University of Montana Western environmental sciences student Helen Sladek will be taking her studies all the way to Mars through an eight-week internship at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

Stephen Siebert, professor of tropical forest conservation and management in The University of Montana Department of Forest Management, is the next featured speaker at Montana Western’s “On the Rocks” on Monday, March 1 at 4 p.m. in Block Hall Room 311.

Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer made an impromptu visit to the University of Montana Western to congratulate the 2009 Outstanding Baccalaureate Colleges Professor of the Year Rob Thomas.

A photo gallery of the University of Montana Western reception for the 2009 Outstanding Baccalaureate Professor of the Year, Rob Thomas.

A supercontinent and Siberian geology will be the subject of the University of Montana Western’s On the Rocks speaker series on Monday, Nov. 9, 2009 at 4 p.m. in Block Hall Room 311 on the UMW campus.

“On the Rocks,” a speaker series organized by the University of Montana Western science and mathematics departments, will kick off a new season at 4 p.m. in Block Hall, Tuesday, Sept. 8. Montana Western Professor of Physics Dr. Craig Zaspel will present “Vortex Formation in Nanocontacts and Spruce Budworm Populations.”

The last “On the Rocks” presentation of the academic year will take place Monday, April 20 at 4:15 p.m. in Block Hall 311 with a talk about wolves in Yellowstone National Park by Dough Smith.

Geology professor will present at the Arctic Grayling Recovery Program annual meeting in Bozeman.