BOZEMAN — A Montana State University professor and her collaborators have received a grant worth nearly $1 million to create a program for Apsáalooke youth that they hope will ultimately spark interest in STEM fields and lead to cleaner water for the Apsáalooke nation in southeast Montana.
Vanessa Simonds, associate professor in the Department of Health and Human Development, received the $999,417 grant from the National Science Foundation through its Advancing Informal STEM Learning program. Simonds and her collaborators will use the funds to create and implement a summer program for Apsáalooke, or Crow, youth in the fifth and sixth grades, as well as a mentorship program for Indigenous high school students and tribal college students.