Mervin Failing spent 14 years educating children. As a teacher's aide at Poplar Elementary School in Poplar, Mont., Failing watched children learn, graduate and go on to college. He also watched some of them return as teachers, which made him think about his own career.

Undergraduate students are highly valued team members in the MSU Center for Biofilm Engineering and are fully integrated into the research process. Our undergraduates learn to design and implement experiments that will provide results relevant to industry and the science community—and they develop the skills that will broaden their career opportunities and make them more employable. For undergraduates who decide to pursue graduate degrees, their CBE research experience is often cited as a key component in being selected by their program of choice.

When Katie Hoyt graduates in chemical engineering in December she'll be holding a degree that commands the highest entry-level salary of any academic program. On average, chemical engineers make $59,218 right out of school, according to national data.

Montana State University has received a second four-year grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to improve undergraduate education in biology. HHMI is the nation's largest private supporter of science education.

A recent Montana State University graduate's innovative research into a treatment for groundwater contaminants was presented on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., in late April.

Montana State University-Bozeman senior Cory Rupp is among about 1,000 students nationwide who received a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship, worth $121,500 over three years.

Ellen Swogger didn't envision herself studying mice sinuses in college. She disliked biology in high school. And physics, come to think of it, wasn't her strong suit either.