Welcome to the third edition of Frontiers, the research publication of the University of Alaska Fairbanks. In this issue, we highlight two UAF research programs: the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) and the Geographic Information Network of Alaska (GINA). Both are internationally renowned for their efforts to protect against the ever-present threats of volcanic eruptions and wildfires in Alaska. 

Recall last March’s extended disruption of air traffic across western Europe while aviation authorities attempted to track the ash cloud from the erupting Eyjafjallajökull volcano in southern Iceland. Consider also that there are over one hundred active, highly explosive volcanoes in southern Alaska, the Aleutian chain and Kamchatka whose eruption clouds pose great danger to the heavy air traffic using northern routes connecting North America and Asia. Now you have a sense of why AVO’s effort to predict eruptions and track their ash clouds is so important.

It’s been a long, sunny, warm spring here in the Interior of Alaska and a welcomed relief from winter’s cold and dark. But as temperatures soar above 80 degrees, conditions are set for a raging wildland fire season. And it has already begun. As of this writing there are 53 active fires across the state; the largest, the Toklat fire, has consumed 100,000 acres. Using satellite imagery and sophisticated computer algorithms, GINA staff work with fire management agencies in Alaska to locate new remote fires while they are still small and more manageable. GINA also provides continual updates on fire behavior so agencies can deploy fire crews in the safest and most effective way.

This is my last Perspective piece for Frontiers. After five years as vice chancellor for research, I have decided to return to my faculty position so that I can reinvigorate my research program and work more directly with students. In those five years we have made great progress.

We now have much closer relations with stakeholder communities throughout Alaska, groups such as the Climate Change Executive Roundtable, the Governor’s Climate Change Sub-Cabinet, North Slope Science Initiative, the Denali Commission and the Alaska Ocean Observing System, to name a few. We have solidified a strong partnership with Hawaii through the formation of the Center of Excellence in Island, Maritime, and Extreme Environment Security (CIMES) funded through the Department of Homeland Security. Our research is now more strategically coordinated within areas that resonate with state and federal funding: climate change, biomedicine, energy, and natural hazards.

On campus, we have addressed the mounting responsibilities related to compliance and accountability through efficient and effective service. The undergraduate research competition program at UAF has grown from a simple poster session to a full-day celebration. In April 2010, Campus Research Day provided an opportunity to share information about undergraduate research at UAF and opened
UAF labs to hundreds of local students. I am especially honored to have worked with the dedicated and talented team at the Center for Research Services that has made all these things possible.

We have a continuing commitment to bring UAF research to you and to share the exciting discoveries that make this campus an internationally renowned arctic research university. As always, I invite your comments and suggestions and look forward to hearing how we can continue to improve our research efforts in Alaska.
 

Virgil L. (Buck) Sharpton
Vice Chancellor for Research
University of Alaska Fairbanks