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August 30, 2005

   
 

Summer Digest

     

Terrorism training

An attack on UAF was simulated Aug. 18 and emergency personnel practiced crisis management procedures and discussed interagency coordination, evacuation scenarios and communication needs. The 101st Civil Support Team from Boise, Idaho was on campus as part of the training.

Messages from University Relations relayed information about the training to local media.

The first part of the scenario had the University Fire Department responding to the Administrative Services building on College Road, which was fully engulfed in imaginary flames at 5:30 a.m. By 6:30 the building was said to have collapsed, but no one was injured. Arson was suspected.

About three hours later, several individuals at the MBS complex reported a strange illness. Residence Life evacuated the area, Yukon Drive was closed down, and when emergency personnel arrived, 13 people were taken to the hospital, with two deaths reported at the scene.

A fictitious group claimed responsibility for the fire and the use of a chemical substance at MBS.

High-speed chase

A driver fleeing arrest from university police Aug. 21 reached speeds of up to 100 mph and crashed into a large street sign, a chain-linked fence, and totaled his 2001 Chevy Impala by running into two parked trucks at the Red Fox Bar.

Climie S. Douglas, 25, was arrested at 3:41 a.m. on charges of driving under the influence, refusal to submit to a chemical breath test and felony eluding a peace officer.

UAF police were tipped off that a possible drunk driver was leaving the Blue Loon and heading down the Parks Highway in their direction. They tried to pull the car over, but when Douglas didn’t stop, they chased the car for a short distance until it wrecked at the Red Fox.

When Douglas and a passenger exited the vehicle, alcohol was smelled on his breath. He was arrested on charges of driving under the influence of alcohol, refusal to submit to a chemical breath test and felony eluding a peace officer.

New species found under sea ice

UAF scientists were surprised this past July when they discovered several new types of sea creatures living beneath sea ice in the Arctic Ocean, as well as an unexpected abundance of other sea life.

Researchers used remotely operated vehicles in water up to 11,000 feet deep to collect and videotape previously unknown specimens like the orange, cone-shaped jellyfish.

“It’s something scientists hadn’t seen before,” said Rolf Gradinger, a marine scientist at the UAF School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences in a press release. “It was pretty emotional for us, because we may be the first people on earth to see it.”

"From my perspective the highlight of the expedition was being able to see the fascinating colors and movement of the animals," said Gradinger. Gradinger, the chief scientist, said they might have found as many as seven new species.

The expedition also discovered pelagic snails, feather stars, sea cucumbers, sea anemones, bristle stars and several new types of worms.

Twenty-four researchers spent a month aboard the United States Coast Guard icebreaker Healy in the Canadian Basin region of the Arctic Ocean. The project, funded by the NOAA Ocean Exploration Program, will contribute to the Census of Marine Life, a ten-year, $1 billion project funded by government and private donors.

UA offers new P.h.D.

The UA Board of Regents unanimously approved a new joint P.h.D. in psychology between UAF and UAA at their June meeting. The doctorate program, Clinical and Community Psychology, will be conducted as a partnership between psychology departments at the Fairbanks and Anchorage campuses, with degrees issued by UAF.

"This is historic that this is happening," said Catherine Koverola, Director of Clinical Training at UAF. "What we have done is forged a joint program."

Courses will be taught at both campuses, half by UAF faculty and half by UAA faculty. The classes will be split too, with half in Fairbanks and half in Anchorage. Students at one campus will attend courses in the classroom and those residing at the other will be "beamed in" by videoconference, said Koverola.

"Increasingly mental health care is being delivered that way," Koverola said. "The whole learning experience in delivered with technology."

The program will start accepting students in fall of 2006, and a total of 16 students will be accepted out of as many as 150 applicants. Koverola said she anticipates mostly students from Alaska and other circumpolar regions and those interested in cross-cultural research.

Alaska is currently the only state without a P.h.D. program in psychology or any other behavior health area. The new P.h.D. program will provide more practitioners dealing with individual mental health problems and more researchers studying larger-scale issues.

"This program is designed to deliver what the state needs," Koverola said. "This fills a void."


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