Confluence

In this episode, hear from Nick Thiros, Ph.D. in Geosciences. Thiros is one of 52 students nationwide to receive funding this year from the U.S. Department of Energy. With this funding, he will carry out hydrogeology research at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. Thiros is also in the first cohort of the UM BRIDGES Food Energy Water Nexus Trainee Program, which prepares students to advance science toward more sustainable food-energy-water systems.

In this episode, hear from Jared Gibbs, M.A. in environmental philosophy, about his background in Economics and Philosophy—interests he hopes will successfully prepare him for Law school.

In this episode, hear from Eric Palm, a Ph. D. student in the wildlife biology program at the W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation. His research focuses on woodland caribou in northwestern North America—roughly from Alberta to Alaska. In his dissertation, Palm’s goal is to understand how both human and fire disturbance will affect caribou populations and their habitat selection. Palm also works on NASA’s Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) and was named a Wildlife Conservation Society-Canada Weston Fellow in 2017. He will defend his thesis in December of 2020.

In this episode, we're in the flow with Dr. Jesse Johnson, professor and Chair of the Department of Computer Science. Jesse reads a passage on the river hyacinth from V.S. Naipul's, A Bend in the River, which launches our conversation about his time in Africa, the core ideas of his research, and the role graduate students in Computer Science play in a great research university.

In this episode, hear from Jaynee Bohart, Ph.D. in school psychology, about how the school psychology doctoral program is a perfect blend of her interests in both psychology and education.

In this episode, hear from Yubin Kwon, a fifth year Ph.D. student in the chemistry department, about her current research with the Wang Research Group and what led her to the University of Montana.

In this episode, hear from Louise Johns, a recent graduate of the master’s program in environmental science and natural resource journalism. Her master’s project—Buffalo Renaissance: the Northern Plains Tribes’ Path to Self-Determination—specifically focuses on the Blackfoot Confederacy’s efforts to restore bison to their historical range in Montana and Alberta. Johns’ photo essay and written story will be published in Undark Magazine this fall. She will continue to follow Northern Plains bison restoration with support from a National Geographic Society grant.

In this episode, we're in the flow with Dr. Kelly Dixon, archaeologist and professor of anthropology. Kelly reads “I’ve Known Rivers,” by Langston Hughes, which connects us to her research journey in anthropology and archaeology, including her core belief in the importance of democratizing history by telling new stories about the West that include the fullest range of voices.

For more on Kelly's lab, see: http://hs.umt.edu/anthropology/research/labs/dixon-lab/default.php

In this episode, hear from Michaela Shifley, a Ph. D. candidate in cultural heritage and applied anthropology in the College of Humanities and Sciences. Her research focuses on the footwear of Northern Plains Indians and connecting communities with their historical objects. Her work emphasizes that museum collections should not stand apart from their communities. Shifley was awarded a Recovering Voices grant from the Smithsonian, which allowed her to partner with the Blackfeet Nation's Tribal Historic Preservation Office where she is currently working to return historical objects and documents from Washington D.C. to the Blackfeet community.

In this episode, hear from Kris Short, Ph.D. candidate in toxicology in the Center for Environmental Health Science. He researches under Dr. David Burkhart in the Center for Translational Medicine, which is a multidisciplinary team of chemists, formulation scientists, and immunologists at the University of Montana. His thesis focuses on using nanoparticle technology to formulate tuberculosis and universal influenza vaccines.