UAF activities, guest lecturer highlight International Polar Year

Submitted by Marmian Grimes
Phone: (907) 474-7902
02/20/06

A visit from internationally celebrated explorer Helen Thayer and a week of citizen science activities later this month highlight an increasing focus on the International Polar Year at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

International Polar Year is an international research program focusing on the Earth’s polar regions. A major emphasis of IPY, which runs from March 2007 through March 2009, is education and outreach intended to engage the public in polar science.

Thayer’s visit will include a lecture Feb. 28 at 6 p.m. in Schaible Auditorium, the first in a series of UAF IPY public lectures. She comes at the invitation of Michael Sfraga, director of the University of Alaska Geography Program.

"Helen is deeply committed to K-12 geography and science education," said Sfraga, who also chairs the UAF IPY education and outreach committee. "I am pleased that we can work together with local teachers to share the excitement of learning and teaching through geographic exploration."

During her visit, Thayer will also meet with high school students from Connecticut who are working with research professor Martin Jeffries on his Alaska Lake Ice and Snow Observatory Network project, also known as ALISON.

"ALISON is an example of how university researchers and K-12 educators can work together successfully for mutual benefit," said Jeffries, who also serves as director of the UAF/University of the Arctic Office for International Polar Year Education and Outreach. "I hope to see more of this type of collaboration during IPY, so that teachers and students will be able to look back one day and say that they participated in IPY, that they contributed to the success of IPY."

The students from Somers High School in Somers, Conn. arrived in Fairbanks on Saturday and will spend most of this week meeting with scientists, working with local students and visiting ALISON project study sites with Jeffries.

ALISON is a science education and lake ice geophysics program that allows K-12 students and teachers to participate in Jeffries’ research through collection and use of data from locations throughout the state.

The program is an example of the concept of citizen science, Jeffries said, in that the students and teachers become his research partners. "Citizen science is really getting nonscientists--members of the public--involved in science," he said. "It’s (also) a way for scientists to obtain more data than they otherwise might be able to over a longer period of time."

Thayer will arrive in Fairbanks Feb. 23 and will travel to Denali National Park the next day, where she will be the keynote speaker during Denali Winterfest. While in the area, she will join Jeffries, the Connecticut students and students from Tri-Valley School at Horseshoe Lake, one of the ALISON study sites. Thayer and Sfraga will also discuss future geography education programs with the Denali Foundation and staff of Denali National Park.

Thayer gained national acclaim as an explorer in 1988 when she became the first woman to make a solo trek to any of the world’s poles. She walked alone to the magnetic North Pole without the aid of dog teams or snowmachines. Her expeditions since then have included a trek of the entire length of the Sahara Desert and a 450-mile solo walk in Antarctica.

Thayer is scheduled to visit Fairbanks-area elementary and secondary schools and speak to UAF geography classes when she returns from Denali the following week. Her lecture in Fairbanks Feb. 28 will feature a slideshow with images from her expeditions to the North Pole and the Gobi and Sahara Deserts.

"Helen’s lecture, emphasizing the Arctic, fits well with our campus-wide effort to highlight and celebrate UAF’s unique role in science and education initiatives during the International Polar Year," said Sfraga.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

Because of its strength in Arctic science, UAF is poised to play an important role in national IPY research and education and outreach activities. As part of that effort, UAF plans to schedule regular IPY lectures throughout the next two years.

Following is a schedule of IPY-related activities during the coming weeks:

Monday, Feb. 20 -- Jeffries and Somers High School students take measurements for ALISON project with home-schooled students at Aurora Pond in the afternoon.

Tuesday, Feb. 21 -- Jeffries and Somers High School students spend the day at University Park Elementary School doing hands-on snow science with fourth graders.

Wednesday, Feb. 22 -- Jeffries and Somers High School students spend the day at Poker Flat Research Range taking measurements for ALISON and measuring pond depth.

Thursday, Feb. 23 --Somers High School students visit permafrost tunnel and trans-Alaska pipeline in the morning and meet with UAF Geophysical Institute scientists in the afternoon.

Friday, Feb. 24 -- Thayer/Sfraga speak at Denali Winterfest Jeffries and Somers High School students travel to Denali and measure river ice in the afternoon

Saturday, Feb. 25 -- Thayer/Jeffries travel to Horseshoe Lake with Tri-Valley School and Somers High School students for ALISON project Jeffries speaks on IPY and citizen science at Winterfest at 11 a.m.

Monday, Feb. 27 -- Thayer/Sfraga visit Hutchison High School, Randy Smith Middle School, and Anne Wien and Nordale Elementary schools

Tuesday, Feb. 28 -- Thayer/Sfraga visit UAF geography classes. Thayer speaks in public lecture at 6 p.m. at Schaible Auditorium at UAF.

CONTACT: Research Professor Martin Jeffries at (907) 474-5257 or via e-mail at martin.jeffries@gi.alaska.edu . Integrated Geography Program Director Mike Sfraga at (907) 474-5082 or via e-mail at mike.sfraga@alaska.edu . UAF Public Information Officer Marmian Grimes at (907) 474-7902 or via e-mail at marmian.grimes@uaf.edu .

ON THE WEB: www.uaf.edu/ipy