Digital Commons Network^™

Building Collaborative Capacity For Coexistence With The Montana Beaver Working Group, Shane Randle

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

Despite beavers’ recent surge in popularity, prevailing negative attitudes and the persistence of beaver removal practices remain obstacles for those advocating living with beavers. The Montana Beaver Working Group (BWG) advances beavers’ role in ecological and community resilience through members’ collaborative efforts, including beaver-related restoration and conflict resolution projects. Bringing together people with diverse values and perspectives, the BWG builds collective understanding, develops a holistic vision for beavers in Montana, and supports members in pursuing it. As the group’s impacts and membership have grown, so too has their need to adapt. For my Civic Engagement Project, I strengthened the BWG’s …

Msw Portfolio: Advancing Social Work Practice In International And Marginalized Communities, Emily L. Curtis

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

My portfolio presents an integrated reflection of advanced social work practice developed through my academic training and immersive field experiences across the United States, Germany, and New Zealand. Grounded in trauma-informed care, cultural humility, and strengths-based approaches, it demonstrates my application of the ten core social work competencies and five elements of advanced integrated practice within diverse and marginalized communities.

Drawing on my work with Māori and Pasifika women, refugee populations, and rural communities, this portfolio explains the importance of understanding individuals within broader cultural, historical, and systemic contexts. It emphasizes the need for socially just, culturally responsive, and relationship-centered …

Minutes From The April 30, 2026 Meeting Of The University Of Montana Faculty, University Of Montana--Missoula. Faculty

University of Montana Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes

Meeting minutes from the April 30, 2026 meeting of the University of Montana faculty.

Montana Kaimin, April 30, 2026, Students Of The University Of Montana, Missoula

Montana Kaimin, 1898-present

Student newspaper of the University of Montana, Missoula.

Gli Weekly, April 28, 2026, Franke Global Leadership Initiative

GLI Weekly

Attention Graduates! -- Griz Gradfest -- GLI Capstone Mentor Featured in Vision Magazine -- Looking Ahead! -- National Student Exchange -- Plant an Apple Orchard at Franklin Elementary -- Volunteer for the GLI -- VolunteerUM -- Grizzly Ambassadors Wanted -- International April Event -- World Languages and Cultures Courses in English -- The Psychology of Happiness -- Senior Highlight

Gli Weekly, April 21, 2026, Franke Global Leadership Initiative

GLI Weekly

Griz Gradfest -- Share Your Story -- Senior Highlight -- Upcoming Beyond The Classroom Experience Deadline -- GLI Celebration -- GLI Capstone Mentor Featured in Vision Magazine -- Become an Ambassador! -- Advising Information -- Wilderness and Civilization -- The Big Event -- Hiring: VolunteerUM Program Leaders -- Plant an Apple Orchard at Franklin Elementary! -- Volunteer for the GLI -- VolunteerUM -- WGSS/GERC 50th Birthday! -- International April Event -- The Long Day and Night Against Procrastination -- Spring Into Summer -- Bear Necessities -- Griz Career Closet Pop-Up -- Mansfield Dialogoue: One Year After "Liberation Day" Tariffs -- …

Showpony, George T. Ellington

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

The poetry collection Showpony focuses on the real-life experiences of a twenty and thirty-year-old woman —pseudonymously known as Mrs. G — during the 1970s, who is treated by psychiatrist Dr. Robert J. Stoller at UCLA in a desperate attempt to make her normal. Mrs. G struggles with homicidal and suicidal thoughts, psychosis, as well as her homosexuality and transgender identity. Showpony examines the ways in which psychology has pathologized these experiences and the ramifications for patients, particularly those who have been publicly showcased as examples of their conditions used to train future students. The collection critiques the exploitation of patients …

The Gamification Of Investing: Young Investors And The Dopamine Desktop, Calvin Caplis

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

ABSTRACT

While traditional methods of investing remain, such as utilizing established financial advisory services and trading applications, neo-brokerages have gamified their trading platforms. These platforms have become increasingly popular among younger generations. The “gamification of investing” is a phenomenon that involves the integration of game-like features (e.g., haptic feedback, neon colors, confetti) into brokerage applications. This “gamification” has lowered the barriers to entry for investing in capital markets for younger generations but has simultaneously coaxed them into being more risk-tolerant and potentially unaware of the consequences of high-risk investing strategies. This is partly because neo-brokers make it easy to gain …

Dissecting Word And Song: Observing The Interplay Between Linguistic Analysis And Ethnomusicology, Dashiell Elliot Schindler

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Ethnomusicology is a subfield within cultural ethnography that aims to provide detailed, descriptive analysis on contemporary music culture, applying cross cultural comparison to trace musical lineages and identify sounds significant to a select society. The field serves as an interdisciplinary measure to accurately index musical styles that serve as a cultural marker to the heritage to which they are ascribed. Linguistic analysis aspires to many of the same goals. It is one of the four major disciplines within anthropology, and has its sights focused critically on the examination of language in its spoken form. Linguists apply research methods such as …

Mindful Machines: Do Children Trust Ai More When They Think It Has A Mind?, Juhi Singh

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Children are increasingly interacting with Artificial Intelligence (AI) to seek information. Yet little is known about how children discern whether to trust AI responses. This study investigates two related questions. First, children prefer to learn from confident over hesitant people, but do they similarly prefer to learn from confident AI? Second, individual differences in children’s attributions of human-like mental states to non-human entities (anthropomorphism) predicts their social conceptions of AI-embedded technologies. Accordingly, are individual differences in anthropomorphism related to their learning from AI?

Child participants (N=64; ages 5-8) viewed videos of AI and human informants answering questions. Across …

Variations Of Individual Behaviors Of Betta Splendens When Exposed To Fluoxetine, Sophie Currier

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Fluoxetine, a common antidepressant, often ends up in rivers and lakes, exposing aquatic life to the drug. This study examined the effects of fluoxetine on Betta splendens (Siamese fighting fish) at levels found in the environment. Fluoxetine is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) that blocks the presynaptic reuptake transporter and increases endogenous signaling postsynaptically (Coreia, et al 2022). When Betta splendens absorb fluoxetine, it interacts with more than 90% homologous receptors in fish. This matters because it acts as a pollutant in aquatic environments, threatening fitness, reproduction, changes to their nervous system, and ultimately their behavior. When exposed to …

Reclamation Of Native Identity: An Examination Of Language Revitalization Efforts, Brittney J. Wagner

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

The Native American peoples of the United States have faced a history shaped by systemic oppression with the government since European settlers landed in the North American continent. This project focuses on Native American community efforts in revitalizing their languages, cultures, and ways of being. One of the traumatic long-lasting events that have affected Native American communities and individuals is federally and/or church run boarding schools. In the United States, there were approximately 300 schools that were open from 1860-1978. My hope with this project is to explore the history of assimilation and oppression the federal government attempted with these …

A Persistent Penance: Repetition, Memory, And Moral Stasis In Ethan Frome, Nicholas Howard

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

My project examines Edith Wharton’s novella Ethan Frome through the lens of purgatory. I argue that the story is less a tragedy of failed love than a story about being trapped inside one’s own mistakes, unable to move forward. Rather than reading Ethan’s sled crash as a failed suicide followed by a bleak but ordinary life, I explore the interpretation that the “present-day” Starkfield is a form of purgatory—an endless winter in which Ethan continues the emotional patterns that destroyed him.

My guiding question is: What changes if we read Ethan Frome as already dead, living inside a self-made purgatory? …

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 …

How Emergency Medical Service (Ems) Work Is Understood: A Study Of Public Perceptions And Provider Perspectives, Lisel Keller

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

This project aims to examine whether a gap exists between how the general public perceives Emergency Medical Services (EMS) work and how EMS providers experience it. EMS is widely recognized as a stressful profession, and public narratives often focus on the emotional intensity without an understanding of the different sources of stress. Providers work extended shifts, respond to unpredictable incidents, are frequently woken from sleep, and complete operational tasks while fatigued. Although these demands are expected, their cumulative impact shapes the day-to-day reality of the profession. While stress in EMS work has been discussed broadly, less attention has been given …

Testing Queer Theory: Body Image Diversity In Lesbian/Bisexual And Heterosexual Women’S Social Media Content, Johnathon E. Byrd, Cara S. Brauen

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Queer and feminist theory explore the concept of the “male gaze”, referencing the social expectations placed on women’s bodies to conform to the socially constructed expectations of how women should look and act to be more “appealing” to men. Queer theory discusses the way that Lesbian and Bisexual women “de-center” men in their lives and move away from this expectation to conform to the male gaze. In turn, this distance from the male gaze allows for more diverse representation of appearance in body size, clothing, and age as they reject the concept of needing to appeal to men.

This qualitative …

Passenger Rail For Montana College Students Survey, Emmi Highness, Elizabeth Kamminga

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

The objective of this survey is to collect data to inform the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority (BSPRA) about college student perspectives on passenger rail. BSPRA is the main organization in Montana advocating for the reinstatement of the Big Sky North Coast Corridor (formerly called the North Coast Hiawatha) passenger rail line, which would span from Chicago to Seattle and/or Portland with 10 to 12 stops in southern Montana and an additional 30 to 40 stops in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois.

Through our research, we determined that Montana university students are an under-informed demographic about …

Ear Differences And Working Memory, Taci Lane Watkins

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Title: Ear Differences and Working Memory

Introduction: Previous research has demonstrated performance differences between the right and left ears on auditory perception tasks, suggesting a right ear advantage in auditory processing and speech perception. The present study investigated whether such ear-related differences extend beyond perception into the cognitive domain of working memory, specifically during tasks that require the manipulation and recall of verbal information.

Methods: Twenty-four right-handed adults (ages 18–30) with normal hearing completed backward digit span tasks under three listening conditions: right ear, left ear, and binaural presentation. Stimuli consisted of digit sequences ranging from three to eight numbers. …

Awe On The Brain: Exploring The Impacts Of Awe On Neural Oscillations, Elizabeth A. Kamminga

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

This project explores how the human brain exhibits complex patterns of neural activity that interact through oscillatory dynamics controlling cognition and emotion. The main question is whether awe can be understood as a change in how neural oscillators interact, and if so, whether this framework can be applied to other emotions. This project was inspired after taking the Awe and Curiosity course at the Davidson Honors College, where awe was explored as a universal but under-researched emotion that can alter how the brain perceives and interprets the world. To examine this, case studies and experiments were reviewed on the psychological …

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 …

Representation And Placement Of Emerging Bilinguals In Gifted Education, Morgan Bailey

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

The underrepresentation of bilingual students and students from diverse cultural backgrounds in gifted education programs remains a persistent equity concern in the United States. As of 2021, 10% of public school students were emerging bilinguals, yet they comprise only 3% of gifted education classrooms (Serrano, 2019). This disparity highlights systemic barriers in identification and placement practices.

This presentation will provide a comprehensive review of research on gifted identification practices and their impact on emerging bilinguals, with the goal of promoting increased equity in education and improving understanding of how better practices can be implemented.

Sources include peer-reviewed journal articles from …

Community Contribution As A Pathway To Purpose: Activism And Role Modeling In Lgbtq+ Adults, Emily M. Wahl

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Community resilience has been identified as a protective factor against the negative psychological effects of minority stress among LGBTQ+ individuals (Meyer, 2015; Ilac, 2025; McConnell et al., 2018). Less research has examined how community resilience factors contribute to positive psychological functioning. Rather than solely focusing on buffering distress, the present study explores whether engagement in activism and identification of one’s self as a role model may help transform faced adversity into a sense of life purpose.

This analysis used survey data originally collected to examine multiple community resilience factors in LGBTQ+ adults (N=420). Participants ranged from age 18 to 75 …

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 …

Mental Healthcare Providers' Clinical Approaches To Climate Concerns, Lauren N. Schulte

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Previous research has established that climate change poses a serious threat to physical and mental health. Increases in climate change-related mental health concerns, including traumatic stress, anxiety, and depression, highlight the need for climate-aware approaches to mental healthcare. Many mental healthcare providers already report encountering clients with climate-related concerns, but few feel adequately prepared to support these clients. Additionally, providers have expressed the need for further information, training, treatment, and assessment options to assist individuals with climate-related mental health concerns. The present study aims to investigate existing therapeutic strategies used to address climate-related concerns in clinical settings. Data collection from …

Montana Kaimin, April 16, 2026, Students Of The University Of Montana, Missoula

Montana Kaimin, 1898-present

Student newspaper of the University of Montana, Missoula.

Minutes From The April 2, 2026 Meeting Of The University Of Montana Faculty, University Of Montana--Missoula. Faculty

University of Montana Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes

Meeting minutes from the April 2, 2026 meeting of the University of Montana faculty.

Montana Kaimin, April 2, 2026, Students Of The University Of Montana, Missoula

Montana Kaimin, 1898-present

Student newspaper of the University of Montana, Missoula.

The Role Of The Context For Pupils’ Choice Of Solution Strategies And Representations When Working With Combinatorial Problems, Frode Rønning

The Mathematics Enthusiast

This paper reports on a study based on two classroom sessions in a Norwegian school where pupils in Grade 4 (age 9) worked on two combinatorial problems. Data were collected by video-recording two pairs of pupils collaborating in each session, as well as a whole-class session at the end of the second session. The pupils’ written work during the sessions was also collected as data. The classroom sessions were designed based on principles from the Theory of Didactical Situations. Data were analysed using a dialogical approach and based on theory for multiplicative structures and semiotic representations. The study shows that …

Learning About Human Mathematical Dialogue From Dialogue With Chatbots: Babbling, Gargling And Funnelling, Ingólfur Gíslason

The Mathematics Enthusiast

In this study, I explore mathematics teaching-learning dialogues between preservice teachers and a chatbot (ChatGPT) with the aim of increasing our understanding of human mathematics teaching-learning dialogues. The dialogues contain wrong solutions (as determined by the preservice teachers), and the teachers try to get the chatbot to reconsider its answers without giving away the answer. The chatbot’s solution attempts are interpreted through and against the concepts of babbling (imperfect efforts to express thought) and gargling (imitation of surface form of expressions), and the dialogues are analyzed by considering whether and how the preservice teacher and the chatbot reach joint attention. …

Trialoguing About Engaging With Communication And Language In Relation To Mathematics And Its Education, David Pimm, Jenni Ingram, Núria Planas

The Mathematics Enthusiast

This is our introduction to the series of eight articles in the first part of the double special issue on the challenges of ‘Engaging with communication and language in relation to mathematics and its education’. In the current article, we think together about ‘communication’ and ‘language’ in relation to mathematics and its education, by turning to reflections and examples from our decades of work as researchers and teacher educators, and in response to the articles in this first part. Following the preamble, most reflections are presented in the form of a fresh trialogue, through which we share some perspectives and …