Digital Commons Network^™

Thtr 106.01: Theatre Production I - Run Crew, Jason J. Mcdaniel

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2021-2025

No abstract provided.

Thtr 206.01: Theatre Production Ii - Run Crew, Jason J. Mcdaniel

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2021-2025

No abstract provided.

Thtr 264.01: Advanced Electrics, Michael D. Post

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2021-2025

No abstract provided.

Csci 591.02: Advanced Software Engineering, Zedong Peng

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2021-2025

No abstract provided.

Lit 246l.01: Science Fiction, Rob Browning

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2021-2025

No abstract provided.

Csci 591.04: Operating Systems, Ahn Nguyen

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2021-2025

No abstract provided.

Lit 110l.02: Introduction To Literature, Rob Browning

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2021-2025

No abstract provided.

Dst 231.01: Fuel Systems, Lawrence S. Reinholz

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2021-2025

No abstract provided.

Its 222.50: Enterprise Security, Jeffrey J. Arends

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2021-2025

No abstract provided.

Montana Kaimin, January 30, 2025, Students Of The University Of Montana, Missoula

Montana Kaimin, 1898-present

Student newspaper of the University of Montana, Missoula.

Montana Kaimin, January 23, 2025, Students Of The University Of Montana, Missoula

Montana Kaimin, 1898-present

Student newspaper of the University of Montana, Missoula.

Vision 2025

Vision

No abstract provided.

“Hope Is The Only Thing We Have”: Same-Sex Marriage In Hindu Traditions And The Modern Indian Legal System, Ruth Vanita

Global Humanities and Religions Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Capstone Research On Missoula, Montana, Rental Market Impact On Undergraduate Students’ Well-Being, Alysa Curry, Aidan Rasmussen, Halston Witt, Tristan Clifford, Sadie Arnold

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

This research project examined how rental housing challenges in Missoula, Montana, impacts the well-being of students at the University of Montana and Missoula College. With rising rent prices and limited affordable housing options, students face growing stress related to finances, housing stability, and academic life. To explore this, we created a survey asking students about their living situations, financial pressures, social support, and mental health. We calculated a Well-being Score based on housing stress, social support, and future confidence to identify the biggest factors affecting student well-being.

Despite facing challenges in distributing the survey and gathering responses, the results revealed …

An Interdisciplinary Unit For Today's Learners: Integrating Science, English, And Art To Teach Climate Change, Sydney M. Ruby-Pasternak

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

As today’s global challenges grow increasingly complex, interdisciplinary thinking is essential for students to make meaningful connections in their learning. Despite this need, high school students continue to have educational experiences in one-subject classrooms, often preventing them from engaging in integrated learning models. This professional project addresses the gap by developing a five-week interdisciplinary unit titled Brushstrokes of Change, which combines climate science with English language arts and visual arts to amplify student understanding of climate change concepts. This unit was designed for grades 9-12 and prioritizes 21^st-Century skills in critical thinking, communication, creativity, and collaboration through …

Climate Goodbyes: Reporting On Loss, Change And The Human Response In Montana, Madeline Jorden

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This portfolio explores how climate-driven environmental change intersects with long-standing tensions over natural resource management, tribal sovereignty, and rural identity in Montana. It consists of three stories: a historically low water year at Flathead Lake that intensified disputes between tribal dam operators and non-tribal waterfront homeowners; the first confirmed presence of invasive smallmouth bass in the Bitterroot River, signaling warming stream conditions and ecological disruption; and a political narrative from Colstrip, where coal industry workers cling to promises of revival amid economic and regulatory decline. Each piece illustrates how climate change acts not only as an environmental force but also …

Ecology-Driven Machine Learning For Predicting Risk Of Spread For Aquatic Invasive Species., Leif Eric Howard

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Effective management of aquatic invasive species (AIS) requires predictive tools that leverage environmental and ecological data to forecast spread into uninvaded areas. However, species distribution models (SDMs) often struggle to capture key invasion processes such as dispersal, propagule pressure, and biotic interactions. This thesis integrates ecological, dispersal, and environmental predictors within a machine learning framework to enhance AIS risk prediction and model transferability across space.

In Chapter 2, 61 novel predictors were developed for 2,203 Minnesota lakes to model zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) occurrence, incorporating variables related to propagule pressure (e.g., boat visitation), community composition (e.g., fish species …

Restoring Rattlesnake Creek: Using Citizen Science To Assess The Ecological And Morphological Impacts Of Dam Removal In Western Montana, Bethany Blakey

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

As dam removals increase in frequency across the U.S., most research has focused on the impact of larger dam removals, despite the removal of small dams being much more common. Given the hundreds of small dams in Montana, this research uses citizen science data collected over eight years spanning before and after a 2020 small dam removal in Rattlesnake Creek, Montana, to investigate impact on stream ecology and morphology. We analyzed pebble count grain size distributions and aquatic macroinvertebrate biotic indices from 2017 to 2024 to assess changes in sediment transport and macroinvertebrate population as well as evaluate the efficacy …

The Relationship Between Deans’ Transformational Leadership And Teachers’ Work Engagement In Higher Education Institutions In Inner Mongolia, China, Lingbo Han

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study was designed to investigate the relationship between deans’ transformational leadership and teachers’ work engagement in Chinese higher education institutions, with a specific focus on Inner Mongolia. Against the backdrop of China’s ongoing higher education reforms and increasing emphasis on faculty development, understanding how leadership styles influence teacher motivation has become crucial for institutional advancement.

A quantitative, non-experimental causal-comparative design was employed to examine how four dimensions of transformational leadership - charisma, vision, individualized consideration, and intellectual stimulation - relate to teachers’ work engagement. Using multiple analytical approaches including correlation analysis, regression modeling, and comparative statistical tests, the study …

Integrating Spatial Statistics And Decision Analysis For Wildfire Risk Mapping: A Case Study Of The Kootenai National Forest, Elijah Kordieh Mensah

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Wildfire risk in the western United States has intensified in recent decades due to intersecting forces of climate change, systematic fire suppression, and expanding human settlement in fire-prone regions. This thesis presents a comprehensive spatial assessment of wildfire risk in the Kootenai National Forest (KNF) and its surrounding landscape in northwestern Montana, integrating wildfire likelihood, suppression difficulty, evacuation vulnerability, and building exposure into a unified spatial statistical framework. The research addresses a critical gap in spatial wildfire risk modeling by focusing on the need to assess fire threats in relation to local operational constraints and community vulnerabilities.
Drawing on geospatial …

Increasing Nature Connection And Decreasing Climate Change Distress In An Indigenous Population: The Development Of A Traditional Ecological Knowledge Intervention Framework, Olathe Antonio

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Research suggests that nature connection is positively correlated with pro-environmental behaviors, concern for the climate, general wellbeing, and subjective levels of climate change distress. Few research studies have examined how to increase nature connectedness without increasing psychological distress. Such research is especially important for those who are disproportionately affected by climate change such as Indigenous Peoples. To address this discrepancy, we developed a culturally-grounded psychological intervention framework based in traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) for Indigenous populations and offered an adapted example for a Navajo population. The intervention was created in collaboration with TEK experts to conceptualize key psychologically-relevant TEK principles, …

Fuel Break Effectiveness – Determining Ignition Thresholds Based On Radiant And Convective Energy Transfer, Daniel Michael Jimenez

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Extended fire seasons and increased fire severity in and around protected ecosystems and the wildland urban interface (WUI) will increasingly challenge fire suppression, impact communities and threaten property and resources. Addressing this growing threat through proactive management solutions that protect values at risk requires improved fire behavior prediction capabilities.

Here I explore the radiant and convective energy transfer mechanisms of fire ignition or extinction associated with fuel discontinuities. Through a series of wind tunnel experiments I identified energy and ignition thresholds unique to changing wind speed, fuel moistures and fire line characteristics, and developed a multi-variate linear regression model to …

Indigenous Placemaking, Colonial Placetaking, And Indigenous Data Sovereignty: Implications Of Environmental Data Collection On Tribal Lands, Paige Nizhonii Kya'iyo Johnson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This project investigates how Indigenous Data Sovereignty protocols apply to environmental data collected on Tribal lands by federal and state entities. The 2011 and 2014 flooding of the Missouri River and a need for further soil moisture data led the United States Army Corps of Engineers Omaha District to implement a Mesonet weather station monitoring network across the Upper Missouri River Basin (UMRB). Historically, the Army Corps of Engineers has not included Indigenous perspectives into their decision-making, and this has caused Tribes to be distrustful of partnerships with them. The UMRB monitoring network will span across the Upper Missouri River …

2025-2026 Course Catalog, University Of Montana--Missoula. Office Of The Registrar

University of Montana Course Catalogs, 1895-2024

An annual catalog of courses and course descriptions offered at the University of Montana.

Water Scarcity In The Bitterroot Valley, August W. Guenthner

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Water scarcity in Montana’s Bitterroot Valley is an increasingly urgent issue, driven by the dual pressures of climate change and rapid population growth. Since 1970, the Bitterroot has been the fastest-growing region in the state, with much of this growth occurring in low-density rural subdivisions that rely on individual groundwater wells. Simultaneously, climate change has reduced snowpack levels, leading to diminished springtime recharge of surface water systems that are vital for both ecological and agricultural needs. For the Valley’s agricultural producers, adapting to decreasing water availability will be essential for sustaining their operations. This research project was designed to better …

Structural Optimization And Stability Enhancement Of Uba(2) And Ntl9 Using The Computational Tool: Emcast, Bahar Ghazi Esfahani

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study enhances protein stability prediction by refining EmCAST (Empirical C-Alpha Stability Tool), a computational tool used to identify stabilizing mutations in protein domains. We applied EmCAST to two model proteins: the α-helical ubiquitin-associated domain 2 (UBA(2)) and the α/β N-terminal domain of ribosomal protein L9 (NTL9). Protein stability is critical for proper function, and mutations can lead to misfolding and disease. To validate EmCAST’s predictions, guanidine hydrochloride-induced denaturation was monitored using circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy for both wild-type and mutant variants. Results guided refinements to EmCAST’s algorithm, incorporating new experimental datasets to improve accuracy. Additionally, we examined the assumption …

Modeling Neighborhoods As Fuel For Wildfire, Bryce Alan Young

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Wildfire models drive billions of dollars in risk mitigation efforts. However, the modeling community currently lacks a representative fuelscape on which to base simulations of fire spread in the built environment and the wildland-urban interface (WUI) where vegetation and structures act together as fuel for wildfire. This thesis advances wildfire risk modeling by addressing the underdeveloped representation of the built environment in existing frameworks. By identifying inconsistencies in how structure and defensible space features are defined and used across empirical studies, predictive indices, and fire spread models, this research lays the groundwork for standardized modeling approaches and feature selection (Chapter …

Fluvial Geomorphic Resilience In Alluvial Mountain Rivers To Large Floods, Riley T. Henson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

As hydroclimatic extremes intensify, large floods increasingly reshape river systems and threaten infrastructure. Fluvial geomorphic resilience, defined as a river’s resistance to, and recovery from, flood disturbance, offers a useful framework for understanding river response and guiding management. We assessed resilience at two scales: (1) a detailed geomorphic and hydraulic analysis of the June 2022 flood on East Rosebud Creek, Montana, which was part of broader flooding in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, and (2) a broad-scale comparison of 12 flood-impacted alluvial mountain rivers across North America and Europe. We quantified resistance using active channel width ratios (W_R) and …

Alive For The Wake, Anna Kate Powell

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In the year 2046, bacteria strain B. bibitor has rendered all petroleum hydrocarbon compounds unrefinable. Paramedic Amanda Bailey finds hope in the resilience of humanity but struggles when she learns the powers that be would rather concentrate their efforts on fighting B. bibitor—restoring infected hydrocarbons to their previously refinable (and profitable) nature—rather than investing in already-developed clean firm energies and renewable material manufacture.

Eros And The Sublime: Tools For Reaching Toward An Altered Ecological Consciousness, Aineka Carlson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis explores connections between the Kantian sublime and Anne Carson’s ideas regarding “eros.” Since Kant’s Critique of Judgement was published in 1790, the Kantian sublime has grown in popularity and been utilized by theorists and creative writers alike. While the Kantian sublime is often associated with nature in popular culture, there are certain egocentric and phallocentric elements of this mode of thinking that might inhibit a biocentric mindset. Through a character study of Oryx from Margaret Atwood’s novel Oryx and Crake, this thesis draws relations between the subjugation of women, nature, and the ways in which the popularized …