UA Newswire June 3, 2025

newswire

June 3, 2025

Research, workforce development and economic growth news stories and other feature articles from the University of Alaska Anchorage, University of Alaska Fairbanks, University of Alaska Southeast, University of Alaska System Office and the UA Foundation. Compiled by the University of Alaska System Office of Public Affairs.

University of Alaska Anchorage

Alaska SBDC Drives Record $82.7M Economic Growth in 2024, Launching 132 New Businesses

Despite inflation and economic headwinds, Alaska entrepreneurs launched 132 new businesses, reported $82.7 million in sales growth, and secured millions in capital with support from the Alaska SBDC.

Contact: Jon Bittner

a family of four stands in front of a drive through coffee hut Quad Shot, a drive-through coffee hut in Valdez, worked with SBDC to open in 2024.

Follow the PWSC Denali Capstone Expedition

With backpacks packed, over 135 lbs of food per group, sleds loaded, and months of training behind them, our expedition team is officially beginning their Denali capstone adventure. Unlike most climbers on North America's highest peak, this team is climbing under an educational special use permit issued by Denali National Park.

Contact: Victoria Heisser

With Anchorage short of young actors, UAA brings back theater classes

While UAA’s dance and theater degree programs were cut in 2020, a new offering of classes at the university might help bolster the local stable of young theater devotees.

Starting this fall, UAA is offering a number of courses, including fundamentals of acting and theater appreciation to go along with a few technical courses.

Contact: Katie Bender

University of Alaska Fairbanks

New ancient fish species earliest known salmon ancestor

The discovery of Sivulliusalmo alaskensis — the genus is named from the Inupiaq and Latin words for “to be first” and “salmon,” respectively — adds another 20 million years to the fossil history of the salmon family. Previously, the oldest salmonid documented was in fossils found in British Columbia and Washington.

Contact: Marmian Grimes

Scientists excavate at the site on the Colville River where many of the fish fossils were found (UAF photo by Kevin May).

Sheefish habitat is expanding, study finds

Sheefish, or sii, are a whitefish that’s only found in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Northwest Arctic, their spawning grounds are along the upper Kobuk and Selawik rivers. In fact, the name “Selawik” comes from an Inupiaq word that means “place of sheefish.”

Contact: Marmian Grimes

Satellite Data Confirms First Ship-Based Detection of Landslide-Triggered Tsunami

For the first time, scientists have detected a tsunami generated by a landslide using satellite data from a ship's navigation system, marking a significant step forward in early warning technology for coastal communities.

Contact: Marmian Grimes

University of Alaska Southeast

UAS releases Juneau Glacial Flood Dashboard to help community plan for flooding

The University of Alaska Southeast and the Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center launched a flood preparedness website on Wednesday to help Juneau residents prepare for this year’s Suicide Basin release.

Contact: Abi Spofford

a glacier as seen from afar The Juneau Glacial Flood Dashboard allows Juneau residents to search for individual addresses and toggle through inundation maps at various flood levels.

Toxic algal blooms in Southeast will likely become less predictable with warming seas

Alaska has one of the highest rates of paralytic shellfish poisoning in the world. The state reported 132 cases between 1993 and 2021, including five deaths. That’s in part because Alaska is the only coastal state in the U.S. without a state-run toxin testing system for recreational and subsistence shellfish harvesting.

Contact: Abi Spofford

Carbon in glacier meltwater reveals pollution history

Glaciers can serve as giant archives of what is floating around in our atmosphere. They accumulate carbon and other matter carried by the wind, and preserve it in frozen layers for decades or even centuries.

Experts have found that these icy landscapes offer special insight into anthropogenic carbon, which is carbon introduced by human activities like burning fossil fuels.

Contact: Abi Spofford

UA System Office

UA Regents grapple with federal grant cuts, DEI debate amid political uncertainty

President Pat Pitney opened her remarks to the board on the federal landscape by saying, “I think the best word is just ‘uncertainty.’”

Pitney said the university is asking leaders to assess uncertainties, develop alternatives, and focus on the institution’s stability.

“There’s just so much coming at us that is far, and we don’t want to react to the fear. We want to react to an actual change in our circumstances,” she said.

Contact: Jonathon Taylor

President Pitney extends her hand as she speaks at the table surrounded by other Regents The University of Alaska Board of Regents meet in the Butrovich Building at the University of Alaska Fairbanks on Thursday, May 22, 2025.

UA Board of Regents approves childcare center in Fairbanks The University of Alaska Board of Regents approved a $10 million design for the University of Alaska Fairbanks University Park childcare facility Thursday afternoon with the goal to reduce barriers to educational and employment opportunities at UAF. Contact: Jonathon Taylor

At ANSEP, key new leadership at a time of federal uncertainty

Michele Yatchmeneff became the chief operating officer of ANSEP on May 13. Just days earlier on May 2, the National Science Foundation, under the Trump administration, terminated the Louis Stokes for Minorities grant, which ANSEP has been receiving since 2001.

Contact: Jonathon Taylor

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The University of Alaska is an equal opportunity/equal access employer and educational institution. The university is committed to a policy of nondiscrimination against individuals on the basis of any legally protected status.