ARCTIC LEADERSHIP
University research is a sound investment.
In FY06, UAF leveraged $6.30 for every dollar of state-funded research, and grant awards in biology and arctic sciences have totaled nearly $50 million since FY02. This investment has led to an extraordinary increase in research activity, the hiring of new faculty and the expansion of programs. BIOS will free up space to further expand important research programs at UAF.Basic research at UAF helps foster a better understanding of public health problems that affect us all: avian influenza, Alzheimer's disease, stroke, Parkinson's disease and sudden infant death syndrome.
UAF has launched a major initiative to fund the much-needed Biosciences Facility, or BIOS. BIOS will provide the teaching and research labs science students expect to find at Alaska's premier university, a research leader that ranks fifth in the nation among small research universities.
The proposed 110,000-square-foot, $105 million building will provide modern facilities to integrate teaching and research in UAF's fastest-growing programs--the biological sciences. BIOS will address critical research and teaching needs in biomedicine, wildlife biology, physiology, evolutionary biology, population genetics, and ecosystem and global change science.
An artistic rendering of the BIOS building shows where it is planned to be built on the West Ridge of the Fairbanks campus.
Research Research and teaching are part of a continuum. Multidisciplinary science teams work with students in genomics, Alaska Native health, toxicology, environmental physiology, virology, bioinformatics and neurosciences.
Advancing Alaska A strong biosciences and biomedicine program is critical to Alaska's future. The new generation of scientists must be well prepared to tackle the state's top challenges: invasive species, a changing ecology and emerging diseases. Construction of the facility will inject $74 million into Alaska's economy.
International Polar Year
The International Polar Year--a major, global scientific undertaking--demonstrates UAF's role as an education and research leader. IPY is a two-year international effort (March 2007–March 2009) to draw attention to the social and scientific challenges of the polar regions. In addition to serving as IPY's education center, UAF is also home to nine of 13 postdoctoral fellows sponsored by the University of Alaska statewide system. Other recent IPY-related events have included a lecture by explorer Helen Thayer, the Helge Ingstad Memorial Symposium on Arctic Change and hands-on science activities with high school students. For more information about IPY, visit www.uaf.edu/ipy/.Image of Mount McKinley © Andrea Swingley. All other UAF photos by Todd Paris unless otherwise noted.
