Montana Citizen Science Network
Join the Montana Citizen Science NetworkSign up for our quarterly e-newsletter to learn about citizen science projects from MSU, around Montana or across the nation, to learn about events and opportunities. You can also email us at smrc@montana.edu Archived newsletters:December 2024: Our time at the Rocky Mountain Community Science Conference, stargazing this winter solstice, and more October 2024 // April 2024 // December 2023 // Fall 2023 // Summer 2023 // April 2023 - Citizen Science Month, Part 1 // April 2023 - Citizen Science Month, Part 2 // 2022 Year in Review // September 2022 // March 2022 // December 2021 // May 2021 The Montana Citizen Science Network is hosted at the Montana State University Science Math Resource Center with support from Montana NSF EPSCoR and NASA AEROKATS and ROVER Education Network. |
New to citizen science? Watch our intro video
MSU Citizen Science Library Kits Now Available!
The Science Math Resource Center and MSU Library, with support from Montana NSF EPSCoR and NASA AREN, are excited to support citizen science in Montana through the MSU Citizen Science Lending Library. With the tools inside the lending library kits, you too will be a citizen scientist: a person who helps scientists by making observations, collecting data, or documenting changes in nature. Anyone can be a citizen scientist: kids, families, classrooms, busy working adults, retired people, and even entire communities.
Want to check out a kit? Visit the MSU Library on campus – these kits are available to anyone in Montana, even if you are not affiliated with MSU.
Visit the MSU Citizen Science Lending Library webpage for more information about the kits and how to check one out. Read the MSU news article here.
Recent News
Bozeman Field School students present at Rocky Mountain Community Science conference!
Bozmean Field School students Marin Hunt, Leo Valdivia, Aislyn Cooper, Drew Cooper, Olivia Dolan.
We were so excited to see Bozeman Field School teacher Zoe Pritchard and students Marin Hunt, Leo Valdivia, Aislyn Cooper, Drew Cooper, Olivia Dolan present "Fueling High School Curriculum Through Community Science" at the Rocky Mountain Community Science Conference on December 5, 2024! These students also joined us at the annual National Science Foundation’s EPSCoR all-hands meeting at the University of Montana’s Lubrecht Experimental Forest to workshop the use of an existing citizen science platform (GLOBE Observer) and gather customized data to assess fire fuels.
It was inspiring to see these students thinking critically about experimental design and how to use citizen science tools in the classroom — great job, Zoe, Marin, Leo, Aislyn, Drew, and Olivia!
Become a SciStarter Ambassador (applications due Jan 25!)
SciStarter and Arizona State University (ASU), with funding from the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and in collaboration with National Girls Collaborative Project, VolunteerMatch, and the Association of Rural and Small Libraries, proudly present the SciStarter Volunteer Ambassador for Citizen Science program.
Free trainings, professionally designed materials, and more will help you become a champion, connector, and facilitator of citizen science in your community. No prior experience is needed. Applications for the third cohort are open now through January 25, 2025.
We are also excited to announce that Suzi Taylor, SMRC Director, is now a certified SciStarter Ambassador for Citizen Science! Suzi has been into citizen science for more than a decade and has worked incredibly hard to offer cool citizen science and community science opportunities through the MSU Science Math Resource Center. The certification just makes it official!
Check out the SciStarter Ambassador Directory to look for certified ambassadors where you live.
Montana NSF-funded team investigates citizen science opportunities during Lubrecht Experimental Forest visit
On a beautiful fall day in September, a team of researchers, students and outreach professionals from several Montana colleges and universities gathered at the University of Montana’s Lubrecht Experimental Forest near Greenough, Mont. to view prescribed fire experimental plots while also considering how citizens and communities can contribute to statewide research.
The team– called “SMART FIRES” – is funded by the National Science Foundation’s EPSCoR program to help improve understanding of prescribed fire dynamics and the impact of prescribed fire on Montana’s communities and public lands. Outcomes of the research will enable managers of prescribed fires to develop and refine strategies for deploying prescribed fires effectively to mitigate wildfire risk, a benefit that will extend to local and federal agencies tasked with land management and wildfire mitigation across the West.
In order to broaden the impact of the research to all Montanans, the project’s Education and Outreach team is developing a citizen science network and, ultimately, a statewide project that will involve Montanans in collecting data and observations pertinent to the research questions.
At the annual “All Hands meeting” on Sept. 17, the team visited several land plots at Lubrecht that had received various control and experimental prescribed burn treatments. There, the outreach team tested several different air quality monitoring and environmental measurement devices while also testing a new geofenced data request through GLOBE Observer, a citizen science app supported by NASA. Through GLOBE Observer, team members collected observations of land cover and tree height as well as clouds, an environmental monitoring protocol that also prompts users to observe sky color and visibility, which could be indications of air quality and smoke.
The SMART FIRES project has just entered Year 2 of its five-year cycle and will continue developing strategies for involving citizens and communities in the impacts of the research. For more information, visit http://mtnsfepscor.org or email Suzi Taylor: taylor@montana.edu.
Free PurpleAirs in Schools kits for teachers!
The Montana Department of Environmental Quality (MT DEQ) and the University of Montana Center for Population Health Research (UM CPHR) have partnered to arm high schools with free PM2.5 air quality sensors, one indoor and one outdoor so schools can improve decision making regarding the health and safety of students, student athletes, and staff.
The data resulting from the indoor sensor will be kept private while the outdoor sensor data will be public and eventually displayed on MT DEQ’s Today’s Air website. Additionally, this initiative focuses on filling the air quality data gaps in rural and underserved Montana communities to improve access to local air quality data and facilitate better public health messaging. There are no reporting requirements or enforcement attached to this opportunity. The PurpleAirs in Schools Project wants to provide communities with the technology to help minimize Montanan’s exposure to harmful particulate matter pollution. Please contact Keri Nauman at MT DEQ (keri.nauman@mt.gov) or Dave Jones at UM CPHR (david.jones@mso.umt.edu) for more information.
New citizen science equipment at theMSU Library
The MSU Library has partnered with Montana NSF EPSCoR to obtain Celestial (Astronomy) Binoculars as part of its citizen science equipment library. These types of binoculars are great for astronomy beginners and those looking for portable equipment. (For serious star gazers and those wanting to view galaxies, these aren’t for you!) The dual lenses also offer relief for individuals who wear glasses. The binoculars are available at the Library Service Desk, come with a tripod, are available on a first come first serve basis, and check out for one week. Anyone in Montana may check out items from the MSU Library; you don't have to be an MSU student or staff member.
To learn more, here are two good articles on the topic:
To find citizen science projects related to astronomy, visit SciStarter.org and search “astronomy.”
Citizen science @ Montana STEM Summer Insitute!
SMRC staff, Dr. Jeannie Chipps, Julia Wente, and Lane Holman presented at the STEM Summer Institute (SSI) Conference at Montana State University in August 2024. They led a workshop following this summer's SMRC's Geospatial Skill Camps for Rural Montana Youth and gave examples on how we can integrate citizen science into classroom field trips and map collected data using tools like ArcGIS and NatGeo MapMaker.
Be sure to keep an eye out for updates about next summer's Geospatial Skill Camps too. Great job, Jeannie, Julia, and Lane!
News Archive
Questions? Would you like to be involved in future citizen science efforts?
Contact Suzi Taylor and Julia Wente with Science Math Resource Center at taylor@montana.edu and julia.wente@montana.edu.