Research academy welcomes record numbers

Submitted by Marmian Grimes
Phone: (907) 474-7902
07/10/07

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Fairbanks, Alaska--The UAF Alaska Summer Research Academy welcomed a record class on Monday as more than 130 students arrived on campus for two weeks of intensive research and instruction.

The middle and high school students will spend the coming weeks immersed in one of 16 research modules that will take them into the field and the laboratory with University of Alaska Fairbanks faculty and staff members. The modules cover a wide range of disciplines, from engineering to filmmaking, biomedicine to law. Students receive one college credit upon completion of the academy.

During the academy, out-of-town students live in UAF residence halls, which allows them to experience college life. Local students live at home and commute to campus each day.

With 132 students, 2007’s academy is the largest in the program’s seven-year history. According to organizers, the camp had 106 slots last year and had 10 students on a waiting list. This year, organizers upped the number of slots and received more than 200 applications.

"Each year the camp gets better and this year’s camp, in its seventh year, is going to be the best ever,"? said Joan Braddock, dean of the College of Natural Science and Mathematics and executive director of the ASRA camp. "We can promise each of those kids two weeks of summer they will remember all year."?

ASRA is hosted by the UAF College of Natural Science and Mathematics and is supported by the Alaska IDeA Networks for Biomedical Research Excellence, Alaska Sea Grant College Program, Alaska Space Grant, College of Engineering and Mines, Geophysical Institute, Institute of Arctic Biology, School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences and UAF Summer Sessions. Other partners include the Alaska Department of Transportation, Alaska Natural History Institutes, Apple, Cellular One, Denali Foundation, Denali National Park and Preserve, Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, Golden Valley Electric Association, Industrial Arts Learning Lab, Inland Northwest Research Alliance, Interior Alaska Area Health Education Center, the Kenai River Sportfishing Association and Moving Images.

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

Note to editors: A description of research modules and a schedule are available at www.uaf.edu/asra.