News briefs: People and programs at UAF

Submitted by Marmian Grimes
Phone: 907-474-7902
05/21/09

Emeritus professor to serve as Denali Park writer-in-residence
UAF English professor emeritus John Morgan has been chosen as the first writer-in-residence at Denali National Park. Morgan, a poet, will spend 10 days living in the East Fork cabin this June and will give a reading at park headquarters at the end of his stay. The new program, similar to one already established for visual artists, is designed to bring writers into the park and give them access free of distractions to focus on the park experience. Morgan will be expected to donate a written piece produced as a result of his residency to the park for use as it deems appropriate.

Students win national, regional engineering competitions
Three students from the College of Engineering and Mines recently won awards for their work at national and regional competitions. Petroleum engineering senior Kasper Kowalewski took first place and graduate student Ekene Chukwu took second place in the American Association of Drilling Engineers national student poster competition. Civil engineering student Charles Degerlund won second place for a technical paper at the American Society of Civil Engineers’ Pacific Northwest Student Conference.

CNSM students receive $20,000 in graduate study fellowships
The Society of Economic Geologists has awarded $10,000 fellowships to College of Natural Science and Mathematics geology graduate students David Larimer and Stephanie A. Mrozek. Both are pursuing advanced degrees in economic geology. The fellowships are awarded to first-year graduate students studying the relationships between mineral and ore deposits and geochemistry or geophysics, as they apply to mineral exploration.

UAF’s national computer security designation renewed
The National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security have renewed UAF’s designation as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education for academic years 2009-2014. The designation places UAF among more than 90 other top computer security institutions in the country and makes it eligible for funding and collaboration opportunities. It recognizes UAF’s expertise and commitment to training the next generation of cybersecurity professionals through its Advanced System Security Education, Research and Training Center, known as ASSERT. The center is housed in UAF’s computer science department and features a complex, reconfigurable and isolated network environment, which is used for research and teaching, as well as facilities for computer forensics, which are available to statewide law enforcement agencies. A ceremony recognizing the achievement will be held at the 13th Colloquium for Information Systems Security Education June 1-3 in Seattle.

CONTACT: Marmian Grimes, UAF public information officer, at 907-474-7902 or via e-mail at marmian.grimes@uaf.edu.