FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 24, 2000

Fairbanks, Alaska – Fierce giant cannibals eating people for lunch, overweight cabbages that could smash small cars, and rocket men that put Elton John to shame— all in all, not a bad way to spend a summer day. The cannibals, cabbages and rocket calibrators are part of seven summer tours offered by the University of Alaska Fairbanks starting June 1.

Visitors can shake, rattle and roll through the Geophysical Institute tour every Thursday at 2 p.m., which features groundbreaking research on seismology, glaciology, the aurora and volcanoes, among other areas. Two of the three largest earthquakes ever recorded occurred in Alaska, and visitors can check out current methods of monitoring tremors at the Alaska Earthquake Information Center.

On the same floor, visitors can see researchers fired up about the boiling ash plumes, bubbling lava flow and explosive volcano eruptions that play a vital role in shaping the physical characteristics of Alaska. The Institute’s guided tour also explores UAF’s Synthetic Aperture Radar, which brings information from satellites to researchers examining everything from the movement of Alaska glaciers to the Antarctic ice sheet.

On Thursdays at 3 p.m., visitors can walk next door to see the International Arctic Research Center, the newest jewel in UAF’s crown of research facilities located on West Ridge. The IARC is headquarters to scientists studying the Arctic and global climate change.

Visitors with an eye to the sky can check out UAF’s Poker Flat Research Range, the only university-owned rocket range in the world, every second and fourth Friday beginning June 2. The entrance to the rocket range, located 33 miles north of Fairbanks on the Steese Highway near Chatanika, is marked on the right side of the road by a rocket similar to those launched for research.

Back on campus, visitors and prospective students can join a UAF student or alumni for a free, guided walking tour of the college campus, beginning at 10 a.m. Monday through Friday from June 1 through August 31.

One of the first stops on the walking tour, which begins at the entrance to the UA Museum, is the "Mosquito" totem pole, wrapped in the Tlingit legend of a giant cannibal whose death is rumored to have led to today’s flourishing mosquito populations in Alaska. The totem pole is just one highlight to the walking tour, which covers university art pieces, buildings, research institutes and attractions such as the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center.

Visitors can get hardwired into UAF’s technological facilities through an in-depth guided tour of the computing center every Wednesday at 2 p.m. The ARSC tour showcases one of the fastest supercomputers in the world, and participants will get a chance for hands-on activity in the visualization lab with lessons in science and engineering in the Arctic.

The UA Museum, rated in Alaska's top-ten attractions, features collections and pieces that range in age from Blue Babe, a 36,000-year-old mummified steppe bison, to present-day cultural artifacts. This summer’s exhibit, "Looking North," features Alaska Native, historical and contemporary art from the museum’s collection. Open daily from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the summer, the museum offers a variety of programs including the Dynamic Aurora show, Northern Inua athletes and interpretive talks.

The Georgeson Botanical Garden, nestled at the base of College Hill, offers guided tours every Friday at 2 p.m. of stunning flowers and enormous vegetables that flourish under the midnight sun. The garden, part of the Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station upon which UAF was founded, is also open for daily self-guided tours from 8 a.m.-8 p.m. The menagerie of critters at the farm are tended by students and scientists from the School of Agriculture and Land Resources Management, who also grow short grains like oats, barley and wheat that thrive in Arctic conditions.

Another popular destination for visitors is the Large Animal Research Station, located off Yankovich Road just north of the campus ski trails. The station offers a 24-hour viewing platform to see musk oxen, reindeer and caribou. Guided tours of the research station are also offered Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. for a personal look at the Arctic animals.

-30-

JCS/5-24-00/00-082