Student Researchers Present at the 2025 NSF EPSCoR Annual Summit

A contingent of faculty, staff, and students represented Montana at the 2026 NSF EPSCoR Annual Summit in New Orleans, Louisiana in May. The four-day event brought together researchers, educators, and NSF staff from EPSCoR jurisdictions across the country for presentations, networking opportunities, and discussions focused on building research capacity and workforce development.

Four of our student researchers presented posters highlighting the project’s interdisciplinary approach to fire science and related fields.

University of Montana

Graduate student Jazzelle Elias shared research on how land managers navigate prescribed fire decisions and the social and organizational factors that shape implementation. Jake Bova showcased an immersive, real-time wildfire simulation platform that combines fire spread and wind modeling in Unreal Engine.

Montana State University

Graduate student Jack Ruder presented a novel machine learning framework with potential applications for modeling wildfire and prescribed fire systems, and Emily Regalado shared research on Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), an emerging field focused on improving the visibility of research projects in AI-powered search environments.