MEDIA ADVISORY

UAF's leadership in arctic research will be further enhanced next week when officials sign a lease agreement solidifying space arrangements and operations of the $32 million International Arctic Research Center on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Norio Saito, executive managing director of Japan's Earth Sciences and Technology Organization, along with UAF Vice Chancellor for Administrative Services Frank Williams, will formalize use of IARC when agreements are signed Tuesday, Jan. 26 at 4:30 p.m. The signing ceremony will take place in room 401 of the IARC building and will also include additional representatives from UAF and ESTO.

IARC will provide 100,000 square-feet of much-needed research space adjacent to the Geophysical Institute while at the same time bringing together under one roof a collection of international scientists from various disciplines studying global change.

U.S. and Japanese federal science agencies will also be located in the building which is expected to be fully occupied later this year. Close to 100 leading environmental scientists from UAF, Japan and other countries will be conducting collaborative research activities under the direction of founding IARC Director Syun-Ichi Akasofu, an internationally recognized scientist known for his pioneering studies of the Aurora Borealis.

CONTACT: UAF Public Information Officer Debra Damron (907) 474-7122.