NEW PROGRAM TURNS SCHOOL KIDS INTO SCIENTISTS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 26, 1999

Fairbanks, Alaska - Most scientists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks have had to conquer chemistry and calculus, but some of the newest UAF researchers have something different to deal with- a curfew. These young scientists haven't earned high school diplomas yet, but the data they collect will be integrated into long term ecological research currently performed by UAF's Institute of Arctic Biology.

Through UAF's Long Term Ecological Research Schoolyard Program, students in science classes at three schools in the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District will perform experiments in cooperation with UAF scientists researching boreal forest ecology. Funded by the National Science Foundation and administered by IAB, the new outreach program will also fund an additional $100,000 to add 20 to 30 new computers and faster internet connections at participating schools.

The program will allow school-age students to collaborate with LTER researchers and graduate students as well as work independently on their own projects, said IAB assistant professor Rich Boone.

"We hope to encourage younger students to think about and actually document slow changes in their environment, like the timing of local forest green-up and the return of migrating birds," Boone said. "We view this program as a way to provide hands-on training for the scientists of the future."

The Schoolyard LTER program compliments Partners in Science, another NSF program that is already in place within the school district which puts UAF scientists into primary schools. Both programs will create a seamless connection between school kids and the university, Boone said.

The connection will be more than just a figure of speech after new high tech internet computer connections, called "T1" lines, are fully installed at University Park and Joy elementary schools this fall.

With a T1 connection, information will be exchanged at a whopping 1.5 million bits per second. Data will also be transferred at a higher band width, providing for a more stable transmission of large files, according to FNSBSD Network Administrator Tim Larrabee. The upgraded connection, paid for by the NSF grant for the next six years, is like "changing a Chevy Malibu to a Corvette," Larrabee said.

Both elementary schools will receive new computers, as will West Valley High School, the third LTER Schoolyard partner school, which already has a T1 connection in place.

With faster connections, students will be able to see how data from their experiments fit into research on everything from atmospheric pollution to groundwater testing, said Boone. They will also be able to converse with scientists studying the long term ecology of subarctic forest ecosystems and forest succession at UAF's LTER sites.

The UAF LTER program focuses on disturbances of forest succession following river meandering and forest fire. The UAF sites include the Bonanza Creek Experimental Forest, located 12 miles southwest of Fairbanks off the Parks Highway, and the Caribou-Poker Creeks Research Watershed, located 27 miles northwest of Fairbanks near Chatanika.

Students will be able to tap into data collected from the sites and read about current research projects, like this summer's Project Frostfire controlled research burn, where more than 52 scientists from Japan, US and Canada will study the effects of fire during a 2,000-acre prescribed burn at the Caribou-Poker Creeks site.

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CONTACT: Assistant Professor Richard Boone, Institute of Arctic Biology, (907) 474-7682 or Jillian Swope, University Relations, at (907) 474-7778.

JCS/5-26-99/99-078