| MSU students have earned 47 Goldwater scholarships since the program began in 1986, making it the No. 14 college in the nation for its number of scholarships received. The prestigious Goldwater scholarship provides financial support to sophomores and juniors who display intellectual intensity, curiosity and the potential for significant contributions to careers in mathematics, the natural sciences or engineering. |
| Over the past 10 years 14 MSU Students have received Fulbright grants and 15 MSU faculty members have been Fulbright Scholars since 1992 |
| James Bauder, Montana State University Extension soil scientist, received awards from both the American Society of Agronomy and the Soil Science Society of America primarily for his education program focused on irrigated crop production, saline and sodic soil management and nitrate movement in soil. Related Information |
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Jeff Mosley of Montana State University was elected to lead the International Society for Range Management. He will serve as second vice-president from 2008-2009, first vice-president from 2009-2010 and president from 2010-2011. Related Information |
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The Crop Science Society of America recognized Michael Giroux of Montana State University as its Young Crop Scientist of 2007. The award is given annually in recognition of outstanding contributions to crop science through education, national and international service and research. Related Information |
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The U.S. Department of Transportation named Steve Albert, director of the Western Transportation Institute in the College of Engineering, to its Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Advisory Committee. The 19-member panel of national experts will review and make recommendations regarding the U.S. Department of Transportation's strategic plan. Related Information |
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Doug Cairns, professor of mechanical and industrial engineering at Montana State University, was named the inaugural Lysle A. Wood Distinguished Professor of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at MSU. Wood graduated from MSU and became vice president and general manager of the aerospace division of the Boeing Company. The professorship was established with a $1 million dollar gift from Wood's estate. The Wood endowment will support aerospace technology research, provide faculty who teach aerospace-related classes with funds for professional development, and pay for students to explore career options in aerospace. Related Information |
| The National Science Foundation announced that Sarah Lukes and Christopher Colson, electrical and computer engineering doctoral candidates, are among new recipients of NSF Graduate Research Fellowships. Each of the prestigious NSF awards provides a $30,000 annual stipend for three years, plus additional funding to cover full tuition and fees. |
| A three-year National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship was awarded to electrical and computer engineering doctoral candidate Andrew Dahlberg. This highly-competitive fellowship is awarded by the U.S. Department of Defense and can be used at the recipient's choice of universities. Dahlberg is conducting research under the direction of Joseph Shaw, associate professor in electrical engineering. |
| The MSU Heavy Civil Construction Engineering Team placed second at the 2008 Associated General Contractor's Associated Schools of Construction national competition in Las Vegas. The team qualified for nationals by winning the Region 6 contest where they bested 11 other universities in the Rocky Mountain States. At nationals, MSU competed against the other six regional champions, including Clemson, Michigan Tech and California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly). |
| One of 30 National Science Foundation International Fellowships was awarded to Jennifer Brown, a recent doctoral graduate in engineering. Brown's doctoral work focused on colloidal suspensions, tiny particles suspended in fluids, with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) microscopy. During her international fellowship in New Zealand, she will study how complex fluids behave, which has valuable implications for medical treatment, food and material processing, and oil recovery. |
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Sculptor and director of the MSU School of Art Richard Helzer recently completed a major sculpture, which was commissioned by an Italian art benefactor, for a public school in Catania, Sicily. The sculpture was a two-year project that was dedicated in May of 2007. Related Information |
| The American Institute of Architects Montana Chapter presented its Honor Award for 2007 to faculty member Christopher Livingston for overseeing the Gallatin Valley Food Bank Addition. |
| School of Art student Drew Pigott and Professor Harold Schlotzhauer were among the top 30 finalists for Ride Snowboards' Design Competition. Ride is an established snowboard industry leader located in Washington. |
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MSU film graduate Katy Garton Magruder won a Student Emmy in the College Television Awards, sponsored by the Academy of Television Arts and Sceinces. "Little Mom Full of Color" is a film about the final year in the life of Magruder's mother, Susan Garton, who suffered from metastasized melanoma and kidney failure. Magruder became the third MSU student to receive a national Student Emmy® for the documentary. Related Information |
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Kevin Connelly, a senior honors student in Media and Theater Arts, was featured on an episode of ABC's 20/20 for an Undergraduate Scholar's Award to photograph people around the world from his perspective. Through his work Connelly, who was born without legs, shares his unique viewpoint from travels through Europe, Asia, New Zealand and the Pacific Rim. Related Information |
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Two recent graduates from MSU's Science and Natural History Filmmaking program received Fulbright Scholarships. Maria Tucker Frostic, a graduate of the program who now works as an earth science producer for NASA, was awarded a Fulbright to make a film about puffins in Iceland. Kelly Matheson, who is completing her degree, will go to the Republic of Congo to study films' effect on policy, practice and law. Related Information |
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"Certain Green," a short film by Theo Lipfert, professor of media and theater arts, with a musical score by Ilse-Mari Lee, professor of music, won both a gold medal and a Director's Choice award at the Park City Film Music Festival, an international festival that runs concurrent with the Sundance Film Festival and celebrates the role of music in film. Related Information |
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Senior graphic design student Paul Johnson took first place in the Society of Publication Designers Student Design Competition, earning him an internship in New York City at National Geographic Adventure magazine and a $2,500 cash prize. Related Information |
| Zane Douglass, Director of Bands at MSU, has been elected Montana Chair to the College Band Directors National Association Conference. His work with the MSU concert and marching bands has become well-respected in Montana. |
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MSU Scholars regularly earn Fulbright grants and scholarships to carry out a broad range of academic endeavors
- John Borkowski, a statistics professor, received a Fulbright Lecture Award to teach in Thailand in summer 2008.
- A Fulbright Senior Specialists project was awarded to Elaine Peterson, an associate professor and information systems specialist at Renne Library. Peterson will travel to Bahrain to help develop a new national library located in Riffa, just south of Bahrain's capital city.
- Brent Leavell, a master's degree student in geography,received a Fulbright grant to conduct research in Indonesia and will send November through August 2009 learning how Indonesian culture supports its economy, especially in traditional villag markets.
- Education and modern languages graduate Cathy Heidner received a Fulbright grant to teach English in Germany for 10 months in 2009.
- Mechanical engineering professor and Bangladesh native Ruhul Amin will teach, provide curriculum guidance and collaborate with professors to develop research activities at the Islamic University of Technology in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
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Jerci Powell, an MSU student from Browning, has won an all-expense paid semester in Washington D.C. as one of just 20 recipients of a Native American Political Leadership Scholarship at George Washington University. Related Information |
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Montana State University paleontologist Jack Horner was featured in a Discovery Channel documentary on the possibility of re-creating dinosaurs. "Dinosaurs: Return to Life?" aired in February 2008. Horner is the Ameya Preserve curator of paleontology at MSU's Museum of the Rockies and Regents Professor of Paleontology in Montana. Related Information |
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Clarann Weinert, professor at Montana State University's College of Nursing, has been selected to receive the 2008 Recognition Award from Zeta Upsilon Chapter, Sigma Theta Tau International. The award is in recognition of superior achievement and scholarship, outstanding leadership qualities and high professional standards. Weinert is a Sister of Charity and fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, as well as holding a doctoral degree and being a registered nurse. Related Information |
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Ellie Rudy earned her second consecutive NCAA National Championship title in the pole vault at the 2008 Indoor Track and Field Championships Rudy's winning height of 14 ft., 1.25 inches was the same as her 2007 win. Related Information |
| ESPN The Magazine named Bobcat skier Claire Rennie to the District 7 Academic At-Large First-Team. Rennie is a three-time NCAA Championship qualifier. To be eligible for ESPN The Magazine academic accolades the student-athlete must have a 3.2 cumulative grade-point average and be a major contributor to their team. |
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Jeffrey Sharkey, a 2008 graduate from MSU's computer science master's program, won $275,000 in a software design competition sponsored by Google. Sharkey's entry was one of the top 10 out of 1,800 in Google's Android Developer Challenge, a contest designed to get software developers working on programs for Google's cell phone operating system. Related Information |
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Through NASA's Graduate Student Researchers Program two electrical engineering graduate students will receive $30,000 scholarships and have the chance to work with some of NASA's top scientists in laser technology at Langley Research Center. David Hoffman and Amin Nehrir were two of only 171 students around the country to receive the fellowships. Related Information |
| The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History exhibit titled "Dig it! The secrets of the Soil," opened in July 2008 and featured MSU Extension soil scientist Clain Jones. The "Dig It!" exhibit explores how fertile soil is becoming a rarer and valuable commodity and how little is known about soil. Related Information |
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A $15,000 grant from the Joan Mitchell Foundation was awarded to Caleb Taylor, a recent Master of Fine Arts in painting graduate. Taylor is one of 15 national recipients of the prestigious award that supports up-and-coming artists. Related Information |
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Architecture professor Thomas Wood was installed on the board of directors of the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards. Wood has written and lectured extensively on daylighting, climate-responsive design and integrated design. Related Information |
| MSU's College of Business once again earned accreditation by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) - the most rigorous and difficult accreditation to earn and retain. Less than 15 percent of business schools worldwide have attained AACSB accreditation. The AACSB standard of excellence helps to recruit world class faculty and students. |
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2006 English graduate Brian Johnsrud was selected as one of only 32 2007 Rhodes scholarship recipients out of 900 applicants from 340 colleges and universities. Related Information |
| At the National Undergraduate Collegiate Film Festival hosted by Columbia University in New York City in April 2007, College of Arts and Architecture student Kyle Eaton was named "Best Director," and the film "CASE AND CROWBAR" won the "Best Acting" Award for an ensemble. There were nearly 500 entries submitted.
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John Nelsen, senior in mechanical engineering (ME), and Isaiah Helm, a sophomore in ME, placed second in the Fundamental Aeronautics Program of NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate held in the summer of 2006. The pair tied with two teams: one with three doctorate students and a senior undergraduate from the Georgia Institute of Technology and one with 10 undergraduates from the University of Virginia at Charlottesville. With just their initiative and a signature from Mike Edens, adjunct professor, Nelsen and Helm submitted their "speed brake" system to reduce commercial aircraft noise. Related Information |
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Ferd Johns, School of Architecture faculty, has been named one of the top architecture professors in the country by the Association for the Collegiate Schools of Architecture. Johns was one of five professors selected from 250 universities to receive the Distinguished Professor award for his sustained creative achievement in the advancement of architectural education through teaching, design, scholarship, research or service. He was also awarded the National American Institute of Architects award in summer 2006, as well as the President's Award for Service Learning in spring 2006.
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Ty McDonald from the College of Ag and member of the MSU Bobcat football team earned an International Stockmen's Education Foundation Travel Fellowship to the 2007 International Livestock Congress. In spring 2006 he traveled to Taiwan to study international grain use, and he was also inducted into the agricultural Phi Kappa Phi honor society.
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| The Museum of the Rockies at Montana State University, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution and a federal repository for fossils, is home to the largest collection of dinosaur fossils from the United States and the largest dinosaur research program in the world. Included in the collection is the world's largest Tyrannosaurus rex skull, which was unearthed nearly 40 years ago in eastern Montana and fully reconstructed after almost 20 years of work. |
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Two graphic design students from The School of Art have received top honors in the Student Design Competition sponsored by The Society of Publication Designers in New York. Graduating senior Alison McLean won first prize for her dynamic four-page "Rugby" layout created for a sports magazine, and senior Beau Foor took third place for his colorful four-page design depicting "DJ master Armin Van Buren" for a popular music magazine. In addition to cash prizes and free CS software from Adobe, each of the students will participate in a summer internship at a major magazine, Marie Claire and Men's Fitness, in New York. Related Information |
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A popular Montana State University-based Web site featuring science and nature documentary was the Webby Award Winner in the student category in May 2007. Life on TERRA ®, http://www.lifeonterra.com/index.php, a project of the MSU Science and Natural History Filmmaking program, received the Webby, which is hailed as the "Oscars of the Internet" by the New York Times. The Webby Awards are the first major awards which honor original film and video that premier on the Internet.
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Susan Kollin, a Montana State University English professor who specializes in the literature of the American West, will have a Middle Eastern perspective as she spends a year as a Fulbright Faculty Scholar in Cairo. Kollin received the Fulbright Fellowship to teach at American University in Cairo. Related Information |
| Clarann Weinert of the School of Nursing has been appointed to the advisory board for National Institute for Nursing Research (NINR). |
| The American Association for the Advancement of Science named John Priscu, a polar ecologist at MSU, a fellow for his contributions to understanding of life in extreme environments, particularly in ice and ice-covered polar lakes in Antarctica. Related Information |
| One of only 12 Morris Udall Native American congressional internships was awarded to Katie Hoyt, a College of Engineering senior majoring in chemical and biological engineering. Each summer the Morris K. Udall Foundation chooses Native Americans or Alaska Native students or recent graduates for a 10-week internship in Washington, D.C., based on their college status and demonstrated interest in fields related to tribal public policy. Hoyt has been funded by an Idea Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) undergraduate scholarship to conduct research in the Center for Biofilm Engineering.
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The Manufacturing Extension Partnership Practitioner of the Year Award was received by Kreg Worrest, a field engineer with the Montana Manufacturing Extension Center. The award recognized Worrest's impact in the quality arena and innovative approaches to mapping the quality stream and workforce training using skit-style learning. Related Information |
| MSU began its celebration of 100 Years of Bands at MSU with a concert by the MSU Wind Ensemble, under the direction of Patrick Carney, entitled Marches in March. The performance paid homage to an important and original component of the wind band tradition - the march. The MSU Wind Ensemble was joined by guest artist Captain Johnson Lee, who conducted two of his own marches: Pride, Discipline, and Honour, and For the People, For the Nation, two works which received their American premieres under his baton at the Montana State University performance. Related Information |
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Brad Hall, a senior majoring in education and history, is one of 25 students nationwide selected for a Rockefeller Brothers Fund's (RBF) 2007 Fellowship for Aspiring Teachers of Color. Each fellow receives up to $22,100 over a five-year period that begins this summer and ends after completion of three years of public school teaching. Hall, a Blackfeet from Browning, is a former president of the MSU American Indian Council. Related Information |
| MSU's TV station, KUSM, was nominated for three regional Emmy awards for the program "11th & Grant With Eric Funk" in the categories of Arts/Entertainment-Program/Special, Director and Audio.
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KUSM-TV, "11th & Grant With Eric Funk"; Michael Ballard, Producer/Director; Scott Sterling, Producer/Director
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KUSM-TV, "11th & Grant With Eric Funk"; Michael Ballard, Director
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KUSM-TV, "11th & Grant With Eric Funk"; Gil Stober, Engineer/Producer |
| A National Geographic Wild Chronicles episode, which aired nationally in February 2007, featured four MSU faculty members specializing in Yellowstone science/research. Timothy McDermott, William Inskeep, Mark Young and John Varley appeared in the episode, which was viewed by 1.5 million people.
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| The Bobcat Women's Basketball team was recognized by the WBCA (Women's Basketball Coaches of America) for having the 5th highest GPA in Division I schools in the 2005-2006 season.
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