Janessa Newman named BLaST Scientist of the Month
March 14, 2019
Janessa Newman is the BLaST scientist of the month. Newman is a BLaST Scholar and
senior biological sciences major at UAF.Newman is originally from Rampart, Alaska, a community along the Yukon River. At a young age, she moved to Fairbanks to attend school but has returned to fish camp every year. The subsistence lifestyle of fishing with her family is very important to her. She is hoping to become a physician assistant in rural Alaska. Other hobbies includes exercise, playing basketball, and being on the river.
Research
Newman is fueled by the lessons of her fish camp experiences, teaching commitment, adaptability and hard work, all contributing to resiliency and to being a successful undergraduate researcher. This approach embodies One Health, and has been integral to Newman in working under the BLaST faculty pilot project, “Stories and Images of Community Strength from a Youth Dog Mushing Program in Rural Alaska” with UAF principal investigator and mentor Jacques Philip since fall 2017. The project uses digital storytelling and photovoice to discover how the youth participants of the Frank Attla Youth and Sled Dog-Mushing Care Program perceive the program to affect them and their community of Huslia, another Interior Alaska rural village. Newman and collaborators plan to present on how the FAYSDP integrates Athabascan cultural values and fostering resiliency at the March 2019 Alaska Native Collaborative Hub for Research on Resilience meeting in Nome.
Newman is also working on an INBRE project with UAF faculty and mentor Inna Rivkin, using intergenerational mentorship, digital storytelling and reflection on sources of strength to promote wellness among Nenana high school students. The betterment of Alaska Native lives has fueled Newman’s motivation to do well in school.
“These projects have only made me work harder to achieve that goal,” Newman said.
Mentoring
“I’ve been fortunate to work with Jacques and Inna on both of their projects, and they’ve been extremely helpful at introducing me to research and guiding me along the way,” says Newman. Jessica Black, a Alaska Native faculty mentor at UAF, has also been extremely helpful in navigating between the two worlds of being an Alaska Native and a researcher. Newman also practices peer mentoring as the vice president of the UAF Beading and Sewing Club. She hopes in the future to teach subsistence fishing to young people to show that the cultural values learned in such activities transfer well to being successful in a western world.
For more information, please contact Amy Topkok at aktopkok@alaska.edu.