The leader of the nation’s largest volunteer service took a six-day tour of Alaska
this week as the latest in a series of Alaska visits by White House cabinet officials.
AmeriCorps CEO Michael Smith spent time in Anchorage, Scammon Bay, Bethel and wrapped
up visit with a tour of the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
“We have a Schools of National Service program and we are talking with UAF becoming
a such a school,” Smith said outside Signers Hall Friday afternoon following a meeting
with UAF Chancellor Dan White. “We’re really excited with what the University of Alaska
Fairbanks is doing with its rural campus extensions and we are thinking about ways
we can partner with the programs here.”
Smith’s Alaska visits included meetings in Anchorage with Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom
and hosting a few roundtables, presented challenge coins to volunteers and spoke with
Alaska Native organizations.
Contact: Jack Barnwell
University of Alaska Fairbanks scientists will make several trips to Greenland over
two years to study how meltwater and the ocean affect glacial ice loss.
The four-year research project, funded by a $565,000 National Science Foundation grant,
will create a traveling museum exhibit about the drivers of Arctic climate change.
The exhibit will appear first at the University of Alaska Museum of the North, likely
in 2026.
The team will investigate the short- and long-term effect of runoff on outlet glacier
flow, how a glacier’s geometry affects its response to runoff, and how variations
in runoff speed and speed of movement of the glacier’s terminal area influence each
other.
At the study’s conclusion, the researchers will create software that others can use
to analyze the effect of runoff and ocean interaction on any of Earth’s glaciers.
Contact: Martin Truffer
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