RAPID: Salish Kootenai College RAPID Bison Microbiome

A goal of the Tribal Colleges and Universities Program (TCUP) is to increase the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) instructional and research capacities of specific institutions of higher education that serve the Nation's indigenous students. Expanding the STEM curricular and research offerings at these institutions expands the opportunities of their students to pursue challenging, rewarding careers in STEM fields, provides for research studies in areas that may be culturally significant, and encourages a community and generational appreciation for science and mathematics education. This project aligns directly with that goal. Microbiome research has grown exponentially in recent years with applications toward health of humans, animal, and the environment. This project studies the health of free-ranging bison on the Montana Bison Range located on the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Reservation. The tribe has managed the herd since 2020. The development of the study has demonstrated preliminary results showing the ability of the college to isolate microbiome DNA for sequencing. The expansion of the research must begin during the summer of 2024 to comply with the permissions rights granted by the tribe to Salish Kootenai College. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.