The Montana State University Magazine
FALL 2017
FALL IN Tradition marches on with the Spirit of the West of the Spirit of the West, West, the of Spirit the of engineering major from San Diego, lead the charge. charge. the lead Diego, San cheer and band the up Strike for the ’Cats. The members members The ’Cats. the for SEE PAGE 12. PAGE SEE Barnes, a mechanical amechanical Barnes, including clarinet player Ian ON THE COVER ON THE orchard in Fromberg—hold secrets of survival survival of secrets Fromberg—hold in orchard and resistance that could improve the quality of of quality the improve could that resistance and Montana’s pies, of abatch make to apples Gnarled and bowed but still producing enough enough producing still but bowed and Gnarled SEE PAGE 36. PAGE SEE trees. apple modern than 100 years ago, such as these found in an an in found these as such ago, years 100 than heritage apple trees—some planted more more planted trees—some apple heritage
KELLY GORHAM CONTENTS 12 FALL IN The Spirit of the West is on the march, bringing rhythm and music to MSU traditions 22 CHASING THE SUN The MSU-led Eclipse Ballooning Project engineers a new angle on the 2017 eclipse 34 125TH ANNIVERSARY MSU celebrates a “sublime sweep of time” 36 APPLES TO APPLES MSU Extension team works against clock to bring Montana heritage apples to modern gardens 46 PARTNERS IN CHANGE Center for American Indian and Rural Health Equity works with Montana communities to tackle health disparities 52 CLIMB ON Pat Callis 56 GRABBING THE (SUPERBOWL) RING Bill Kollar 60 FLIPPING THE CLASSROOM Paul Andersen 62 RUSSELLING UP STUDENTS Ronda Russell 64 THE DYSLEXIC ADVANTAGE Essay by Jeffrey Conger 68 WHAT IT TAKES Teaching how to think out of the box 74 BOOKMARKS 76 RING OF FIRE Kelly Gorham
FALL 2017 1 FROM THE HILL The Montana State University Magazine MOUNTAINS MINDS Fall 2017 · Volume 11, Number 2
President Waded Cruzado Publisher Tracy Ellig Managing Editor Carol Schmidt
Art Director Bridget Ashcraft SÁNCHEZ-GONZÁLEZADRIÁN
Director of Visual Media Kelly Gorham
Assistant Editor Anne Cantrell CRUZADO Creative Services Director Ron Lambert Graphic Designers Kristen Drumheller, Alison Gauthier Marketing Director Julie Kipfer Photographer Adrián Sánchez-González Production Manager Kay LaFrance Writers Eliese Besemer, Denise Hoepfner, Dear friends, Marshall Swearingen This fall has been, as most falls are, beautiful and busy on Contributing writers: Evelyn Boswell, Jeffrey Conger, Michele Corriel, Amanda Eggert, Colter Nuanez the campus of Montana State. In addition to welcoming the largest student body in MSU’s history—16,703 students—we Mountains & Minds is published by Montana State University. Copyright © 2017 by Montana State University. celebrated a glorious homecoming and completed a successful All rights reserved. Mountains & Minds does not accept visit by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities unsolicited manuscripts. Excerpts from this magazine may be reprinted with permission. Please provide appropriate for MSU’s seven-year accreditation cycle. TheNWCCU accredita- credit to Montana State University and supply copies of tion team presented its list of commendations and recommendations reprinted materials to the editor. Opinions expressed herein are those of the individual authors and do not in a brief summary. Reviewing the NWCCU team’s commendations, I am proud and necessarily reflect the views of the university humbled by how evident it is that MSU has embraced its strategic plan, focused effec- administration. Montana State University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action institution. tively on student retention and graduation, and lived by its shared governance principles, Subscriptions: $12/year that our library has provided leadership to important statewide efforts and that Gallatin Editorial offices are located at: College MSU empowers all our students and the people of the state of Montana. Montana State University 431 Culbertson Hall · P.O. Box 172220 I’d also like to share another traditional fall event that you might not have heard Bozeman, MT 59717–2220 about but which I always find inspiring. Each fallMSU honors classified and profes- Telephone: (406) 994-1966 [email protected] sional employees who are celebrating landmark anniversaries at the university. Called Mountains and Minds is printed on Milestones in Service, the event honors employees with 5, 10, 15, 25, 30, 35 and even 40 post-consumer recycled paper. years of service. I find profoundly moving the comments from these employees about what MSU means to them and how they take seriously their dedication to the people of Montana. It is nice to be reminded that in the churn of our daily work at MSU, the people who make up this university have not lost sight of why we are here. We are stewards of the public trust. And we are fortunate to be involved in one of the most important human enterprises: educating succeeding generations. That is not lost on the men and women of Montana State University. As I write, we are busily preparing to welcome you to the MSU quasquicentennial— the 125th anniversary of YOUR university. The year-long celebration kicks off with the Bobcat Birthday Bash, which is set for Feb. 16–17. We hope you accept our invita- Visit us online to subscribe to Mountains and Minds tion to attend the wonderful festivities we have planned. Because an anniversary this WEB EXCLUSIVES AT noteworthy cannot be contained in one weekend, we will continue the celebration WWW.MONTANA.EDU/MOUNTAINSANDMINDS throughout 2018, highlighting one of MSU’s colleges each month. More information about MSU’s 125th anniversary celebrations are found in these pages and online at www.montana.edu/125. Also, be sure to check out the timeline in this issue of Moun- tains and Minds that demonstrates the intertwining of MSU’s history with national and world events.
Warmly,
Waded Cruzado, president Montana State University
2 MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY · MOUNTAINS MINDS The 125th Anniversary History of Montana State University PLEASE JOIN US ADRIÁN SÁNCHEZ-GONZÁLEZADRIÁN
THE 125TH ANNIVERSARY HISTORY OF MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY
CRUZADO DEMOCRACY by DEGREES BY ROBERT W. RYDELL
DEMOCRACY BY DEGREES Robert Rydell, historian and Mon- tana State University history profes- sor, focuses on the university’s last quarter-century. SEE PAGE 34.
A YEAR OF CELEBRATION MSU will celebrate its 125th anniversary through 2018 with a cavalcade of celebrations honor- ing colleges and key areas during each month of the year. Here is a list of the monthly celebrations.
January Bobcat Athletics February College of Engineering March College of Arts and Architecture April College of Letters and Science May College of Nursing June Extension September College of Education, Health and Human Development October Jake Jabs College of Business and Entrepreneurship November College of Agriculture December Honors College For more information, see montana.edu/125
SUBMIT YOUR MSU STORIES Montana State University comes
to life through the stories of our Poster Design by Kelsey Dzintars ’09 alumni, students and friends. We want to hear from you about how ALL EVENTS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC MSU helped you achieve your dreams. Did you meet someone important through MSU? Send FEB. 16 Awards for Excellence Strand Union Building us your image and story on our FEB. 17 Birthday Bash! Ice skating, Ferris wheel, music, food, website now through Dec. 31. A selection of submitted photos campus tours, inspiring lectures Centennial Mall, Romney Oval, SUB and stories will be featured on the 125th anniversary web page www. FEB. 17 Student winter games Opening ceremony and more montana.edu/125/stories/
FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT WWW.MONTANA.EDU/125
FALL 2017 3 FIELDNOTES 1 5 MEYER SÁNCHEZ-GONZÁLEZ ADRIÁN KELLY GORHAM FLENNIKEN 4 ADRIÁN SÁNCHEZ-GONZÁLEZADRIÁN SAPPHIRE RING 3 2 3 2 CORNISH KELLY GORHAM
4 5 1 SHALE COURTESY OF ZACH ADAM
4 MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY · MOUNTAINS MINDS 5 MEYER SÁNCHEZ-GONZÁLEZ ADRIÁN KELLY GORHAM FLENNIKEN 4 AT MONTANA STATE ADRIÁN SÁNCHEZ-GONZÁLEZADRIÁN UNIVERSITY
SAPPHIRE RING RESETTING THE EVOLUTIONARY CALENDAR ACCREDITATION TEAM VISITS MSU 3 Zach Adam, former grad student, published a paper in Geology about his discovery of MSU hosted eight representatives of the fossilized microorganisms in western Montana that predate by 200 million years fos- Northwest Commission on Colleges and 1 sils previously believed to be the oldest complex life forms in North America. The dis- Universities for its seven-year accredita- covery resets the evolution of complex life forms. Adam is now a post-doc at Harvard. tion visit. The team commended MSU for embracing its strategic plan, focusing effec- Pictured: Zach Adam holds a sample of shale at an outcrop in western Montana. tively on student retention and graduation, incorporating shared governance principles, the MSU Library for providing leadership to MSU CONTRIBUTES TO NOBEL RESEARCH important statewide efforts and Gallatin 2 CORNISH KELLY GORHAM MSU’s LIGO Scientific Collaboration group, led by Neil Cornish, physics professor, College MSU for empowering all students (pictured) is part of an international collaboration that contributed to the first detec- and the people of the state of Montana. 2 tion of gravitational waves. The discovery won the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics for the The team also made recommendations, collaboration’s pioneers. The MSU LIGO team developed a novel method for extract- including that MSU focus more on assess- ing gravitational wave signals directly from LIGO data, helping confirm the nature of the signal ment and communication of its efforts and and the consistency of the signal with the predictions of Einstein’s theory of general relativity. that it continue to pay attention to deferred maintenance of campus buildings. DESIGNING EXCELLENCE NSF EARLY CAREER AWARD Jason Baide, a senior majoring Virologist Michelle Flenniken re- TWO DEANS NAMED in studio arts from Bozeman, ceived a $500,000 CAREER Award
1 SHALE COURTESY OF ZACH ADAM Alison Harmon, professor of food and nutri- from the National Science Founda- 3 took first place in the presti- 4 tion and sustainable food systems who has tion to continue her research on gious Saul Bell International also been serving as interim dean of the the defense mechanisms honey bees use Jewelry Award for Emerging Artists College of Education, Health and Human against viruses. The CAREER Award is the held in Santa Fe, New Mexico, for Development since 2015, was named dean NSF’s most prestigious award that supports his design of a chain-link sapphire of the college after a national search. Sarah early-career faculty. ring (pictured). Shannon, professor and senior associate dean for academic affairs at Oregon Health and Science University’s School of Nurs- A FULBRIGHT YEAR IN RUSSIA AND TURKEY ing, was named dean of the MSU College James Meyer, history professor, spent a Fulbright Research Fellowship year in of Nursing. Shannon is the niece of Anna Turkey and Russia studying Nazim Hikmet, an important Turkish poet who lived Shannon, who served as dean of the college 5 and died in exile in Russia. Meyer’s research is the basis for a scholarly book he from 1975 to 1990. is writing about Hikmet.
FALL 2017 5 FIELDNOTES
SEQUENCING WHEAT GENOME Hikmet Budak, plant sciences and plant pathology professor, was a member of a FROGS AND TOADS HAVE ROLE IN team that decoded the complete genome sequence of wild emmer wheat, the origi- RESTORING NATIVE FISHERIES 6 nal form of nearly all the domesticated wheat in the world, including durum (pasta) and bread wheat. Budak holds the MSU Winifred Asbjornson Plant Sciences Chair. Niall Clancy, a 2017 graduate of MSU’s Department of Ecology, has published research in the journal Fisheries that sug- MSU ENROLLMENT SETS NEW RECORD gests that amphibians may help conserve native fish populations. MSU has enrolled a record number of students once again this fall, while also establish- ing the highest graduation and retention rates, and other measures of student success. Clancy said that wildlife biologists tend to MSU’s fall headcount is 16,703, a total that’s 2 percent above last fall’s count and one overlook amphibians because they aren’t that marks 10 years of continuous enrollment growth for the campus, which has set fully terrestrial and fisheries experts do enrollment records in 13 out of the last 15 years. the same because amphibians aren’t fully aquatic. But in many flowing and standing waters, young frogs, toads and salaman- RESEARCH LOOKS AT HOW HONEY BEES FIGHT VIRUSES ders are the dominant vertebrates. They change water chemistry, redistribute nutri- Laura Brutscher, who recently earned a doctorate in the Department of Microbiology and ents and alter the habitat for fish and other Immunology, published a study on the mechanisms honey bees use to fight off viruses aquatic organisms. Clancy noted that the in Scientific Reports, an online open-access journal from the publishers of Nature that amphibians can be both predator and prey publishes scientifically valid primary research from all areas of the natural and clini- and play a role so important they should be cal sciences. Brutscher tested honey bees to determine the genes that are involved in incorporated into strategies for conserving defending them against viruses. freshwater fisheries.
A NEW UNDERSTANDING OF MSU SCIENTISTS WIN GRANT TO STUDY HOW HUMAN BEHAVIOR TUMOR GROWTH IMPACTS SPREAD OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES Ed Schmidt, microbiology profes- MSU professors Elizabeth Shanahan, political science, and Raina Plowright, microbiology, 7 sor, published research about received $1.65 million from the National Science Foundation to research the ways human a backup system in mammals that activity contributes to the spread of infectious diseases. The grant will help fund Plow- sustains the liver during a crisis and right’s research on pathogen spillover from bats to domestic animals and people. The grant that may explain how cancerous tumors focuses on urban bats in eastern Australia, where there has been an influx of fruit bats into persist after treatment. The new findings towns and cities and, at the same time, Hendra virus has been spilling over from fruit bats were published in June in the journal into horses and people. Shanahan will study how scientific information is communicated to Cell Reports. people at risk of disease spillover and how people talk about this risk.
YUNES RECEIVES AWARD MSU GRADUATE NURSING MSU RESEARCH SETS FOR BLACK HOLE PROJECT PROGRAMS RECOGNIZED NEW RECORD NASA awarded $750,000 to Nicolas MSU College of Nursing graduate MSU research and contract 9 programs were recognized on the expenditures from state, private 8 Yunes, physics professor, for his 10 project, “Exploring Extreme Gravity: Neutron U.S. News and World Report’s 2018 list of and federal funding sources Stars, Black Holes and Gravitational Waves.” the best graduate nursing schools. MSU’s topped $130.8 million, marking the largest Yunes is a founding member of the MSU eX- master’s-level nursing program tied for No. yearly total on record and a $12 million in- treme Gravity Institute. Yunes said the award 115, while its doctor of nursing practice crease over the year before. Work in fields will also allow him to grow his research group program tied for No. 88. such as biochemistry, the environment, within the eXtreme Gravity Institute. health and physics fueled the increase. Pictured: Lauren Dupuis, a junior majoring in ENGINEERING ADVISER chemistry, works in Connie Chang’s labora- DZINTARS WINS ONE OF BEST IN THE WORLD tory at MSU. 125TH POSTER CONTEST David Claudio received the Global Out- Kelsey Dzintars, a graphic designer who standing Faculty Adviser Recognition Award graduated from MSU in 2009 with honors from the Institute of Industrial and Sys- and is now a professional designer, won tems Engineers after being nominated by $1,000 for her design. Her poster is being his students in the Department of Mechani- used to promote the anniversary throughout cal and Industrial Engineering. Claudio won the state. Events begin Feb. 16, 2018, and the top honor for faculty advisers after he will run throughout the year. The contest drew was selected from the best student advis- 114 entries from across the region. ers from IISE’s 10 regions across the globe.
6 MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY · MOUNTAINS MINDS 6 7 PARKER HILTON PARKER ADRIÁN SÁNCHEZ-GONZÁLEZADRIÁN 8 YUNES 8 DUPUIS KELLY GORHAM KELLY 10 SCHMIDT 7 9 NURSES GORHAM KELLY
8 9 6 BUDAK SÁNCHEZ-GONZÁLEZ ADRIÁN
10
FALL 2017 7 FIELDNOTES 11 12 ADRIÁN SÁNCHEZ-GONZÁLEZ ADRIÁN 13 WHEAT SÁNCHEZ-GONZÁLEZ ADRIÁN
HATZENPICHLER 16 ABBEY NELSON MELVIN 12 HOLLINGER SÁNCHEZ-GONZÁLEZ ADRIÁN
13 14 COURTESY OF MSU DOIG ARCHIVE 15 ADRIÁN SÁNCHEZ-GONZÁLEZ ADRIÁN DOIG WOODCUT BRANNAMAN 11 14
15 16
8 MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY · MOUNTAINS MINDS MSU GRADUATE RECEIVES COVERING EXCELLENCE HONORARY DOCTORATE Recent graduate Reata Brannaman, an instructor in MSU’s College of Agricul- ture equine program who is a businesswoman and recognized horse trainer, Dr. Paul Melvin, an MSU gradu- 15 ate who pioneered methods of 11 appeared on the covers of two magazines: America’s Horse and Cowgirl. Branna- man is the daughter of famed horse trainer Buck Brannaman, who once attend- orthopedic surgery, received ed MSU and who has received an honorary degree from the university. an honorary doctorate during MSU’s spring commencement. Melvin, of Hel- ena, was a co-founder of the Great Falls NEWMAN FELLOW Orthopedic Associates. Michael Hollinger, a junior political science major from Nikiski, Alaska, was named a 2017 Newman Civic Fellow by Campus Compact for his work bringing UNDERSTANDING CLIMATE EVENTS attention to human trafficking in Montana. The national award recognizes and 12 John Priscu, MSU Regents professor in supports community-committed students who have demonstrated an investment Land Resources and Environmental Scienc- in finding solutions for challenges facing communities throughout the country. es, published research in Nature Ecology and Evolution that suggests even abrupt, short-lived climate events can cause long- SOWING SEEDS OF DOIG COUNTRY term changes in polar regions over several AGRICULTURAL EXCELLENCE MSU held a successful four-day years and change the trajectory of an eco- symposium about the life and system. Priscu’s research described how MSU grad Norm Asbjornson gave work of the author Ivan Doig. an abnormal season of intense glacial melt 13 $2 million in support of the Mon- 14 MSU houses the archive of the in 2002 triggered multiple distinct changes tana Plant Sciences Chair, the late novelist, who is sometimes called in the physical and biological characteris- first endowed chair in the MSU College of the Dean of Western Writers and who tics of Antarctica’s McMurdo Dry Valleys Agriculture. The chair is named the Winifred wrote eloquently about his native over the ensuing decade. Asbjornson Plant Sciences Chair in honor of Montana. Most of the archive can be Norm’s hometown of Winifred. The Montana accessed online. Plant Sciences Chair was conceived five years ago in cooperation with the Montana NASA EARLY Grains Foundation and Montana farmers. NATIONAL RECOGNITION CAREER FELLOW MSU’s Mountains and Minds magazine Roland Hatzenpichler, bio- won a bronze medal in the national 2017 16 chemistry, who studies RESEARCHERS STUDY ROLE OF CASE Circle of Excellence competition. multicellular bacteria that live MICROBIOME IN COPING WITH It is the fourth consecutive year the in salt marsh sediments with magnetic ARSENIC POISONING magazine produced in-house by MSU properties, was named a NASA Early University Communications staff has Career Fellow. Hatzenpichler will use Two MSU researchers in different disciplines placed in the top 12 university magazines the award to study how the cells in the have teamed up to tackle the problem of in the country. unusual multicellular organisms commu- arsenic poisoning, which is estimated to af- nicate and stick together. fect more than 100 million people worldwide, primarily through tainted drinking water. Seth Walk, professor in the Department of MSU PLANT GROWTH CENTER CELEBRATES 30TH ANNIVERSARY Microbiology and Immunology, said that in MSU’s Plant Growth Center recently celebrated its 30th anniversary. The center has en- the U.S., an estimated 350,000 people are abled hundreds of research projects that have contributed important knowledge to Montana exposed to arsenic at levels that are above and beyond, said David Baumbauer, Plant Growth Center manager. That work ranges from safe drinking standards that, because arse- disease testing on seed potatoes, to biodiesel production with algae, to weed manage- nic is a toxin, can lead to or increase the risk ment, to starting vegetables from seeds for MSU’s student-run vegetable farm, to studying of certain cancers. Walk is leading the five- pollinator-plant interactions, to developing wheat varieties that will perform well in Mon- year study with Tim McDermott, professor in tana’s varied landscape. The Plant Growth Center also features labs, classrooms and an MSU’s Department of Land Resources and insect quarantine unit. Environmental Sciences, to determine the Funded entirely by the 1983 Montana Legislature, construction on the MSU Plant Growth role the human gut microbiome plays in de- Center started in 1985. Part of the facility opened in the fall of 1986, and its formal dedica- toxifying arsenic after it has been ingested. tion was held in April 1987.
FALL 2017 9 BIG PICTURE
CALENDAR GORHAM KELLY NOVEMBER 18 Cat Griz Football at MSU 22 Mannheim Steamroller Christmas
DECEMBER 4 Western Lands and Peoples Andrew Hansen 6 President’s Holiday Reception and Montana Hall Lighting Ceremony 10 Jersey Boys Broadway in Bozeman 14 Teach Montana Educators’ Fair 16 Fall Commencement
JANUARY 2018 3 Outstanding Teaching, Research and Service Education, Health & Human Development 9 Spring Convocation 9 MSU Library Open House 10 Spring Semester begins 10 Rent Broadway in Bozeman 31 Paul Farmer lecture
FEBRUARY 3 International Food Bazaar 13 Kopriva Science Seminar Raina Plowright 13 Dirty Dancing Broadway in Bozeman 15 Almost Spring Job and Internship Fair SUB Ballrooms 16 Awards for Excellence SUB Ballrooms 16–17 Bobcat Birthday Bash 17 Julius Caesar: Military Genius and Mighty Machines Museum of the Rockies
MARCH 1 Nano Days/MicroDays Science Outreach Night
APRIL 3 Trout and Salmonid Lecture 5 College of Letters & Science Authors Reception 7 Pat Callis Symposium Celebrating 50 years at MSU 12-15 MSU Spring Rodeo 20-21 MSU American Indian Council Pow Wow 26 Teach Montana Educators’ Fair SUB Ballrooms 27 Bobcat Fest Downtown Bozeman M AY 4 College of Nursing Pinning Ceremony 5 Spring Commencement
For a complete MSU calendar of events, visit WWW.MONTANA.EDU/CALENDAR
10 MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY · MOUNTAINS MINDS KELLY GORHAM KELLY
BREAKING IT DOWN A student break dancer rocks the Brick prior to entering MSU’s 2017 convocation. This year’s convocation featured author Bryan Stevenson and was held in honor of the incoming freshman class.
FALL 2017 11 FALL IN The Spirit of the West is on the march, bringing rhythm and music to MSU traditions KELLY GORHAM KELLY
Perry Miller, MSU agronomist, holds
MARCHING BAND MARCHING pea and lentil samples in his MSU Cropping Systems Lab.
12 MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY · MOUNTAINS MINDS FALL 2017 13 Members of the Bobcat Pep Band bring school spirit to a Bozeman busi- KELLY GORHAM KELLY ness during MSU’s annual Catwalk. DILLARD KELLY GORHAM KELLY PEP BAND
essay by Eliese Besemer
t’s fall and the Spirit of the West, belonging and involvement can go a long tions, old or new, are another aspect of Montana State University’s beloved way toward making a strange new place the joy of band. marching band, is ready for a new seem like home. For the Spirit of the West, some of season. While classes officially began “I’ve met so many people for whom those traditions include the pluming on Aug. 28, the 160 students in the the band created strong attachments, not ceremony, where new members officially Iband arrived more than a week early for only for the university, but for the School become members of the Spirit of the the annual band camp, the weeklong, of Music and music in general,” said West; Catwalk, which is a spirit-building intensive training that gets the band Keith Kothman, director of the MSU jaunt through downtown Bozeman members ready for the season. They School of Music. “Many of them aren’t at the beginning of the year, and the learn drill, music and, for new members, even music majors. They are bioengi- homecoming parade. how to march like a Bobcat. neers, systems analysts or business majors, The high point of the season, though, As a former marching musician who has but they all have one thing in common. is the Cat-Griz game. During halftime, spent many an hour on the practice field They’re making lifelong connections the MSU and University of Montana out in the sun and rain (and snow and because of their experience in the band.” bands combine, ending the show by fea- ice), the heat and bitter cold, I can say it’s Since Nathan Stark took over as the turing the roughly 300 members of both a lot of hard work. Blood, sweat and tears? MSU director of bands in 2011, the Spirit of bands. It takes a great deal of rehearsing Perhaps not. But, definitely chapped lips, the West has grown from roughly 70 mem- to integrate two groups into one cohesive blisters and sunburns. So why do it? bers, though the number is ever-changing. unit. It’s cold, possibly snowy, and the Well, it is truly one of the greatest col- Stark said that one of the best things about game comes at the end of a long season. lege experiences a student can have. having such a large group is that the band But the music, the cheering fans, the For some, band is a way to stay finally has enough members to spell out friendship and sense of accomplishment involved as they go forward in their “MSU” and “Bobcats” on the field. are tremendous. academic lives and careers outside of Having been part of one of those glo- So, in the words of Ira Gershwin, “Let music. For others, it’s all about school rious old traditions, I can say it is one the drums roll out. Let the trumpet call. spirit. Beyond any of that, though, is the of my best memories. I still remember While the people shout, ‘Strike up the camaraderie. The friendships made in where I stood, in what letter, in which band!’”Or, to use one of the band’s favor- band can last a lifetime, and the sense of position on the field. After all, tradi- ite cheers, “Go, Cats, Go!” .
14 MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY · MOUNTAINS MINDS Ecology major Raylee Dillard from McDonough, Georgia, performs with the Spirit of the West Color Guard during the annual MSU Debut picnic in the Romney Quad. KELLY GORHAM KELLY DILLARD KELLY GORHAM KELLY PEP BAND
FALL 2017 15 MSU Band Director Nathan Stark has more than doubled the number of students participating in the Spirit of the West to allow more versatility in halftime formations.
ADRIÁN SÁNCHEZ-GONZÁLEZADRIÁN
16 MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY · MOUNTAINS MINDS ADRIÁN SÁNCHEZ-GONZÁLEZ FALL 2017 17
ADRIÁN SÁNCHEZ-GONZÁLEZADRIÁN PRE-GAME PROWL COLTER PETERSON COLTER BAND ON FIELD
LEFT Musicians in the wind section walk the line during a halftime performance in Bobcat Stadium. ABOVE The band leads the Bobcat football team through a gauntlet of fans during the Bobcat Prowl, a new pre-game tradition.
19 ADRIÁN SÁNCHEZ-GONZÁLEZADRIÁN
Trumpet player Jessica Johnson, an elementary education major from Belgrade, performs during a Bobcat football half-time show.
20 MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY · MOUNTAINS MINDS ADRIÁN SÁNCHEZ-GONZÁLEZ FALL 2017 21 From roughly 100,000 feet above Oregon, the 2017 total solar eclipse appears as a moon-blotted sun casting a sunset-ringed shadow onto a sea of clouds. A team of high school students from Medford captured the image using a high-altitude ballooning system developed by MSU students. MEDFORD HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS SCHOOL HIGH MEDFORD
22 MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY · MOUNTAINS MINDS CHASING THE SUN The MSU-led Eclipse Ballooning Project engineers a new angle on the 2017 eclipse by Marshall Swearingen MEDFORD HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS SCHOOL HIGH MEDFORD
FALL 2017 23 As the sun rises over the MSU team’s launch site at Idaho’s Camas National Wild- life Refuge, team members Katherine Lee, left, and Darci Collins prepare a camera system they designed to capture images of the sun’s atmosphere during the eclipse. ADRIÁN SÁNCHEZ-GONZÁLEZADRIÁN DES JARDINS KELLY GORHAM MSU TEAM, LEFT
24 Angela Des Jardins, an MSU physics profes- sor and director of the Montana Space Grant Consortium, visualized the Eclipse Ballooning Project in 2013. It grew to include more than 55 teams across the country and gained NASA backing. Des Jardins directed the MSU team from a ground station at the small airport in
ADRIÁN SÁNCHEZ-GONZÁLEZADRIÁN Rexburg, Idaho. DES JARDINS
It is Aug. 21, and the moon slowly
KELLY GORHAM consumes the sun over Rexburg, Idaho. Montana State University students tap away on laptops,
MSU TEAM, LEFT preparing to show people around the world something they’ve never seen before. “All MSU balloons are in the air,” says David Schwehr, a senior from Billings a jet to intercept a brief total eclipse over the Atlantic Ocean. majoring in computer science. He’s tracking the flight paths of high-altitude When Angela Des Jardins, an assistant balloons on his smartphone, using software he spent months programming. research professor in the Department of Physics in MSU’s College of Letters and The other half of this dozen-person myriad other experiments. Both indi- Science, saw those images of the moon’s team, stationed 30 miles northwest of vidually and collectively, their undertak- shadow projected onto a sea of clouds, Rexburg, has just launched a pair of ing—the MSU-led Eclipse Ballooning she instantly thought of balloons—the large, helium-filled balloons, which carry Project—is unprecedented. high-altitude balloons that MSU stu- cameras and other equipment. If all goes Casey Coffman, another senior in dents and researchers have been launch- as planned, the balloons will drift over computer engineering, checks the ing since 2001 as part of a Montana Rexburg and hit an altitude of 80,000 strength of the incoming video signal. Space Grant Consortium program called feet—twice as high as jets fly—during “We’re at two to three bars,” he says. BOREALIS (an acronym for Balloon the 2017 total solar eclipse. The camera Their years of hard work should be Outreach, Research, Exploration and system will capture the moon’s shadow materializing by now on the screen—a Landscape Imaging System). crossing the Earth and transmit the space-like view of the jagged ridgeline High-altitude ballooning had swelled video to the team in Rexburg, which will of the Teton Range, the western horizon in popularity in the 2000s, as universi- livestream it to NASA’s website, which darkening under the advancing moon ties across the country embraced it as the agency specially prepared to handle shadow. But as the sun becomes a cres- an affordable and hands-on way to millions of online viewers. cent, they struggle to make the download. conduct science on the edge of outer Nobody has ever done this before, The pace quickens as the moments careen space. Through BOREALIS, students and four years ago the task might have toward totality—the two-minute period, at MSU and other Montana universities seemed impossible if these MSU students starting at 11:33 a.m., when the eclipse will and colleges launched dozens of bal- hadn’t stepped up to the challenge. Since plunge Rexburg into midday darkness. loons to collect and analyze atmospheric then, they’ve thrown themselves into dust produced by meteor showers, test designing and building this equipment, A total solar eclipse occurs somewhere on radiation-tolerant computer prototypes conducting test flights all over Montana Earth about every one to three years. The and photograph sweeping mountains set and beyond and planning for the inten- alignment of the moon and sun creates a against the glowing blue band of Earth’s sity of this day. phenomenon so unusual and dramatic— thin atmosphere. And today they’re not alone: 54 other stars emerge and the sun’s violent atmo- Des Jardins thought: Why not use bal- teams from across the country are also sphere becomes visible as a feathery light loons to capture a near-space view of the positioned along the eclipse’s path, ringing the moon—that many people 2017 eclipse? Why not involve teams across launching balloons equipped with the devote their lives to pursuing it. In 2013, the country? And why not broadcast the MSU-designed livestream system, plus a group of photographers even chartered video live? She started sharing the idea.
FALL 2017 MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY · MOUNTAINS MINDS 25 WHAT HAD STARTED AS A WILD IDEA TURNED INTO A
“A lot of people told me I was crazy,” NATIONWIDE UNDERTAKING. GORHAM KELLY she said. Undaunted, she took the idea to NASA’s Washington, D.C., headquarters in 2014. NASA declined financial sup- port, but the next day, Des Jardins found ing inexpensive-yet-powerful computer ballooning teams across the country
better traction at an annual conven- boards and compact radio transmitters helped test and refine the equipment. MSU TEAM WITH BALLOON
tion for NASA’s Space Grant program, developed for the burgeoning drone in- NASA took notice and changed which supports education, research and dustry, gave the students a boost. Other course, awarding MSU a grant of more public engagement projects at universi- parts they designed and built themselves. than $600,000. Now the project was of- ties in each state. As wild as it sounded, “It was an open challenge,” said Dylan ficial, and Des Jardins began to formally her idea tapped a long-standing desire Trafford, a Billings native who helped cre- recruit other teams. among the Space Grant groups to do ate early prototypes of the camera system From 30 states they came to Bozeman something ambitious together. while earning his dual bachelor’s degrees for workshops in summer 2016. In the “We had no idea how we would do it, in electrical and computer engineering. oval in front of MSU’s Romney Hall, they SÁNCHEZ-GONZÁLEZADRIÁN but I had a feeling that we could figure They were breaking new ground, making assembled radio dishes, wired cameras it out,” said Des Jardins, who is also the progress through trial-and-error. “One of and hooked up laptops. Then they packed director of the Montana Space Grant my favorite things was, nobody ever said the kits—each containing 250-some Consortium. “I had seen what a bunch ‘No, you can’t do it that way.’” parts—into plastic tubs. Shane Mayer-
of motivated students could do.” With varying degrees of success, they Gawlik, who graduated from MSU in 2015 HILTON AND HARMON Back at MSU, engineering students tested the new system with launches from with a master’s in physics and stepped participating in summer internships and Bobcat Stadium, the Big Timber airport into a leadership role with the project, yearlong apprenticeships with BOREA- and Sen. Jon Tester’s farm near Big Sandy, loaded the tubs in a truck and shipped LIS began designing the video system where a busload of local high school stu- them to the teams’ home institutions. they’d need. New technologies, includ- dents helped inflate the balloons. Other “Everyone left with everything work- ing,” Des Jardins said. “There was a great sense of camaraderie.” What had started as a wild idea had turned into a nationwide undertaking.
On June 21, 2017, while Des Jardins fielded questions from reporters in Washington, D.C., at a NASA-sponsored media briefing about the eclipse, the MSU team set up in Idaho for one of their final test launches. Computer engineering major Uciel Garcia, an international student from Monterrey, Mexico, drove out the night before to camp with three teammates. He spent the previous two days building from scratch one of the video systems, using cameras like the ones found in
During a final practice run, MSU engineering students Garret Hilton, left, and Keaton Harmon handle one of the team’s custom- built camera systems.
26 MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY · MOUNTAINS MINDS KELLY GORHAM KELLY MSU TEAM WITH BALLOON
ADRIÁN SÁNCHEZ-GONZÁLEZADRIÁN HILTON AND HARMON
A latex balloon undulates and lifts off the ground as the MSU team fills it with helium. They wore white gloves to protect the fragile material. The team launched three balloons in roughly an hour before the eclipse so that cameras and other equipment they carried would reach the desired altitude during totality.
cellphones, a small computer board and Each kit costs only $3,500. helped train the other teams during the custom parts made on a 3-D printer. Coffman and another senior in com- summer workshops. Skylar Tamke, a graduate student puter engineering, Trevor Gahl, returned Sara Stafford, a junior from Fairbanks, from Billings who started working on from buying 150 feet of cable and tools Alaska, who was an electrician’s mate in the project while earning his bachelor’s for rigging an internet connection the Coast Guard before coming to MSU, in electrical engineering, mounted one of because the Wi-Fi in the aircraft hangar selected the day’s launch site west of Rex- the radio dishes to a tripod and checked wasn’t working. burg based on detailed wind predictions. the alignment. He explained that the “You learn how to improvise at least As she muscled open the valves on the dish needs to point exactly at the bal- one thing each trip,” said Schwehr, who helium tanks, she explained: “It’s a little loon to receive the signal. “Two or three worked 17 years as a heavy equipment bit of an art, getting the right amount degrees off and we’ll miss at 20 miles.” mechanic before coming to MSU. For (into the balloons).” The precision is necessary because the his senior capstone project, he and two Micaela Moreni, a senior mechani- strength of the radio signal that trans- fellow students created the balloon- cal engineering major from Anaconda, mits the video is capped at a fraction of tracking software that all the teams, as checked the nylon cords that would what’s used by emergency responders well as air-traffic control centers, would tether the balloon to the shoebox-sized and other radio operators so that the use during the Aug. 21 eclipse. enclosures containing the cameras and ballooning teams don’t have to get radio “I’ve wanted to work on something tracking system. She designed the system licenses. It’s an example of the many that’s sent to space, or close to it at that the teams used to cut the balloons constraints, including cost, that the team least,” said Tristan Running Crane as free and send the cameras parachuting considered when designing a system that he plugged in a laptop. A member of back to Earth. could be replicated for 54 other teams. the Blackfeet Tribe from Browning, he Through all this, Randy Larimer
FALL 2017 27 EYE IN THE SKY KELLY GORHAM KELLY SATELLITE NETWORK IRIDIUM 485 MILES How livestream works with GPS 12,550 MILES high altitude balloons
A network of satellites is used to track the balloons and send commands, such as severing the balloons so that the payloads parachute to Earth.
LOCATION COMMANDS
LOCATION
COMMANDS HIGH-ALTITUDE BALLOON APPROX.80,000 FT
return parachute
tracking payload
photo payload
video payload
INTERNET NASA’S WEBSITE To handle the bandwidth for the eclipse audience, MSU and NASA collaborated with Stream, a live video service
MOUNT EVEREST COMMERCIAL PEAK IS 29,029 FT AIRPLANE 40,000 FT
COMMANDS
LOCATION
PHOTOS
VIDEO Radio transmitters relay live video + VIDEO and photos of the eclipse to ground-based antennas.
CUMULUS CLOUDS APPROX. 3,300 FT Custom software uses the location information to point the antennas precisely at the balloons to intercept the transmitted video and photos.
28 MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY · MOUNTAINS MINDS The Eclipse Ballooning Project provided a platform for a variety of science activities:
KELLY GORHAM KELLY Mars analog bacteria 34 teams used their balloons to carry samples of harmless bacteria impregnated on small metal tags as part of a NASA study to better understand how bacteria might behave on Mars if they survived the trip from Earth. Earth’s upper atmosphere resembles the surface atmosphere on Mars, and the eclipse provided additional similarities.
Radiosonde Some of the livestream teams, plus an additional 12 specialized teams, launched 40 smaller balloons carrying de- vices called radiosondes, which measured temperature, pressure and other features of the atmosphere before, during and after the eclipse. The data will be used to answer questions about the atmospheric effects of total solar eclipses.
Other experiments Teams attached a variety of other instruments to the balloons to conduct their own experiments. Part of the MSU team used infrared cameras to capture images of the sun during the eclipse to study the composition and behavior of the sun’s atmosphere, called the corona.
PICTURED During launch, a helium-filled balloon swings skyward while members of a team from University of Brasilia momentarily hold the camera payload to keep it from hitting the ground. The Brazilian students were part of an MSU exchange, an example of the eclipse project’s wide-ranging collaboration.
FALL 2017 29 While the MSU team’s balloon was one of the few that didn’t transmit images, it didn’t prevent the members of the MSU team from taking a break from the experiment to enjoy the wonder of viewing a total eclipse.
30 MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY · MOUNTAINS MINDS
ADRIÁN ADRIÁN SÁNCHEZ-GONZÁLEZ
SCHWEHR
ADRIÁN SÁNCHEZ-GONZÁLEZADRIÁN ECLIPSE, LEFT
MSU computer science major David Schwehr, center, troubleshoots the system delivering a livestream aerial video of the eclipse to NASA’s website. Schwehr came to MSU to jump-start a new career after working for 17 years as a heavy equipment mechanic.
and Berk Knighton, MSU faculty and humans 20 miles or more above the Earth. failure,” Trafford said. BOREALIS mentors whose expertise The relationships, combined with the underpins the project, hung back as the rigorous hands-on experience that the “My signal strength’s not bad but I can’t students honed their routine. project demands from students, have get one packet,” says Schwehr, speaking “It’s really about the student experi- also opened doors to careers. of the bits of data transmitted by the bal- ence,” Des Jardins said as the project Scott Miller, a computer engineering loon cameras as the eclipse progresses. drew national media attention in the major from Kalispell who worked with The team’s radio dishes are tracking the weeks leading up to the eclipse. “That Trafford on the earliest versions of the balloons, but no video is coming through. outcome is as important to us as the live image and tracking system, gradu- The students restart a laptop, check bun- whole livestream thing.” ated in 2015 and took a job at NASA’s dles of wires connected to the radio dishes. Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility. Computer code flies across the screen. But The Space Grant programs routinely “We were working with mechanical this eclipse isn’t waiting for anyone. gather to share research and curricula engineers, computer science majors and As the daylight dims to a shade that and collaborate to send experiments into physics majors,” he said, reflecting on his has no equal in dawn or dusk, signaling near-orbit using small rockets. But the BOREALIS experience. “Being able to that totality draws near, the students ex- Eclipse Ballooning Project may be the communicate what the problems were change glances. Resignation mixes with largest instance of cooperation, accord- and work with your colleagues—that’s an excitement. Then they step away from ing to Des Jardins. awesome skill that I use every day now.” the equipment they developed so careful- “We’ve built up relationships,” she said. Tim Basta, a mechanical engineer- ly over the years, put on eclipse glasses, “It’s raised the bar for what we can do ing major from Great Falls, was part of and walk out from under their shade with student teams.” the test flights with World View during awning and turn their gaze skyward. The relationships extend to industry his senior year. After graduation, he Two osprey chatter, circling their nest partners such as Google, which donated was hired right away by the company. atop a nearby telephone pole. A sudden hundreds of balloons, and World View "Having that kind of hands-on and field- chill permeates the air. Then, in the final Enterprises, a private American near- testing experience—it’s a huge part of second before the celestial bodies align, space exploration company that provided becoming an effective engineer," he said. the last rays of sunlight flash on the edge opportunities for the MSU team to test When Trafford graduated in 2016, his of the moon. the limits of its livestream video system BOREALIS experience boosted him into The crowd’s applause is involuntary, pri- during flights of the company’s prototype a job with Lockheed Martin’s spacecraft mal. The osprey fall silent. The red airport high-altitude balloons, which are much and satellite division. lights, sensing the darkness, turn on. The larger and could soon be used to take “For me, that experience was huge— horizon in all directions glows with sunset the freedom to experiment, to learn from
FALL 2017 31 ECLIPSE BALLOONING PROJECT TEAMS Including MSU, 55 teams from across the country—linked to their institutions, below—launched high-altitude balloons that carried a livestream video system as well as other scientific equipment. An additional 12 teams (not shown) launched smaller balloons equipped with devices to study the atmospheric effects of the eclipse.
Eclipse Ballooning Project Teams Eclipse Ballooning Project Eclipse Day Sites Path of solar eclipse
as the sky sparkles with stars. The sun is era payloads from fields and forests and He contemplates a job prospect at otherworldly and yet starkly immediate for download photos and videos recorded World View, says he wants to use his final two minutes that feel out of time. during the eclipse. They will learn that semester at MSU to pass on his balloon- Then the sky is pierced again with other teams had technical challenges, ing knowledge, the way that other stu- light, and it’s over. too—something they expected might dents did for him. This team has learned “That made it all worth it, right there,” happen given what they were attempting. immensely, and others can build on that, Larimer says. They will try and diagnose what went he says. So much more is possible now. The afterglow of the experience lifts wrong—batteries dying during flight Those who experience a total eclipse the team’s spirits as everyone turns their due to a short-circuit; a software glitch struggle to describe its profundity. For attention to the television screen. They in the on-board computer. these students, there’s an added dimen- watch as the University of Wyoming’s The way the project turned out for the sion, rippling through their time to- balloon, launched some 300 miles east MSU team—its failure to livestream— gether and into their futures. The eclipse of here, livestreams the eclipse shadow, could be considered ironic, given MSU’s will be a shimmering memory, and a which is racing across the Earth at super- major role in the undertaking. But in beginning for other stories. sonic speed. Other livestreams follow. some respects it only magnifies why As he thinks about it more, Schwehr “I’m glad it worked for someone,” the story matters most. says: “For me, I don’t think it will ever Coffman says. "That's all I wanted." “I wish it wasn’t over,” says Schwehr, really end.” . In the coming days, the MSU team, who brought his 9-year-old daughter along with others, will retrieve the cam- along to watch the eclipse.
32 MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY · MOUNTAINS MINDS For only seconds during totality, the sun’s light reflects off Earth and some details of the moon’s surface are visible in addition to the jaw-dropping white corona—the hot, ionized gases known as plasma, surrounding the sun and other stars, that extends millions of kilometers into space. This rare phenom-
KELLY GORHAM KELLY enon is called “Earthshine.” On the bottom left of this image, a planet is visible as a small bright streak.
Eclipse Ballooning Project Teams Eclipse Ballooning Project Eclipse Day Sites Path of solar eclipse
FALL 2017 33 PEOPLE
34 MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY · MOUNTAINS MINDS FALL 2017 35 Crab apples hang from a tree in Fromberg, Montana. This varietal was historically used for jam.
36 MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY · MOUNTAINS MINDS MSU Extension team works against clock to bring Montana heritage apples to modern gardens story by Evelyn Boswell · photos by Kelly Gorham · illustrations by Bridget Ashcraft
Beyond the log home of Chief Plenty Coups, past the cottonwood that over- looks the sacred spring are five tough apple trees. Gnarled and bowed but still producing enough apples to make a batch of pies, they are the sole survivors of an orchard that Chief Plenty Coups planted near Pry- or in 1903. Some say the legendary Crow planted several hundred fruit trees because he was impressed by the orchards he saw on his many trips to Washington, D.C. Others say the U.S. government ordered him to plant the trees and he obeyed.
FALL 2017 37 hatever the reason, team is doing what it can to identify and Chief Plenty Coups preserve those trees and others like them planted an apple orchard while creating opportunities for Mon- that fed his family and the tana entrepreneurs. customers who frequented his The fact that the trees are alive and store. But most of the trees eventually producing apples after 100 years is died, falling victim to drought, blight or important for a variety of reasons, say insects. Some may have succumbed to Toby Day and Brent Sarchet, founders of black bears, deer antlers rubbing against the Montana Heritage Orchard Program bark or the terrific winds that blow and both with MSU Extension. Day is through the area. the Extension horticulture specialist. The hardy handful that have overcome Sarchet is the Extension agent for Lewis those challenges stand together in Chief and Clark County. Plenty Coups State Park, 35 miles south The duo says that the Plenty Coups of Billings and a mile west of Pryor. trees are historically and culturally “I love telling people about the apples and significant because of their age and ties that they are eating something the chief to the visionary Indian chief. They also planted 100 years ago,” said Aaron Kind, are scientifically valuable because they manager of Chief Plenty Coups State Park may offer insights about survival and and an MSU alum in anthropology. resistance that could improve the quality Now a Montana State University of modern apple trees. The fact that the heritage trees have lived for more than a century indicates that they may harbor special qualities, such as resistance to disease, drought and pests that could be introduced into modern apple trees to make them more resilient. The trees are economically significant because pieces of the original trees have already been grafted onto new rootstock. When the new trees become available to the public, they will create opportuni- Per- ties for Montana nurseries interested in ry marketing trees and apples descended Mill- er, from Plenty Coups’ orchard. MSU agronomist, holds pea and lentil samples in his MSU Cropping38 Systems Lab. MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY · MOUNTAINS MINDS MSU Extension horticulture specialist Toby Day inspects an apple orchard at Chief Plenty Coups State Park near Pryor. One of the most well- known heritage orchards in the state, the orchard still produces apples that are baked into pies fetching top dollar in local fundraisers.
Such are the goals of the Montana trees more than 50 years old. They later ing backstory, with many of those posted Heritage Orchard Program that Day and changed that to 100 years and noted that on the Montana Heritage Orchard Sarchet started about five years ago after one of the heritage orchards, the Wild Program website at mtorchards.org. Day conversations with master grafter Roger Horse Island Orchard, has lost one tree said more of the orchards have the same Joy of Corvallis. A three-year, $128,000 since its declaration as a heritage orchard. kind of development potential as Chief Specialty Crop Block Grant from the U.S. But the number of qualifying or- Plenty Coups’ orchard. Department of Agriculture kicked off the chards has already surpassed 70, and plan to develop a self-supporting program reports of more keep coming. Most of APPLES ON AN ISLAND where the profits and orchard DNA will the orchards documented so far were Another storied orchard is located on be shared with Montanans who own planted in the early 1900s and located in Wild Horse Island on Flathead Lake. The heritage orchards. Day said while interest western Montana, but Day and Sarchet island got its name from Salish-Kootenai in heritage orchards has always been there, have discovered orchards from Eureka Indians pasturing their horses there to the recent introduction of DNA analysis in northwest Montana to Willard in keep them from being stolen. At 2,000 to identify heritage apple varieties has the southeast. Originating in East acres, it’s the largest island on the largest added an important dimension. Coast nurseries, some of the trees were freshwater lake west of Minnesota. planted by railroad and barge compa- THE ORCHARDS KEEP COMING The evening before MSU Extension nies competing for settlers. Many trees agents and Master Gardeners arrive on When they started the project, Day and were planted by homesteaders. Some the picturesque island to learn more Sarchet originally thought they might may have been planted accidentally by about the Montana Heritage Orchard find 20 to 30 apple orchards that fit their someone throwing mash over a fence or Program, Day and Sarchet prepare by definition of a heritage orchard. The a wandering horse digesting apples. driving a boat from Lakeside to Wild orchards would contain at least six living Each of the orchards has an interest- Horse Island State Park.
FALL 2017 39 Lewis and Clark county Extension agent Brent Sarchet, left, co-founder of the founders of the Montana Heritage Orchard Program, hands a sample to a Master Gardener student during a trip to a heritage apple orchard on Wild Horse Island. The budwood samples are taken for graft- ing to propagate from these trees.
After landing at Skeeko Bay, Day and that show at least 12 inches of new growth. Explaining the appeal, Day said, “This Sarchet head up a trail that takes them Typical of many heritage apple trees, the was a tree that was born in 1913 and lived past old foundations and antique haying branches rise from a partially rotted trunk on Wild Horse Island. I think people equipment. They stop long enough to let rooted in pulverized soil. would buy it (if propagated).” a string of bighorn sheep cross in front “This is a very cool site—just the fact The fact that the Wild Horse Island of them. After kicking up a mile of dust, that it’s here,” Day said. “None of us in apple trees grow in such dry conditions they reach 10 apple trees planted around our wildest dreams would have believed suggests that apple trees may not always 1913 by homesteader William A. Powers. that there was an orchard on Wild need as much water as people think, Day Each tree is protected by a triangle Horse Island.” added. The trees might offer lessons of wooden rails that Day and Sarchet, Sarchet said they learned about the about drought resistance, as well as pest Master Gardener volunteers, orchard orchard from the Montana Preservation resistance and microclimates. They seem owners and the Montana Conservation Alliance, which saves and protects his- to be resistant to fire blight, a conta- Corps erected last year to protect the bark toric places, traditional landscapes and gious disease that can damage an entire from the horses that roam Wild Horse cultural heritage. The Extension agent orchard in one season. Island. They haven’t decided yet how to agreed that this orchard, like the one in “You don’t find fire blight in these trees,” deal with the sapsuckers that stop by the Chief Plenty Coups State Park, has an Day said. “It might be that it’s isolated on island twice a year to drill holes in the interesting story behind it. It has historic this island, but the lack of fire blight is bark looking for insects and sap. One tree and scientific significance and commer- fairly common in these old orchards.” has startling green leaves and branches cial possibilities.
40 MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY · MOUNTAINS MINDS APPLE TREE MYSTERIES the mouth of In the fall, Day compares harvested Cave Gulch near apples to known apples to see if they Chum Howe, owner of a heritage Canyon Ferry. More than half of them match. If he can’t identify an apple, he orchard at Springhill Community near were producing fruit that year, some of figures he might be looking at an old Bozeman, said his trees have served as a those varieties being Wealthy, Duch- variety that isn’t sold anymore. The natural cathedral for some of the 1,800 ess, Tetolsky, Red Astragan, Ben Davis, discovery might lead to a reintroduction weddings he and his wife Sally have Benoni and Rubicon. of the apple or an investigation into the hosted in the past 34 years. Twenty- Day said he can sometimes guess the long-lived tree that bore it. six trees remain. Howe said they were age of an orchard by looking at the date In the spring, Day takes budwood planted around 1870 by a homesteader someone filed homesteading papers. from heritage trees and gives it to MSU who probably wanted to sell fresh fruit Since it takes a few years for new apple researcher Norm Weeden for genetic in Bozeman. trees to start producing, he figures the testing. Budwood is the newest growth “There was no way on Earth you could settlers would have wanted to plant them of a stem or branch with vegetative buds consume that many apples or apple cider as soon as possible. that are used for grafting. on your own,” Howe said. Age isn’t the only mystery when “He brings in cuttings that haven’t Strolling across his yard, Howe talked it comes to heritage apple orchards. leafed out yet,” said Weeden, a professor about the bears that have invaded his Sometimes the owners don’t know what emeritus in MSU’s Department of Plant orchard and have gotten tipsy by eating kind of apple they are growing. Howe, Sciences and Plant Pathology in the Col- too many apples. Stopping at one tree, for one, said he knows that one of his lege of Agriculture. “We put them in the Howe demonstrated why visitors might trees produces a Montana Banana. It’s lab and allow them to start leafing out, be surprised that his trees are still pro- a yellow apple that’s good for about then take the young leaves and extract ducing apples. three days, then turns mushy. But he DNA from them.” “This is just sawdust inside,” he said as he doesn’t know what the rest of his trees Once he has crushed the leaf and pulled out a handful of dust from the tree. are doing. Every other year, which is extracted the protein, he uses a tech- Day said rotten trunks and hollow how often his trees bear fruit, he picks nique called polymerase chain reaction, branches are common for heritage apple large sweet apples, small tart apples, or PCR, to look at five different regions trees. Because of that, he can’t always crisp apples and soft apples. Then he of the genome. He then compares those tell the age of a tree by counting tree hauls them to Rocky Creek Farm to be regions to the same regions in a known rings. In those cases, he looks for clues in turned into cider. apple. If they match, he has identified historical records and oral accounts. Day says the Plenty Coups orchard the heritage apple. If they don’t, he John Ross of Fromberg, for example, produces Duchess apples. Elsewhere in might have found a unique variety, one one of the biggest champions of the the state, he has seen Wealthy, Alexander, that disappeared from modern nurseries Montana Heritage Orchard Program, Haralson, Wolf River and McIntosh. or maybe a mutation within a variety. said his dad planted about 50 apple But even a horticulture expert can be Apple identification can be challenging, trees in 1951. Thirty of them are still stumped. When he is, Day turns to especially when the DNA comes from a living and producing McIntosh and genetic testing or takes a closer look at tree that’s 100 years old, Weeden said. Wealthy apples. The Fergus County Ar- the harvested apples. “Apples are like people,” Weeden gus reported on Oct. 9, 1890, that James said. “They are highly variable, even Philips had planted 400 apple trees at in the genome.”
FALL 2017 41 MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY · MOUNTAINS MINDS Light shines through a Translucent Crabapple in Fromberg. Some apples from this orchard are now made into cider by Red Lodge Ale in Red Lodge.
PLENTY COUPS PIES Bernadette Smith has worked at Chief In view of that, Smith said the idea Plenty Coups State Park for 19 years, first for developing and selling Chief Plenty as a volunteer and now as an admin- Coups trees could be a success. istrative clerk. She doesn’t claim to be “I think there would be massive inter- related to Chief Plenty Coups, but she, est because people from all over the like Plenty Coups, is a Mountain Crow world come here,” Smith said. raised near the Pryor Mountains. That’s good news for Day and Sarchet On a recent walk to the chief’s who are already developing a line of orchard, Smith stopped at the sacred Plenty Coups trees. In 2016, Day gave spring at the base of a large cottonwood. new shoots from the original trees to Earlier visitors left coins, a can of Skoal the owner of Canyonview Nursery in and a pocket New Testament as gifts. Corvallis. Joy, the master grafter, then For her offering, Smith scooped up a grafted the shoots onto new rootstock. handful of water, then tossed drops to He is growing those trees in his nursery the four directions of the wind and the until they are big enough to be sold. The gnarled trunk of a century- remainder over her left shoulder. One hundred trees that got their start old tree stands on Wild Horse Finally reaching the orchard, Smith in Chief Plenty Coups’ orchard will be Island. The trees have weathered said the trees didn’t produce apples this available in the spring of 2019 to Mon- drought and browsing by hungry year, but they grew enough last year that tana nurseries that sell bare-root trees, mustangs on the island, but still Day said. Three hundred trees with ties stand strong, even though the she and a crust expert from Alabama inside of their trunks are often made five apple pies. Slices went for to the Ray Ranch south of Stevensville reduced to dust. an “ungodly price” at a Friends of will be available in the spring of 2020. Chief Plenty Coups Association fund- That orchard was planted around 1887.. raiser last year.
FALL 2017 43 44 MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY · MOUNTAINS MINDS A heritage apple orchard planted in about 1870 stands in Springhill, north of Bozeman. These orchards were planted during a time when the Springhill Community was frequented by farmers from around the Gallatin Valley who brought their grain to natural spring-powered mills.
FALL 2017 45 PROGRAMS
46 MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY · MOUNTAINS MINDS Velma Pickett works with students in the Guardians of the Living Water summer program on the Crow Reservation.
PARTNERS IN CHANGE Center for American Indian and Rural Health Equity works with Montana communities to tackle the ‘Herculean problem’ of health disparities story by Denise Hoepfner · photos by Adrián Sánchez-González
It is late July, smack in the middle of Water summer camp and, during the the dog days of summer, when children school year, at the after-school program. seeking relief from the heat are splashing Through activities and lessons that com- in a lake or spraying themselves with a bine science, health and Crow culture, hose. But less than a mile away from the youth learn about the vital importance historic Little Bighorn River, a group of water and how to become its stewards. of Crow Indian fifth- and sixth-graders Water is sacred to the Crow. It is the are immersing themselves in water in a font of their creation and where they different way. draw strength, seek clarity and heal. It is Twenty boys and girls gathered in a the channel that connects one generation Crow Agency Public School classroom lis- to the next. But over the past decades, ten intently as Tim McCleary, a professor agricultural practices, bacteria and natu- of Crow studies at Little Big Horn College, ral mineral deposits have compromised recounts the story of the tribe’s origin. He some reservation water sources, risking tells them how the creator, Iichikbaalia, the health of the Apsáalooke who drink surrounded by water and tired of being from contaminated rivers or wells and alone, instructed four ducks to dive to the damaging household plumbing from water’s bottom and bring up some mud. scale and mineral buildup. One duck succeeded, and from the mud it To restore the reservation’s water qual- carried in its bill, Iichikbaalia formed the ity and educate the community about Apsáalooke, or Crow, people. water health, concerned tribal members Sharing oral history is but one formed the Crow Environmental Health activity at the Guardians of the Living Steering Committee in 2004, bringing
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...ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH IS ALSO ABOUT TAKING KNOWLEDGE AND USING IT TO MAKE CHANGES OR DOING SOMETHING ABOUT WHATEVER HEALTH ISSUES ARE IDENTIFIED. THIS SUMMER WE HAD THE STUDENTS SHARE INFORMATION ABOUT WATER QUALITY WITH THEIR PARENTS.
—Vanessa Simonds
into the group researchers from Little health and health disparities in well- Big Horn College and Montana State respected journals, while earning a University, as well as other partners. master’s degree in epidemiology and a For the last dozen years, the commit- doctorate in public health intervention tee has worked to identify and remediate design for social change. the contaminants in the reservation’s Simonds returned to Bozeman and groundwater while respecting tribal wa- MSU in 2014 and was seeking a way ter traditions and to determine how poor to benefit the community through her water quality affects the health of the knowledge and experience when she was Crow who drink, bathe and recreate in it. invited to a Crow Environmental Health With still much work to do, they have Steering Committee meeting by one of called upon a powerful but previously its founders, Mari Eggers, an environ- untapped resource: their children. mental scientist in MSU’s Center for Biofilm Engineering. AGENTS OF CHANGE Prior to the meeting, Simonds said Some public health campaigns have she was considering the idea of using the successfully used children as agents of committee’s collected data to further the health literacy of the tribe’s adults. change, said Vanessa Simonds, an MSU assistant professor of community health She was surprised, though, to learn who earned her bachelor’s degree in bio- the committee had another idea. “They said, ‘Our youth—we want to medical science from MSU in 2002. “You hear about parents who quit smok- talk to our children,’” Simonds said. To- ing because their children come home gether with founder and tribal elder John and tell them how bad it is for them,” she Doyle and longtime CEHSC member said. “It’s a way to reach the children and, Sara Young, they conceptualized a pro- through them, the community.” gram for youth to reach out and teach Simonds, an enrolled member of the their parents about the water quality Crow tribe, lived on the Crow reserva- issues on the reservation. tion for the first two years of her life GUARDIANS OF THE LIVING WATER while her father, John Watts, taught high school English and coached girls’ bas- Seeking community partnership, ketball in Lodge Grass. Her family then Simonds formed a project committee moved to Bozeman, where her mother, where she heard from families who said Susan Stewart, finished her degree in art they wanted a science-based summer at MSU. Simonds grew up in Bozeman, camp for their children that incorpo- and her father served for seven years rated Crow culture and centered on the as director of MSU’s American Indian reservation’s treasured natural resources, A student in the Guardians of the Research Opportunities program. like the Wolf Mountains. Living Water summer program on the Crow Reservation examines a After graduating from MSU, Simonds Using that advice, Simonds worked sample of local water to determine attended the Harvard School of Public closely with her graduate students and the presence of bacteria, one as- Health. There, she led and published Jason Cummins, principal of Crow pect of a lesson in how to conduct a number of studies related to Native Agency Public School, to create research and present findings.
48 MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY · MOUNTAINS MINDS FALL 2017 49 PROGRAMS
HEALTH DISPARITIES ARE A HERCULEAN PROBLEM THAT NO ONE CENTER Guardians of the Living Water—a name CAN TACKLE ALONE. WE’RE ALL IN THE SAME BOAT SO WE HAVE TO FIGURE bestowed upon the program by a Crow elder Grant Bulltail. OUT HOW WE CAN MAKE THIS ALL WORK TOGETHER. “He speaks eloquently about the energy —Alex Adams of the living water and that water is life and has life and we should protect it,” Simonds said. The first summer camp was in 2015, a While the program aims to increase Simonds continues to meet monthly with partnership between the Crow Envi- environmental health literacy in Crow her steering committee, which provides ronmental Health Steering Committee, youth so they can pass it on to their guidance in all aspects of the program. Crow Agency Public School, Little Big community, it also has other purposes: Horn College and MSU. to create a passion for science and rein- CAIRHE “We focused on knowledge that first force Crow culture. year,” Simonds said. “But, environmental Guardians of the Living Water is sup- “We think about building citizen scien- health is also about taking knowledge ported by the Center for American tists, and that is one reason I had a lot of and using it to make changes or doing Indian and Rural Health Equity, or buy-in from the schools and communities,” something about whatever health issues CAIRHE, an MSU-based research center Simonds said. “But, there’s the cultural are identified. This summer we had that promotes health equity in Mon- side, too, of understanding why water is the students share information about tana’s underserved communities. important to the Crow people and instill- water quality with their parents. All the Currently, 53 percent of the state’s ing that into the youth to keep it alive.” students went home, collected water population lives in rural areas that lack One such project took place last fall, samples from in and around their house, essential health care services, and they when after-school students were given and tested them for the presence of bac- face long distances and travel times to cameras and sent into their communities teria. One of our goals is to get parents access those services, according to the to photograph the ways water is impor- involved in learning about water quality.” Montana Department of Public Health tant to them. In the fall of 2015, Guardians began its and Human Services. To reduce those “It was interesting to see what they fourth-grade after-school program led by and other health disparities, including were thinking,” Simonds said. “They students from LBHC under the direction poor health outcomes among tribal and are really perceptive, and they see what’s of Velma Pickett, environmental health rural communities compared to the rest going on with the water.” literacy coordinator at the college. Pickett, of the population, CAIRHE was created Guardians is such a hit with students who was raised on the Crow reservation in 2014 through a grant from the Na- that one asked to stay in Crow Agency and graduated from Dartmouth College, is tional Institutes of Health Institutional School after her parents moved away so also co-leader of the summer camp, which Development Award program, or IDeA. she could keep attending, Simonds said. LBHC and MSU students help facilitate. Along with Simonds’ project, CAIRHE supports two more primary projects and six pilot projects. They ad- dress concerns including food security; dental, sexual and mental health; and substance abuse. CAIRHE-sponsored projects in- volve community-based participatory research—that is, research done in part- nership with the community. CAIRHE works on needs identified by citizens in each area, said Dr. Alex Adams, CAIRHE director who is based at MSU. “The communities have advisory boards that work closely with investigators to frame the research and decide how it’s going to be done, and have local people working on it with them,” Adams said. CAIRHE programs in Montana
50 MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY · MOUNTAINS MINDS Vanessa Simonds talks over research findings with students in the Guardians of the Living Water summer camp. The camp combines science and activities with Crow culture to promote environmental health literacy and is centered around the reservation’s treasured natural resources.
“It’s not someone coming in and saying, problem that no one center can tackle places when I’m occupied with my life ‘Hey, we think you need this.’” alone,” Adams said. “We’re all in the here in Bozeman.” A nationally renowned health equity same boat so we have to figure out how As some of those original Guard- researcher and medical doctor, Adams has we can make this all work together.” ian students move on to middle school, headed CAIRHE since 2016, bringing with Simonds, whose work focuses on Simonds is confident the knowledge and her vast expertise and deep connections working with communities to design, critical thinking skills they have learned, gained from two decades as a leader in implement and evaluate health inter- relationships they have built and experi- the field and a driving passion for health ventions, said CAIRHE’s support has ences they have had, such as trips to cul- promotion and disease prevention partner- been immeasurable in helping address turally significant sites and stories they ships with underserved populations. a serious issue on the Crow reservation may not have otherwise heard outside To do this, she is building an infra- and in providing the opportunity for of camp, will lead them to impact their structure of local and national connec- true partnered research that allowed her communities. And that’s an important tions and programs that includes health to develop relationships with Cummins, pillar of the long-term CAIRHE mission. providers, researchers, tribal college fac- Pickett and others at Crow Agency Pub- “Our program provides these amazing, ulty, students and officials, other centers lic School and Little Big Horn College bright and engaged students with infor- with shared goals, private foundations, who made the project possible. mation about the water in their land and government agencies and citizens from “I learn so much through our activities, the basic issues that their water faces so all walks of life. In September, CAIRHE the stories I hear and the places we visit,” that they not only take and discuss this took a big leap toward that goal by said Simonds, who said she particularly information within their social networks partnering with Montana INBRE for values the project because it keeps her today but perhaps in 10 years they will a health research summit attended by connected to her own roots. “Last sum- have been inspired by our program to nearly 100 top health researchers, public mer, we went to Black Canyon and the become scientists, educators or political health professionals and community Wolf Mountains. These are sites that are leaders,” Simonds said. . representatives from across the region. very significant to the Crow people. I “Health disparities are a Herculean don’t always get a chance to visit these
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CLIMB ON Longtime chemistry professor Pat Callis is the godfather of area climbing story by Amanda Eggert · photos by Kelly Gorham
One winter day in 1970, Montana State “The excitement of teaching has not University biophysical chemist Patrik gone away,” said Callis, who turns 80 Callis set out for a cross-country ski with on March 17, St. Patrick’s Day. “I’m still a fellow professor when he inadvertently learning life sciences; I’m still learning discovered cascades of ice floes lining the biochemistry. Every year I have more canyon beyond Hyalite Reservoir. biochemical information to give that’s di- Callis, an avid climber, knew he had rectly associated with physical chemistry, stumbled upon something special in the and somehow that just keeps teaching in- quiet, icy canyon. The area was ripe for teresting and fulfilling. This seems to be ice climbing, which was just starting to directly linked to my research activities, gain footing thanks to innovations to the which steadily became more biophysical ice axe. He and a cadre of young climb- over the last 30 years.” ing companions returned to the snowy, Callis became hooked on climbing unplowed road numerous times, gear in as a teenager after a high school teacher hand, ticking off many first ascents in showed slides of climbs on volcanoes Hyalite, an area that’s now celebrated as a in his native Oregon. Callis, an eager North American mecca of ice climbing. outdoorsman and climber of trees from a The list of Callis’ early and continued young age, thought it looked more doable contributions to the climbing commu- and less dangerous than he’d previously nity are both lengthy and admirable, but imagined. He sought mentors and set perhaps lesser known is his commitment out to learn how to move up the faces to research and teaching at MSU. Callis, of mountains. who’s been described as a “giant among While nabbing first ascents up and us” will celebrate his 50th year at MSU in down the West Coast, Callis was also 2018, making him the university’s longest- spending a significant amount of time tenured professor. researching the quantum mechanics of
52 MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY · MOUNTAINS MINDS FALL 2017 53 PEOPLE
HE IS A GIANT AMONG US, AND YET HE HAS SUCH A GENTLE, CALM DEMEANOR THAT MANY PEOPLE IN THE BOZEMAN COMMUNITY Lowe, an MSU graduate who remains legendary in mountaineering communi- KNOW HIM ONLY AS AN OUTDOORSMAN AND A NICE PERSON, ties for his enthusiasm and stamina. Two years after Lowe’s death in 1999 HAVING NO IDEA HOW SCHOLARLY HE IS OR HOW DEEP HIS in an avalanche on Shishapangma, a CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF PHOTOPHYSICS TRULY ARE. 26,335-foot peak in Tibet, Anker moved to Bozeman to be closer to Lowe’s widow —Mary Cloninger Jenni (whom he married in 2001) and her three sons. Callis and Anker were aware of one another’s climbing accomplish- molecules. After earning a doctorate at In terms of risk, Callis equates climb- ments and took advantage of their prox- the University of Washington and com- ing with driving: Both are potentially imity to climb together—which they still pleting postdoctoral research at Caltech, dangerous activities that one can learn to do, two or three times a year. Callis accepted a professorship at MSU, negotiate intelligently. Callis’ approach “Pat’s a great example of the genera- which had impressed him with its com- to risk has helped him to summit—and tional connectivity that climbing builds,” mitment to research. return from—big first ascents, like the Anker said, adding that Callis is the only “When I (first) visited here, I was quite north face of Mount Robson, the highest climber he knows who has completed enchanted. That was my dream, to be in peak in the Canadian Rockies. He also first ascents with both Yosemite icono- a place where you could do good science has first ascents of numerous routes on clast Warren Harding and Fred Beckey, and be able to climb without spending Suicide Rock, near Idyllwild, California. one of North America’s most prolific too much time traveling,” said Callis, “Surviving the first couple years— mountaineers. who has well-known first ascents of ice that’s where the luck comes in,” he said. “He just loves climbing. That’s the best and rock routes around Bozeman to his “I was lucky that my first regular climb- part of Pat—any day that he can get out name, including “Cleopatra’s Needle,” a ing partner was a slightly older person climbing is a good day,” Anker said. grade V multi-pitch icefall in Hyalite, who’d done quite a bit of climbing. He Even Callis is surprised by his tenure and “Spare Rib,” one of Gallatin Can- really calibrated me from the outset on on the crags and icefalls of southwestern yon’s classic rock climbs. how to climb safely. I think everybody Montana. “I couldn’t not do it,” he said of Callis expanded upon his sense of should strive for such mentorship if they his vertical pursuits. early enchantment with the area in feel that urge to climb.” There was a period of Callis’ fourth the introduction to “Bozeman Rock And where does that desire originate? decade when he considered giving up Climbs,” the 1987 guidebook written Some climbers chalk it up to an “inex- climbing, buying into the notion that at by Bill Dockins and illustrated with plicable urge to ascend,” but Callis has a certain age he’d no longer be fit enough hand-drawn maps that served as the first a slightly more scientific understanding: to do it well. Instead, he discovered that published guide to Bozeman’s burgeon- “I think it’s genetic, to some extent,” he the opposite was true. ing climbing scene. said, while also acknowledging that “I finally woke up to the fact that I was there’s another, perhaps more mysterious, It was an unforgettably brilliant deteriorating because I wasn’t climbing element. “It gets in your blood…. To me, afternoon in late July 1968, with the enough,” he said. “That was an epiphany.” it was just that free climbing and hiking Northern Rockies at their peak of lush- He started climbing more and continues translated into the beautiful mountain ness that marked my first encounter with to climb at the same difficulty level as 30 environment, which is just something in the Gallatin Towers. Gayle (his wife) years ago, although the famously modest itself. Unless you’ve really gone up high and I and two-year-old Kristina were Callis also acknowledges that some of the on a mountain, it’s hard to quite realize.” literally high on the greens, golds and grades may have softened a bit. In 2001, Callis introduced Conrad special incense of Gallatin Canyon…It In August, Callis completed his 23rd Anker, possibly Montana’s most well- was more than love at first sight. There Bridger Ridge Run, a brutal 20-mile known mountaineer, to many of the was immediate recognition that this trail run along the spine of the Bridger area’s 5.11 climbs. Rock climbs are rated oasis of hard rock crags in a region of Mountains. He holds the distinction of on a scale from 5.6 to 5.15; a 5.11 route crumbling limestone would be the site of finishing the second-most Ridge Runs requires both technical proficiency and many enjoyable hours of exploratory rock of any competitor. considerable strength. climbing I had grown to love during the “Something about it started to haunt Callis and Anker had a mutual friend previous decade on the West Coast. me during the winter after [my first Ridge and climbing companion in the late Alex Run] and I found myself wanting to run
54 MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY · MOUNTAINS MINDS This fall the Montana University System Board of Regents named Pat Callis a Regents Professor, the highest honor in the system. Callis will present a Regents Symposium on his work on April 7.
Ike Kaufman is photographed in his family’s Great Falls store, Kaufman’s Menswear.
it again, and again and again. It just the National Science Foundation, which he’s been at MSU almost 50 years,” Rae keeps sort of luring me,” he said. had funded his research for 29 straight added. “Long may he continue.” The race was conceived by the late years, for supporting the graduate and This fall the Montana University System Ed Anacker, Callis’ friend and fellow postdoctoral students he mentored during Board of Regents approved making Callis MSU chemistry professor. Anacker was that time. “My many colleagues within a Regents Professor, the highest honor in instrumental in Callis’ move to Bozeman, the department carrying out similarly the system. Callis will present a Regents having taken a sabbatical from MSU to sponsored programs have contributed Symposium on his work on April 7. conduct research in a laboratory at the greatly to my learning experience.” And, Callis’ students still appreciate University of Oregon where Callis was His colleagues note his scientific both his patience and his ability to il- finishing his graduate studies. contributions are as significant as his luminate scientific processes. If challenge and high-alpine environ- athletic accomplishments. Jacob Remington, a doctoral candidate ments form the wellspring that keeps “He is a giant among us, and yet he has in the Department of Chemistry and Callis on mountainsides, the process of such a gentle, calm demeanor that many Biochemistry who has been working with discovery is what keeps returning to the people in the Bozeman community know Callis since he was an undergraduate, Department of Chemistry and Biochem- him only as an outdoorsman and a nice said Callis has a unique ability to explain istry in the College of Letters and Science person, having no idea how scholarly he difficult concepts in, say, quantum me- to conduct research and teach courses on is or how deep his contributions to the chanics, while simultaneously revealing physical and quantum chemistry. advancement of photophysics truly are,” larger truths. Recently, Callis has become particu- wrote Mary Cloninger, the head of the “I leave [Pat’s] office thinking a little larly interested in how enzymes accelerate Department of Chemistry and Bio- more deeply about what I went in there biochemical reactions. chemistry, in her nomination letter for a to ask, and it leaves me with a sense of “I’ve been able to see that I have some creativity award Callis received in 2015. wonder that the universe could possibly ideas that are not out there in the litera- “He’s quiet, he listens and he’s thought- behave that way,” Remington said. ture, and I’m very busily and excitedly ex- ful. There’s great positive energy around “Pat has been a complete idol for me in ploring these ideas right now,” Callis said. him,” said Nicol Rae, dean of the College terms of work-life balance—to become a He added that he is particularly thankful of Letters and Science. full-time professor and still go outdoors a for the National Institutes of Health and “If you meet Pat, it doesn’t look like bunch. It’s pretty inspirational.” .
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Bill Kollar, center, has mentored some of the National Football League’s best defensive players in 29 years coaching in the league, including the Denver Broncos’ Von Miller, left. ICONSPORTSWIRE
KOLLAR
GRABBING THE (SUPER BOWL) RING by Colter Nuanez Bill Kollar says time at MSU was foundation of NFL coaching success Bill Kollar wrestled plenty of Grizzlies and there’s probably 50 people there. I during his standout career as a Montana walk in and say, ‘What’s going on?’ They State University defensive tackle in the said, ‘Somebody’s gonna wrestle a bear!’ 1970s before a long, winding life lived in the I said, ‘I wonder who the heck’s going to NFL that includes his current post coaching end up doing that?’” defensive line for the Denver Broncos. The joke was on Kollar, at the time a But type ‘Bill Kollar’ into Google and young defensive lineman for the Bengals. you will realize it’s not earning Senior The first time the two squared up, the Bowl MVP honors that pops up, nor is it bear put Kollar on his back, Kollar said that he’s mentored some of the modern recently. But, in Kollar’s typical fiercely era’s greatest defensive players. The bear for competitive fashion, he put the bear on which Kollar is most famous for tackling its back when they faced up again, which is a real life 7-foot touring bear he grappled is no surprise to anyone who watched with back in 1975 for a whopping $50. Kollar wreak havoc during his legendary Kollar, the first Bobcat or Big Sky career with the Bobcats. standout to ever earn Senior Bowl MVP The Warren, Ohio, native became honors back in 1974, first told the story iconic by becoming only the second Big of his stunt tussling with a real live beast Sky player, and only MSU player, to ever when he was inducted into the Senior have his name called in the first round Bowl Hall of Fame in 2014 in honor of of the NFL Draft. After eight success- the 40th anniversary of his being named ful but largely injury-ridden seasons as a MVP of the annual college all-star game. player, Kollar began his coaching career “I said, ‘OK, ($50), that’s pretty good,” as a student assistant while he finished Kollar said. “I go downtown (Cincinnati) his degree at MSU. In 1984, he joined
56 MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY · MOUNTAINS MINDS ICONSPORTSWIRE
KOLLAR
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The MSU Bobcats retired Kollar’s number 77 in honor of the All-American and the MVP of the Senior Bowl all-star game. Kollar is the only Bobcat MSU FILE PHOTO
who has been drafted in the first round of the NFL draft. KOLLAR
John McKay’s staff at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, sparking a career as an NFL assistant that has included six total teams and 29 years. As of late, Kollar has reached the pinnacle of coaching. He has spent time around NFL legends Deion Sanders, Brett Favre, Peyton Manning and Eric Dickerson. Kollar mentored NFL Defen- sive Player of the Year J.J. Watt during his time as the defensive line coach for the Houston Texans and Super Bowl MVP Von Miller since he joined the Denver Broncos staff in 2015. He has worked for a wide array of the NFL’s most memorable personalities, rang- ing from such iconic head coaches as Jerry Glanville, June Jones and Dan Reeves during his decade-long career with the Atlanta Falcons to offensive masterminds like Mike Martz during his five-year stint in St. Louis and Gary Kubiak in Houston and Denver where he played a hand in the Broncos’ Super Bowl win in 2015. Through all his travels and triumphs, Kolar has never forgotten the foundation upon which his success has been built. “The influence my experience at Mon- tana State had on my life is insurmount- able,” Kollar said in an interview in March before being inducted into the Montana Football Hall of Fame. Kollar graduated in 1985 with a degree in physical education from the College of Education, Health and Human Development. “The values I learned there and the camaraderie we shared as a football team was second to none…. My development there set me up for my NFL career. And the things I learned from being around coaches like Sonny Holland and Sonny Lubick set the stage for my life after football. “Montana State is truly where it all started.”
The 64-year-old has spent the second half of his charmed life coaching some of the NFL’s most feared pass rushers. Watt, widely considered the top defensive player in professional football, credits
58 MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY · MOUNTAINS MINDS MSU FILE PHOTO
KOLLAR (MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY) IS A GREAT UNIVERSITY. THE PEOPLE
Kollar directly for his impressive devel- DOWNTOWN, THE SMALL-TOWN FEEL OF IT, THAT’S A GREAT THING FOR opment. Miller has mentioned Kollar on A LOT OF GUYS THAT GO OUT THERE AND NOT ONLY PLAY FOOTBALL, several occasions as a huge influence on his ability to terrorize quarterbacks. BUT TO BE A STUDENT AND GROW AS A MAN. Kollar was once nearly as dominant as the men he mentors. Back in the —Bill Kollar early 1970s, former MSU and Idaho State head coach Mike Kramer was an offensive linemen for the Idaho Vandals. As a sophomore in 1972, Kramer tried to prepare himself to stop Kollar, one of and assistant coach who went on to have Kollar made enough plays to earn invites the most disruptive forces in the Big Sky great success as the head coach at Pur- to the Senior Bowl and the East-West Conference. As he walked to practice on due, brought Kollar, Leon Potkay and Shrine game, the two most prestigious the week the Vandals were preparing to a handful of other fellow Ohio natives post-season all-star games in the country. face the Bobcats, a pro scout told one of west to become Bobcats in 1970. Both were right before the NFL Draft, Idaho’s assistant coaches that he’d timed “I really love Montana, the openness, so his outstanding performances helped Kollar at 267 pounds at 4.63 seconds in the mountains, the whole deal,” Kollar his draft stock rise. He ended up landing the 40-yard dash. said in an interview in 2014. “People in with Cincinnati as the No. 24 pick over- “I thought, ‘Oh no’. Then, that Sat- Montana are really easy to get along with. all, the second-highest selection to this urday, I never touched him. Literally The university is a great university. The day for a Big Sky product in the 54-year never put a hand on him,” Kramer said. people downtown, the small-town feel of history of the league. “He had absolute raw speed. He was so it, that’s a great thing for a lot of guys that In the years since, he has played for darn fast.” go out there and not only play football, and then coached with many successful Kollar is still considered to be one of but to be a student and grow as a man.” and influential coaches, but he traces the best players in school history. His His first year in Bozeman, Kollar his style back to the men who mentored No. 77 hangs atop Bobcat Stadium, cut his teeth on the freshmen team. him at Montana State. one of four retired numbers at MSU. He watched MSU senior Gary Gustafson “Those guys had an enormous influ- In 1973, Kollar earned All-America ac- earn first-team All-America honors. ence on my life,” Kollar said recently. colades and was selected for the Senior The Cincinnati Bengals drafted “When you are around guys who you Bowl and the East-West Shrine Game. Gustafson in 1971. really enjoy and you enjoy the way they In 2014, he was enshrined in the Senior “Deep down inside, I thought to coach, it branched me off into coaching Bowl Hall of Fame, commemorating myself, ‘I’d love to end up doing that and I’ve been able to hang around for as his 1974 MVP performance. someday,’” Kollar said. long as I have.” “He was so athletic,” said Dennis Erick- By 1972, Kollar was a starter and a Montana State’s defensive line has a rich son, an assistant coach at Montana State standout for Sonny Holland’s Bobcats. tradition. Gustafson was the first in a long during Kollar’s playing days who went He helped lead the Bobcats to the Big line of All-Americans that includes Daws, on to coach Miami to two national titles. Sky Conference title that season, then Mark Fellows, Dane Fletcher and Zach Erickson is now retired after a 47-year earned All-America honors the next. Minter. Caleb Schreibeis and Brad Daly career in coaching. “He created havoc “He had an amazing physical abil- won back-to-back Buck Buchanan Awards along the line at all levels. He penetrated ity that was so far advanced from the as the top defensive player in the FCS in on seemingly every down and made plays players of that era,” said Brad Daws, an 2012 and 2013 respectively, setting the bar all over the football field. In those days, All-America selection himself for MSU even higher. But if you ask those who saw he reminded me of Warren Sapp that I in 1975. “Bill played right next to me. I Kollar play, the bar was set long ago. had at Miami. It was a different time, but can remember my hand coming out of “I don’t know if anyone touches him,” that’s how dominant he was.” my stance and Kollar already having two Erickson said. “He was so great at Mon- strides on me. And I wasn’t a slow guy…. tana State, then he dominated the Senior Kollar came to Bozeman from Warren, a But he had that amazing combination of Bowl, then he dominated the league. He is, steel belt town in northeast Ohio known quickness for his size. without question, the best defensive line- for producing tough football players. Joe “It was comical how quick he was.” man who has played at Montana State.” . Tiller, a former Montana State player
FALL 2017 59 PEOPLE ADRIÁN SÁNCHEZ-GONZÁLEZADRIÁN
ANDERSEN
FLIPPING THE CLASSROOM Paul Andersen teaches science to millions using old school charisma and new wave technology by Michele Corriel Faster than a supercomputer. More and teaching to travel the world helping School on Montana’s Hi-Line, included powerful than the Hubble telescope. other science educators up their game. coaching, driving the school bus and oc- Able to leap tall questions with a single “For me, it’s a job where I get to work casionally directing the pep band, as well click. Look, up on the screen! …It’s Paul with science teachers and I get to see the as teaching science. After seven years at Andersen, the Bozeman teacher who world,” Andersen said. This summer he Gildford, he landed a job in Bozeman, changed the course of classroom culture, was in Dubai and Kuala Lumpur, and where he taught for the next 13 years. creates YouTube videos for millions of this fall he teaches in Singapore, Beijing Andersen explained that his methods students around the world and fights the and Addis Ababa, as well as other loca- for changing the way students learned lo- never-ending battle for truth, science and tions around the globe. “It’s the best of all cally, as well as around the world, started a new way to learn. worlds.” out as old-fashioned tutoring using what Maybe Andersen isn’t Superman, but Andersen grew up in Bozeman, where was then a new technology. the Montana State University grad is his dad taught math education at MSU, “I started out posting videos on close. Science teacher extraordinaire, so when it was time for him to go to col- YouTube about eight years ago, to give the pioneering Andersen turned his lege he followed his father to MSU and my students a little extra help,” he said, Bozeman High School classroom into became a high school science teacher. adding that his videos and YouTube in a video game, was selected Montana He has a bachelor’s degree in biological general took off within a couple of years Teacher of the Year and became one of sciences and a master’s of science in sci- of each other. It became something of a four finalists for the national title. He ence education, both from the College of hobby that he did every day. “Once you continues to create YouTube videos with Letters and Science. make a video and people watch it, you millions of international viewers. And, Duties for his first teaching job, at just want to do it more.” he has also combined his loves of science Gildford’s small Kremlin-Gildford High The videos were meant to help students
60 MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY · MOUNTAINS MINDS MY TRAVEL AND WORK ABROAD HAS BROADENED MY PERSPECTIVE. THE WORLD IS A LARGE, COMPLEX AND BEAUTIFUL PLACE. HOWEVER, THE FARTHER I GO THE MORE I APPRECIATE COMING BACK HOME TO BOZEMAN. ADRIÁN SÁNCHEZ-GONZÁLEZADRIÁN sociate director of the Masters of Science —Paul Andersen in Science Education program at MSU,
ANDERSEN has known Andersen since Andersen was his teaching assistant. Andersen also taught the technology course for taking the Advanced Placement Biology as the instructor. Sensing that the dy- Masters of Science in Science Education test. Since the test is the same around the namic interaction between teacher and Program, working with Graves. world, Andersen found that his videos student was missing, Andersen tweaked “Paul’s always been on the innovative were being watched by a lot of students. his methods as the years went by. He edge of instruction, always cared about “On the back end of the YouTube channel, made himself available to the students students and worked to bring technology I can see who uses the videos and when… . during class as well as after regular class into the classroom as a way to connect The watching really spikes around the time hours, and he made sure his students students and teaching,” Graves said. He of the AP test, which is taken on the same knew that “science rules.” said Andersen has the skill set, personal- day everywhere,” Andersen said. “The Magdalena Russell, a senior at MSU ity and “the pedagogical understanding students found value in the videos, and my majoring in cell biology and neurosci- as a teacher to capitalize on that. He has own success as a teacher stemmed from my ence, had Andersen for her ninth grade the ability to put it all together in one students’ successes.” honors physical science class and 10th effective package. And he can connect On a typical day, Andersen’s videos grade AP Biology. across subject areas and content.” will get 80,000 views. On the day before “It was the first time I was challenged Andersen often credits his success to the AP Biology test, the videos see by an exam and realized that I actually timing. Just as he was making his videos almost a quarter of a million views. had to read the book and start studying resources, Khan Academy, an online “I think I’m good at explaining science for test,” Russell said. It was also the first teaching site, and other online learning and technology,” he said. “It’s what I time the A student received an F. apps were starting to get traction among love. Learning is exciting and it’s some- “That really motivated me; after failing teachers and students. thing I hope I never lose.” the test, I was able to learn the right “YouTube is a lot of luck,” he said. During his years at Bozeman High, skills from Andersen and got an A on “There’s so much that you can get lost in Andersen experimented with his own the next one.” the noise. Lucky for me I was one of the teaching style. Taking advantage of the The year Russell had Andersen for AP first ones, so people easily found me.” culture of video games, he moved away Biology was also the first year he flipped Also at around that time, there was from the traditional “static” method the classroom. a website called Teachers Pay Teach- of disseminating information. Instead, “He was going to structure the class af- ers, where instructors would post lesson he set up the classroom so those who ter the video game Angry Birds,” she said. plans and worksheets online. The catch: learned quickly could move forward and “We were able to work on biology projects The downloads came with a fee. those who needed more time with a les- and homework, where we would level up “I thought it was awful,” Andersen son could stay as long as they needed. as we learned. It fostered a motivation to said. “People should just share good The class would begin by watching a get to the highest level you possibly could, ideas. So I posted my videos without video, move to a reading assignment and while learning along way.” strings attached. The thing was, I wasn’t then to a quiz. After passing the quiz the Russell recently received the 2017 Gold- prepared for was how technology changes students would head off into the class for water Scholarship, the nation’s premier everything. I was just trying to be a good practical applications. The innovation scholarship for undergraduates studying teacher—now I have a brand new career.” was that a student could take the quiz as math, natural sciences and engineering. He admits that while “the hardest part many times as needed. Instead of start- She credits Andersen with getting her of leaving the classroom is that I miss the ing with an A and losing points over the excited about science and said he still influ- students,” he believes that teaching teach- year, all the students started at zero and ences her plan to become a researcher and ers provides a great opportunity to impact worked their way up. professor after she graduates. student lives, “which is pretty special.” “When you play a video game you start “He’s still, to this day, my most favor- And, it has given him a second life. at zero and expect to lose a ‘life’ as you ite teacher I’ve ever had,” she said. “He “My travel and work abroad has broad- learn,” Andersen said—fail, learn, repeat. really had a way of exciting students ened my perspective. The world is a large, But it also left room for improvement, about biology.” complex, and beautiful place. However, both on the part of the students as well John Graves, the lead faculty and as- the farther I go the more I appreciate coming back home to Bozeman.” .
To learn more about Paul Andersen, go to his website: www.bozemanscience.com FALL 2017 61 PEOPLE MAX HAMBERGER RUSSELL
RUSSELLING UP STUDENTS for the traditional M photo that the Ronda Russell’s hard work and a personal touch are iconic letter burst over its boundaries, the equation for admission director’s success looking more like a pillowy caricature by Carol Schmidt than a bold letter of the alphabet. “Next year we’ll have to spell MSU,” It was the Saturday before the school organizers said of the number of students. year started when a beaming Ronda This abundance of incoming students Russell posed for a photo with her kids— has become a pattern in recent years. more than 3,000 of them. This fall, MSU set an enrollment record The students who formed the “M” in for the 10th straight year with 16,703 stu- the background were a large percentage dents. There are many contributing fac- of Montana State University’s incom- tors to the upswing in student numbers. ing freshman class. There were so many It is the result of years of hard, focused gold-shirted freshmen who showed up work by a great many people. But chief
62 MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY · MOUNTAINS MINDS MAX HAMBERGER
RUSSELL RONDA RUSSELL IS A WINNER. HER GOAL IS NOT TO BE BEAT among the factors in growth has been a concentrated effort by the staff of IN ANYTHING. HER GOAL IS TO BE AT THE FOREFRONT. the MSU Office of Admissions, which I THINK HER SUCCESS REFLECTS THAT. Russell directs. In fact, Russell and the members of her team have had a touch —Jaynee Groseth in enrolling each student that was part of the happy, golden M that billowed below her on Martel Field. Russell has been living and breathing entation reporting to Rolf Groseth, then game. Admission directors must have Bobcat blue and gold for so long that it’s dean of students. She got the job and their pulse on the wants and needs of a almost inconceivable to imagine that she has been with MSU ever since. Jaynee 16-year-old. And Russell is old enough ever was anywhere else. Yet, she grew up Groseth, Rolf’s wife, was director of ad- that she now has children that age. Mag- in St. Peter, Minnesota, 10 miles north missions then and had recruited against dalena “Maggie” Russell is a senior at of Mankato. Her father was a police Russell so knew her strengths. MSU who is the university’s most recent chief and her mother an administrative “Her energy is what attracted me to Goldwater Scholar, which recognizes assistant. She graduated from Concor- her,” said Jaynee Groseth, who gave national excellence in STEM fields. Her dia College, a small, private college in Russell a second half-time position son, J.J., is a junior in high school. Rus- Moorhead, Minnesota. She had planned working for her. A couple of years later, sell thinks her family perspective is an to enroll in medical school, but when the Groseths went to other jobs at MSU asset that helps her understand prospec- she graduated she decided to become an and admissions and orientation were tive students as well as the concerns of admissions representative for her alma combined, and Russell became director. their parents. mater. Ronald Reagan was president. “Ronda’s smart,” Jaynee Groseth said. Groseth said another of Russell’s There was no internet, and a lot of “She could see where this admission strengths is knowing how to build a university recruiting was done by mail. thing was going.” strong team. Russell’s office has grown Yet, Russell says she still uses many of Russell’s insights into where university from just a couple of employees to a the recruiting techniques she learned at admissions strategies are going today, as small army of 27 that includes recruiters, Concordia three decades ago, especially well as her ability to combine the person- counselors, planners, accountants and the emphasis on a personal touch. alization of a private university with the application evaluators of all ages. Among “Who doesn’t want to be treated well?” access and size of a public institution, are them is the Groseths’ son, Anders, who Russell asked. That question has become just two of the factors that make Russell now helps plan orientation. her admissions mantra. a leader in the admissions field, according Russell points out that some of these That question also led indirectly to to Chris Kearns, vice president of student strengths came from lessons learned Russell’s landing on the MSU campus. success and Russell’s boss. during hard years. In 1983, after three years at Concordia, “I have never seen another admissions “We were the underdogs for so long Russell planned to attend graduate officer to equal Ronda,” Kearns said. that we got used to trying harder, stay- school at another university in the re- “And, I’ve been working with admissions ing stronger and running faster,” she gion and thought her future path was set. officers for 18 years.” said. And, that is also the case for “I arranged a campus visit to the MSU’s recent surges of enrollment Russell, who admits to a strong sense of school I had chosen and when I arrived, have bucked a national trend that has competitiveness. things just did not seem right and I seen many institutions fighting for new Which may be one of the reasons that didn’t feel a welcoming vibe,” she said. students. Factors include a healthy na- Russell is still at MSU, working as long “My visit experience changed my fate.” tional economy, which means the work- and as hard as some of her employees who On her way back home to Minnesota, force attracts more potential students are several decades her junior. she stopped at Montana State, showing than in times of downturn. Also, there “I like to sell MSU,” Russell says with a up unannounced in the office of Eric was a dip in the American birthrate of shrug. “As long as this job is fun, I’ll do it.” Strohmeyer, who was then in charge of kids that are now college-age, which is Jaynee Groseth puts it another way. the MSU counselor education program. even more pronounced in Montana. “Ronda Russell is a winner,” Groseth Russell was a graduate assistant for two So, Russell’s success might be consid- said. “Her goal is not to be beat in any- weeks before she saw that MSU was ered surprising, especially to those who thing. Her goal is to be at the forefront. I looking for a part-time director of ori- think that admissions is a young person’s think her success reflects that.” .
FALL 2017 63 PEOPLE DOUG LONEMAN DOUG CONGER
THE DYSLEXIC ADVANTAGE major asset in many professions, such as Changing how we think about dyslexia filmmaking, photography and graphic essay by Jeffrey Conger design. The heightened spatial under- standing created by this portion of the Being dyslexic is an invisible strength. It brain is a benefit for architects designing is like having a pair of X-ray glasses that a building, engineers solving a complex allows one to see the universe in a new problem and pilots landing a commercial way. Through research of mapping the jet. The ability to quickly process the 3-D brain, we now know that dyslexia fosters situation is a big plus on a sports field, many advantages. This I know first-hand court or track for athletes and coaches. because of my own dyslexia, but also One fact that is often overlooked is through mentoring dyslexic undergradu- that the area in the human brain that ate and graduate students at Montana creates dyslexia is above the left ear. It State University. functions like a microchip, processing When we think of dyslexia, most of both words and visuals. In the dyslexic us envision difficulty with reading or mind, the visual processing of this part transposing letterforms. However, the of the brain is often much greater than secret of the dyslexic mind is that most the verbal pathways. It is also known have enhanced picture-thinking abilities. that dyslexics inherit this biological This increased visual understanding is a microchip from their parents. In this
64 MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY · MOUNTAINS MINDS DOUG LONEMAN DOUG
CONGER WITH ONE IN FIVE PEOPLE OF THE GENERAL POPULATION BEING DYSLEXIC,
way, one child in a family might have MSU IS FOCUSING ON THE STRENGTHS OF THESE INDIVIDUALS BY DEVELOPING a dyslexic mind while the other has a STRATEGIES THAT FOSTER THEIR SKILLS RELATED TO A CAREER PATH. traditional mind. Across the state on MSU campuses, —Jeffrey Conger we are changing both the methods of instruction and the culture around dys- lexia. One of the most effective ways to create change is by spotlighting dynamic stories of dyslexics with notable suc- ing on the strengths of these individuals programs used by college students are cess. For instance, in the motion picture by developing strategies that foster their Kerzweil 3000 and Read & Write Gold. industry, this includes superstars like skills related to a career path. Through Other useful technologies include Jennifer Aniston, George Clooney and better understanding this learning dif- thousands of nonfiction and fiction Steven Spielberg. Another noted creative ference and becoming agents of change, books available on Audible.com. To dyslexic is John Lennon, who is known we can empower the next generation of assist with the challenges of spelling and for his musical genius. visual thinkers. punctuation there are powerful software In entrepreneurship, research es- The picture-thinking assets of the options like Grammarly.com that go timates that 35 percent of successful dyslexic mind are a natural fit for many far beyond spell check and can proof a business owners are dyslexic. This is career paths, especially in professions sentence for context. And new innova- best seen by the list of dyslexic pioneers that rely on strong spatial understanding tive tools like smart pens that literally including Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and or 3-D processing. At MSU in Bozeman record a lecture and can also transcribe Charles Schwab. One high-profile en- we offer degrees in engineering, architec- handwritten notes into a type format. trepreneur who talks candidly about his ture and graphic design that all require Those looking for resources can find dyslexia and its influence on his success strong visual skills. We also are home assistance at the Allen Yarnell Center for is Sir Richard Branson, the founder of to the Jake Jabs College of Business and Student Success on the Bozeman cam- the Virgin Group. In May, Sir Branson Entrepreneurship with degrees in mar- pus or at one of the disability resource launched a new nonprofit organization keting, management and finance that offices located on the affiliateMSU cam- in London called madebydyslexia.org to require big picture thinking. puses. Individuals searching for online combat the stigma around dyslexia. MSU Northern in Havre offers both information can begin with the www. Another unexpected advantage of the specialized 2-year and 4-year diesel tech- beatingdyslexia.com website, which was dyslexic mind is the ability to process nology degrees that require mechanical created by three dyslexic college students complex data sets. This skill can vary visualization. MSU Billings offers a in England who wanted to make it easier from an astrophysicist who envisions the unique degree in outdoor adventure lead- for future students to succeed. It offers expansion of the big bang theory to a ership and music business. At Gallatin a free 90-second test for anyone to take football quarterback reading a backfield College MSU, there are outstanding of- that may indicate dyslexia. This is the in motion while trying to score a touch- ferings in aviation and CNC machining perfect first step in transforming the down. Some might be surprised to learn technology, and at Great Falls College powers of dyslexia into a strength that that NFL Hall of Famer Joe Montana is MSU there are excellent dental hygiene will maximize potential in succeeding in dyslexic. Leading the 49ers to four Super and EMT programs. In addition, all our the university environment and also . Bowl Championships was his day-to-day MSU campuses offer college-level ath- a sustained career path. job, and perhaps the benefit of increased letic programs and club sports that are Jeffrey Conger’s introduction to learning peripheral vision known to be prevalent often a perfect fit for the visual strengths differences was personal. The award-win- in the dyslexic mind is simply a coinci- of the dyslexic mind. ning graphic design professor in the College dence. Other successful dyslexic athletes To make navigation of these two of Arts and Architecture discovered during include legendary professional basketball and four-year institutions easier there his own undergraduate experience that his player Kobe Bryant with his fiveNBA are several technological advancements approach to learning was different from Championships and 33,643 career points, available for dyslexic individuals. This others. Serving as the 2016–2017 Presiden- and Formula One driver Lewis Hamil- includes text to speech software pro- tial Faculty Fellow, he has worked to bring ton with four F1 World Championships. grams that utilize the benefits of listen- an awareness about dyslexia to all four With one in five people of the general ing to text or what is called ear reading. MSU campuses. He excerpts his presenta- population being dyslexic, MSU is focus- The two most common text to speech tion on learning differences in this essay.
To learn more about learning differences and resources at MSU, go to www.montana.edu/aycss/
FALL 2017 65 KELLY GORHAM KELLY
66 MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY · MOUNTAINS MINDS The Spirit of Discovery Award for the Honors College, established by Liane and Lew Vadheim of Miles City in 2012, parents of MSU Marshal Scholar Bryan Vadheim, recognizes excellent faculty members who have taught in the Honors College. Ilse-Mari Lee, dean of the college, teaches one of the many courses that enrich the learning of honors students.
TEACHING HOW TO THINK OUT OF THE BOX Support of inspiring professors positively impacts students
by Michele Corriel
As the saying goes, give a man a fish and have taught in the college. The Vadheims’ he’ll eat for a day, but teach a man to fish son, Bryan, became MSU’s first Marshall and he’ll never go hungry. Such is the Scholarship Award recipient in 2012. underlying value of the awards given to The impetus to create the award outstanding faculty. While there is no occurred when the Vadheims brought doubt students benefit from individual Bryan to visit MSU and the dean at the scholarships, gifts in support of faculty time personally took them on a tour. can impact students exponentially. Bryan excelled at MSU, and after he To that end, the Spirit of Discovery graduated from MSU with degrees in Award, the Mary Edsall McLaughlin chemical engineering and economics, Award and the Cox Family Fund for he went on to earn a master’s degree Excellence exemplify how upholding and from the London School of Econom- rewarding faculty benefits the university ics as a Marshall Scholar. Bryan, who
KELLY GORHAM KELLY as a whole and students universally. also earned a master’s degree in climate The Spirit of Discovery Award for the science and policy from the University of Honors College, established by Liane Bristol, is now an economist in London. and Lew Vadheim of Miles City in 2012, “We both graduated from MSU,” Liane recognizes excellent faculty members who Vadheim said. “We’re excited by all the
FALL 2017 67 WHILE THERE IS NO DOUBT STUDENTS BENEFIT FROM INDIVIDUAL
SCHOLARSHIPS, GIFTS IN SUPPORT OF FACULTY CAN SÁNCHEZ-GONZÁLEZADRIÁN IMPACT STUDENTS EXPONENTIALLY.
things that MSU does, but we wanted to upon an innovative new technology that MANY WAYS TO GIVE focus on the Honors College. It does a has the potential to cure genetic disease.” With philanthropic intention and great job inspiring outstanding students.” Wiedenheft said the Spirit of Discov- commitments that suit their finances, Most importantly, the Vadheims ery Award offers encouragement. these donors have found a variety of felt the Honors College nurtures “We aim to inspire our students, and ways to make impacts across campus. cross-fertilization. recognition through awards like this “That can lead to all kinds of aha mo- motivates me to do better,” he said. GIFT OF MARKETABLE SECURITIES ments,” she said. “These are students who Wiedenheft fosters interaction by TJ and Maggie Lynch donated stock are going to fix the world for us, and the using participatory learning. His con- valued at $3,560 fact that these good students are encour- tribution to undergraduates at MSU is IMPACT School of Film and Photography student support aged to synthesize their ideas made us teaching them why what they learn in want to thank the faculty in particular.” the classroom has profound impacts on a PLEDGE OVER 5 YEARS Realizing the extra effort honors professional level. Russell Crawford pledged a major gift faculty puts in to teach interdisciplinary “The Vadheims are special individuals,” utilizing his workplace corporate match program classes and the added onus of having to Wiedenheft said. “They’re from Miles because he believes in the importance of students challenge honors students, the Vadheims City and I’m from the Hi-Line. Having traveling for international experiences. felt it only fitting to support them. been a student in the public education IMPACT Travel abroad scholarships for business students “We appreciate that the faculty has to system in the northeastern part of the be excited to do that—to encourage their state, I feel very strongly about giving CHARITABLE GIFT ANNUITY students to think outside the box.” back to Montana.” Doug and Marsha Okland have established Wiedenheft has mentored close to a charitable gift annuities over the past four years. dozen students from the Honors College. IMPACT KUSM Endowment for Montana PBS Blake Wiedenheft, the 2016 recipient of the Spirit of Discovery Award and an Josh Carter was one of the honors stu- dents in Wiedenheft’s lab and is MSU’s OUTRIGHT GIFT assistant professor in the Department of Buzz and Judy Cowdrey contributed a Microbiology and Immunology, teaches most recent Rhodes Scholar. Alyssa Jones, current use gift in support of student-athletes. and mentors Honors College students by a current honors student working in the IMPACT Athletics sports excellence bringing his research into the classroom Wiedenheft Lab explains how Wieden- and the students into his lab. heft supports students. BENEFICIARY OF RETIREMENT ACCOUNT “Dr. (Ilse-Mari) Lee is building one “If you want to put the work in, he’ll Janice Kathary Vigre and Norm Vigre of the best programs in the country,” help you to do that,” she said. “He has pledged to establish an endowment and a high standard, but he encourages stu- designated MSU as the beneficiary of an IRA Wiedenheft said, referring to the dean of (estimated total gift $125,000). the Honors College. “The Honors College dents to reach that standard. The thing IMPACT Scholarships for microbiology and gives me access to an incredible talent that stands out about him is that he can immunology students pool and allows me to recruit students address different levels of experience. He that are now playing an important role in can have a conversation with a graduate To make your own impact, visit student and then turn around and ex- MONTANA.EDU/WHATITTAKES the research conducted in my laboratory.” Among his research projects, Wieden- plain what’s going on to someone like me, heft makes use of CRISPR technology to who hasn’t had that kind of experience.” The MSU Alumni Foundation takes seriously the develop new tools that can be used for responsibility to honor the confidentiality of donors the precise manipulation of DNA. Brothers Don and Richard McLaughlin and their gifts to MSU. All donor and gift stories are published with the express approval of donors and “We study what happens when bacteria established the Mary Edsall McLaughlin affected family members. get sick,” he said. “Bacteria get infected Award for the College of Arts and Ar- by viruses, and by understanding the chitecture in memory of their mother to immune response that bacteria mount support faculty projects that address the against these viruses, we have stumbled visual exploration of place and quality, cu-
68 MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY · MOUNTAINS MINDS ADRIÁN SÁNCHEZ-GONZÁLEZ August LeRoy Strand wasanentomolo- Butte where shegrew upandlived. Peo - Mary McLaughlin.”Mary School ofArchitecture, alsointheCol - State Collegeandherunclewaspresi- wonder who’s standingupthere nextto riosity and innovation, people and place. place. people and innovation, and riosity in Europe withsomefriends. chitecture. A1967graduate ofthe on abalconywiththePope, folkswould enthusiasm for art, butit’senthusiasm forart, compounded dent atthetime,” Don McLaughlin said. lege of Arts andArchitecture,lege ofArts herecalls ple inButte oftensayifshewere standing plished watercolorist. Not onlydoesthe taking offasemestertoride motorcycles then by Don McLaughlin’s passion forar- but laterinherlifebecameanaccom- gist who served aspresident ofwhatwas gist whoserved appreciated art and supported the arts in thearts appreciated andsupported art award stemfrom McLaughlin’s Mary FALL 2017 of place and quality, curiosity and innovation, people and place. and people innovation, and curiosity quality, and exploration visual place of the address that projects faculty supports award the Richard, and Don sons, her by Established Architecture. and Arts of College the for Award McLaughlin Edsall Mary the of recipient recent most the is photography, and film of professor assistant Joyce, James “When Iwalked intothePantheon“When in “My motherisanalumn(a)ofMontana McLaughlin hadanursingbackground MSC from 1937to1942.“She always MSU “To betoldthis isyour job, immerse “I realized whatreal architecture wasand Pantheon—that wouldmakeadifference McLaughlin Award, James Joyce, assistant Rome, Iwasdriven tomyknees,” hesaid. yourself inthespace,soak itupandthink work insteadofbeingpulledintothedif - in aperson’s life,” hesaid.“My brother creative arts. came backtofinishmydegree.” down andreally justfocusonacreative professor offilmandphotography, usedhis have participated inthisaward.”have participated atriptoEuropethat supported toseethe that passionissomethingvitalinthe better understandthelives ofpeoplemar- become anarchitect, hesaid.He notes ginalized by theEuropean refugee crisis. grant totravel toMacedonia sohecould ferent directions ofteaching,” Joyce said. and Iare thrilledwiththepeoplewho “The award gave methetimetosit “I thought,ifthere couldbeanaward This year’s recipient ofthe Edsall Mary Without thattriphewouldn’t have MSU Cox said.“We believe inreward, andthe majoring infilm,appreciates Joyce forhis most creative work, andthatbringsalot quite proud ofwhatwe’ve done.” . efit thework you’re creating isfantastic.” dedication toexcellence. of value tofuture filmmakers.” lence, establishedin1986by Richard Cox process infullforce, toconceive themost tools intheclassroom toachieve one’s the Cox Family Fund forfacultyexcel- genuine work thatwe can,” Centofanti award itselfhasbecomeprestigious. We’re about thewayyour experiences willben- and family to support facultyatboth and familytosupport students how todive intothecreative said. “He shows ushow best tousethe “We wanted ittoinspire young teachers,” “As aninstructor, he’s teachinghis Another fund that supports facultyis Another fundthatsupports Jacqueline Centofanti,whoisasenior Learn moreLearn orbecomeinvolved at in Bozeman andBillings. MSUAF.ORG/WHATITTAKES 69 ADRIÁN SÁNCHEZ-GONZÁLEZ ADRIÁN
HAMILTON ADRIÁN SÁNCHEZ-GONZÁLEZ ADRIÁN PHOTOS, RIGHT
Martin Hamilton THE IMPACT OF GIVING The Kenneth J. Tiahrt Math Support professional service. Tiahrt retired in 1994 tion that Hamilton first became connect- Fund, known as the Tiahrt Fund, is an and passed away in 2014. ed with the MSU Alumni Foundation. old fund with a new name and revital- Martin Hamilton joined the Depart- “At this stage of my life (late 70s) I ized purpose. Established in 2017, the ment of Mathematical Sciences at MSU am looking back at this institution and Tiahrt Fund illustrates the impact of in 1970. He holds bachelor’s and master’s considering how I can help make it even connecting multiple donors to a com- degrees in statistics from the University better,” Hamilton said. “It’s an amazingly mon goal over time. The Tiahrt Fund of Wyoming, was a Fulbright Scholar in powerful school.” is the story of two men, one fund and a biostatistics at the University of Aberdeen Giving back has always been important rallying cause that connects a group of in Scotland and earned a doctorate in to Hamilton. For example, he attended inspired donors. statistics from Stanford University. Since Stanford on a National Institutes of Kenneth Tiahrt joined the MSU retiring in 2002, Hamilton has served as Health scholarship, and so after he gradu- Department of Mathematics, now the Professor Emeritus of Statistics. ated, he volunteered for the Commis- Department of Mathematical Sciences, Hamilton has also served as an active sioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health in 1967. For the next 27 years, which member of the MSU included 16 years as the department head, Retiree Association Tiahrt was known as a dedicated mentor and its advisory board I AM LOOKING BACK AT THIS INSTITUTION and farsighted leader as the depart- where he advocated ment was expanded from its tradition of passionately for stron- AND CONSIDERING HOW I CAN exceptional undergraduate and service ger support for all HELP MAKE IT EVEN BETTER. teaching into graduate training through MSU retirees. It was —Martin Hamilton the doctoral level, fundamental and ap- through his work for plied research, innovative education and the Retiree Associa-
70 MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY · MOUNTAINS MINDS ADRIÁN SÁNCHEZ-GONZÁLEZ ADRIÁN Service and was assigned work at NIH. “It was my way to give back to NIH and
HAMILTON to serve my country during Vietnam,” Hamilton said. He served for two years at NIH in uniform, as a scientist for the National Cancer Institute.
ADRIÁN SÁNCHEZ-GONZÁLEZ ADRIÁN Hamilton and retired department head Ken Bowers worked with Beth Burroughs, current head of the De- partment of Mathematical Sciences, to David and Karen Street established a charitable gift annuity to benefit the American
PHOTOS, RIGHT establish a fund to support staff, gradu- Indian Student Center. In addition to supporting the building of the center and Native American students, the Streets have also supported programming for all students based ate professionals and others in the on the Native concept of elders mentoring the next generation. The Street’s benevolence department on an as-needed basis. The is linked to David’s great-great grandfather, Joseph Montfort Street, who was an agent department already had a similar fund, in the early 1800s for Native Americans of the upper Mississippi Valley. He befriended the Mathematical Sciences Graduate Chief Wapello of the Meskwaki (Fox) Tribe. David said their gift honors his relative, whose Support Fund, endowed in 1999. How- legacy “we are proud to help perpetuate.” ever, it was not generating enough re- sources to fulfill its intended purposes. The fund had been established by gifts from alumni, friends, faculty and staff who had been rallied to the cause, in part, by Tiahrt. Hamilton donated shares of mutual fund stock to get the fund up to a constructive level and worked with the department and Tiahrt’s family to rename and broaden the support the fund could offer. In recognition of Cody and Joycelyn Christman des- Mike and Terri Simmonds gave Tiahrt’s high regard for all the person- ignated MSU as a beneficiary of their $10,000 in support of engineering design estate. The Christman’s estate gift will projects. Senior capstone projects often nel that supported the faculty in the establish two endowed funds: One will require students to work across disci- department, the Tiahrt Fund provides support graduate fellowships for electri- plines, analyze costs and risks, design resources for the professional improve- cal and computer engineering students and build prototypes, models and finished ment of graduate students, non-tenure and the second will fund undergraduate products. Gifts, like the Simmonds’ help track faculty and staff in the Depart- scholarships for women pursuing electri- provide student-teams the resources they cal engineering degrees. need for materials, equipment, faculty ment of Mathematical Sciences. advising and competition travel. “I wanted it to support all the people who are really fundamental to the success of the department, but may Craig and Ellen Langel have not have other means to improve their pledged a major gift to name professional careers,” Hamilton said. a classroom in Jabs Hall, and “Ken made so many contributions that to establish an endowment I thought he deserved the recognition.” that will support a student scholarship and the Profes- Hamilton said he also hopes that sional Advantage program naming the fund after Tiahrt might for business students. help to stimulate more giving from The Langels believe in the other donors inspired by Tiahrt’s development of skills that the legacy to MSU. . Professional Advantage pro- gram facilitates outside the classroom for students. They want MSU students to have an edge in the job market and throughout their careers.
FALL 2017 71 FALL 2017 CAMPAIGN REPORT CAMPAIGN
ACHIEVED ADRIÁN SÁNCHEZ-GONZÁLEZ ADRIÁN GOAL $300 million SECURED $353,002,683 PEOPLE GOAL ACHIEVED $75 million RAISED $118,331,169 PLACES GOAL $125 million RAISED $103,723,594 PROGRAMS GOAL ACHIEVED $100 million RAISED $130,947,920
CAMPAIGN PROGRESS BY DIVISION (as of September 30, 2017) ATHLETICS GOAL ACHIEVED $25 million RAISED $25,695,226 COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE GOAL ACHIEVED $22 million RAISED $26,461,735 COLLEGE OF ARTS & ARCHITECTURE GOAL ACHIEVED $7 million RAISED $7,147,555 JAKE JABS COLLEGE OF BUSINESS & ENTREPRENEURSHIP GOAL ACHIEVED $45 million RAISED $45,387,561 COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, CENTER OF EXCELLENCE HEALTH & HUMAN DEVELOPMENT GOAL What It Takes—The Campaign for Montana State University ACHIEVED $3.25 million As of Sept. 30, has raised a RAISED $3,945,907 total of $351 million. COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING “Our amazing alumni and friends continue to give generously and since last spring GOAL $110 million ACHIEVED have given an additional $11 million in support of people, places and programs across our RAISED $119,409,815 campus,” said Chris Murray, MSU Alumni Foundation president and CEO. COLLEGE OF LETTERS & SCIENCE With another year remaining before the campaign concludes at the end of 2018, a new ACHIEVED GOAL $30 million RAISED $34,779,820 master plan has been unveiled to renovate and expand athletic facilities on campus. This COLLEGE OF NURSING long-range plan for MSU Athletics addresses the increased training and academic demands ACHIEVED GOAL $8.5 million faced by student-athletes and helps keep pace with the university’s enrollment growth. RAISED $13,821,936 “Our goal is to create centers of excellence that embrace our mission to create champi- MSU LIBRARY ons—both on and off the field,” said Leon Costello, director ofMSU Athletics. ACHIEVED GOAL $1.75 million RAISED $4,034,269 The first phase of the Athletics Facilities Master Plan includes the Bobcat Athletic Complex and an expanded Academic Excellence Center. This initial $16 million project, G R A D U A T E S C H O O L GOAL $300,000 outlined in the master plan, will enhance the academic, health and wellness and sport- RAISED $252,351 specific training servicesMSU offers Bobcat student-athletes. HONORS COLLEGE To learn more about the plan, go to www.montana.edu/athletic-masterplan GOAL ACHIEVED $7 million “Contact us if you’d like to be a part of the effort and solution to provide Bobcat RAISED $7,088,903 student-athletes the resources they need to succeed,” Murray said. DIVISION OF STUDENT SUCCESS ACHIEVED GOAL $2.1 million RAISED $3,214,029 FUNDRAISING PRIORITIES GREAT FALLS COLLEGE–MSU GOAL $2 million SCHOLARSHIPS & FELLOWSHIPS · LEARNING & LEADERSHIP CENTERS RAISED $1,687,498 MUSEUM OF THE ROCKIES PROFESSORSHIPS & CHAIRS · COMMUNITY & GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT FUNDS ACHIEVED GOAL $7 million STUDENT SUCCESS FUNDS · FACULTY RESEARCH & LEADERSHIP GRANTS & AWARDS RAISED $9,648,537
72 MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY · MOUNTAINS MINDS ADRIÁN SÁNCHEZ-GONZÁLEZ ADRIÁN
IT TAKES YOU. montana.edu/whatittakes
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FALL 2017 73 BOOKMARKS
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1 BOOKMARKS 1 The Matter of History: How Things Create the Past Timothy J. LeCain History professor LeCain argues that cattle, silkworms and copper drove the U.S. and Japanese na- tions towards a global ‘Great Convergence’ in the late 19th century. Published by Cambridge University Press
2 Salted Paper Printing: A Step-By Step Manual Highlighting Contemporary Artists Christina Z. Anderson Photography professor Anderson updates the 19th century process with 21st century digital negative methods. Published by Routledge
3 College Physics: Putting It All Together Ronald Hellings, Greg Francis with Jeff Adams Hellings and Francis, both MSU professors of physics, and Adams, formerly of MSU, co-wrote this algebra-based physics textbook designed for the first year, non-calculus college course. Published by University Science Books
4 Diversity Amid Globalization: World Regions, Environment, Development William Wyckoff Geography professor Wyckoff is one of four authors of the fourth edition of this textbook that helps students understand connections and diversity between people and places. Published by Pearson
5 Exploring Artists on Film Harvey Hamburgh Hamburgh, a professor emeritus in art has published a book that analyzes portrayals of art and art- ists throughout history in Hollywood and foreign feature films. Published by Kendall Hunt.
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6 Engaging Banality: Stories of the Salaried Life by Kuroi Senji Peter Tillack The director of MSU’s Asian Studies program translated three of the best-known works during Japanese writer Kuroi Senji’s early career. Published by Brill
Child’s Play and Ambient P Jason Bolte The MSU music professor, composer and coordinator of the Music Technology program, published two albums. Published by SEAMUS Records and Thrmnphon
7 Culture-Smart Agriculture: Incorporating Cultures’ Role in the Food and Agricultural Sciences Florence V. Dunkel Drawing on her experience in Sanambélé, Mali, entomology professor Dunkel addresses the practical needs of the professors, administrators and students who often face challenges of working together with indigenous peoples. Published by Academic Press
8 Writing about Writing: A College Reader, third edition Doug Downs English professor Downs is a co-author of this textbook that makes writing more accessible to students in introductory writing courses. Published by Bedford/St. Martin’s
Collaborative Remembering: Theories, Research, and Applications Michelle L. Meade Psychology professor Meade is one of five editors of this textbook that explores the topic of collaborative remembering across a wide range of fields, including developmental, cognitive and social psychology. Published by Oxford University Press
9 Undergraduate Research in Music: A User’s Manual Gregory Young Music professor Young is the co-author of this book that supplies examples of undergraduate research activities and case studies on projects in the various areas of music study. Published by Routledge Undergraduate Research Series
10 Sound thinking Eric Funk Professor and composer Funk published this ebook about how music connects with everything. Drawn from his popular MSU music courses. Published by Kendall Hunt
FALL 2017 75 PARTING SHOT
CORONA Hot, ionized gases known as plasma, surrounding the sun and other stars, extend millions of kilome- ters into space and are a visible feature during a total solar eclipse. The patterns in the corona are a result of high temperature and magnetic polarity.
RING OF FIRE People anywhere near the path of totality taped eclipse glasses to their phones and jerry-rigged various attempts to photograph the rare experience of the total solar eclipse that crossed the United States this summer. Now-iconic images of totality—showing a white flared ring around a black disc—appear across the internet, news stations, newspapers, magazines and social media feeds. But how does a veteran photographer who spends his days leading a team that documents everything from cutting-edge research to NCAA sports at Montana State University capture such an experi- ence? MSU’s award-winning photographer Kelly Gorham explains how he shot the photos that impressed even the most experienced eclipse-chasing astronomers he found himself teaming up with outside of Rexberg, Idaho, this summer. photo by Kelly Gorham When did you begin planning to photograph the eclipse? GORHAM Photos always benefit from pre-planning, and it’s especially impor- tant with something as technical as an eclipse. I began planning for these photos more than one year ago and realized there would be numerous exposure changes over only a few minutes with 16 of those happening in 60 seconds. These calcula- tions are necessary to capture the iconic features of an eclipse, although I was See more of MSU’s coverage of the eclipse, visit prepared to be happy if I captured only WWW.MONTANA.EDU/MOUNTAINSANDMINDS/ one. In the end, I had nine photos of the ECLIPSESIDESHOWEXTRAORDINAIRE phases of the total eclipse.
76 MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY · MOUNTAINS MINDS DIAMOND RING This bright flare of light is visible a few seconds before the moon completely blocks the sun and only a tiny amount of sunshine and the corona are visible.
PROMINENCE Prominences, the red-colored, gaseous features extending outward from the sun contain cooler plasma than the corona and loop hundreds of thousands of miles into space following a twisted BAILY’S BEADS structure of magnetic fields. Named for astronomer Francis Baily, this jagged, irregular lighting effect is caused when only a small amount of light from the sun shines through the peaks and valleys of the surface of the moon. This effect lasts only a few seconds just before and after totality.
Why did you go “old school” photographing skeptical of my back-to-basics approach. the eclipse? As totality began, there were issues with There are various automated tools from their automated equipment, so they lent gear to software available for eclipse assistance to me by calling out the timing photography, but I try to never let tools so I didn’t have to take my eye away from dominate the message. In all my pho- the camera. The team effort helped me tography, I want to maintain as much capture nine different eclipse features intimacy with the subject as possible so surpassing my goal of at least one. I chose to forgo automation and use only When I downloaded photos to send to a cheat-sheet I wrote for the timing of media outlets within minutes of totality, the exposures. Normally, it’s advisable there were tears and hugs all around for to use a remote cable or device to trigger the result of the group effort and sheer the shutter, but it was important to me to exhilaration of the eclipse. feel my hand on the camera for a sense of ownership of these photos. The only What is your advice to amateur photographers additional tool beyond a camera, tripod who wish to get good astronomy photos? and 400mm lens I used was a photo- Astronomical photography is one of the graphic solar filter to protect the sensor more difficult genres. I always suggest and myself from the sun. people ask themselves if they will enjoy the experience more by just looking at What is one of your most lasting memories the sky and appreciating the beauty of the eclipse? rather than trying to photograph it. A I was with the Eclipse Ballooning Project simple way to try photos of the night sky launch team at the Camas National Ref- is to find a dark location away from light uge in Hamer, Idaho, where I met a team pollution, mount the camera with a wide- of astronomers from the University of angle lens on a tripod and try some long Brasilia. The Brazilians had a lot of cumu- exposures. Part of the fun is the trial and lative eclipse experience and were initially error experience. .
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