"I was interested in science, and the American Indian Science and Engineering Society was one of the student science clubs," Wilson explains. UAF's AISES won its fourth Distinguished Chapter Award from the national organization in 2004.

Wilson's enthusiastic advocacy for the club led to her election as the 2005-2006 co-president.

"For me it was the connection to research opportunities, and getting to know students who could advise me. And the national conference is a good way to expose yourself to different graduate schools and industries."

As a chemistry student with an emphasis in biochemistry and molecular biology, Wilson is intrigued by the possibility of combining neuroscience and chemistry. Applications include understanding the underlying biological principles of psychological disorders like depression, a focus of study at UAF.

"This spring I'll do undergraduate research," she says. "There's a lot of neuroscience work at the university so I might do something in one of those labs."

While Wilson admits she's still trying to decide exactly what her eventual goals are, she knows they'll be in Alaska. "I'd like to go to medical school and become a physician at the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage."

When the undergraduate geology student's tender feet curtailed a geologic mapping activity on a Denali National Park field trip, she, along with a professor and another student, focused instead on a small area near the park's road. Tomsich peered into a crevice and spotted the three-toed footprint of a theropod, a dinosaur that roamed Alaska 70 million years ago.

"I normally wouldn't have bothered looking there but because we weren't going far, I paid attention to detail," she recalls. "That was a lucky find."

Another lucky find was Alaska itself, which the German native visited on vacation in 1983. She made it her home, and eventually found herself at UAF.

"I always thought about school, but I was computer illiterate," Tomsich laughs. "So I took classes like keyboarding and computer applications at Tanana Valley Campus. Then I took geology and thought, ‘I like this. I can do this.' I wanted to know more."

That curiosity led to a 2005 bachelor of science degree in geology with an emphasis in geochemistry, sedimentary rocks and analysis of ancient spores, seeds and pollen.

Since graduating, Tomsich has been exploring job opportunities in Alaska. "Right now I'm focused on getting professional experience before maybe going back to school," she explains.

Yet somehow she never seems to stray far from the lecture hall; ever the student, Tomsich continues to take classes. "I love the subject so much I want to go into more depth." And maybe make another great find.

Sylvia and her husband, Ray, a fourth-grade teacher, evince that same enthusiasm when talking about teaching in their home village of Alakanuk, in southwest Alaska. They too wanted to go to school; for them, it was to earn bachelor of arts degrees in education so they could become teachers. They graduated from UAF in 2005.

They were motivated by philosophical as well as practical factors. Ray had already been working in bilingual education but as he explains, "I saw certified teachers doing as much as I was but they were getting paid a heck of a lot more. Job opportunities are limited here. To get a good-paying job I could teach in the winter and fish in the summer. Becoming a teacher helped me stay close to home."

As the parents of four children, Ray and Sylvia were also concerned about the constant turnover in the school. "There's a lack of continuity in teachers in Alakanuk," says Sylvia. "They come to get the experience and then they leave. I wanted to be one of the teachers who will be here for a long time."

Respect for culture plays a role in the Josephs' teaching styles as well. Both are native Yup'ik speakers and try to integrate their heritage into the curriculum wherever they can. Although they realize it may be too late to turn the tide of language loss, they try to make Yup'ik less of a "foreign" language by using, for example, the children's Yup'ik names and giving the Yup'ik translation of a new word. Other aspects of the children's heritage are more easily retained. "Some of the kids really love Yup'ik dancing," Ray says. "They're trying to hold onto it.

"I want them to know Yup'ik values," he adds. "It gives them their identity."

By embodying stability and self-respect, the Josephs hope to set an example. "Some of our younger students don't see their options and what they could become," Ray says. "I want them to see they can have a future besides just finishing high school and staying at home doing nothing."

Say the words "economic development" at UAF and you'll get a variety of responses, but the underlying theme of them all is a better life for Alaskans.

Economic development means getting the education to get a good job in the community where you grew up, like the Josephs. It means being able to hire skilled Alaskan workers to expand your business, such as through the construction trades technology program, administered by the Interior-Aleutians campus. And it means conducting the research that leads to new technologies and new industries, as with the Office of Electronic Miniaturization.

With seven campuses and five learning centers throughout Alaska, UAF brings outreach and services to Alaskans wherever they live and work. And by forming reciprocal partnerships with business, industries and communities across Alaska to meet the state's workforce training and development needs, UAF helps ensure a vibrant economic future for the Last Frontier.

As a Fairbanks native, UAF alumnus, outdoors enthusiast and world traveler, Thomas has a veritable bazaar of examples homespun and exotic he uses to illustrate complex theories. The reward, he says, is "seeing the light go on--seeing the student get the abstract concept and bring it into the practical world."

John C. Eichelberger is renowned for ground-breaking work on volcanoes that has led to a rethinking of how they operate. Under his leadership, the Alaska Volcano Observatory has become the world's largest volcano monitoring center, and is helping track the 2006 Augustine Volcano eruptions. His colleagues heartily endorsed his nomination for the 2005 Award for Excellence in Research, but the volcanologist could just as easily have won the award for teaching or service.

"Research is teaching by doing," Eichelberger acknowledges. "In truth, most of ‘my' research is done by students. I'm there to guide them when they need it, and sometimes they guide me."

Integrating teaching and research is vital to Eichelberger. Research-only centers can become stale without students' youthful energy, he says, but when university researchers incorporate students into their work, they can involve them in exciting, relevant ways. "Teaching is just passing on old knowledge if it doesn't include a glimpse of the frontiers of that knowledge.

"For me, to excel in research is to make important and lasting contributions to the body of knowledge. This, along with raising children and mentoring students, gives me a sense of purpose."

Abel Bult-Ito studies circadian rhythms in mice--what gets them up, what makes them go to sleep. He might do well to study himself to learn how he gets so much done in one day.

In addition to his associate professorship with the Department of Biology and Wildlife and the Institute of Arctic Biology, Bult-Ito is an energetic volunteer. In the past five years, he has served on more than two dozen committees at the university and in the community.

"I love this type of work," Bult-Ito enthuses. "With university-wide work you get a good view of the university as a whole. Contributing to that is very satisfying."

Bult-Ito's volunteerism ranges from informally mentoring high school students to formal participation in such groups as the UAF Faculty Senate.

"Service is really teamwork," he notes. "You can't do it alone. I work with a lot of people from different disciplines but we're all devoted to the university. I appreciate the Usibelli Service Award because it shows that service really is important."

Since then, Williams has been studying via distance delivery for her associate of applied science degree in human services.

“I came from a school where you’re one of 20,000 students; you can get lost,” Williams says. “My advisor and professors care about how I’m doing. They can see the quality of my work and they also know me on a personal basis. I count here.”

There’s more work ahead to earn her bachelor’s and master’s degrees, an even greater challenge now that Williams has a baby daughter, but the new mother is clearly excited. “I’ll stay with UAF for many years. The flexibility with the long-distance courses is wonderful. How many schools can you go to while you stay at home with your child?”

Williams’ dual commitment to education and family won her the George and Miné Mikami Scholarship, which prizes academic achievement and moral character. “Financially it made things a lot easier,” Williams says, but notes that winning the prestigious award was as much a psychological boost as a fiscal one. “It’s an honor. In my application I talked about balancing school and family. I need to provide a solid future for my daughter and set an example of how important school is. My scholarship essay was about real life.”

Following their parents’ example, the Mikami children attended the university in Fairbanks in the 1930s and 1940s. Alice married a 1932 UA alumnus, Roland Snodgrass, and the couple spent most of their years together in the Matanuska Valley until Roland’s death in 1983. UAA’s Mat-Su College also has a scholarship in his name.

Both the Mikami and Roland Snodgrass scholarships require a high moral character of the recipients. “Moral character was important to my folks,” Snodgrass says. “They lived it.”

For the Usibellis, UAF is a family affair. Since Joseph Sr.’s graduation with a civil engineering degree in 1959, two more generations of the Alaska mining family have earned engineering degrees at UAF.

Strong advocates of the university at all levels, they also played a critical role in the expansion of the UA Museum of the North; the new wing’s centerpiece art gallery was named in honor of Rose Berry, late wife of Usibelli Coal Mine founder Emil Usibelli and mother of Joseph Sr.

In addition to rewarding faculty excellence, the Usibellis have also endowed mining and honors student scholarships. Honors Program Director Roy Bird lauds their long-standing relationship. “The family has funded Usibelli tuition scholarships for students since 1997. More recently, they established an endowment so that each year at least 10 honors students receive $1,000 scholarships because of their philanthropy.”

Visit www.uaf.edu/giving/ to find out more about philanthropy at UAF.

Public health officials and researchers are casting an uneasy eye toward Alaska.

Alaska is at the overlap of the Asian and North American migratory bird flyways, raising the possibility of the exchange of bird flu viruses that could increase the probability of infection in humans.

"No one knows how these viruses move in the environment," says Jonathan Runstadler, veterinarian, assistant professor of biology and wildlife at the UAF Institute of Arctic Biology and a lead scientist in the University of Alaska Program on the Biology and Epidemiology of Avian Influenza in Alaska.

UAF scientists initiated the project to study the many avian influenza viruses in Alaska, including the potential arrival of the disease-causing H5N1 Asia subtype that has caused human and bird deaths in Southeast Asia and elsewhere. Researchers sampled 4,500 Alaska birds in 2005; of the 500 samples analyzed so far, none carried the H5N1 of concern. When the data is complete, it will create a baseline for further study.

"Not all H5N1s cause illness in humans," Runstadler says. "The first question, if someone found H5N1 in a Minto Flats mallard, is ‘What's it related to? Is it like the H5N1 of Asian origin that kills people or like H5N1s that haven't affected humans?'

"Nobody knows if H5N1 will cause an epidemic or if it will fade away. Eventually another new virus will make people sick. Hopefully we'll have better health-care systems by then and a better understanding of the virus' biology so we can contain an epidemic, perhaps even predict and avoid it."

Like many Alaskans, Matt Nolan has battled the popular misconception that the 49th state is an island off the west coast of Mexico, as depicted on some maps. Though this confusion is mostly just amusing, other cartographical shortcomings are more serious. Nolan found his research was often compromised by the lack of accurate maps and the ability to easily share geospatial scientific data with others.

"I work a lot in remote arctic regions that have only low-quality maps," Nolan explains. "They're fine for a hiking trip but not detailed enough for scientific work."

To become his own mapmaker, Nolan worked with staff at the Institute of Northern Engineering and a student intern at the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center to create EarthSLOT, which merges the best available maps and satellite imagery of the world with the latest information on scientific projects in the Arctic. Using EarthSLOT, one can virtually fly to any location on Earth with 3D perspective.

"To get the public's attention, scientists have to compete against the special effects of Hollywood and computer gaming. EarthSLOT can help with this; it makes remote places come alive. You can see your backyard from space just for fun, but you can also find links to learn about nearby science projects. In terms of science, I hope these new outreach methods will make it clear that the Arctic lags behind the rest of the world in terms of the quality of its maps and imagery."

Genevieve Harper believes in making good things even better. The energetic psychology undergraduate has plenty of opportunities to do so as teaching assistant, research assistant, Army National Guard officer, mother and the wife of a soldier deployed to Iraq. A member of the sociology honor society, Alpha Kappa Delta, she is also president of the UAF chapter of Psi Chi, the psychology honors organization. She knew the tiny club had big potential.

“It’s a great organization but it was small, and I wanted more people to know about it. Psi Chi educates students about job opportunities, community involvement and undergraduate psychology research. We also do a lot of fun things, like bowling, dinners out and a Christmas toy drive. I want people to want to participate.”

Participate they did. In one semester, Psi Chi membership tripled.

Stationed at Fort Wainwright with her husband, Harper began studying for her bachelor’s degree in psychology at UAF. She plans to graduate in May 2006 and is currently assessing doctoral programs, including the new UAF/UAA joint Ph.D. program in clinical-community psychology with a rural and indigenous focus.

Harper hopes to combine her professional expertise as a psychologist with her personal experiences in military life. “Issues like deployment and moving really impact children and family relationships. I like working with soldiers. I know what they endure.”

Walter Fourie likes to get off the beaten path--he just never thought his path would be frozen. But the South African Ph.D. candidate has no regrets. He arrived in Fairbanks in 2003 intending to earn just his master’s degree in environmental engineering, then signed on for a doctoral program as well.

“Alaska kind of grows on you,” Fourie admits. “Most memorable was catching a 155-pound halibut in Seward. Another time at the hot springs it was 50 below. It was great, even though my hair was so frosted it was cracking off.”

Frost and ice are exactly what Fourie and a team of graduate and undergraduate students are researching at UAF. “I study how ice forms in soils like gravel pads, and how thaw causes rutting and weakening,” he says.

“In a cold region you want to know how ice forms and how water moves through the frozen soil. To contain ground contamination you use a permeable reactive barrier like activated carbon to clean the groundwater that flows through it. If ice forms in the barrier, it decreases the efficiency.

“The research we do is applicable anywhere there’s human activity in the Arctic or Antarctic,” he says. In other words, right where Fourie likes to go: off the beaten path.

Enrollment numbers are up in many academic programs. UAF has seen an up-tick in baccalaureate students in both the sciences and humanities: