Digital Commons Network^™

Defining How Adrenergic Receptors May Translate Gut Nutrient Signals ​ Into Starvation Resistance And Fecundity, Calvin W. Orser

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Calvin Orser1, Emily Gagliano, Sarah J Certel2

Research on the gut-brain axis is a major focus in biology because the gastrointestinal tract and central nervous system communicate continuously. This bidirectional signaling helps organisms maintain homeostasis by relaying information from the gut to the brain and shaping innate behaviors such as feeding and reproduction. The adrenergic, “fight or flight”, system has emerged as a key component of this signaling. Adrenergic receptors are expressed in multiple gut epithelial cell types, including enteroendocrine cells (EEs), the main secretory cells of the gut, which synthesize and release the neuropeptides that can communicate with the …

Mlali Rehabilitation Centre Fundraising Initiative, Benjamin T. Rainford

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

This capstone is a qualitative analysis of a fundraising campaign I am conducting to purchase equipment for Mlali Rehabilitation Centre in Tanzania. The Centre serves 75 children with severe physical disabilities. After volunteering twice, Director Br. Gaudence Aikaruwa asked me to help find external funding. They operate on little support, and their 23-year-old tractor is failing, posing a serious food security threat.

I have since encountered significant obstacles. I found grantmakers were mostly invite-only and generally hesitant to support a large capital investment. I pivoted to crowdfunding, which was more promising but a logistical nightmare. I could neither receive money …

Can Ipad Lidar Measure Bark Rugosity?, Cooper E. Littell, Anna C. Ross, Sharon M. Hood, Kimberley T. Davis, Jonathan L. Batchelor, C. Alina Cansler

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Bark is one of the primary tree traits associated with fire resistance. Current research has focused on bark thickness as the dominant structural trait contributing to resistance, yet bark rugosity (e.g. roughness) has also been shown to influence the transfer of heat from fire into the living tissues of trees. Bark rugosity is a challenging trait to quantify, often requiring destructive measuring techniques. We applied the equation developed by Shearman and Varner (2021), which defines rugosity as the ratio of the actual cross-section compared to the area of a convex hull; higher values indicate higher rugosity. We compared contemporary, destructive …

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. …

Vestibular-Ocular Reflex Testing Using Commercially Available Mixed-Reality Headsets, Silas W. Acker, Matt Bundle Phd

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

The Vestibulo-Ocular Reflex (VOR) stabilizes vision during head movements through a coordinated interaction between the vestibular apparatus’s ability to sense position and acceleration and the ocular muscles that move the eye. Vestibular hypofunction can cause dizziness, blurred vision, create the perception of movement in stationary objects, dizziness, and nystagmus, a condition where the eye moves involuntarily. The presence and extent of dysfunction are typically assessed by evaluating the movement of the eye during tracking and target acquisition tasks. In addition to dedicated clinical equipment specifically designed to track eye movements, currently available mixed reality headsets are also able to perform …

Hydrogen Bond Enhanced Halogen Bonding Anion Transporters, Tony J. Shelton

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Cells use ion transport pathways for osmosis, electrochemical gradients, signaling, and programed cell death. When natural ion channels fail, synthetic alternatives are needed. This project explores the ability of synthetic “transporter” molecules to bind anions (negatively charged atoms) and carry them across lipid bilayers. Preliminary results have shown Hydrogen Bond enhanced Halogen Bonding (HBeXBing) molecules can facilitate anion transport more efficiently than known XBing anion transporter pentafluoroiodobenzene (PFIB). The hydrophobic functional groups clearly increase transport rates of these molecules. We expect that EC50 and Hill coefficients will indicate highly active transporters. Currently the liposome procedure is being optimized to achieve …

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 …

Collegiate Volleyball Athletes Are Able To Sustain A Greater Level Of Performance Due To Many Recovery Practices., Caleb Rockwood

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Collegiate volleyball demands high-intensity physical and mental work, however athletes often struggle to maintain the recovery processes necessary to sustain a high level performance throughout a season. This project investigates how consistent recovery practices, specifically sleep, nutritional habits, and mobility, influence the ability of college volleyball players to maintain high level performance. The central problem I’ve examined is the trap, where the dual pressures of academic responsibilities and athletic commitments lead to sleep loss and nutritional deficits according to literature.

The ultimate question for this research is whether a consistent recovery routine can mitigate the typical mid-season performance decline often …

Analyzing The Slurm Scheduler Fairshare Scoring, Nathaniel T. Adams

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Slurm is a workload manager widely used in university research clusters and High-Performance Computing (HPC) environments to allocate computational resources in multi-user systems. Its primary function is to schedule submitted jobs efficiently while ensuring equitable access to shared infrastructure. To achieve this, Slurm assigns each job a priority score, which is influenced by several factors, including a “Fairshare” score. Fairshare is designed to balance resource usage over time by prioritizing users or groups who have consumed fewer computational resources relative to their allocated share. There are two algorithms that make up Fairshare, there is the classic algorithm that was previously …

Impacts Of Air Pollution On Park And Fitness Area Visitation Across The Contiguous United States., Tara C. Brown, Vince Caristo, Vick Zuzia, Sophie Morris

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Air pollution, especially from wildfire smoke, has become an increasing threat to human health as drier, hotter conditions drive more frequent and larger wildfires across the United States. To reduce personal health risks, guidelines suggest staying indoors and limiting physical exertion during days with poor air quality. However, limiting physical exertion can also cause negative health outcomes, especially as the number of poor air quality days continues to increase. Quantifying when action is and isn’t taken to limit exposure is an important prerequisite for interventions designed to mitigate the negative health consequences of air pollution from wildfires, and the economic …

Missing Puzzle Piece: Adding Novel Locations To The Map Of Synechococcus A/B Diversity, Max Q. Berndt

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Synechococcus A/B (SynAB) cyanobacteria are found only in North America and include the most thermotolerant photosynthetic organisms on Earth.  As thermophiles, SynAB have intriguing implications for understanding the process of thermal adaptation with potential insights for how organisms may respond to our steadily warming climate. This study aims to compare the genomes and thermotolerance of three newly isolated strains of SynAB from previously unstudied Idaho hot springs. I will first place the isolated strains into an existing phylogenetic tree of SynAB comprised of samples from Oregon and Yellowstone National Park. Next, I will use growth …

Indirect Effects Of Climate Variation On Pollinator Foraging Behavior, Ainsley Jajack

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Many species exhibit intraspecific trait variation in response to climactic factors. When those traits mediate species interactions, the outcome of the interaction may change as a result.  For example, floral color and size have been demonstrated to change in response to temperature, precipitation, and soil moisture. Additionally, floral color and size are important influences on pollinator foraging behavior, which can in turn directly impact plant reproductive fitness. As western Montana’s climate patterns trend towards increased seasonal highs and fewer frost/freeze days, it is important to understand how floral traits may shift under changing conditions, and how those shifts may impact …

Long-Term Banding And Encounter Patterns Of Cinnamon Teal Banded In Utah (1960-2025), Gracie A. Henrie

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Utah is a valuable breeding and nesting ground for a number of waterfowl species, largely because of the Great Salt Lake, which supports over 400,000 acres of wetland habitat (Ducks Unlimited, n.d.). The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources manages 24 wildlife management areas (WMAs) with the purpose of creating high quality waterfowl habitat in these wetlands that can be enjoyed by hunters, recreators, and birds alike (Wildlife/Waterfowl Management Areas (WMAs), 2025). Effective management is supported with an understanding of the movement and demographic patterns of the waterfowl species the WMAs are designed to support. Bird banding is one tool managers …

Differences In Flowering Time And Pollen Deposition For Female And Hermaphroditic Alpine Cushion Plants, Jared Westbrook

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Gynodioecious plants have female and hermaphroditic individuals, but reproductive success varies between the sexes due to differences in reproductive traits. Females allocate more resources to seed production, whereas hermaphrodites allocate resources to both pollen and seed production. Female flowers may also have longer styles and longer stigma papillae, providing a larger surface for pollen receipt compared to hermaphrodites. Although females in gynodioecious systems may have reproductive advantages, it remains unclear whether this advantage is reflected in patterns of pollen deposition. Pollen deposition is also affected by the amount of flowering overlap, or synchrony, with co-flowering neighbors. Increased synchrony with conspecific …

Impact Of Physician Assistant/Associate Integration On Healthcare Quality, Accessibility, And Operational Capacity In Rural United States Communities, Zella Grace Balkenbush

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

As the physician assistant/associate (PA) profession has broadened in scope throughout the United States from the mid-1960s to the 21^st century, rural communities have received the greatest systemic effects. The expansion of health insurance through Medicare and Medicaid, combined with increasing physician specialization, created a greater need for general providers. Physician shortages in remote areas have contributed to patients experiencing decreased access to routine checkups, longer wait times, and constrained emergency resources. This has led to delayed diagnoses and preventable complications. In response, the PA profession has exploded in popularity to fill the gap in providing all-around care. Rural …

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 …

Examination Of Adolescents Self Confidence Of Their Miranda Warnings, Eddy Jane Manning, Madeline Durrant

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Background: Research indicates that adolescents frequently exhibit overconfidence in their knowledge and abilities, often overestimating their actual competence. This overconfidence poses significant risks in legal contexts, where misunderstanding one's civil rights can lead to inadvertent waiver of legal protections and increased legal jeopardy. Miranda warnings, constitutional rights recited during arrest, conclude with officers asking suspects to confirm their understanding. Overconfident adolescents may affirm comprehension despite lacking genuine understanding of these critical protections.

Objective: This study examined the relationship between adolescents' self-rated confidence in understanding Miranda rights and their actual comprehension of Miranda warnings.

Methods: Thirty high school students completed a …

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 …

College Students Dealing With Mental Health, Aubr J. Bouldes

Undergraduate Research Conference

This study examines the mental health challenges college students face, and these issues can be examined through the lens of the ecological framework and the ABCX stress model. The ecological framework situates students within multiple, interacting systems—microsystem (family, peers, campus), mesosystem (connections among these groups), exosystem (institutional policies, financial aid), and macrosystem (cultural norms, societal expectations)—to illustrate how mental health outcomes are shaped by layered environmental influences. Complementing this perspective, the ABCX stress model provides a structured approach to understanding how stressors (A), available resources (B), and individual or family perceptions (C) interact to produce varying levels of crisis (X). …

Showcase Of Scholars 2026, Khimen Cooper

Research Week

The Showcase of Scholars serves as an academic laboratory—a place where students refine their communication skills, engage in dialogue with peers and faculty, and experience the collaborative spirit of scholarship. Each presentation reflects not only the intellectual growth of the individual student but also the strength of cross-departmental collaboration that enriches the academic community.

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 …

Mentoring In Education, Nina Erving

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

This Honors Capstone Project explores the role of mentoring in education. It focuses on how mentorship affects 5th-grade students’ sense of self, sense of accomplishment, and long-term independence. The 5th grade students are part of the International Baccalaureate (IB) Program at Missoula International School (MIS). In the spring, they complete a project called “Exhibition,” which sums up the Primary Years Programme (PYP). The purpose of this project is to explore how structured mentorship supports students’ confidence, engagement with the material, and ownership of their project. The project examines how mentoring contributes to academic success and social-emotional development.

Throughout this project, …

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 …

Blackfeet Children And The Carlisle Indian Industrial School, Margaret Marcene Parkan

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

The topic of my Honors Capstone Project is Blackfeet children from Montana and the impact of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School on them during their time at the school and in their lives afterward. I found this topic highly interesting because Native American schools and their legacy have an important impact on our country and Indigenous Peoples’ culture. I have an extra degree of care, being from Montana, and seeing how boarding schools impacted a local tribe specifically.

My research reached a far more nuanced conclusion than I initially anticipated. I did not find a black-and-white outcome that illustrated good …

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 …

Invection: Implementation Of Visual Effects In The Unity Game Engine, Bridger H. Burkes

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Invection is the title of a prototype game I’ve been building within the Unity game engine to explore the implementation of visual effects (VFX). In this presentation I will discuss how I’ve developed Invection and the challenges I’ve learned from when creating a cohesive visual style for the game. Invection uses several outside software, such as Blender and Touchdesigner, and built-in rendering frameworks within the Unity Technologies engine to develop lighting and environmental effects. These effects are linked to the aesthetic quality of the game, and use worldbuilding to communicate to the player a sense of danger and unease. Compared …