Madison Torrey, a junior at Montana State University (MSU) majoring in environmental engineering and CREWS undergraduate student, is one of MSU’s two newest winners of the scholarship given by the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation. Torrey works in CREWS researcher Joseph Shaw's Optical Remote Sensor Laboratory at MSU.
The foundation announced that 413 students received the competitive scholarships honoring the top undergraduates in the country pursuing research in STEM fields. The scholarship comes with an award of up to $7,500 per year for tuition, books, and room and board. MSU is one of the top universities nationally in terms of the number of its students who have received the prestigious awards, with a total of 86 recipients since the scholarship was established in 1989.
Torrey began working in MSU’s Optical Remote Sensor Laboratory in summer 2021 as an intern in the National Science Foundation-funded Research Experience for Undergraduates program, before transferring to MSU from Arizona State University in fall 2021. She works under the direction of Joseph Shaw, distinguished professor of electrical engineering in the Norm Asbjornson College of Engineering. Torrey plans to earn a doctorate in environmental engineering with a focus on optics, then teach at the university level, study the natural environment and devise environmental remediation strategies.
Torrey said her summer work in Shaw’s lab was a “big deciding factor” for her transfer to Montana State. Her work involves drone-based remote sensing via hyperspectral imaging, capable of recording 300 wavelength bands, to estimate pigments in river algae, which is indicative of stream health.
“I saw that being in the research lab with Joe’s group was such a great experience,” she said. “I didn’t know what optics was before I came here but was able to flourish with the support of the amazing people in the lab and in the MSU community in general,” she said.
She now understands how using optical technology can yield more accurate estimations of environmental data.
“It’s a very cool, up-and-coming field, using remote sensing to study the environment,” she said. “There’s a lot of potential for cross-over. I want to fuse the environmental and optic fields.”
Torrey said that as an environmental engineering student working mostly with electrical engineers, she acts as a bridge between disciplines, an assessment that Shaw confirmed.
"As an environmental engineering student, Maddie fills an important role as somewhat of a liaison between the optical engineers in my group and the ecologists with whom we are collaborating,” he said. “Her research is helping us develop new optical sensing systems and methods for measuring water quality and monitoring algal blooms in Montana rivers."
Torrey’s selection for a Goldwater Scholarship “is a really great example of what a special thing we have going on here at MSU, where even undergraduate students can have very meaningful roles in major research projects,” Shaw added. “We work with very interdisciplinary groups, and the people who do well in my group are the people who enjoy working on the boundaries of traditional disciplines.”
Torrey will earn her bachelor’s in environmental engineering in May 2024, expertise she hopes to combine with a doctorate in optics.
Torrey is the secretary of MSU’s Society of Women Engineers and an engineering ambassador, providing tours of the university’s engineering resources to prospective students and their families. She also sings in the a cappella group, MSU Rhapsody.