News briefs

Submitted by Marmian Grimes
Phone: 907-474-7902
07/20/09

Fairbanks hibernation scientist to deliver invited lecture in Japan
Brian Barnes, director of the Institute of Arctic Biology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and a hibernation physiology expert, will deliver a special lecture at the 36th Congress of the International Union of Physiological Sciences in Kyoto, Japan Aug. 1, 2009. Barnes was chosen by the IUPS commission to present the first in a lecture series named in honor of Knut Schmidt-Nielsen, professor emeritus at Duke University and a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences until his death in 2007. Barnes’ lecture will be "Overwintering Adaptations of Animals in a Changing Arctic." Barnes studies the physiological and behavioral mechanisms that animals, including insects and bears, use to survive arctic winters. Barnes and colleagues hope that their research can be used to develop new ways to preserve human organs for transplant and protect humans from injury following stroke or major trauma.

Library launches Pioneer Aviators Project Jukebox
The Alaska and Polar Regions Collections at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Rasmuson Library recently launched its latest multimedia Web site, Pioneer Aviators Project Jukebox at www.uaf.edu/library/jukebox. The story of aviation is a compelling part of Alaska’s history and development. The Project Jukebox Web site features oral histories, historic film clips, and still photographs which highlight some of Alaska’s pioneering, but less well-known, aviators and airplane mechanics. For more information, contact Project Jukebox at 907-474-6672.

Holton to head Alaska Native Language Archive
Gary Holton, associate professor of linguistics, has been appointed director of the Alaska Native Language Archive. As director, Holton will work to advance the archive to be the premier linguistic repository for Alaska and the circumpolar North. The archive will continue to support the mission of the Alaska Native Language Center, working closely with center faculty and language experts to ensure appropriate curation of the holdings. Future development of the archive will also be guided by an advisory board consisting of both archivists and representatives of the Native community from across the state. For more information, contact Holton at 907-474-6585 or gmholton@alaska.edu.

Cooperative Extension Service offers campfire-cooking booklet
The Cooperative Extension Service has published "Cooking Around the Campfire with Kids," a new booklet with tips about making cooking fires, as well as more than a dozen kid-friendly recipes. Included are standards such as biscuits on a stick and baked bananas in foil, as well as outdoor delicacies like Polish sausage dinner and taco in a bag. The authors are Extension nutrition educator Marsha Munsell and Roxie Rodgers Dinstel, Extension health, home and family development agent. The free booklet is available through local Extension offices or may be downloaded from the publications catalog at www.uaf.edu/ces/pubs.

Grant to provide Yup’ik translator for CANHR
The Center for Alaska Native Health Research has received $30,555 to hire a Yup’ik-speaking science educator to help CANHR’s 1,300 Yup’ik research participants learn about concepts of genetics, health, phenotype and disease. The money is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and made available through a National Institutes of Health grant. The center’s researchers’ practice community-based participatory research, meaning CANHR’s participants and their health care providers are research partners. The science educator’s role will be to find common language between English and Yup’ik for science and health terms, particularly to discuss genetic research results and future genetic studies with CANHR’s participant partners.

Research site renamed in honor of longtime geophysicist
The University of Alaska Fairbanks has renamed a 46-acre research site in honor of its visionary and developer, Jack Townshend. The Jack Townshend College International Geophysical Observatory is a network of eight state-of-the-art facilities that collect geomagnetic, seismic and geophysical data to support research at the Geophysical Institute, the International Arctic Research Center and the U.S. Geological Survey, as well as other national and international organizations. The site is situated northwest of Smith Lake behind the UAF campus. Townshend, 82, is a long-time USGS geophysicist who has worked with the university research community for more than 40 years. He designed and developed CIGO, a project that took 10 years to complete, with encouragement from GI director Roger Smith and Syun Akasofu, former director of both the GI and IARC. The research site was completed in 1996. It is one of five scientific observatories Townshend has helped develop across the globe during his career, which spans more than six decades.

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

MLG/7-20-09/011brfs-10