Prakash named to lead Alaska EPSCoR
February 24, 2015
Anupma Prakash has been named the new principal investigator of the Alaska Experimental
Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, also known as Alaska EPSCoR. Prakash, a University
of Alaska Fairbanks professor, replaces Mark Myers, who resigned to become commissioner
of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources.
“Anupma Prakash is to assume one of the most important leadership positions within
the UA system and is a perfect fit for assuming that responsibility,” said UA President
Pat Gamble.
Prakash is professor of geophysics in the Geophysical Institute and the Department
of Geosciences, associate dean of UAF’s College of Natural Science and Mathematics and
director of CNSM’s Division of Research. Her research focuses on the use of remote
sensing and geographic information systems techniques to map Earth surface composition
and changes. Her research sites are spread across Alaska.
“I'm thrilled to join the Alaska EPSCoR team,” Prakash said. “The central idea of
EPSCoR resonates with me at a personal level. EPSCoR is about people, and about communities
that we are a part of. It's about collaborative efforts in interdisciplinary research
to prepare our communities to understand and to adapt to inevitable change.”
Alaska EPSCoR, a National Science Foundation program, is in the midst of a five-year,
$20 million interdisciplinary project. Researchers and students operate at all three
major UA campuses as well as rural campuses. They're studying the effects of glacial
recession at Berners Bay near Juneau, water and land changes in the Kenai River drainage,
and permafrost thawing and land changes near the North Slope village of Nuiqsut.
Prakash is involved in the project, which uses mapping and remote sensing to analyze
environmental and land-use changes.
"Alaska is in the midst of witnessing major climate-related changes,” Prakash said.
“I can't think of anything more exciting and rewarding at this time than leading the
EPSCoR effort that addresses these issues and seeks to promote adaptive capacity of
Alaska's communities.”
Prakash received a bachelor’s degree in geology, zoology and botany and a master’s
degree in geology from Lucknow University in India, and her Ph.D. in Earth sciences
from the Indian Institute of Technology-Roorkee, also in India. She then worked for
six years at the International Institute of Geoinformation Science and Earth Observations
in the Netherlands. She has been a UAF faculty member since 2002.
Prakash also will serve as co-project director of Alaska EPSCoR, a position she inherits
from Myers as well.
For more information, contact Prakash at aprakash@alaska.edu or 907-474-1897, or Veazey at adveazey@alaska.edu or 907-474-5989. More information about the Alaska EPSCoR program is available at
alaska.edu/epscor.