Amy Hartley
907-474-5823
4/20/12

The Science for Alaska Lecture Series will host two public lectures in Anchorage to conclude its 2012 season.

On April 24, Greg Walker, manager of Poker Flat Research Range and the UA Unmanned Aircraft Program, will present “Alaska – As Seen From an Unmanned Aircraft.” On April 25, Kenrick Mock and Bodgan Hoanca of the University of Alaska Anchorage will feature their newly patented eye-scanning technology in their lecture, “Protecting Our Eye-Dentity: New Methods for Information Security.” Both lectures take place at 7:30 p.m. in Rasmuson Hall on the UAA campus.

Walker and the UA Unmanned Aircraft Program garnered international attention when one of their small aircraft helped the Nome refueling effort in January 2012. This project and others will be covered in the April 24 lecture in Room 110 of UAA’s Rasmuson Hall.

Currently, eye-scanning technology is used in everything from marketing to psychology. Mock and Hoanca’s focus is on eye-scanning for information security and how their new device can safeguard some of the public’s most sensitive information. Mock is an associate professor of computer science, while Hoanca is a professor of management information systems. Both are based at UAA. Their talk will take place April 25 in Room 117 of Rasmuson Hall.

Science for Alaska is one of the largest outreach endeavors of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute. For 20 years, the project has brought entertaining and educational lectures to communities throughout the state, focused on current science underway at UA. The Geophysical Institute and Alyeska Pipeline Service Company sponsor Science for Alaska.

ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: Stevie Seibert, GI public relations assistant & special events coordinator, at 907-474-5229 or via email at [email protected].

ON THE WEB: http://www.uaf.edu/scienceforalaska/anchorage-lectures/

AH/4-20-12/222-12

Marmian Grimes
907-474-7902
4/18/12

Research labs throughout the University of Alaska Fairbanks will be open to the public Tuesday, April 24 for the fifth annual UAF Research Day. Visitors will get the chance to see a brain breathe, examine tiny zooplankton or tour a working theatrical scene shop.

Labs across campus will be open to visitors from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Buildings with open labs will be marked with balloons and campus maps will be available at the UAF Wood Center, where more than 80 graduate and undergraduate students will be participating in a poster session. Undergraduate students will also present their work at a competitive research symposium from 2 – 4 p.m., also in Wood Center.

The day will culminate in a public lecture and award ceremony starting at 5:30 p.m. in the Wood Center Ballroom. The event will include a keynote address by research professor and USAID Award for Heroism recipient Harry Bader, who will speak about research and foreign policy. The event will also include the presentation of the 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award to professor emeritus F. Stuart “Terry” Chapin III. Chapin is one of the nation’s leading ecologists and is the only Alaskan to hold an appointment to the National Academy of Sciences.

UAF is the primary research campus in the University of Alaska system, garnering the majority of UA research funding. Research activities at UAF cover a broad spectrum of disciplines, from climate science to life science, engineering to anthropology, Alaska Native studies to theatre. Campus research day is an effort to highlight the important work that is happening on campus, as well as the contributions to that work by undergraduate and graduate students.

ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: Julie Benson, UAF Center for Research Services, 907-474-5837, [email protected].

ON THE WEB: http://www.uaf.edu/research/

NW/4-17-12/220-12

Amy Hartley
907-474-5823
4/17/12

Unmanned aircraft, tidewater glaciers, polar-orbiting satellites and biotechnology will be featured in a Science Social at Centennial Hall in Juneau April 18 – 19 from 4:30 – 6 p.m. each day. The free community event will provide hands-on demonstrations, informative stations, a scientific poster session and more.

The event is a collaboration among the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute’s Science for Alaska Lecture Series, Alaska BioPREP and the Alaska Coastal Rainforest Center. The Science Social will offer a smorgasbord of information that showcases the variety of research and expertise at work in the University of Alaska system. It will allow members of the public to connect with active researchers and college-bound students to discover the opportunities available at UA campuses. The Science Social is an extension of the ACRC’s Coastal Temperate Rainforests Symposium that will run April 17-19 in Juneau, drawing scientists from the across the nation and Canada.

This event is free and families are welcome. Centennial Hall is located at 101 Egan Drive in downtown Juneau.

ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: Amanda Meyer, Alaska BioPREP program coordinator, 907-474-5680 or [email protected].

ON THE WEB: http://www.uaf.edu/scienceforalaska/juneau-lectures/

AH/4-17-12/218-12

Marie Gilbert
907-474-7412
4/16/12

The University of Alaska Fairbanks will host the 2012 Irving-Scholander Memorial Lecture Thursday, April 26 at 6 p.m. in the UA Museum of the North on the UAF campus.

This year’s speaker is Peter J. Hudson, a world-renowned expert on wildlife diseases, including those that affect people.

Hudson’s lecture, “Just When You Thought it was Safe: The Ecology and Rise of Emerging Diseases,” is free and open to the public.

Seating is limited. For more information, visit www.iab.uaf.edu/events.

ON THE WEB: www.iab.uaf.edu/events/irving_scholander.php

MG/04-16-12/216psa-12

Photograph by G. McGimsey, USGS
A view up the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes from the Overlook Cabin above Three Forks in Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska. The valley is filled with up to 200 meters of ash-flow deposits from the 1912 eruption of Novarupta Volcano. The rim of Katmai Caldera is on the skyline at left.

One hundred years ago this June, a three-day explosive eruption at Novarupta on the Alaska Peninsula near King Salmon became one of the five largest eruptions in recorded history. It created the spectacular Katmai caldera and the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, which early explorers called the eighth wonder of the world. Preserved as a national monument in 1918, and now part of Katmai National Park, the eruption created an outdoor laboratory that has captivated scientists and sightseers alike for a century.

On April 25 at 7:30 p.m., Katmai expert Judy Fierstein will tell the story of those three dramatic days and what the 1912 eruption revealed about large explosive events. In “The Novarupta-Katmai Eruption of 1912 – Largest Eruption of the 20th Century: A Centennial Perspective,” Fierstein will explain how geologist “volcano detectives” examined the eruption’s aftermath. Fierstein will also explain how the eruption has remained scientifically important for 100 years and why Katmai still offers insights about the processes that shape our world.

Fierstein, a research geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, is known worldwide for her meticulous fieldwork on young, remote volcanoes in Alaska, the Cascades and the high Andes. She joined the USGS in 1980, just before the eruption of Mount St. Helens, and began working in Katmai soon after. Fierstein is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America and is known for engaging presentations about volcanoes and geologic fieldwork in wild places.

The free lecture will be held in the Boyd Room, Reichardt 201, at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Parking is available directly behind the building. This presentation is sponsored by the USGS, the National Park Service and the Alaska Historical Society

ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: Jessica Larsen, research associate professor, at 907-474-7992 or [email protected]. Amy Hartley, Geophysical Institute public relations manager, at 907-474-5823 or [email protected].

ON THE WEB:

www.gi.alaska.edu

www.avo.alaska.edu

SS/4-13-12/214-12

Debbie Carter
907-474-5406
4/11/12

The University of Alaska Fairbanks will offer a workshop on starting a specialty food business April 21 in Fairbanks and at videoconference sites in Anchorage, Delta Junction and Sitka.

The workshop will run from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the UAF Cooperative Extension Service Tanana District office at 724 27th Ave.

Quentin Fong, seafood-marketing specialist for the Marine Advisory Program, and Kate Idzorek, Extension food technician, will discuss business ideas with participants and provide guidance on entering the specialty food market. Idzorek said specialty foods are manufactured in low volume from high-quality ingredients. They include products like jams and jellies made from Alaska berries or handmade chocolates.

Idzorek said participants would gain skills to objectively evaluate their business ideas and a basic understanding of what a bank may want to see if they apply for a loan. Topics will include marketing, pricing and promoting products, developing a business plan, creating nutrition fact labels and making sure facilities meet health and safety guidelines. Participants will receive a business plan template and other information sources.

The workshop fee is $30 and preregistration is required. Register online at http://bit.ly/foodsworkshop. Participants may also register by calling Extension in Fairbanks at 474-2450 or 474-2420; Anchorage, Leslie Shallcross at 786-6313; Delta Junction, Christy Roden at 895-4215; and Sitka, Bob Gorman at 747-9413. Videoconference sites will include the Anchorage Extension office at 1675 C St., the Delta Career Advancement Center and Room 106 of the UAS Sitka campus building.

ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: Kate Idzorek at 907-474-5391 or [email protected].

DC/4-11-12/211-12

Rich Seifert
907-474-7201
4/9/12

Cooperative Extension Service community sustainability coordinator Rich Seifert will teach his cold climate homebuilding techniques workshop Saturday, April 14 in Schaible Auditorium on the UAF campus. The free workshop will run from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. and includes a manual and a CD.

The workshop will focus on insulating homes and will cover options for retrofit, ventilation, indoor air quality, roofs, and permafrost and foundations. It is also designed to help homeowners who plan to participate in the state’s home energy rebate program.

Call 907-474-7201 to register or sign up online at http://bit.ly/coldclimatehousing.

MEDIA CONTACT: Debbie Carter, Extension public information officer, at 907-474-5406 or [email protected].

DC/4-9-12/207psa-12

Photo courtesy of CNSM
Children participate in the 2011 Science Potpourri.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks College of Natural Science and Mathematics will host its annual Science Potpourri Saturday, April 14th, from noon to 3 p.m. at the Reichardt Building on the UAF campus.

The popular science event features dozens of hands-on science activities and demonstrations with UAF scientists and students. Participants can learn about molecules, examine fossils, touch sea creatures, make slime and much more.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information, including downloadable science experiments, visit http://www.uaf.edu/cnsm/science-potpourri/

MEDIA CONTACT: Marmian Grimes, UAF public information officer, at 907-474-7902 or via e-mail at [email protected].

ON THE WEB: http://www.uaf.edu/cnsm/science-potpourri/

MLG/4-9-12/206psa-12

Shelbie Umphenour
907-474-2417
4/4/12

Author Steve Almond will perform a free public reading Friday April 6 at 7 p.m. in the Wood Center Ballroom on the UAF campus.

Almond is the author of multiple story collections, novels and nonfiction books. His newest book is “Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life.”

This reading is part of the Midnight Sun Visiting Writers Series sponsored by the UAF English Department. For more information, visit www.uaf.edu/english.

MG/4-4-12/201-12

Candi Dierenfield
474-1909
4/3/12

Alaska 4-H and Operation: Military Kids are sponsoring a statewide “purple up” in honor of military children affected by deployment.

On April 13, Alaska residents can wear purple as a visible way to thank military youths for their strength and sacrifices. April is the “Month of the Military Child.”

Purple symbolizes the combined colors of all branches of the military. Operation: Military Kids provides support and activities to military families and communities. Alaska 4-H is part of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service.

DC/4-3-12/199psa-12