Science Cafe: shooting science at the poles

Submitted by Jenn Wagaman
Phone: 907-474-5082
10/10/07

After spending 13 years living on the Bering Sea Coast studying the Yup’ik Eskimos, award-winning photographer James Barker went to the people of Antarctica to document the scientists and the support staff and learn about a culture that has emerged in an area where there had been no native population.

Barker will present a free talk about his work, which documents life at both poles, on Oct. 17, 2007 at 7 p.m. at the Alaska Coffee Roasting Company. The presentation is part of the International Polar Year Science Café series.

Barker came to Alaska in 1974 after studying at the Art Center School in Los Angeles and after working a number of years doing commercial, freelance and scientific photography in the Bay area and Washington state. He was awarded the Governor’s Lifetime Achievement Award in the Humanities in 2003 for his work with the Yup’ik people.

The IPY Science Café is brought to you by the University of Alaska IPY Young Researchers’ Network. The network--powered by young scientists from UA campuses across the state--aims to take science off campus through outreach to the public and students of Alaska. Science Café events are interactive lectures that will take place throughout IPY to give the public a chance to have one-on-one conversations with polar scientists or visiting specialists and to learn about the science that’s happening around the world.

CONTACT: Jenn Wagaman, UAF Center for Research Services outreach coordinator, 907-474-5082 or jenn@alaska.edu. Chris Petrich, postdoctoral fellow, 907-474-6832 or chris.petrich@gi.alaska.edu .