President Barack Obama has announced his intent to reappoint Montana State University President Waded Cruzado to the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development.

Cruzado is among 11 individuals the White House appointed to various posts.

“I am pleased to announce that these experienced and committed individuals have decided to serve our country. I know they will serve the American people well,” Obama said in a Jan. 6 White House press release.

The Board for International Food and Agricultural Development, BIFAD, is a seven-member advisory council that advises USAID on agriculture and higher education issues pertinent to food insecurity in developing countries. The president appoints members, who primarily represent the academic community. BIFAD was established by Title XII of the Foreign Assistance Act. The Board and Title XII recognize the critical role of U.S. land-grant institutions in agricultural development, domestically and abroad, and support their representation in USAID development programs.

Cruzado will serve on the BIFAD board while continuing in her position as MSU president. She first was appointed to the BIFAD board in 2012.

“I am pleased to continue to serve on the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development,” Cruzado said. “As a representative of a land-grant university, it is my honor to work to help USAID achieve its goals for agricultural development, with an ultimate goal of eradicating hunger from the world.”

Cruzado has served as the 12th MSU president since January 2010. An articulate and inspirational speaker on the role of the public university, Cruzado has become well-known for her understanding of the Morrill Act, which created the land-grant university system more than 150 years ago. She is a passionate champion of the land-grant's tripartite mission of education, research and public outreach, and the important role higher education plays in the development of individuals and the prosperity of the nation.

Organizers of a conference at Montana State University are seeking female professionals who can offer workshops and serve as role models for junior high-aged girls interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics careers.
 
The annual conference, Expanding Your Horizons, takes place Saturday, April 22, on the MSU campus. The event is designed to expose young women to exciting STEM careers and encourage them to pursue STEM courses in high school and college.
 
More than 200 girls from throughout Montana will participate in engaging STEM activities ranging from robots to fossils to personal finance.
 
Volunteers who would like to share their expertise and enthusiasm on a STEM topic will develop a 40-minute workshop and hands-on activity. Training is offered for new presenters.
 
Businesses and organizations that are interested in financial or in-kind sponsorships are also encouraged to participate.
 
EYH is a national program that, since 1992, is hosted locally by MSU’s Extended University outreach program.
 
The deadline for applying to be a presenter is Jan. 22.
 
Volunteers should contact Nicole Soll with MSU Extended University at (406) 994-6633 or Nicole.soll1@montana.edu or visit http://eu.montana.edu/ContinuingEd/youth/ or http://bit.ly/MSUEYH

The first time a bumble bee was recorded in Montana was in the journals of the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1805. More than 200 years later, Montana State University faculty and a former graduate student say they now have compiled the state’s first inventory of bumble bees known to live in Montana, and their research reveals the largest number of bumble bee species known from any state in the nation.

The group’s research is detailed in a paper, “Bumble Bees of Montana,” which was published this week in the Annals of the Entomological Society of America (AESA), the country’s flagship entomology journal. The paper’s co-authors were Michael Ivie, associate professor of entomology in the MSU Department of Plant Sciences and Plant Pathology, Kevin O’Neill, professor of entomology in the MSU Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences, Casey Delphia, MSU research scientist, and Amelia Dolan, former MSU entomology graduate student, all within the MSU College of Agriculture.

“Because of Montana’s size, landscape diversity and regional junction of eastern and western geographies, when it comes to bumble bees, Montana hosts a diverse, large and globally relevant community of species,” Ivie said. “Our research shows 28 different species of Bombus, with four more expected to make the list. That’s the largest number of bumble bee species recorded for a state in the entire country."

Ivie added that the research project greatly expanded the known distribution of the bumble bee species within Montana, with at least four species now documented from each of Montana’s 56 counties.

To get to that number, a research group that included Dolan, Delphia, Ivie and O’Neill used existing specimens in the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station’s Montana Entomology Collection, those from a variety of existing MSU faculty projects and material in other museums. Then, they enlisted a host of MSU faculty, staff, students and alumni from across the campus and around the state to collect and contribute specimens from under-sampled areas. Collaborators from the Montana Agricultural Experiment Stations (located at seven different research centers across the state), statewide MSU Extension agents and specialists, Montana Master Gardeners, hobby entomologists, hikers, and U.S. Geological Survey researchers all pitched in, greatly expanding the areas represented in the database.

“The specimen gathering was a large effort,” Dolan said. “We reached out to (a) wide group of people who have an interest in entomology (and gave them directions for catching specimens), who would be out and about in Montana for the summer for potential specimen collection. The turnout of people willing to collect specimens and send them in was exciting.

“It was amazing because we had people collecting specimens across the state, in varying elevations and diverse ecosystems – areas we alone wouldn’t have had access to in the time that we had to complete the project,” Dolan said. “The number of species is representative of Montana’s wild spaces and diverse landscapes that host these bees.”

Once the MSU researchers cleaned, examined and identified the specimens, Dolan and Delphia pored over bumble bee research records spanning 125 years and 25 natural history collections. They consulted with national bee labs and compared data sets so they could accurately identify and document specimens.

Because so little is known about bumble bees in Montana, much of the species identification was tedious, and it look a lot of comparing and contrasting with other collections, Delphia said. Especially difficult specimens were sent to a world expert at University of California, Davis, for verification.

“Montana is a bit of a black hole when it comes to bee species records and information, so you’re working with very little documentation to begin with,” Delphia said. “Our taxonomic work for the bumble bees had to be referenced with other museums and collections because there isn’t a baseline summary of what’s already here.”

Delphia said the bumble bees of Montana collection is an important beginning in understanding and identifying the rest of the state’s native bee species.

“It’s an exciting time to work in pollinator research, especially in Montana, because we still don’t have an accurate idea of what native bee species are here,” she said. “Many people ask if Montana bees reflect a national bee decline, but we can’t answer that without first knowing what’s already here. This is a first step to understanding and documenting what other bee species might be here, so we can start looking at bigger questions.”

That Montana has the largest number of bumble bee species of any state in the country is of scientific importance, Ivie said.

“Having a baseline record of bumble bee populations in a state that reflects both western and eastern geographies has major global impacts when it comes to pollinator research,” Ivie said. “Nationally, bees in general, and bumble bees specifically, are in decline, and they serve as critical pollinators for the world’s food supply. The first step towards understanding measures to protect them is to understand what their species numbers look like so that we can build on monitoring efforts.”

Dolan said the idea to document Montana’s bumble bee communities stemmed from a project during her time as a graduate student in MSU’s entomology program. Funded in part by a Montana Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Grant and the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station, Dolan was researching insects associated with Montana’s economically and culturally valuable native huckleberry plant.

While observing species in various Montana hillside huckleberry patches, Dolan noticed a high number of bumble bees visiting huckleberry plants. Around that same time, Dolan said a new book, Bumble Bees of North America, was published that provided a reference guide for bumble bee identification.

“We started seeing that the book’s species’ maps didn’t quite match what I was seeing in the field,” Dolan said. “We started to wonder if the bumble bee specimen data I was collecting for my huckleberry research might be applied to larger-scale, statewide faunal inventory.”

In fact, the AESA paper largely stemmed from Dolan’s master’s thesis on pollinators associated with the huckleberry plant and industry as a graduate student at MSU, according to Ivie. Dolan now works at Athlos Academies, a charter school management company, in Boise, Idaho.

“Anytime we have graduate students doing meaningful work, and they get that work published in the top national journal of their field on a globally relevant topic, that means we’re doing good work,” he said.

The Bumble Bees of Montana reference collection is currently housed in the Montana Entomology Collection at MSU. MSU computer science graduate student James Beck created an interactive web-based map showing bumble bee species by county in Montana, which can be found online.

“The new bumble bee collections are a wonderful addition to the already-large specimen collection here, and we hope students of all levels and other research programs relevant to pollinators take advantage,” Ivie said.

MSU is home to a new Center for Pollinator Research, a research group of faculty from different disciplines focused on improving pollinator health and mitigating pollinator losses through research, education and outreach. The documentation of Montana’s pollinator diversity, with projects like this one, are a baseline foundation for such work.

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A group of Montana State University School of Music students recently won the state level chamber music competition in Montana, which is part of the national Music Teachers National Association competition.
 
The Bridger Brass Quintet, supervised and coached by MSU trumpet professor Sarah Stoneback, will advance to the divisional level competition, to be held Jan. 14-16 on the campus of Eastern Washington University, in Cheney, Washington.
 
“Their success really is remarkable, and a testament to the talent we have here at MSU,” said Keith Kothman, director of the School of Music. “It’s a fairly new group, which usually takes some time to fully come together. But, if you give talented students excellent instruction, starting with their applied instrument teachers, and a truly skilled coach, in Professor Stoneback, you end up with tremendous possibilities.”

 
The quintet is comprised of both music majors and non-music majors, including Briana Gillet, trumpet, a junior business management and music major from Bozeman; Jimmy Kelsey, trumpet, a junior music technology major from Bridger; Erica Eggleton, french horn, a senior chemical engineering major from Omaha, Nebraska; Kimberly Dattoli, trombone, a junior at Montana Bible College majoring in biblical studies, from Elmhurst, Illinois; and Marques Ceasar-Lopez, tuba, a junior music technology major from Alamosa, Colorado. The group performs together regularly at university functions, in the community and at local schools as part of educational outreach presentations.

 
“One of my greatest joys as an instructor is the ability to witness each student find and exercise their own musical voice,” Stoneback said. “The members of Bridger Brass have worked so hard, dedicated themselves to this group and have certainly made great progress toward finding that voice. I couldn’t be happier for them right now, and I have no doubt that they are going to have great things to say with their musicianship in January.”

 
The MTNA performance competitions provide educational experiences for students and teachers, as well as recognize exceptionally talented young artists and their teachers in their pursuit of musical excellence. The state competitions are considered the primary educational level with the division and national levels showcasing outstanding performance and honoring significant pedagogical achievement, according to the association’s website.

 
“The MTNA performance competitions are the preeminent student competitions in the United States,” said Gary L. Ingle, MTNA executive director and CEO. “The exceptionally talented Bridger Brass Quintet of MSU, the winners of the MTNA-Montana state competition, represent the excellence and remarkable achievement that are possible when talented students and their outstanding, dedicated teachers come together to discover the boundless enjoyment, challenges and fulfillment through musical performance at the highest level.”

 
MTNA was founded in 1876 with the purpose of advancing the value of music study and music-making to society while supporting the careers and professionalism of teachers of music.
 
For more information on the Bridger Brass Quintet, contact Stoneback at (406) 994-3562 or sarah.stoneback@montana.edu.
 
For more information on the competition or MTNA, see http://www.mtna.org/.

All four Montana State University campuses have been named among the nation’s military-friendly schools by the website MilitaryFriendly.com for its 2017 compilation of schools that support student veterans.

MSU, MSU Billings, MSU Northern and Great Falls College all made the Military Friendly Schools list, which is published annually by Victory Media to help service members and their families select the best college, university or trade school to pursue the education or training they need for a civilian career. Victory Media is publisher of G.I. Jobs, STEM Jobs, Vetrepreneur and Military Spouse.

MSU was listed among large public universities, a category for institutions with more than 10,000 students. Additionally, MSU received a silver award in this category, one of only 26 large public universities to receive silver.

Great Falls College earned a bronze medal in the community college category.

MSU Billings and MSU Northern both met the qualifications for the military-friendly designation in the small public college category.

Brenda York, director of MSU’s Office of Disability, Re-entry and Veteran Services, said schools were held to a higher standard this year than in previous years to earn the military-friendly designation.

“We are honored to again receive recognition from Military Times, especially since the bar to earn a place on this list is raised higher each year,” she said.

To compile its list of military-friendly schools, Victory Media evaluated three public data sources to complete its survey, including information from the U.S. Departments of Education and Veteran Affairs, along with responses from the 1,700 schools that completed its survey. Of the schools that responded to the survey, 1,273 were awarded the “military friendly” designation.

Award-level ratings – Top 10, gold, silver and bronze -- were determined by the institution’s survey results and its ability to meet benchmarks for student retention, graduation, job placement, loan repayment, persistence and loan default rates for all students and, specifically, student veterans. This is the first year for the award levels, which were given to 541 schools of the 1,273 that were designated as military friendly.

“All of our award recipients set the standard for excellence,” said Daniel Nichols, chief product officer of Victory Media and head of Military Friendly development. “They offer exceptional examples of what it means not just to build a program that meets federal requirements, but one that serves the military and veteran community from classrooms to careers.”

Each year, staff in MSU’s DRV office work with nearly 600 student-veterans to help them coordinate their finances and get the support they need to succeed in school. The office helps veterans with GI Bill funding and other issues, such as housing and employment.

The office also coordinates scholarships available to veterans and/or their spouses. This year, MSU Veteran Services awarded more than $15,000 in scholarships at its annual veteran appreciation dinner in April.

Among the services MSU provides to veterans are a mentorship program, dedicated counselor, tutoring, priority registration and a veteran center for veterans and their spouses.

This latest designation by MilitaryFriendly.com is among several distinctions MSU has received this year for its commitment to veterans.

In November, Military Times magazine ranked MSU as No. 89 out of 130 four-year universities to make its Best for Vets: Colleges 2017 ranking. MSU was the only institution in Montana to make the list, which has been published in the print and online version of the magazine, as well as in the print and online versions of Air Force Times, Army Times, Marine Corps Times and Navy Times.

And in September, USA Today ranked MSU as No. 136 out of 1,427 best colleges and universities for veterans. The ranking placed MSU in the top 10 percent nationally and put it as the highest-ranked university in the state.

“MSU continues to strive to make veterans and their families feel supported through the many services we offer to help them succeed,” York said.

One of the more innovative semester-end projects has had the Montana State University community asking about the origins of the huge dumpster parked next to Montana Hall.
 
The dumpster houses a life-sized pop-up museum of a World War I trench, a final project for a public history course taught by Amanda Hendrix-Komoto, professor in the MSU Department of History and Philosophy in the College of Letters and Science. Students Samm Vankirk, a senior majoring in history from Linden, Washington, and his research partner and fellow history major, Ezekiel Snoozy, re-created a World War I trench inside the dumpster, which also served as a framework for poster presentations on Montanans during the wars that were designed by other members of the class.

 
“Because MSU is an engineering school, we wanted to do a project that demonstrated engineering during the wars,” said Vankirk, who is minoring in museum studies. Because it was virtually impossible to find a place on campus to dig a trench, Vankirk and Snoozy developed a concept of building a trench in a form that would allow visitors to walk through to experience life in a trench.

 
“At first we joked about it, but then some thought it was genius and others thought it was crazy… We thought we were building a trench in a small dumpster, not one this big,” Vankirk said. The City of Bozeman donated the dumpster for six days, determining the scale of the project.
 
Vankirk and Snoozy re-created the trench using materials and tools common during the first world war, including wood, sand and wire. Vankirk said he and Snoozy scavenged most of the supplies for the project, save for the nails used to construct the wooden walls. Photos of Montanans in World War I trenches, and explanations, are posted inside the trench. He said that the weather during the pop-up museum added another experiential dimension to the project.

 
“The elements were just like this – it was cold,” he said.
 
Posters of other groups’ projects featuring Montanans during the wars are attached to the outside of the dumpster, including narratives of  Montana Native Americans and Hutterites during the wars; as well as posters about the roles of prominent Montanans during the war including Jeannette Rankin, Montana’s Congressional representative and noted pacifist during both world wars; Montana Senator Burton K. Wheeler; and the story of the death of Nelson Story IV during World War II and the resulting memorial at Big Sky’s Soldiers Chapel.

 
In all, Hendrix-Komoto said there were about 20 students in six groups who worked on the public history project. All students were encouraged to research secondary sources and archives in developing their projects.
 
“I encouraged students to think outside the box, but I was thinking about a table in the library,” Hendrix-Komoto said, adding even she was wowed with the classes’ creativity.
 
Joey Morrison, a junior majoring in history from Miles City, said the pop-up museum concept generated a lot of interest in the subject.
 
“We’ve definitely had a lot of people wondering what this was doing next to Montana Hall,” he said.
 
Vankirk said it took about two months to get approval to develop the dumpster museum project and 20 hours of work in the cold to build the museum. He said in all, about 11 volunteers helped him and Snoozy re-create the trench in biting Montana winter temperatures.
 
Vankirk said the pop-up museum is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. until Dec. 14, when the project will be closed and then removed.
 
MSU graduate history student Amanda Hardin shares more information about the project in an online interview that can be found on the History Graduate Student Association at MSU’s webpage.
 
A virtual tour can also be found on YouTube at: Trench Pop-Up Museum Virtual Tour.