The Bossou Forest Reserve in south-eastern Guinea provides critical habitat for a semi-isolated and endangered population of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus). This population, which is recognized as a critically endangered species under the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), has declined to only seven total chimpanzees. Major factors leading to the demise of this species include human exploitation, deforestation, infrastructure development, and natural disasters. Interviews and community surveys conducted in surrounding communities demonstrate that local residents are exploring conservation strategies. One of the main foci is assessing the role of ecotourism in generating awareness about the chimpanzees while simultaneously providing meaningful livelihood options for local residents. The purpose of this study is to support ongoing research efforts through GIS mapping and analysis. Specifically, this paper reports on an effort to utilize GIS to incorporate local perceptions and planning priorities into the design and implementation of a new ecotourism management plan. This process entailed assembling the data in the geoprocessing program ArcMap. The paper will conclude with the presentation and discussion of the perception and participatory maps for five of the study communities. Analysis of the maps will highlight the collective concept of where resources, threatened areas, and areas of value are located within the Bossou Forest Reserve. The hope is that this participatory map will be used to inform future ecotourism planning that will continue to involve the communities. Pending the outcome, this methodology of a community centered approach to sustainable ecotourism may be applied to comparable situations in similar places.

Flower color is often under strong selection in plants due to its importance in attracting appropriate pollinators. The bee-pollinated annual Sierra Nevada wildflower Mimulus bicolor (yellow-and-white monkeyflower) has two color morphs in both the visible spectrum (solid yellow or yellow and white) and the ultraviolet spectrum (entirely UV absorbent or UV absorbent only on the lower half). The yellow morph is usually half UV absorbent, and the bicolored morph entirely UV absorbent. I aligned whole genome pool sequence data from more than 150 individuals of each visible morph to identify the locus responsible for the polymorphism. I collected samples from well-mixed populations in Stanislaus National Forest, California and aligned the sequence data to the genome of Mimulus cardinalis, a close relative. Using this alignment, I identified a small candidate region which appears to contain the genes for both the UV and visible patterns. The putative UV gene is a MYB transcription factor and the putative gene controlling visible patterning encodes a small RNA. The close linkage of the two genes indicates that the UV and visible color patterns are under selection as a single unit, since recombination between the two loci is rare. This suggests that tight linkage of pigment genes may play a major role in the evolution of floral patterns in Mimulus.

In the United States, access to use water comes in the form of legally allocated rights to specific quantities from specific sources. On Native American reservations, this legal process has often been absent. Through tribal water rights negotiations and settlements, the United States government has attempted to determine the access rights and quantities available to tribes on and around their reservation lands. Over the past 50 years, many Native American tribes formally settled outstanding water rights claims through a combination of state court adjudications and congressional legislation. This paper explores provisions built into settlements that address the rapidly changing water supplies available to Native American tribes considering climatic changes and groundwater allocations. Climate change, specifically across U.S. tribal lands, threatens to significantly alter the timing and availability of surface and groundwater supplies. How tribal water rights settlements provide flexibility to deal with this is unknown, as they generally lock in water use at a specific flow rate and purpose for the foreseeable future. I employed a policy analysis approach to this question, first exploring Native American water rights settlements enacted between 1977 - 2017 to identify language in each settlement pertaining to climate change and/or groundwater. Next, I looked at this language and language in associated administrative documents and asked how a focus on climate change and groundwater supplies varied in settlements between these years. I hypothesized that through time, awareness of the impacts of climate change increase in settlement language and provisions, but are moderated by factors including water right size and the location of the tribe or reservation. By engaging in a comprehensive analysis of Native American water rights settlements, we take a step toward better understanding the role of these agreements in helping or hindering tribes as they prepare for an uncertain water future.

This research project addresses the issue of consolidation in the American food system through a case study of corn production. This research describes the status quo of corn production in the United States, focusing particularly on the role of the federal government and producers in identifying the causes and influences leading to the consolidation of corn production. This project also describes the effects of the consolidation of corn production on producers, consumers, citizens, and the environment. Beyond identifying the influences contributing to the consolidation of corn, and the impacts of consolidation on people and the environment, this research project investigates the issue of consolidation through the “wicked problem” framework. While the wicked problem framework has frequently been applied to issues such as climate change and poverty, it has not been adequately applied to agricultural issues such as the consolidation of corn production. By including the wicked problem framework, this project intends to not only educate its reader with a holistic understanding of the consolidation of corn in America, but it aims to empower readers looking to take action on this issue or similar challenges.

Montana communities are faced with complex social issues. It is imperative that data and technology be leveraged to understand where these issues stem from, how they connect, and possible solutions. Due to its low population density, Montana is a data desert. There is scarce data collected at the local level and only a small portion of the data collected is made publicly available. This often leaves social workers and other service providers without digestible and easily accessible data to use in their decision-making processes, grant proposals, and practices. In response to this, myself and a small team of social workers at the Center for Children, Families, and Workforce Development collected data on over a hundred community wellness indicators and used data visualization software to create a publicly accessible data portal now available on the Center for Children, Families, and Workforce Development’s website. The Montana Data Dashboard provides policy-makers, service providers, and the everyday Montanan with information that is critical to understanding the assets and challenges present in their communities. Data is currently available on topics including health, economics, education, safety, families, and more. Short video tutorials are also available to quickly refresh busy minds on the concepts necessary to gain value from the data presented. Technology and data can be catalysts for effective community change if social workers incorporate the insights and capabilities offered into their agencies and daily practices. The Montana Data Dashboard is a stepping stone towards creating data-driven and technology-fueled social work practices in Montana.

Mortuary populations are often replete with two types of individuals: the very old and the very young. Our interpretation of the archaeological record has the tendency to disregard these two populations, perhaps because we assume their positions in society are of little value in death, or simply because we do not understand the mortuary ritual afforded to them. The purpose of this paper is to examine the mortuary ritual afforded to a select cohort of individuals interred at the Missoula City Cemetery and to interpret their burials in comparison to epidemiological shifts in Missoula, Montana during a select time frame. By conducting an initial ground survey, and further data collection via the cemetery interment records, I have compiled a data set of 72 infants (aged stillborn to five years) interred in the Missoula City Cemetery between 1914 and 1930. These 72 burials were then evaluated based upon several criteria, identified through research, that possess meaningful significance in the interpretation of mortuary ritual. I hypothesize that the mortuary ritual afforded to infants will display lower levels of investment in times of epidemiological transition in which mortality rates among this age group are high. In contrast, I expect to note higher levels of investment in mortuary ritual in times when life expectancy of young infants in raised, and mortality rates are lowered. Infant burials are a complex and often misunderstood component of mortuary archaeology. This study utilized a sample of 72 burials of individuals aged stillborn to five years interred between 1914 and 1930 in the Missoula City Cemetery. These burials were then evaluated on information that could be gathered through above-ground survey alone. No excavation took place, rather observations made were based upon details of the headstone, location of the burial within the cemetery, and the cemetery interment records. This paper will attempt to provide a greater understanding of the unique mortuary ritual afforded to infants, as well as illustrate how an interdisciplinary approach between Public Health and Anthropology can provide invaluable insights into how epidemiological transitions impact culturally established mortuary rituals.

I am reminded of my racial identity multiple times each day. Sometimes, these experiences can be positive, like support from other people of color or when I go to Black Student Union meetings. However, these reminders come from someone refusing to acknowledge me, grabbing my hair or someone acting surprised that I am "so articulate." These subtle jabs, called microaggressions may be based on race, class, sexual orientation, gender identity, ability or religion. They may seem harmless, but they add up quickly and take an emotional toll on students, implying that we do not belong in these spaces. This work's purpose is to give a glimpse into the lives ofUM students who are outside the "norm" on campus. Students filled out a survey with questions about how many times they became aware of their identity in negative and positive ways. They described the context of the interaction, how it made them feel and if there were any short- or long-term repercussions. From responses so far, some students say they feel invisible as a result of some of the microaggressions they face on campus. Some even wish that they could leave UM. My results so far highlight the additional burdens many students have to bear in order to complete their education. They also highlight the reality of how far UM has to go in order to become a truly inclusive institution as part of its mission states.

The University of Montana has a diverse student body, consisting of individuals from a variety of different religious backgrounds, abilities, ethnic identities, gender identities and sexual orientations. Despite the diverse populations at the University, the value the school has placed on them is questionable. Providing proper support for members of marginalized communities not only helps individuals have access to resources, but it also is beneficial to the university itself. In this research, I evaluate interview data to understand how the university has been both successful and unsuccessful in reflecting a specific stance toward, responsibility for, and engagement with issues of diversity. Continuing research that began in the Fall semester of 2017, I evaluated fifty interviews from students ranging in their personal backgrounds and identities. These interviews were used to better understand the experiences that students have had, by coding for experiences both negative and positive. I found that students who are members of marginalized communities have had negative experiences during their time at the university. These negative experiences that occurred across campus ranged from harassment on campus and in campus housing, tokenism in the classroom, lack of representation in the curriculum in classes, and the feeling that they as a member of a marginalized community did not belong. What all of these occurrences have in common is that they all stem from lack of proper education on diversity, and the limited resources that are available to members of marginalized communities. The experiences that these students are having reflect that diversity is not properly supported at the university. Knowing of this lack of support is essential to understanding the experiences of marginalized students and is key to understanding how our diverse populations can be supported properly.

Do I Belong Here? (In)Visibility in the Curriculum

The curriculum is fundamental in teaching students whose knowledge and perspectives are valid and important, and whose are not. University students from all backgrounds should be able to see themselves represented in their education. To what extent does the University of Montana reflect the true diversity of students’ experiences and identities in the classroom? My research examines how well the university is doing this within the curriculum by analyzing the available syllabi for each course listed in the Cultural and International Diversity group under the General Education requirements. The sections of the syllabi that I focused on were the course descriptions and objectives, the instructor(s) of the course, the course materials and authorship, and course offering frequency. With this information, I have found that the scope of diversity education at the University of Montana is limited and the General Education requirements do not guarantee any student receives a constructive understanding of the heterogeneity of people across the world. Beyond offering several courses that achieve sub-par expectancies for diversity education, the requisite minimum for enrollment for this particular course catalogue is three credits. This amounts to only one class in diversity education over the course of four years for every student attending the University of Montana. Furthermore, only about one-fifth of the courses offered for diversity requirements discuss issues of inequality among marginalized groups, and a small fraction of courses are related to people in North America. Not one course offered for diversity requirements discuss topics concerning LGBTQ communities or people with disabilities. The underrepresentation or exclusion of certain identity groups, including students of color, LGBTQ students, students with disabilities, etc., suggests that their experiences are considered irrelevant to the official academic curriculum. Whomever is emphasized in the curriculum speaks to who the university sees as valued, leaving those unspoken for feeling invisible and insignificant.

Willard Alternative High School is the only one of its kind in the Missoula School District. Part of its uniqueness comes from the students and faculty, and the old building that encapsulated it all until 2018. This audio project looked to further explore the idea of alternative education at Missoula’s only alternative high school through the stories of the people that are a part of it.

This project was a part of an advanced audio class’s effort to create a podcast. To do so, we brainstormed ideas together before going on to produce individual stories. Producing these pieces required conducting research and interviewing multiple students and faculty members, then putting together the information into complete stories. In my individual work, I examined how the teachers contributed to an alternative education setting. I also provided stories on the uniqueness of the building and heard from students about the stigmas of attending an alternative school. As a class, we worked to put together final episodes encapsulating all of our pieces. As a final product, this project provides a comprehensive view of alternative education that includes the students who choose to attend the school, the teachers who stray from conventional lesson plans, and the building that, until it was torn down, reflected its inhabitants with spray-painted walls, decorated doors, and student-made sculptures. It gives a better understanding of how young people learn and what education looks like beyond a traditional format.

Studies show that wasted food alone accounts for approximately 15 percent of total municipal solid waste in the United States. With the addition of all other compostable and recyclable materials, the total amount of waste that can be salvaged, repurposed, and redirected from landfills reaches 86.9 percent. Missoula’s ZERO by FIFTY plan attempts to answer the question: How can the City of Missoula reduce waste production 90 percent by 2050?

This proposal addresses wasted food through expanded food redistribution programs and the implementation of city-wide three-bin systems (compost, recycle, and landfill infrastructure, also known as zero-waste stations). This proposal was informed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) food recovery hierarchy and is supported by case studies, interviews, and a pilot project in the Davidson Honors College (DHC) at the University of Montana.

Both food redistribution and three-bin systems are practices that will help Missoula achieve the ZERO by FIFTY goal and build financial stability and social capital for fledgling businesses. With the proper policies, infrastructure, education, and access in place, these programs will yield noticeable changes in both advancing Missoula toward the waste-reduction goal and inspiring citizens to do the same.

Children often treat confident individuals as credible sources of information. Yet, confidence may differentially signify credibility depending upon the domain of knowledge. When dealing with factual information, confident responses indicate greater credibility. However, when deliberating about moral issues, hesitancy may reflect a deeper level of thoughtfulness, and therefore credibility. This study investigated children’s judgments of and reasoning about individuals who differed in the level of confidence (confident, hesitant) in two domains of knowledge (factual, moral).

In a between-subjects design, children 3-8 years (N=96) listened to confident and hesitant models make either novel factual (e.g., which animal has an omentum inside?) or moral claims (e.g., which animal should get the last piece of fish?). Across eight trials (4 confident, 4 hesitant), children rated the models on a 4-point scale (0=not at all, 3=a lot) in terms of confidence level, likeability, smartness, and agreement with answer. We further questioned participants regarding the reasoning underlying their judgments on the smartness and agreement with answer questions.

Preliminary analyses indicate children preferred the confident individual when learning factual information, but not when deliberating about moral claims. The reasoning data is the focus of the current work. An official coder is currently coding the full data set. An independent coder is re-coding 30% (randomly selected) of the data to establish reliability of the coding scheme. We will analyze the types of reasoning children use based on model’s level of confidence (confident, hesitant) and the domain of knowledge (factual, moral).

This research will shed light on children’s ability to evaluate an informant’s credibility depending upon the context, and the reasoning underlying those judgments. This research will advance knowledge in how and why children use confidence cues about individuals’ credibility when determining who is a trustworthy source of new information.

Responding to data breach incidents are a significant concern for businesses of all sizes and industry sectors. Recovering from these incidents is particularly challenging for small to midsize businesses (SMB) due to the limited support staff and institutional knowledge of incident response strategies for cyber attacks. Incident response is an organized approach to addressing and managing the aftermath of cybersecurity data breach attacks by information technology (IT) professionals. Military strategies present a unique opportunity for improving cybersecurity incident response. This case study examines incident response documentation of data breaches occurring at SMBs using the lens of military strategy. Industry best practices and the military strategies of Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act (OODA, Boyd, 1978) and The Art ofWar (Tzu, 5 BC) are used as frameworks for the analysis of cybersecurity incident response. The study seeks to answer the central research question of whether incident response for SMBs can be improved when a military strategy is employed.