September 30, 2016
NASA has chosen UAF Research Associate Professor Jessica Cherry as one of its top 100 astronaut candidates in the agency’s most recent recruitment. She was picked from more than 18,300 people who applied. Cherry’s scientific expertise is in water and climate; she has a dual appointment with the International Arctic Research Center and the Institute of Northern Engineering, and serves as the chief scientist of the Geographic Information Network of Alaska.
Research Assistant Professor Keith Cunningham and Associate Research Professor Peter Webley were awarded patent US 9,436,784 for their project “Validating and Calibrating a Forecast Model.” Their work will help governments and businesses quickly and accurately model ash clouds ejected from volcanoes.
UAF has replaced metal-halide lights with LEDs on the exterior of the UAF Community and Technical College’s center in downtown Fairbanks. The Student Sustainability Fund paid for the work. With their longer lifespan, LEDs will reduce maintenance costs. They’ll also cut energy use by 71 percent.
KUAC and the UA Office of Information Technology helped implement the board of regents’ new public testimony format. KUAC broadcast the testimony on its FM HD2 signal and KUAC-TV channel 9.6, and streamed it at KUAC.
The Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration received formal permission from the Federal Aviation Administration to fly unmanned aircraft under 55 pounds on UAF grounds and some surrounding areas. This allows ACUASI to conduct research flights, pay staff to demonstrate UAS technology, scan campus buildings for heat loss and much more.
A National Science Foundation award will allow UAF to purchase a multi-collector inductively coupled mass spectrometer. The instrument will be the first of its kind in the state, allowing Alaska students and researchers to do isotope analysis without traveling to the Lower 48.
Daisy Huang reviewed renewable energy sources in the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation with representatives from SaskPower and Des Nedhe Development in Saskatchewan, Canada. She also visited the communities of Pelican Narrows and Deschambeault Lake to assess renewable sources there. Huang is a research engineer with the Alaska Center for Energy and Power and a faculty member in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
Alaska Nanooks swimmer Martha Hood is one of 121 swimmers from 38 NCAA Division II institutions to be named a pre-season all-American by collegeswimming.com. Hood is a UAF junior from North Pole.
The Center for Environmentally Sustainable Transportation in Cold Climates Director Jenny Liu and Beaux Kemp, Liu’s M.S. student, were presented with the 2016 Engineer of the Year and Student Engineer of the Year Awards by the Alaska Society of Professional Engineers Fairbanks Chapter. Kemp was also honored as the CESTiCC Student of the Year for 2015. UAF’s Institute of Northern Engineering is home to CESTiCC.
UAF Assistant Professor Nathan Belz and his research team are surveying people across the Pacific Northwest about forms of travel. Belz’s research brings forward data that can help address safety concerns and transportation needs of rural and small-urban areas in Alaska.
A UAF research team lead by Professor Sukumar Bandopadhyay developed a computational fluid dynamics model of open pit mining under air inversions. The team found that cloud seeding might be used to break or lift inversions, which could remove pollutants near the ground, improving human health. The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health funded this research. Bandopadhyay is affiliated with the College of Engineering and Mines.
The SILKAT project — Sustaining Indigenous and Local Knowledge, Arts and Teaching — just completed its first year of implementation. During much of the next decade UAF, the Bering Strait School District and Kawerak, a regional social-service organization, hope to create a template for schools that want to train local teachers and improve the use of culture and art in classrooms. Hiring more Alaska Native teachers is expected to reduce high turnover rates at Bush schools. The effort is funded with a renewable grant from the Margaret A. Cargill Foundation that could eventually become a $5 million, nine-year effort.
The estate of Don Eyinck gave $36,000 to the Annual Fund. The Jessie O’Bryan McIntosh Trust gave $12,114 to the Jessie O’Bryan McIntosh Scholarship and Brad Feld and Amy Batchelor gave $10,000 to the School of Management’s Arctic Innovation Competition.