UAF in the news: week of Sept. 24, 2007

Submitted by Marmian Grimes
Phone: 907-474-7902
09/28/07

Alutiiq anthropologist honored as a MacArthur ’genius’
Anchorage Daily News
An Alaska Native anthropologist from the Kodiak Island village of Old Harbor has received one of the most prestigious -- and lucrative -- awards for intellectual achievement in America. Sven Haakanson, 41, is among 24 new MacArthur Fellows announced Monday. Read more ...

Chancellor says UAF getting stronger
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
The University of Alaska Fairbanks has accomplished great things and is poised to accomplish even greater things in the future. At least that’s the admittedly biased assessment of UAF Chancellor Steve Jones, who delivered his annual convocation Tuesday afternoon. Read more ...

Program aims to aid rural vet care
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and Associated Press
Two new certificates approved by the University of Alaska Board of Regents last week are aimed at increasing the number of veterinary technicians and resource managers in rural Alaska. Read more ...

Alaskans pitch plea to fight global warming
Anchorage Daily News
WASHINGTON -- Scientists, conservationists and even the mayor of the eroding village of Shishmaref painted a grim picture of the effects of climate change in Alaska, including the loss of habitat for polar bears and the end of a way of life for Native people. Read more ...

When biologists stocked Alaska with wolves
SITNews
"¨The killing of wolves to boost moose and caribou populations in Alaska has made headlines all over the country. Back in 1960, a government program to stock an Alaska island with wolves received less attention. Read more ...

Arctic lake ’boils’ with methane
Alaska Report and Far North Science
It bubbled. It boiled. It stank. University of Alaska Fairbanks scientist Katey Walter just wanted to show a National Public Radio news crew a smidgin of methane seeping from a lake on Alaska’s North Slope near Barrow. It’s all part of her investigations into the supergreenhouse gas, and how it oozes into the atmosphere all over the Far North. Read more ...

Scientist: Alaska on the front lines of the war on global warming
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
WASHINGTON--The Interior’s forests of spruce, aspen and birch could be devastated in coming years by disease, infestation and wildfires caused by global warming, a scientist from the University of Alaska Fairbanks told members of Congress on Tuesday. Read more ...

Task force seeks public views of UAF
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
"Begin with the end in mind, and never lose sight of that vision." This past March, 55 leaders from all over Alaska assembled on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus to consider the future of UAF. Read more ...

$11 million grant keyed to Native diet, health
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and Associated Press
The Center for Alaska Native Health Research at the University of Alaska Fairbanks recently received $11 million to continue studying the relationship between obesity, diabetes and the traditional diet of Alaska Natives in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. Read more ...

Scientists breed ducklings in captivity
Associated Press
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP)--Maybe it was the private room with soft moss for nesting, or the duck penthouse about 8 inches off the ground to simulate the raised ridges upon which Steller’s eiders like to breed in arctic Alaska, or the older guy who had done some living on the wild side. Whatever it was, this girl got busy. Read more ...

Mining techniques used to unearth polar dinosaur
Alaska Journal of Commerce
The North Slope is known for its petroleum reserves, but it might also hold clues as to which creatures roamed the Arctic more than 70 million years ago. Read more ...

Bush shares recollections of 1970s Fairbanks with rifle team
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
WASHINGTON--The University of Alaska Fairbanks’ championship rifle team gathered on the South Lawn of the White House on Friday in 85-degree heat to be honored by President Bush. Read more ...

"Unusually thin, rotten ice" north of Alaska
SITNews
"¨The news from the top of the world, according to William Chapman, who follows the fate of sea ice from his office at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: "September 12, 2007The (northern hemisphere) sea ice area is currently at its historic minimum (2.92 million square kilometers) representing a 27 percent drop in sea ice coverage compared to the previous (2005) record (northern hemisphere) ice minimum." Read more ...

Ackiss enjoys the sweet smell of asphalt
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
Colleen Ackiss has an unusual habit. Whenever she’s driving somewhere and smells fresh pavement, she goes to check it out. Read more ...