November 22, 2016
A team of students, staff and faculty from the Community and Technical College paramedic program swept every category in the Alaska State Emergency Medical Services Skills Olympics in Anchorage on Nov. 4-5.
Fred Schlutt, the director of the UAF Cooperative Extension Service, has been elected chair of the national leadership and governing body of Cooperative Extension.
Interviews conducted with hunters, fishermen and trappers in four rural indigenous communities were published last month in the science journal Climatic Change. Of the 47 important relationships identified between climate change and the availability of subsistence resources, 60 percent focused on access. Research Assistant Professor Todd Brinkman was the lead author of the study.
Fifty-three newspapers republished the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner’s spotlight on Evon Peter, vice chancellor for rural, community and Native education, after the Associated Press moved the story on its national wire. Placements included The San Francisco Chronicle and the Houston Chronicle.
The Rasmuson Foundation gave $104,000 to support planning for the renovation of “The Place Where You Go to Listen,” an installation at the University of Alaska Museum of the North curated by composer John Luther Adams.
Chancellor Dana Thomas and his wife, Kay, made a $10,000 pledge to establish the Provost Susan Henrichs Scholarship, as well as a $5,000 gift to establish the Pathfinder Staff Award Support Fund.
Janet Porter, a graduate of the UAF School of Education, gave $28,000 to the Chancellor’s College Completion Scholarship. This was her first gift to UAF.
SciVal, a research rating tool provided by Elsevier publishing, rated UAF the “top institution for research in the Arctic,” based on the number of Arctic-focused publications over a five-year period – 663 – and citations in the field — 7,347.
In October, staff and volunteers from the UA Museum of the North led an effort to salvage a complete humpback whale skeleton from Kincaid Beach in Anchorage. The specimens will be added to the museum's extensive marine mammal collection, the largest in North America.
Vera Alexander gave $16,000 to the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences’ Research Vessel Sikuliaq Outreach Fund, the CFOS Graduate Student Support Fund and the Al Tyler Memorial Scholarship.
Student Caitlin Tozier was elected to the National Indian Education Association board. Tozier, from Nome, is majoring in education.
Researchers David McGuire and Vladimir Romanovsky, among others, created a new comprehensive map that identifies the regions of the globe most vulnerable to permafrost decay and carbon release. The journal Nature Communications published an article on their work.
Recent unmanned aircraft flights along a portion of the trans-Alaska pipeline demonstrated the ability to conduct infrastructure monitoring beyond the visual line of sight of the pilot in command of the aircraft. The mission, conducted by personnel with the Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration and partners from Scenarios Network for Alaska and Arctic Planning at UAF, was a key step toward the safe integration of unmanned aircraft into Alaska’s airspace.
The Philosophy and Humanities Department hosted the third annual Joseph C. Thompson Memorial Lecture in October. David Gardiner, an associate professor at Colorado College, presented the lecture titled, “To Love or Not to Love: Creative Tension Between Wisdom and Compassion in Buddhist Ethics.” The free public lecture was well attended.
An anonymous pledge of $25,000 will support the UA Museum of the North Gallery of Alaska. TOTE Maritime gave $20,000 to the museum’s Family Day program, and Wells Fargo gave $25,000 to its military appreciation program.
Professor of Geosciences Michael Whalen helped drill into the Chicxulub impact crater in Mexico’s Yucatán region as part of the International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 364 in October. An asteroid created the crater 66 million years ago. The impact’s worldwide effects are thought to have caused the dinosaurs’ extinction.
The Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration helped the Near Space Corp. in Oregon launch an unmanned aircraft from a balloon at 70,000 feet in early October. ACUASI coordinated the airspace, provided the pilot in command and assisted with flight planning and safety reviews for the mission.
Writers of all ages and experience levels joined faculty and students from the English Department at the Community of Writing event Oct. 29. The free event included writing activities and interactive sessions.
Vladimir Alexeev, a research professor with the International Arctic Research Center, was featured on Environmental Research Web for his team’s recent study regarding the loss of Arctic sea ice cover and the associated thinning of ice on northern Alaska’s lakes.
Yatibaey Evans was elected president of the National Indian Education Association. She is the director of the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District’s Alaska Native Education Program, which is a community partner with the College of Rural and Community Development.
The Rasmuson Foundation gave $15,000 to the Art Department Support Fund, which helps pay for the artist residency program.
Michael Stekoll, a UA Southeast professor with a joint appointment at the UAF College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, received $418,577 from the National Sea Grant College Program for his two-year project “Applied Research for a New Seaweed Aquaculture Industry in Alaska.” Seaweed aquaculture presents a new economic opportunity for coastal Alaska. Cultivated seaweeds drive a $6.6 billion industry worldwide.