K.T. Elliott

This Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program is funded by the National Science Foundation to create "points of entry" for students interested in research. Students apply from across the country to spend 10 weeks in Bozeman, Montana this summer (May 26, 2026 - August 1, 2026). Admitted students are paired with a faculty mentor, who serves as an advisor for a student's summer project. Each student receives a stipend ($7000 for 10 wks). Travel compensation, room, and board are also provided. Our program leverages MSU’s unique microbiology expertise, focusing specifically on microbes living with little or no oxygen (like those in the hot springs of nearby Yellowstone). Low oxygen microbes are essential to human and ecosystem health. They influence (or control) such processes as the breakdown of food in the GI tract, removal of toxins from our bodies and the environment, and production of greenhouse gases. They are also models for understanding the origins of life on this planet, and the potential for life on other planets. A key goal of our program is to recruit students from schools with limited research infrastructure. Being in Montana, a state with a vibrant Native American community, we are particularly interested in applications from students at tribal colleges. However, ANYONE with an interest in microbiology - or biology/science in general - can and should apply. If willing and able, please share/tweet/spread the word far and wide. Applications are due February 14, 2026. Full details can be found through our website http://www.montana.edu/mbi/reu/

Friends, please help spread the word about our microbiology REU program at Montana State University.
www.montana.edu/mbi/reu/

Each student receives a stipend ($7000 for 10 wks). Travel compensation, room, and board are also provided.

Details in the attached pic--Feb 14 deadline
🧫🧪🦠#microsky

I am hearing that RFK Jr.’s minions are going to go after HPV vaccines. I’ve got problems with these people and now you’re going to hear about them, first from a personal perspective and then from a professional one.

It all boils down to this: WE HAVE A SAFE VACCINE THAT PREVENTS CANCER.

Happening next week!

Come and work with us! Science is recruiting an editor in the area of next-generation medicine in the USA or UK. bit.ly/4bWOJfn
🧪

Two Republican senators call for Kristi Noem to resign as DHS secretary Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Thom Tillis are the first GOP members of Congress to call for Noem to step down as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

BREAKING: Two Republican senators, Thom Tillis and Lisa Murkowski, call for DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to resign.

Sen. Fetterman calls on Trump to fire DHS Secretary Kristi Noem after ICE killings in Minneapolis The Democrat voted last year to confirm Noem to the president's cabinet, but says she has been a 'total failure.'

Sen. Fetterman says Kristi Noem, whom he voted to confirm to the president's cabinet, must be fired over ICE killings in Minneapolis

#CD7 Your task today:
Call Kean and ask for his statement on the murder of Alex Pretti.
The media has not been able to get a statement from him.
Kean (202) 225-5361

U.S. government has lost more than 10,000 STEM Ph.D.s since Trump took office A Science analysis reveals how many were fired, retired, or quit across 14 agencies

Wow. This is devastating.

www.science.org/content/arti...

This absolutely made me giggle which I did not think possible today. Thank you

Reminder that, as of the latest reports, Liam Ramos is still in prison in Texas - now for 5 days.

His parents are legal asylum seekers with no criminal record.

Announcing the 2026 MSE Speaker Series!

MSE is back with another stellar lineup for the virtual seminar series, which will be hosted monthly through 2026. After each seminar, we will host an informal virtual social hour, in which attendees can chat with the speaker and MSE members about research,…

U.S. government has lost more than 10,000 STEM Ph.D.s since Trump took office A Science analysis reveals how many were fired, retired, or quit across 14 agencies

The US government lost more than 10,000 STEM PhDs last year, according to an analysis by Science of newly released OPM data, with 11 departures for every hire. And many OPM calls "voluntary" separations were probably pushed. www.science.org/content/arti...

Gregory Bovino Gets Demoted The Border Patrol chief was the public face of a traveling immigration crackdown on cities governed by Democrats.

BREAKING Greg Bovino has been removed as Border Patrol "commander at large" and will return to El Centro Calif, where he is expected to retire soon. A stunning turnaround after Pretti killing. Bovino's traveling blue city crackdown is over www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

After 3.5h of shoveling and salting, I still managed to break our screen door trying to close it against the snow build up 💪🤦‍♀️

blue watercolor paintings with anti-ai messages

green and blue watercolor paintings with anti-ai messages

Couple of new sets of itty-bitties ko-fi.com/1626SLXL3044... one of each, originals, does not scale

Looking for sources for a @nature.com story about how researchers are coping in the midst of current events: If you're a PhD or other academic who's struggling to focus with everything that's happening in the world and would like to be interviewed for this story, please get in touch ASAP!

9️⃣3️⃣Caroline Herschel (1750-1848) 🇩🇪 #womeninSTEM The first professional female astronomer in history and the first woman to receive the Royal Astronomical Society's Gold Medal. She discovered numerous comets, including the Herschel-Rigollet comet

www.mpg.de/female-pione...

Originally published on 6/2/2020 (after the killing of George Floyd), this cartoon seems all too relevant again today.

Some academic habits are maladaptive in wider society. But “cite your sources every time” — and information literacy habits more generally — deserves to be educational priority number one right now

Chris Madel ends GOP bid for governor, says he can’t support federal ‘retribution’ against Minnesota His exit comes as some other Republicans have started to distance themselves from the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in the state.

Star Tribune: “Republican Chris Madel made a stunning exit from the Minnesota governor’s race on Jan. 26, saying he cannot support the national GOP’s ‘stated retribution on the citizens of our state, nor can I count myself a member of a party that would do so.’”

A tweet from May 2020 that reads “My daughter is so over remote schooling she cut the computer cord. SHE WENT TO THE KITCHEN, GOT THE KITCHEN SCHEARS AND CUT THE CORD”

With remote schooling back for a day in NYC, I can pull out my only truly viral tweet (which, my account being deactivated for years, is in fake-tweet form)

😢 #womeninstem

Hi y'all
You still have a few days to apply for our open professor position in planetary science in Bern, Switzerland. See more details below! For any questions, feel free to reach out to me.

🔭🧪⚛️#planetSci

As someone who is literally waiting for one button to be pressed to give me $2.1m of NSF funds six months late: I’d rather shut my lab down than have another person killed by ICE - in the street or in custody, citizen or non-citizen

A teacher literally shaking as she describes the threat from her own government to the children she teaches www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

part of this is like, conservatives projecting; part of this is conservatives unable to imagine politics without money; and part of this is dudes who are so out of touch with feminized labor that they think children's birthday parties exist as a spontaneous act of parthogenesis

This is a very big story!

Tik Tok is censoring criticism of ICE

During the Soviet era, at times of govt instability, the state broadcaster would typically preempt scheduled broadcasts by airing performances of Swan Lake

So many movies I loved as a kid have aged poorly

peppering half the roads for A/B testing purposes