October 4, 2013
UA Museum of the North researchers discovered a major new site for dinosaur fossils in Alaska along the Yukon River. The trip netted about 2,000 pounds of dinosaur footprints for the museum’s collection. Earth sciences curator Pat Druckenmiller says this is the kind of discovery researchers would have expected in the lower 48 states 100 years ago. In addition, a complete a marine reptile thalattosaur fossil, discovered near Kake in 2011 and moved to the museum, may be a new species. Druckenmiller says the specimen, which inhabited the seas 210 million years ago, is the most complete example of this group of reptiles ever found in North America.
Researchers have completed an extensive exploration of how quickly ice is melting underneath a rapidly changing Antarctic glacier, possibly the biggest source of uncertainty in global sea level projections. Physics Professor Martin Truffer and Tim Stanton, an oceanographer with the Naval Postgraduate School, took measurements of the undersea melting process underneath the Pine Island Glacier on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. The bottom of the ice in that sector of Antarctica is grounded well below sea level and is particularly vulnerable.
In an effort to reduce slips, trips and falls on the Fairbanks campus, UAF has expanded its ice cleat program to include all students and staff and has provided a way for employees to order online.
Chancellor Brian Rogers and several members of his cabinet participated in Disability Awareness Month on October by using wheelchairs and vision impairment goggles this month. Access Alaska, a Fairbanks-based nonprofit organization, provided the wheelchairs and goggles, and participants shared their experiences during a public panel. The UAF Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity sponsored the event.
A $40,000 grant from the Verizon Foundation will support a contest at UAF to create an app to share information about the Sustainable Village student housing. The goal is to develop a user-friendly cell phone or tablet app that will provide instant information about the Sustainable Village. Each unit is a research project in an effort to study a variety of sustainable building techniques, and students have the opportunity to participate in the research and a sustainable lifestyle.
Jim Pruitt , a 1973 UAF School of Management alumnus and longtime supporter, made a gift to establish the Green Island Scholarship. The scholarship benefits SOM freshmen and sophomores who are part of the Western Undergraduate Exchange program with an annual award of $6,000. William and Carelyn Reeburgh donated stock valued at $30,166.80 to their named fund to support graduate student fieldwork in the School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences. The Sitnasuak Native Corp. donated $85,000 to the Alaska Center for Energy and Power at UAF to support research on rural power development. Usibelli Coal Mine Inc . recently established a new endowed scholarship with a gift of $103,000 to support students in the School of Management. They also made a $10,000 gift, continuing their support of the UAF CTC diesel/heavy equipment program. The new College of Engineering and Mines Student Enhancement Fund received a $20,000 gift from Shell Exploration and Production Co .
The UA National Science Foundation EPSCoR senior leadership team completed the required year one reverse site visit at the NSF headquarters Sept. 25. NSF uses this visit for post-award management of its Track-1 EPSCoR awards and to determine if UA has successfully met the first-year goals and objectives of its $20 million cooperative agreement. Initial feedback was positive and constructive.
Scientists, farmers, policymakers and others met in Girdwood Sept. 29 to Oct. 3 for the Eighth Circumpolar Agricultural Conference and the inaugural University of the Arctic Food Summit. Participants worked to strengthen, support and expand food resources and northern community development. The Circumpolar Agricultural Association, UArctic, and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development hosted the event. Organizers and participants included faculty and staff from the School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences and the Cooperative Extension Service.
The second issue of Changing Ice has been published, a newsletter that gives biannual updates on the projects and discoveries of Alaska scientists engaged in cryosphere research. IARC researchers Alessio Gusmeroli, Sarah Trainor, and Hajo Eicken compile the information.
The public is invited to a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the UA Museum of the North Saturday, Oct. 5, at noon to welcome the Fairbanks Children’s Museum. Interactive exhibits to inspire discovery and the power of play will be featured in the museum’s auditorium through April 30.
Career Services hosted a law school fair Sept. 18. More than 20 law schools visited campus to recruit students. Careers in Energy took place Sept. 25 and hosted 17 companies seeking to hire UAF engineering students. At least 350 students participated.
Convocation 2013 took place Sept. 19 in the Davis Concert Hall on the Fairbanks campus. A transcript and webstream of the event is available online at www.uaf.edu/chancellor/.
The alumni association and UAF held its all-years class reunion Sept 19-21. Ten of the remaining 91 members of the class of 1963 attend the events from as far away as Houston, Texas. More than 150 alumni and friends attended the chancellor's welcome reception. The Nanook Rendezvous Alumni Awards Gala, now in its second year, showed a 28 percent increase in ticket sales and 23 percent increase in sponsors.
UAF celebrated its 90th Starvation Gulch Sept. 28. The annual fall tradition includes a bonfire competition.
Carl Benson, Mike Curtin, Jamie (Beyerle) Gray and Cary Keller were inducted into the Nanook Hall of Fame, Sept. 28.