UAF in the news: week of July 13, 2009

Submitted by Marmian Grimes
Phone: 907-474-7902
07/17/09

Students in UAF Upward Bound Program work together to build umiak
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
FAIRBANKS--Building an umiak the old-fashioned way takes time and patience, not to mention tough hands. That was one of the lessons eight students in the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Upward Bound Program learned during the past six weeks as they worked together to build a traditional 19-foot umiak, a skin boat used by Eskimos to hunt whales and walrus. Read more ...

UAF creates new variety of barley for cold climates
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
FAIRBANKS--Bob VanVeldhuizen has spent the past 17 years nurturing a sometimes-moody barley crop at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. And like many a restless parent, the research assistant is ready for the teenager to move on to the next phase in its life. Read more ...

UAF project seeks to find out how many uses one birch tree has
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
FAIRBANKS--A 67-foot-tall birch tree came crashing to the ground in the Tanana Valley State Forest on Tuesday morning. By that afternoon, its fate was a source of mystery and giddy excitement. Read more ...

Students excel in rural prep program at UAF
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
FAIRBANKS--The University of Alaska Fairbanks Rural Alaska Honors Institute is a tradition in Michael Kowalski’s family. The 18-year-old is the third to graduate from the six-week college preparatory program for rural students. Read more ...

Akasofu’s book reveals secrets of the northern lights
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
FAIRBANKS--Years ago I spent a couple of winters living in dry cabins here in Alaska, and while the novelty of that lifestyle quickly wore off, there’s one thing about it I still look back on fondly. Read more ...

Out of this world experience: Local UAF students participate in NASA program
Peninsula Clarion
Indescribable. Unlike anything else. Too unique for words. For four local University of Alaska Fairbanks students, words can’t express the experience of floating in zero gravity. "There’s no way to describe it without having experienced it. It’s just incredible," said Tess Caswell, UAF graduate who recently participated in NASA’s Microgravity University program at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Read more ...

Black goop afloat off Arctic coast identified as algae
Anchorage Daily News
A sample of the giant black mystery blob that Wainwright hunters discovered this month floating in the Chukchi Sea has been identified. Read more ...

University of Alaska Fairbanks oral history workshop to teach techniques of storytelling
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
FAIRBANKS--The sharing of our past through active storytelling has long been a part of the human experience. With creation of portable reel-to-reel tape recorders in the late 1940s, it became an interdisciplinary study. Read more ...