Registration booms for Alaska Summer Research Academy

Submitted by Sonja Bickford
Phone: (907) 474-6714
02/13/07

Registration for the UAF Alaska Summer Research Academy opened on Sunday, Feb. 4, 2007. This year the camp is offering an online pre-registration form and within an hour of going live on the web the camp had its first registration. Within 24 hours the camp had over 30 registrants for this year’s two-week summer camp offered from July 9-20 on the UAF campus. The camp, hosted by the College of Natural Science and Mathematics, is in its seventh year.

"Last year we didn’t have fifteen applicants until March,"? said ASRA director Jeff Drake. "I am impressed at how quickly we started to fill up this year and some of the modules are already full."?

The camps first-come, first-served policy has been on many people’s minds since last summer. Last year the camp had 106 slots and had a waiting list of over ten students. "This year we have increased the number of slots to 125 students and 12 spots are available in the K-12 teacher module,"? said Drake.

This year ASRA is offering 15 exciting modules, including biomedicine, civil engineering, computer forensics, earth and space science / remote sensing, electrical engineering, filmmaking, forensics, law, photography, programming, robotics, web media/podcasting and wildlife ecology. Two modules will travel to remote sites. Marine biology will be in Kasitsna Bay and the earthquake module will spend about eight days in Denali National Park.

The Alaska Summer Research Academy provides an opportunity for students in grades 8-12 to experience life on the UAF campus and work with university faculty, staff and industry professionals in one of many exciting fields. ASRA students have the option to enroll in the full residential program or participate as a commuter student attending from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Residential and commuter students all receive one college credit on completion.

ASRA and the College of Natural Science & Mathematics work with the following partners to present this outstanding camp: Alaska INBRE, Alaska Sea Grant College Program, Alaska Space Grant Program, College of Engineering and Mines, Geophysical Institute, Institute of Arctic Biology, School of Natural Resources & Agricultural Sciences, UAF Summer Sessions, Alaska Department of Transportation, Alaska Natural History Institutes, Apple, Denali Foundation, Denali National Park and Preserve, Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, Golden Valley Electric Association, Industrial Arts Learning Lab, Kenai River Sportfishing Association, Cellular One and Moving Images.

For more information and to register for ASRA please visit www.uaf.edu/asra.

CONTACT: Jeff Drake, GI/CNSM, ASRA director, at (907) 474-7077 or jdrake@gi.alaska.edu. Sonja Bickford, CNSM PR officer, ASRA associate director, at (907) 474-6714 or s.bickford@uaf.edu.