GI Press Releases
Unmanned aircraft systems couple innovative design and construction to assist business, science and the military. They can even help ensure public safety. Alaska offers a vast landscape in which unmanned aircraft can work. Whether it’s monitoring the state’s wildlife, gathering data on precious resources or assisting with rescue efforts, these aircraft are proving themselves a crucial component of living and operating in the Far North.
Nearly 100 stakeholders from across Alaska and the U.S. will converge for three full days in Anchorage, Alaska to discuss recent developments in the UAS field, identify opportunities to use these tools and discuss public policies affecting unmanned aircraft. The Alaska UAS Interest Group annual meeting runs from Sept. 25-27, 2012 at the Embassy Suites Anchorage. 
After years of tracking earthquake behavior, scientists have discovered there are two unique types of quakes – the fast and the slow. Most quakes are deemed “fast,” as they’re explosive bursts of energy. The “slow” quakes, on the other hand, take longer to unfold, and build intensity incrementally. Often those slowpoke quakes can kick-start the faster rumbles, which make them even more interesting to examine for scientists.
“Aurora Sensations,” a film created using time-lapse photography of Alaska auroras set to ambient music, will be featured as part of the First Friday event at Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center in downtown Fairbanks on September 7, 2012. The showings will be continuous from 5 to 8 p.m. in the center’s theatre. Admission is free.
The University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Alaska Satellite Facility will break ground Aug. 1 on a project to install a new antenna dish on UAF’s West Ridge. The project, when complete, will also result in improvements to the nearby cross-country ski facilities.
When a small team of glaciologists and mathematicians at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute developed the Parallel Ice Sheet Model in 2003, they had no idea that the software program would rise to international prominence.
More than two-dozen middle- and high-school students will take part in a unique blend of science and Alaska Native culture in the Troth Yeddha’ Summer Culture Camp June 18-22, 2012 at Effie Kokrine Charter School in Fairbanks.
On the centennial of the Novarupta eruption – a cataclysmic event that created the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes in southwest Alaska – a group of 19 students and scientists will embark on the summer’s first hike to the massive volcano.
Fairbanks, Alaska— Ed Bueler, Associate Professor of Mathematics at UAF and member of the Geophysical Institute glaciers group, will travel to Germany later this month to present on the Parallel Ice Sheet Model, referred to as PISM. The Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany will the host the first Euro-PISM workshop.
The Science for Alaska Lecture Series will host two public lectures in Anchorage to conclude its 2012 season.
A new $1.8 million National Science Foundation grant will help the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute expand a program that encourages Native middle-school students to pursue science and technology careers.
