August 30, 2019
A new five-year, $11.8 million National Institutes of Health grant will help University of Alaska scientists translate their knowledge of hibernating animals into treatments that advance human health. UAF’s Institute of Arctic Biology will lead the newly formed Center of Transformative Research in Metabolism. Hibernating animals, such as arctic ground squirrels and black bears, undergo unique changes in their metabolism. Understanding such adaptations could reveal ways to treat certain human health problems, such as atrophy in unused and aging muscles, obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.
The National Academy of Inventors named Peter Webley to its spring 2019 class of senior members, one of 54 people nationwide to receive this honor. Webley is a faculty ambassador in UAF’s Office of Intellectual Property and Commercialization, research associate professor at the UAF Geophysical Institute and associate director of research at the Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration.
UAF hosted its Rev-It-Up move-in day on Aug. 21, welcoming new students with moving help, orientation sessions and a variety of activities. The incoming UAF class consists of 1,319 undergraduates, 182 graduate students and 36 exchange students. Students represent 46 U.S. states and Washington, D.C., and 71 international students are arriving from 30 countries.
In phase two of a U.S. Department of Energy project, UAF researchers will study the potential for small-scale coal gasification units to provide low-cost fuel. The $1.4 million project will include the completion of design and permitting processes to determine if a pilot plant can be built on the Fairbanks campus.
The Alaska Nanooks Department of Athletics has a new five-year agreement with Nike, through BSN Sports, beginning with the 2019-2020 season. Nike will supply the Alaska Nanooks’ 10 varsity sports with all their athletics footwear, apparel and equipment, except when items aren’t available from BSN Sports.
Thirteen undergraduate students from universities across the U.S. spent the summer at UAF conducting research and learning about the Arctic. The students were hosted jointly by UAF’s International Arctic Research Center and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as part of two partnership programs — the National Science Foundation’s Research Experience for Undergraduates and NOAA’s Partnership in Education. The two programs provide intensive exposure to interdisciplinary science and workforce internships in resource management.
Students in UAF eCampus-supported programs and courses have access to the new eCoaching program. This free service is designed to help students succeed no matter the obstacles. Students can set up meetings with a transitions coach, receive registration support, or work with a financial coach, academic success coach, career coach and tech support.
Jessie Young-Robertson, a forest ecologist with the Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, is studying when the water content in trees is lowest, along with the environmental factors that influence it. Her research could help firewood users understand how harvesting at the right point will affect the time needed to season their wood.
UAF researchers have linked specific chemical signatures found in human hair with a diet of traditional Yup’ik foods. The new results will allow scientists to more closely pinpoint the amount of traditional foods in a person’s diet, said senior author Diane O’Brien, a researcher at UAF’s Center for Alaska Native Health Research. These data are important to scientists because the consumption of traditional foods in Alaska Native diets has been associated with a reduced risk of chronic diseases. The finding could help make connections between diet and long-term health trends.
Fairbanks author Linda Schandelmeier won the 2019 WILLA Literary Award for her book of poems, "Coming Out of Nowhere," which was published in 2018 by the University of Alaska Press. The annual award honors the best in literature featuring women’s or girls’ stories set in the West. The award is named in honor of Pulitzer Prize winner Willa Cather, one of the country’s foremost novelists. The winning authors and their books will be honored this October at the Women Writing the West annual conference in San Antonio.
The American Volleyball Coaches Association has named the Alaska Nanooks volleyball team a recipient of AVCA Team Academic Award for the 2018-19 season. The Nanooks were one of 141 NCAA Division II teams recognized for academic excellence by the AVCA. The team was honored for maintaining at least a 3.30 cumulative team grade-point average.
“North Carolina has the Wright brothers — but Alaska has ACUASI” was the first line of one story about the first FAA-approved true beyond-visual-line-of-sight domestic flight of an unmanned aircraft system under the small UAS rule. Operators from the university’s Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration flew a Skyfront Perimeter long-range hybrid-electric unmanned aircraft 3.87 miles along the trans-Alaska pipeline corridor, starting at a location near the Chatanika River on the Elliott Highway, the week of July 31.