Alaska Quaternary Center
The Alaska Quaternary Center (AQC) was established in 1982 to serve as a focal point for interdisciplinary Quaternary studies and research at UAF. The Quaternary period spans the past two million years, a time of glacial-interglacial climate oscillations, floral and fauna migrations, mammalian extinctions, and human evolution. Quaternary studies thus encompass a broad array of scientific investigations focusing on geologic, climatic, biologic, and human systems of the past and present. The AQC comprises active researchers in the departments of Anthropology, Biology and Wildlife, Geology and Geophysics, the School of Agriculture and Land Resources Management, and research institutes including the Institute of Marine Science, the Institute of Arctic Biology, and the Geophysical Institute.
The AQC is housed within the Department of Geology and Geophysics and the College of Science, Engineering and Math. The center sponsors seminars and workshops and hosts visiting speakers from countries throughout the world. Quaternary scholars from UAF regularly collaborate with Canadian, Russian, and European colleagues and conduct research in regions form Alaska, Siberia and the Yukon to Africa, Mongolia, and western Europe. With increasing scientific interest and programmatic support (e.g. global change and biodiversity) directed toward studies of changing arctic climates and ecosystems, the AQC plays an important role in the organization of northern science.