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A Night In The Life Of A Female Japanese Rhinoceros Beetle, Wyatt J. Benson Mr.

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

A Night in the Life of a Female Japanese Rhinoceros Beetle

During the height of the mating season, Japanese rhinoceros beetle (Trypoxylus dichotomus) males aggregate on trees to fight against rivals over access to females. Males in this species are very well studied for their charismatic, large horns that constitute up to 30% of their body weight. However, winning fights is not enough to guarantee matings. Males must still perform complex courtship songs on the backs of females, and surprisingly, females ultimately choose only one male to mate with. Females may evaluate male quality via these songs, which serve as …

The Role Of Teacher Confidence In Shaping Student Outcomes, Riley J. Crews

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Teacher characteristics play a critical role in shaping students’ academic, social, and behavioral outcomes. Understanding which teacher characteristics or qualities support positive student development is essential for improving instructional practice and student success. Prior research suggests that teachers’ competence in key instructional processes and their confidence in implementing specific programs may influence student performance. The present study examined whether elementary teacher confidence in supporting students’ academic and social development predicted student academic and social risk behaviors. Archival data were analyzed as part of a larger study evaluating a collaborative social-emotional learning curriculum implemented in a primarily Indigenous elementary school. Linear …

Talking Dogs And Burning Books: The Inquisition In Russian Golden Age Literature, Tatyana B. Rohrer

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

All great art is inspired by that which came before it and the historical context in which it is written. This was certainly true of the works of Fyodor Dostoevsky, one of the giants of Russian — and indeed, world — literature. Dostoevsky was a voracious reader who was familiar with not only his own country’s works and history, but that of Europe as a whole. One particular topic of interest to Dostoevsky was the infamous Spanish Inquisition, an interest he at least in part inherited from his predecessor, Nikolai Gogol. Gogol published the short story “Diary of a Madman” …

The Cat, The Shoe, And The Bayonet: Kinship With Magically Concealed Items In A 19th Century Missoula Home, Logan E. Nickel

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

In 2016, UM faculty and students excavated a mummified cat, a girl's shoe, and a Civil War bayonet concealed within the structure of a late 19th century house. My research led me to discover that the intentional enclosure of certain objects considered to be magically protective into the walls or foundations of family dwellings is a longstanding practice found across the world, including in the northern European context from which the homeowners descended. Tracing the historical and archaeological record of so-called concealment or foundation rituals, I examined the continuities and changes in such practices from ancient northern European religions through …

Multiyear Stream And Riparian Responses To Beaver Dam Analogs In A Headwater Tributary, Hannah Moon Halvorson, Andrew Lahr

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Beavers are ecosystem engineers who influence the geomorphology and hydrology of streams, as well as riparian vegetation. Beaver-related restoration has become a popular approach with techniques such as beaver dam analogs (BDAs) commonly used to aid in the recovery of stream ecosystems. Despite their extensive use in low-tech restoration, there exist few studies longer than 3 years to demonstrate the effectiveness of BDAs. We conducted a 6-year follow-up study on a project with 14 BDAs in Teepee Creek, a second-order stream near Lolo in Western Montana. We collected data on instream habitat, flow, water temperature, and riparian vegetation and analyzed …

Gut–Brain Reprogramming Induced By Acute And Chronic Pathogen Exposures: The Role Of G Protein–Coupled Receptors In Male Aggression, Julia L. Kunau, Ashlyn E. Phillips

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Gut–Brain Reprogramming Induced by Acute and Chronic Pathogen Exposures: The Role of G Protein–Coupled Receptors in Male Aggression

Kunau, J, Phillips, A, Isern, E., and Certel, S. Division of Biological Sciences, The University of Montana, Missoula, MT, United States.

Organisms must continuously interpret environmental change and rapidly adjust physiology and behavior. Ingested microbes are a powerful, understudied driver of this process because they can reshape gut to brain communication and alter behaviors such as feeding and aggression. Here we test whether acute, 24-hour ingestion of E. coli is sufficient to shift male aggression in Drosophila.

The gastrointestinal system communicates with …

Learning For A Sustainable Future: Embedding Sustainability Literacy In Honors Curricula Within Higher Education, Zoe E. Belinda

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

This research investigates the sustainability literacy levels of first-year Davidson Honors College (DHC) students at the University of Montana (UM) to develop a baseline for average sustainability knowledge at the beginning of students’ post-secondary education. The goals of this research are to (1) determine if there are differences in sustainability literacy scores between students in sustainability-related fields of study and their counterparts, (2) identify weaknesses in students’ current sustainability literacy, and (3) develop curriculum suggestions to improve sustainability knowledge. To address these research questions, all first-year DHC students in 2024 and 2025 were surveyed using a modified version of the …

Examining Cardiac Abnormalities In High School Athletes Through Ecg-Integrated Cardiac Screenings, Trevor Reed Held

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

ECG-integrated cardiac screenings serve as valuable tools, ensuring that athletes are healthy prior to the start of their competitive season. For sports that do not require these screenings or a standard physical, underlying cardiac conditions and abnormalities can often go unnoticed, leading to a higher risk of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) during athletic activity. The purpose of this pilot study was to identify its feasibility, identify the potential risk factors for SCA, clear athletes for athletic participation that did not exhibit risk factors, and refer athletes with abnormalities to a medical professional. This study included 30 high school hockey athletes …

Effects Of Invasive Spotted Knapweed On Native Pollinator Foraging Behavior In Glacier National Park, Dean Sheldon

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Invasive species can often reduce native species’ performance. Competition for pollinators between native and invasive species can decrease pollination and reproduction of native plants. However, the effects of invasive species on competition for pollination may be complex. Invasive species that form large, dense populations with high numbers of flowers and copious rewards may attract more pollinators. In this case, invaders can either draw pollinators away from native plants or can increase pollinator visitation to native plants by attracting pollinators that otherwise would not have visited. Few studies examine how invasive species compete vs. facilitate pollinator services for native species. We …

The Importance Of Ph Dynamics In Neurodevelopment, Erin K. Santana

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Na⁺/H⁺ exchanger (Nhe) proteins are essential regulators of intracellular pH in the brain. The importance of these exchangers in brain development is evidenced by the fact that their dysfunction is associated with neural development disorders, including autism spectrum disorders and epilepsy. Our lab studies the role of Nhe proteins in brain development using the model system Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly). Flies have only 3 Nhe proteins (Nhe1-3) compared to 9 in humans, making them a more straightforward model to investigate Nhe functions. Previously, we investigated Nhe2, which maintains cytosolic pH. We found that nhe2 knockout flies exhibited …

Stress As A Potential Triegger: Investigating The Onset Of Myasthenia Gravis Following Major Life Events, Taylor A. Barney

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

I will be studying myasthenia gravis (MG) and its relation to stress, answering the question: Is there a correlation between highly stressful life events and the initial onset of myasthenia gravis by which acute emotional or physical stress triggers myasthenic crisis or exacerbation of symptoms? I am doing this project because my mother has MG and her diagnosis has shaped my outlook on the medical field in which I hope to enter. To carry out this project, I will be using cross-sectional analysis through stress assessment with MG disease severity assessment. This will include trier inventory for assessment of chronic …

Examining Genetic Diversity With Rust And Snakemake, Mckayl U. Bailey

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Analyzing genetic diversity within a host is crucial for understanding disease evolution and population genetics. However, accurately assessing the genetic subgroups within microscopic populations is computationally expensive and complex. Our project addresses this problem by developing a pipeline that uses graph theory and integer linear programming to assess viral strain composition, with the hope that in the future this technique could be used on organisms with longer genomes. We start by taking raw viral genomes, cleaning them, and building a De Bruijn graph that captures genetic similarities and differences. The edges are then cleaned and compressed, deleting redundant information together. …

From Couriers To City-Dwellers: The Changing Human–Pigeon Relationship Through Historic Pigeon Messaging, Urban Perceptions, And Training Practices, Mallory Peterson

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Their coos echo off the walls of skyscrapers and their wings beat faster than the cadence of footsteps. Whether dodging cars or pecking at food scraps, pigeons are a constant character of urban environments. Their unique history has allowed them to raise their young under bridges and on windowsills. Pigeons and humans are inextricably intertwined, to the joy and dismay of many. Once celebrated as couriers, pigeons carried messages of war, love, and survival across vast distances, shaping human connection and history. Today, they are more often dismissed as pests, their presence flattened into the city noise.

This narrative piece …

Byline Magazine “Meant To Burn”, Marly Graham, Samantha Dunne

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Despite wildfire's increased prevalence in the state of Montana, parts of the wildfire story in the West are rarely reported. As students in the School of Journalism's Magazine Production and Design class, we reviewed those underreported topic areas, covering behind-the-scenes support of dispatchers, forest recovery, ever-changing management practices, preventative measures, long-term ecological effects and positive impacts of fire. Over the course of the semester, students pitched, researched, reported, fact-checked, designed and copy-edited to produce Byline Magazine-The Wildfire Issue. Despite obstacles, such as a government shutdown, the class gave students the opportunity to produce an in-depth magazine and gain real-world experience …

Head Contact Patterns Among Youth And High School Ice Hockey Athletes, Hunter Naugle

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Head Contact Patterns Among Youth and High School Ice Hockey Athletes
Naugle, H., Jefferson, S., & Moody, VJ: University of Montana

The prevalence of head contact among youth and high school ice hockey athletes continues to be a concern. While significant attention has been given to the identification of concussions, less research has examined the frequency and characteristics of head contact during normal gameplay. The purpose of this study was to examine where, when, and how head contact occurs in Bantam (14U), junior varsity, and varsity-level athletes to identify potential patterns associated with gameplay.

To address this question, we observed …

An Unlikely Alliance: Chico Mendes, The U.S. Senate, And The Making Of A Conservation Martyr, Daniel Martin

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

This paper examines the unlikely partnership between Chico Mendes, the Brazilian rubber tapper and communist sympathizing labor organizer, and a trio of U.S. Senators, John Heinz, Timothy Wirth, and Robert Kasten, as they advanced overlapping, yet distinct goals for Amazon conservation in the 1980s. Drawing on primary sources from Mendes and his collaborators, the Congressional Record, and the Senate Archives of John Heinz at Carnegie Mellon University, Robert Kasten at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and Timothy Wirth at the University of Colorado, Boulder, this paper argues that though Mendes and his Senate allies had a common throughline of their …

The Return Of Economic Nationalism: Why And How The Us Departed From Free Trade Policy, Anson Joyes

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

My UMCUR project will be a research paper that coincides with the capstone class for my political science major (PSCI 400 & PSCI 521). The subject of my research paper will concern itself with how and why the United States shifted from economic policy centered around free trade to one that features a renewed interest in economic nationalism and state intervention in the economy. Over the course of my study I intend to delve into academic articles and a few books that describe the results of some four decades of neoliberal policy in the United States, and how and why …

Gas Exchange Velocity Variation On The Upper Clark Fork River, Elliot Sanford

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Gas exchange velocity (K) was measured on the Upper Clark Fork River (UCFR) across three seasonal flow regimes to constrain estimates of K used in a dissolved radon groundwater flux model. Dissolved oxygen sensors were deployed at two stations 75 km apart during June (peak runoff), July (irrigation-induced low flow), and October (natural baseflow) for periods of 3-10 days. Gas exchange velocity normalized to a Schmidt number of 600 (K600) was calculated using a two-station Bayesian model, a one-station Bayesian model, nighttime regressions of dissolved O₂ and O₂ saturation deficit, and energy dissipation scaling relationships. Bayesian models failed …

Benefits And Challenges Of The Use Of Narrative Texts In Linguistic Analysis, Logan J. Sites

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

In this presentation, I consider some benefits and issues of the use of narrative texts for linguistic research. The discussion is framed by the analysis of the Séliš-Ql̓ispé suffix -m based on narratives transcribed by Hans Vogt in 1937. The stories were recounted by One-Eyed Tom and translated into English for Vogt by Joe Abrahamson. The data in this presentation is taken from Camp 2007 and Ward 2008, two interlinearizations (morpheme by morpheme analyses) of several of the Vogt texts. The analysis of -m provides an opportunity to demonstrate the usefulness of narratives in linguistic work, as Camp (2007) and …

Crescendo And Collapse: The Women's Protective Union Of Butte, Montana (1950-1982), Hogan Michael O'Donnell

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

While there is a wealth of historical analysis dedicated to the first 60 years of the Women’s Protective Union (WPU) of Butte, Montana, there is relatively less discussion of the later years of the organization, which saw its peak membership of nearly 1,300 in 1955, the merger with the male-dominated local of the Culinary and Miscellaneous Employees Union (C&MEU), and its ultimate collapse in 1982. To analyze these immense changes, we first provide an introduction into the role of the Women’s Protective Union in Butte, Montana, leading up to 1955. Then, we discuss the rise of fast-food restaurant chains after …

Meet Your Neighbor: A Houseless Services Program Proposal In Missoula, Montana, Victoria K. Hausman

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Within the last three years, Missoula, Montana, has developed a culture of pervasive, systemic, and negative actions against people experiencing houselessness. The transition from funding multi-tiered approaches, including encampments, shelters, transitional housing, and permanent supportive housing, has been replaced by decreased resource-availability and an over-funded policy enforcing fines, misdemeanors, and arrests on anyone unsheltered and experiencing houselessness. At the root of this public sentiment is stigma, which manifests itself at all levels of the socio-ecological system and negatively impacts the health, housing, employment, social, mental, and physical outcomes of people experiencing houselessness. To combat stigma, Meet Your Neighbor is a …

Insect Pollination Rates In Alpine Cushion Plants, Mollena W. Sydnor

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

High elevation environments are characterized by a harsh climate, including a short growing season, wind and storms, and cold temperatures. Thus, higher elevation habitats often show lower insect abundance and diversity, and so insect pollination to alpine plants might be limited. Additionally, insect pollination should increase with increased floral abundance, but environmental stress may limit available floral resources for pollinators. In summer of 2025, we collected and processed a series of video recordings of pollinator visits to three alpine plant species, Phlox condensata, Minuartia obtusiloba, and Silene acaulis, across five field sites at the Niwot Ridge LTER, …

Scary Science: How Science Fiction Is An Effective Avenue To Explore Climate Change Through Trauma Theory And Anticipatory Trauma, Sawyer N. Unruh

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Science Fiction (SF) offers its readers a means of confronting climate anxiety by transforming the creeping, yet daunting threat of climate change and natural disasters into an unfortunate but manageable reality. Drawing on trauma theory, this paper examines how SF engages with Anticipatory Trauma Reaction (ATR) and works to mitigate it. Theorized by Tanya Hopwood, ATR is a pre-trauma response characterized by stress and anxiety over potential catastrophe. It is especially relevant in an environmental context, as individuals grapple with the potential irreversibility of climate change and its detrimental effects on society. SF provides the necessary tools to immerse its …

Inside The Study: A Meta-Exploration Of Undergraduate Ra Experiences In Social Work, April Janel Jackson-Andal

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Social work is not generally seen as a research-based field, yet social workers rely on evidence-based practices to address clients’ needs (Council on Social Work Education [CSWE], 2022; National Association of Social Workers [NASW], 2021). Research has shown that social work students often avoid research due to disinterest or anxiety (Gredig et al., 2022). Professors typically favor master’s-level students, providing few hands-on research opportunities for undergraduates (Inoue et al., 2017; Sidell, 2007). This creates a gap in understanding undergraduate experiences.

This qualitative study explores the experiences of 5 undergraduate research assistants in the social work department at The University of …

The Future, And History Of Uzbek-Kyrgyz Relations In Kyrgyzstan, Luke J. Jensen

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Kyrgyzstan was once hailed as Central Asia’s Island of Democracy, as one of the realms in which hope for a democratic post-Soviet world seemed brightest. Today Kyrgyzstan is near-forgotten, with next to no western media attention, significantly less economic support, and rampant internal problems. Kyrgyzstan today suffers from corruption, disastrous minority relations, and a generally high level of poverty. The focus of this paper is to examine how minority relations, primarily Uzbek-Kyrgyz, have deteriorated in Kyrgyzstan, and what can and should be done, politically, socially, and economically to help ease the tension in Kyrgyzstan. The primary points of focus for …

From Canada To Virginia: Identifying Reference Bias In Whole Genome Sequencing Of Brook Trout, Oliver Jepson

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Advances in genomics now allow us to obtain multiple completed genomes for a given species. A major outstanding knowledge gap in population genomics currently is whether a ‘local’ reference genome is important to use. The use of a reference genome from a distant population may lead to bias in estimated population genomic parameters, something referred to as ‘reference bias’.

Brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) exist in a native range that extends from the upper reaches of eastern Canada to northern Georgia. Due to this range extent, it has been found that some genetic differentiation exists between the northern and …

Development Of A Unified Splatting Ecosystem For Enhanced Spatial Mapping And Accuracy, Jeremy Jeffay

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

This report details the foundational development of a unified splatting ecosystem designed to enhance spatial mapping and 3D reconstruction accuracy for autonomous aerial systems. The primary objective was to bridge the gap between academic neural rendering algorithms and practical autonomous operations by building a decentralized, verifiable infrastructure. Methods included deploying containerized GPU workloads via the Akash network, integrating Solana-based on-chain data provenance, and shifting focus toward a photo/video-centric backend validation layer to ensure data sovereignty. Results indicate that the 3D rendering pipeline and core microservices architecture are functional in isolation, with the distributed network components successfully wired for future end-to-end …

Keeping To The High Road: Avoiding The Ethical Pitfalls In Disseminating Your Research, Daniel T. Kulp

LEAP Conference Speaker Slides

No abstract provided.

Detrimental/Questionable Research Practices: Authorship, Publication & Accepted Practices, Lucy Pickering

LEAP Conference Speaker Slides

No abstract provided.

Responsible Authorship, Ethical Publishing, Research Integrity, Susan Garfinkel

LEAP Conference Speaker Slides

No abstract provided.