A Message from Dr. Bajwa

Dear Colleagues,

As I sat down to write this message, there was a lot of excitement and anticipation on campus for the Brawl of the Wild game and ESPN coming to campus for College GameDay. It was a terrific game and we got a well-deserved win over the Griz. Additionally, the Board of Regents meeting was held on campus Nov. 17 and 18. I hope you too felt the energy and excitement all around us.

Aside from all the buzz on campus, the MAES budget and upcoming legislative session are very much in my mind. On Nov. 15, the Governor’s budget was released. The budget includes a 6% present law adjustment for MAES, a life-safety project at the BART farm for $10 million and inflation adjustment for capital projects – such as the Wool Lab, horticulture building and research center labs – that were approved during last legislative session. This is the official beginning of the legislative process and we have a long way to go before a final budget comes out. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Lastly, please join me in welcoming Dr. Dusty Perry as the new head of the Department of Agricultural and Technology Education, effective Jan. 1, 2023. I am excited to have him in the leadership team and for the ideas he has for strengthening the department and its programs. Dr. Carl Igo has been an outstanding member of the college leadership team for the past three years. I thank Dr. Igo for the great leadership he gave to the department and as a member of the college leadership team.

For this Thanksgiving month, I acknowledge the great contributions you make to our college, your profession and for society at large through your work. THANK YOU for everything you do to make our college a great place to work. I am very proud of our college and thankful for the honor of serving as your dean and director.

Sincerely,
Sreekala Bajwa

Upcoming and Recent Events

  • Registration is now open for MSU’s first-ever Research Development Day, which will be held on Jan. 12, 2023. The goal of the event, hosted by the Office of Research Development, is to stimulate scholarship and research activity, highlight existing resources and opportunities, and enhance MSU’s success when competing for externally sponsored research funds.
  • ​​​​​​​The Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology will host a new interdisciplinary seminar series focused on sheep health. Monthly seminars with internal speakers, guest speakers and journal club presentations will be held on the first Wednesday of the month from 1:10 to 2 p.m. in ABB 138.

New Grants

  • Marques R. 2022. Productive and physiological responses of feeder cattle supplemented with a probiotic during preconditioning and feedlot receiving period. CHR Hansen. $180,562
  • Mosley JC.  2022. Improving the efficacy of climate information for water use decisions. USDA-NIFA, AFRI (Subcontract from University of Montana). $18,730. 

The department’s External Advisory Board held its inaugural meeting this November. Meghan Shroyer, Montana President of NWFCS, John Grande, First Vice President of Montana Stockgrowers Association, and Bob Lowry, Vice President and Commercial Lender of First Security Bank, have agreed to serve three-year terms. The purpose of the EAB is to improve the quality of the department’s programs by facilitating engagement between faculty, students, industry and communities through enhancements in curriculum, courses, faculty composition, outreach, scholarship and infrastructure.

COA/MAES in the news

  • Manjinder Kour, postdoctoral research associate in Eric Boyd's research group, was recently received one of the 10 best poster awards at the 12th Triennial Congress of the World Association of Theoretical and Computational Chemists in Vancouver, Canada. As a winner, Manjinder is entitled to a free publication in a PeerJ journal (PeerJ Physical Chemistry) and a feature about her research on the PeerJ blog site.
  • Gracie Hively, an environmental health major, has just been selected for the Rocky Mountain Public Health Training Center - Student Leaders in Public Health Fellowship. She is one of 27 students who were awarded $3,500 in financial support to assist with public health focused field placements and faculty-student collaborative projects. According to Mari Eggers, it is rare for undergraduates to receive this award, so for Gracie to receive this award is remarkable.

  • The four-part webinar estate/legacy planning series Estate/Legacy Planning for Parents and Grandparents Raising Minor Children was accepted for a virtual presentation during the Association for Financial Counseling Conference in November. The webinar series was hosted by Marsha Goetting and Mandie Reed, MSU Extension Wheatland County agent, in February. Past recordings can be viewed at montana.edu/estateplanning​​​​​​​.

  • The MSU Initiative for Regulation and Applied Economic Analysis will hold a "Doing Economics Research" workshop on Friday, Dec. 9, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Linfield Hall 406. The workshop is free and students from all majors at MSU are welcome to attend. Because space is limited and lunch will be provided, advance registration is required. Please contact Wendy Stock (wstock@montana.edu) for more information and to register. 

Recent Publications

  • Marsha Goetting has recently revised MSU Extension MontGuides on important estate planning topics. These free MontGuides and others are available for download at montana.edu/estateplanning/eppublications.
  • Nick Hagerty in the Department or Agricultural Economics and Economics published an op-ed in High Country News about the Colorado River crisis: hcn.org/articles.
  • Beaver JT, Grantham C, Cooksey ML, Skow K, Pierce BL, Lopez RR. 2022. Effectiveness, economics, and safety of drop nets and helicopters with net-gunning for capturing white-tailed deer. Wildlife Society Bulletin e1365. https://doi.org/10.1002/wsb.1365
  • Bourgault M, Wyffels SA, Dafoe JM, Lamb PF, Boss DL. 2022. Introducing cover crops as fallow replacement in the Northern Great Plains: II. Impact on fallowing wheat crops. Renewable Agriculture and Food systems 37:303-312. doi:10.1017/S1742170521000508 
  • Thomson JM. 2022. Sustainability of Wild Populations: A Conservation Genetics Perspective. In: Animal Breeding and Genetics. 2nd edition Ed: Matt L. Spangler. Pg: 355-368. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-2460-9.
  • Eberly JO, Bourgault M, Dafoe JM, Yeoman CJ, Wyffels SA, Lamb PF, Boss DL. 2022. Soil bacterial community response to cover crop introduction in a wheat-based dryland cropping system. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. 6: 948220. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2022.948220
  • Mosley JC. 2022. Adjusting livestock stocking rates in good years and bad. Lives & Landscapes. Pg 22 - 23 Lives & Landscapes - Fall 2022 (msuextension.org)
  • Hancock, Stacey A. and Hill, Andrew J., 2022. "The effect of teammate personality on team production," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C)
  • Mendu, L., Ghose, K. and Mendu V.* (2022) Population genomics of cotton, in Population Genomics: Crop Plants, [Om P. Rajora (Editor-in-Chief)], Springer-Nature, https://doi.org/10.1007/13836_2022_105.​​​​​​​
  • Gangurde, S.S., Xavier, A., Naik, Y. D., Jha, U.C., Rangari, S. K., Kumar, R., Chennale, S., Zwart, R., Mir, R.R., Sharma, V. K., Sudini, H.K., Pandey, M.K., Mendu, V., Reddy, U., Dutta, B., Guo, B., Zhao, C. and Thudi, M. (2022) Two decades of association mapping: Insights on disease resistance in major crops. Frontiers in plant science, doi: 10.3389/fpls.2022.1064059.