University of Montana Western Visiting Assistant Professor of English Danielle Jones recently received a Fulbright Scholar Grant for a residency in Russia to teach American literature at Perm State University and complete her memoir “Mother Russia, Father Time.”

University of Montana Western mathematics major Nathan Boll will be extending his knowledge through an eight-week internship at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, Calif. in summer 2012.

Aaron Richmond, a 1999 Montana Western psychology graduate, is the 2011 recipient of the Jane S. Halonen Teaching Excellence Award and the newly elected president of the Northern Rocky Mountain Educational Research Association.

University of Montana Western students once again left their mark on two recent science gatherings, taking home two first-place awards at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Montana Space Grant Consortium (MSGC) meeting held at Montana State University (MSU) as well as winning an award at the Montana Academy of Sciences (MAS) annual meeting at Montana Tech of the University of Montana.

The University of Montana Western Annual Research Symposium will be held on Friday and Saturday, March 25 and 26, 2011 in the Swysgood Technology Center Great Room.

The work of several University of Montana Western students recently brought home two national tobacco prevention awards as part of the Bacchus Network’s Montana Collegiate Tobacco Prevention Initiative.

The Department of Education recently awarded the UMW TRIO Student Support Services a grant totaling over $1 million.

The American Society for Microbiology (ASM) recently awarded a research fellowship to University of Montana Western biology student Amanda Kortum. The fellowship requires at least ten weeks of research beginning in June, and Kortum will present her findings at the ASM General Meeting next summer.

The fourth annual University of Montana Western Research Symposium on April 23 and 24 will culminate a busy month for UMW academics with student and faculty involvement also at the Montana Academy of Sciences annual conference and the National Conference for Undergraduate Research.

The Friends of David Shepherd established the Shepherd Memorial scholarship to honor the Jackson, Mont. world champion snowmobile rider who died in 2001. With the scholarship permanently endowed, the organization’s fundraising efforts now help area youth organizations.