the opposite end, a specialized video camera captures the action in thousands of frames per second. The result is a high-resolution, slow-motion video of what happens when a pushrod vibrates a sealed anther, forcing it to release its pollen.

“This device is called an electrodynamic shaker,” Alvord said. “You can think of it as a speaker, and then I can tune frequency and amplitude that I want to vibrate these anthers with.

“We’re being the bee in these experiments, and we’re vibrating the flowers at different frequencies,” Jankauski added.

He said that over time, bees become more efficient at vibrating a blossom until the pollen pours out.

“It certainly is a learned behavior,” he said. “They’ll land on a flower, and they’ll change their buzzing frequency a little bit. And they get more effective at this throughout their lives.”

Erick L. Johnson and Sarah Morris, associate professors of mechanical and industrial engineering in the Norm Asbjornson College of Engineering, are co-principal investigators on this project.

“This research reflects the best of Montana State’s land-grant mission: advancing fundamental knowledge while exploring solutions to real-world challenges,” said Alison Harmon, MSU’s vice president for research and economic development. “By uncovering how buzz pollination works, Dr. Jankauski's team is contributing insights that could ultimately benefit agriculture, food production and environmental sustainability.”

In this MSU file photo, students are welcomed by staff as they carry furniture into a residence hall. The 2026 Move-in will begin Aug. 23. MSU photo by Marcus "Doc" Cravens

BOZEMAN — About 4,700 Montana State University students are expected to move into their residence halls Aug. 23-24, days before the fall semester begins. The first day of classes is Wednesday, Aug. 26.

“Move-in is one of our team’s favorite times of the year because it marks the beginning of so many new experiences for our students,” said Jeffrey Bondy, director of University Student Housing. “For many, it’s their first day at Montana State; for others, it’s a return to a community they already know. Our goal is to make campus housing more than simply a place to live. We want it to be a place where students make friends, become part of a community and make the most of their Montana State experience.”

Incoming students each register for two-hour time slots to move into their rooms between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 23, or between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 24. Time slots are available through MSU’s Housing Portal. 

Students may submit a request to move in early if they are part of MSU’s final orientation session or another early arrival program. To find information about early move-in, visit University Student Housing’s move-in website.  

To receive curbside parking permits for move-in, visit MSU’s Parking Services page. Directions leading from Interstate 90 to MSU’s residence halls are available on the university’s move-in website, along with a comprehensive campus map.

For additional information, contact Jeffrey Bondy, director of University Student Housing at 406-994-2661.