Digital Commons Network^™

Barriers To Outdoor Recreation For Marginalized Communities At The University Of Mt, Beatrix A. Frissell

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Exclusion from outdoor recreation reflects legacies of oppression of marginalized communities and makes access to the outdoors not equally available. In the United States approximately 38% of Black Americans and 48% of Hispanic Americans participated in outdoor recreation in 2020. This is compared to 55% participation among Caucasian Americans. Many other intersecting identities are actively excluded, including people with disabilities, fat populations, and members of the LGBTQIA2S+ community; furthermore, class-based hierarchies are shown through the restricted outdoor access of low income populations.

While numerous studies show lack of diversity in outdoor recreation, there has been little to no research conducted …

Alienation As A Global And Local Issue, Sequoia Gregorich, Cole Mathews, Daniel Ryan, Alexandra Berna, Olivia Kalvig

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Title: Alienation as a Global and Local Issue

Purpose: We asked questions to determine if alienation is an issue that needs to be addressed and how to address it. With the help of our University of Montana campus and experts, we now better understand alienation as it exists and doesn’t exist on campus.

Methods: We analyzed data and responses collected from a survey advertised across campus, as well as conducted interviews with students and experts in the field of alienation.

Significance: Provide valuable information and data to empower our campus community to live in such a way that eradicates and …

Preparing The Younger Generation For A Better Future With Wildfire, Elizabeth Riddle, Rory Mclaverty, Katherine Wendeln, Lillian Hollibaugh, Mackenzie Weiland, Aubrey Frissell

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

The frequency and severity of wildfires have increased around the world within the last two decades due to shifts in land management practices, climate change, and other factors. The effects of these fires have led to an inaccurate public perception of wildfire as a whole. This overly-simplified, vilified perception of wildfire obscures the role that it has played in shaping landscapes for thousands of years, and how indigenous peoples have applied fire to take care of landscapes.

We sought to empower future generations to better coexist with wildfire by changing this public perception through a children’s book. Over the course …

Brave Spaces, Radical Openness, And Youth Loneliness, Riese Munoz, Mariah Thomas, Taylor Curry

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Brave Spaces, Radical Openness, and Youth Loneliness

Global Leadership Initiative

Globally, young adults face potentially isolating social pressures. Today’s youth feel frequent anxieties about fitting in, finding success, and uncertainty of the future, and these anxieties are exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Young adults worldwide report feeling more anxious, more depressed, and more lonely. However, deliberate community building, the creation of art and writing as a means of self-exploration, and the creation of spaces designed for acceptance fend off these feelings of loneliness. How might we acknowledge social pressures on young adults and create a brave space to build community …

Medical Waste Awareness Day, Lauren Tucker, Wyatt Walters, Savannah Withrow, Kayla Leavell

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Healthcare facilities are generators of large amounts of waste, leading to global environmental impacts that negatively impact both human health and natural systems around the world. Medical waste is usually defined quite broadly, encompassing any waste generated by a healthcare facility. Increasing use of single use plastic and single use devices has led to a large uptick in medical waste globally, especially since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Globally, 4.7 billion tons of healthcare waste is produced each year, which is approximately thirty-three pounds per hospital bed per day (Overstreet, 2021). The generation and disposal of this waste leads …

Stories From The Clark Fork: Empowering Community Watershed Advocacy Through A Multi-Media Film Project, Kelsey Stansberry, Caroline Kane, William Smyth, Wyatt Day, Melissa Brand

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

The study explores the relational character of human interactions with the Clark Fork watershed in order to better understand the watershed’s contemporary issues, history, and to provide recommendations towards improving human-river interactions. Through a multi-media film project, we highlight the voices of those whose lives have been influenced by the Clark Fork watershed and analyze a collection of writings about the Clark Fork watershed from the past two centuries. Our project is an experiment in ecocentric storytelling (Erten 2008); we aim to support greater local awareness of the Clark Fork’s importance and contribute to community knowledge about opportunities to support …

The Beauty And The Beast: Beauty And Misfortune In Maria De Zayas's Novellas, Clarise Ann Sviatko

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

The age-old question of what beauty is has been a common discussion among artists and philosophers for centuries. Maria de Zayas, a 17^th century Spanish novelist mostly known for her novella collections Amorous and Exemplary Novels (1637) and The Disenchantments of Love (1647), which describe violence and deception of beautiful women at the hands of men. In this paper, I will explore Zayas’s motives for all the female heroines being beautiful and how this all relates to the connection between beauty and misfortune that is seen throughout her works as well as many other pieces of literature. By comparing …

Indaziflam Herbicide Application For Invasive Annual Grass Population Control On Montana Prairie, Sonia Theresa Bornemann

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Herbicide is a widely used tool to control populations of invasive annual grass species outcompeting native species. However, because herbicides often have negative side effects on the environment like water supply contamination, it is important to use the least amount of herbicide possible while still killing the target species. Indaziflam is a relatively new herbicide on the market that is already widely used. This study will answer the question of whether the herbicide Indaziflam is still effective at decreasing the amount of annual invasive grasses by 90% when sprayed at lower concentrations than recommended. Invasive annual grasses North African grass( …

The Benefits Of School-Community Partnership In Indigenous Communities, Caitlin Carvalho, Susie Michalek, Tori Horton

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Research has shown that a more effective learning environment is established for students to thrive when there is a collaborative relationship between schools and community members (i.e., administrators, teachers, parents, community representatives). One author defines this type of relationship by saying that, “using k’é as a framework to discuss community and school community partnerships...community is an ongoing system of recognizing and maintaining harmonious relationships that can support the youth through partnerships based on relationships” (Kulago, 73). K’é encapsulates the complexity of relationships and how partnerships can be beneficial towards the members of the community. Kulago also discusses how these relationships …

Mitochondrial Dna Diversity In West Mexico, Emma Zoiss

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Despite attempts at systematic research, we are still missing critical information about pre-Hispanic populations in the Aztatlán region, one of the least studied regions of pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica. The Aztatlán region is located in West Mexico and extends from Sinola to Jalisco, including regions in Durango, Michoacán, and Zacatecas. This research will focus on those individuals recovered from an archeological site referred to as Tizapán el Alto, located in the highlands of the Lake Chapala Basin. The integration of genetics into our understanding of the past affords a better understanding of the archaeological record, and broader context of the populations of …

"Wilderness And Civilization": What's Your Story?, Wyatt Bridger Day

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Technological and political tactics to promote sustainable ways of living are lacking while human behaviors continue to threaten the ability for Earth’s ecosystems to support humans and nonhumans. It is essential to build a new culture that is ecologically sustainable. This study - one part case study and one part memoir - explores what it takes to shift perspectives. This research locates the methods and characteristics that can be impactful in promoting sustainable attitudes in higher education students. This research helps develop an understanding of and framework for effectively promoting sustainable perspective change within higher education. I observe the Wilderness …

More Than A Mousetrap: Conformational Differences In Fxr Agonism As Seen By Fluorine Nmr, Reece Stephen Lott, Andrew Voss, Michelle Nemetchek, Pilar Castroespantaleon

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Farnesoid X receptor (FXR), also known as bile acid receptor, is a metabolic nuclear receptor protein that controls gene expression in glucose, amino acid, lipid, and bile acid metabolism. FXR is a transcription factor that alters gene expression upon ligand binding through recruitment of coregulators. It is a primary drug target for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and primary biliary cholangitis (PBC). FXR binds a wide variety of ligands, many of which do not resemble the endogenous bile acids that FXR binds, suggesting that it can be activated by a wide variety of ligand scaffolds. However, the effect ligands have on the …

Investigating Naïve Stem Cell Maintenance With Fbf Mutants In C. Elegans Germline, Deanna E. Cuello

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Stem cells are essential to establish tissue via proliferation and differentiation. We study stem cells of Caenorhabditis elegans germline as a model for development and differentiation. The distal tip cell (DTC) houses the stem cell niche which contains ~200 mitotically dividing cells. As germline stem cells move proximally the cells begin to differentiate while entering meiotic division (Austin and Kimble, 1987). Amongst the stem cells, previous research distinguished two populations, those that are naïve stem cells and others that are committed to differentiation (Cinquin, et. al, 2010).

We study stem cell regulation by two RNA-binding proteins, FBF-1 and FBF-2 that …

Ph Regulator Ae2 Is Important For Brain Development, Celia Elizabeth Keil

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) is a model organism that undergoes many of the same processes for brain development that humans do. Work from our lab finds that pH regulation is important for brain development. The pH regulator, Ae2, is present at the cell membrane where it expels bicarbonate ions in exchange for chloride. Importantly, humans also express ae2 (SLCA4). It is not a well-studied protein, but low levels of SLCA4 are hypothesized to be associated with primary biliary cirrhosis. In other organ systems, the Ae2 exchanger was found to be important for development. Thus, we aimed to determine if …

Understanding Dosage In Speech Sound Disorder Therapy, Pyper Trumble, Megan Andersen

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Speech-language pathologists provide speech and language therapy to people who have difficulty communicating their wants, needs, or ideas. Within therapy there are many unknown variables that determine its effectiveness, especially when working with preschool children who have difficulties saying speech sounds. To develop a better understanding of these unknown variables, the current research explored dosage. Dosage is the number of prompts that a clinician gives to a child to say a target sound within one treatment session (Farquharson et al, 2022). Dosage is an under studied element within therapy with potentially large effects on the amount and rate of progress …

Women Of Missoula: Menstruation And Refugees, Bella Spencer, Samantha Boutte, Emmily Valencia, Brooklyn Grubbs, Holly Sudol

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Abstract

Stigmatization, lack of accessible menstrual products, and an overall misconstrued sense of menstruation impact menstruators at a disproportionate rate. When diving into the literature, we found that refugee women not only faced stigmas and a lack of access to menstrual products and education, but also ran into cultural barriers and differing attitudes on menstruation. To address this issue, we formulated the idea of a menstrual drive. Instead of focusing on refugee menstruators as a whole, our focus will be the refugee population in Missoula, MT. We recognize that the stigmatization of menstruation is an ongoing global issue that affects …

The Role Of Serca In Neural Development And Brain Tumors, Hannah Madison Christman

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Ion channels are essential for neural function, playing a variety of necessary cellular roles including excitability, maintaining ion gradients, and volume control. While the role of ion channels in neurons is well-defined, much less is known about excitability in neural progenitor cells. Recently it has emerged that these neural precursors may be affected by channelopathies, indicating a critical role of ion channels in neural development. Using the model system Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly), I investigated the role of the ion channel SERCA (sarco/endoplasmic reticulum Ca²⁺ATPase). SERCA is a vital calcium ion pump located on the wall of the …

Bear Smart Um: Creating A University Campus Safe For Bears And Students, Kailie Blanco, Emily Cook, Ridley Hudson, Nieset Lefevre, Ellie Lowe, Josh Moyar, Kailie Todd

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Bear Smart UM: Creating a University Campus Safe for Bears and Students

Biological Sciences

Universities nestled in the mountains across the globe like the University of Montana may find themselves dealing with human-bear conflict while lacking the proper resources to approach management. At UM, there has been an increase in bear activity over the past five years and it is expected to continue to increase. Developing a plan to prevent bear activity on campus is often costly, time-consuming, and tedious. Our student group’s solution includes two intertwining parts: A bear management plan and educational outreach surrounding bear safety. The recommendations …

Community Outdoor Recreation Realization Pilot Review And Recommendations, Grace Friend, Ashley Castro, Jazzelle Elias, Lisa Spang, Grace Walhus

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Community Outdoor Recreation Realization, or CORR, was created through collaboration of Montana Access Project, University of Montana, and the US Forest Service. This program is intended to help rural Montana communities realize recreation assets and plan for their development. A pilot of the CORR process was implemented in two Montana communities: White Sulphur Springs and Columbia Falls. Researchers interviewed CORR facilitators and community members who participated in the CORR process. From the feedback received in these qualitative interviews, researchers presented recommendations to improve the CORR process and created an initial toolkit to be used by future communities. This report covers …

Effects Of Cultural Matching And Identity Safety: An Examination Of Indigenous Student’S School Experiences, Tori Horton, Susie Michalek, Caitlin Carvalho

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Cultural matching refers to the reflection of one’s own culture in day-to-day life, which is critical for nurturing one’s sense of acceptance and identity in the world (Rip et.al., 2020). Identity safety is when one’s social identity is welcomed and valued rather than viewed as a barrier to success The presence of cultural matching and identity safety is important in educational settings throughout childhood and adolescence, as both are crucial to students’ overall well-being and identity. Opportunities to express one’s culture in the classroom is essential for a sense of belonging and safety (Steele & Cohen-Vargas, 2013); however, Indigenous students …

Addressing Eco-Emotions: An Initiative For Coping With Climate-Induced Emotional Distress, Kaitlyn M. Blume, Cassie Berg, Sylvia Wood, Jack Person, Sylvia Luceno, Alis Auch, Siena Cysewski

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

"Addressing Eco-Emotions: An Initiative for Coping with Climate-Induced Emotional Distress" is a research project aimed at tackling the growing challenge of eco-emotions, such as eco-grief or eco-anxiety, brought about by the impacts of climate change. Despite the complex and widespread nature of the issue, and the limited training of the group in the field of mental health, the goal is to raise awareness about eco-emotions and provide a supportive space for individuals to process their feelings related to the climate crisis. Through hosting a week-long series of events, each tailored to a different coping mechanism for eco-emotions, the project aims …

Umcur 2023 Program Pdf

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

This program includes the schedule for oral presentations and posters.

Montana Kaimin, April 20, 2023, Students Of The University Of Montana, Missoula

Montana Kaimin, 1898-present

Student newspaper of the University of Montana, Missoula.

Gli Weekly, April 18, 2023, Franke Global Leadership Initiative

GLI Weekly

Study Abroad Mixer -- GLI Student Advisory Board -- IDS Career Development Webinar: "Addressing Local Needs in the Development Sector: A Montana-Syria Connection" with Sam Sweeney -- UMEM Student Group -- Climate Change Symposium

Browning Symposium Opening Comments, Chief Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton

Montana Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Constitutional Politics Of Abortion Policy After Dobbs: State Courts, Constitutions, And Lawmaking, John Dinan

Montana Law Review

No abstract provided.

Significant Montana Cases, Moriah Williams, Zachary Stauffer

Montana Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Unique Check On Government Power: Reconceptualizing The Right To Know As A Democracy-Promoting Provision, Constance Van Kley

Montana Law Review

No abstract provided.

What's Past Is Prologue, Marc Racicot

Montana Law Review

No abstract provided.

Toward The End Of The Last Wave: The Montana State Constitution At Fifty, Robert F. Williams

Montana Law Review

No abstract provided.