Published Jan 10, 2024 by Alaska Native News

The Arctic Innovation Competition is accepting ideas for 2024. Competitors of all ages in North America may submit their ideas for a chance to win cash prizes of up to $15,000.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks College of Business and Security Management hosts the competition with a presenting sponsorship from Usibelli Coal Mine. 

Ideas are sorted by participant age into the Main Division (18 and older), the Junior Division (13-17) and the Cub Division (12 and under). Ideas do not have to be Arctic-based.

Participants compete for a total of over $45,000 divided into more than 20 cash prizes and scholarships. Junior and Cub divisions sponsored by Kinross Fort Knox will share almost $4,000 in cash prizes, as well as $14,000 from Alaska 529 as contributions to higher education savings plans.

Additional prizes include four $2,000 “kicker” prizes awarded to Main Division finalists with the best idea in four categories: Arctic, sustainability, climate adaptation and Alaska college student submission. Ideas may fall in more than one category.

The submission deadline is 11:59 p.m. Alaska time on Friday, March 1, 2024.

Published Jan 10, 2024 by Alex DeMarban

Scott Hamel, dean of the civil engineering department at the University of Alaska Anchorage, said the physical measurements of the snow include moisture content. The city got a lot of heavy, moist snow early in the season, he said.

“We measure the weight of the snow,” he said. “The weight encompasses both depth and moisture content.”

As for houses, Hamel said homes with pitched roofs should be fine at this point if those roofs haven’t been shoveled.

A flat-roof house, however, may require a closer look to make sure it has adequate roof framework. It’s important to make sure there’s no ice damming that can contribute to heavy weight buildup in small areas or other problems like leaking roofs.

Published Jan 10, 2024 by Pam Dunklebarger

Radon is a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas produced from decaying, subsurface uranium. Radiation particles are transmitted through radon gas — and though it isn’t the type of radioactivity that can penetrate cloth or skin, it can damage the soft tissues within the lungs through natural respiration.

In the long run, radon increases your risk of lung cancer and contributes to about a tenth of lung cancer deaths in the United States. Due to how elusive it is to our empirical senses, the ONLY way you’ll know if your home, office or school has high concentrations is by testing, which any person can successfully do with a certified kit to get a sample of room air in the lowest living area of the home.

Through Emeritus Professor Rich Seifert (and now myself), the UAF Cooperative Extension has collaborated with the Alaska Department of Natural Resources on radon outreach and testing since 1989. For the last several years, free short-term kits have been available to the public (with long-term kits available if the original test meets the American Association of Radon Scientists and Technologists’ protocol for retesting).

Do you want one? You can test, even if you have done it before.

Go to https://forms.gle/HRZ5wsGgjHnQiAEYA, fill out a few questions, and you can pick up a free kit at DNR’s Fairbanks office (3354 College Road), have one mailed to your home, or call the Alaska Radon Hotline at 1-800-478-8324 and I’ll help however I can with information or referrals.

Published Jan 10, 2024 by https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100088657286990

It’s confirmed: 2023 was the planet’s warmest year on record and perhaps in the last 100,000 years. By far.

Average temperatures were 1.48 degrees Celsius, or 2.66 Fahrenheit, above preindustrial levels, according to an announcement this morning by Copernicus, the European Union’s climate monitor. The previous record was in 2016.

Temperature records started being shattered in June. From then on, every month has been the warmest on record.

It can seem counterintuitive that on a warming planet, winter storms can produce so much snow. Just last week, we were telling you about the below-normal snowfall at the end of 2023. But these extreme fluctuations are actually a fairly logical consequence of climate change’s effects.

More extreme precipitation events, snow as well as rain, are “exactly what we expect in a warming world,” said Rick Thoman, a climate specialist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

As the planet warms, so do both the oceans and the atmosphere. Warmer oceans increase the amount of water that evaporates into the air, and warmer air can hold more water vapor, which it eventually releases as precipitation.

Published Jan 9, 2024 by Staff Report

The Alaska College of Education Consortium is offering scholarships for University of Alaska education students.

Students in their final two years of their studies with at least 60 credit hours and who are going into their year-long teaching internship program are eligible for the scholarship, according to a UA release. Graduate students seeking initial licensure are also eligible.

“This scholarship has allowed me not to work during my student teaching semesters which provides me with time to focus so much more on the classroom,” Jubilee Carroll, an elementary education student, said in the release. “I don’t know what I would’ve done without it.”

The scholarship includes full tuition and a $10,000 living stipend for each full-time internship, according to the release. This is the second year UA has offered the scholarship.

Published Jan 9, 2024 by Jack Barnwell

Retired University of Alaska Fairbanks journalism professor Brian O’Donoghue gave some insight on his upcoming book regarding the controversial Fairbanks Four issue during a Friday lecture at the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitor Center.

O’Donoghue, a veteran reporter, was among those who covered the 1997 investigation of 15-year-old John Hartman’s assault and death and the subsequent arrest of four young Native men — Marvin Roberts, Eugene Vent, George Frese and Kevin Pease, referred to as the Fairbanks Four.

O’Donoghue’s book, “The Fairbanks Four: Murder, Injustice, and the Birth of a Movement,” chronicles the events around the Fairbanks Four, with nuances of how intertwined the Fairbanks community was.

“When I was coming up with the title for this, I wanted to encourage people to just think about what is these men sacrificed,” O’Donoghue said.

Published Jan 9, 2024 by Gavin Struve

University of Alaska Fairbanks men’s basketball head coach Greg Sparling is currently on leave, the News-Miner has learned. Sparling has not coached the team for its past three games dating back to a Dec. 17 tournament in Hawaii.

Sparling is in his sixth season coaching the team. UAF Athletics Director Brock Anundson told the News-Miner by phone Monday that Sparling, who’s listed on the team roster, is still an employee of the university. However, he can’t disclose what type of leave Sparling is on, why he’s on leave, a timeline or what will happen when he returns from leave.

“There’s nothing punitive at this point,” Anundson said.

Drew Hedman, who has also been with the program for six years, took over as acting head coach for the Nanooks’ stay at the Big Island Holiday Classic in mid-December. He got his first win on Dec. 17 when the ‘Nooks beat Hawaii-Hilo in overtime. They lost to San Francisco State by four points the next day.

Hedman spent his first three years with the program as a student-volunteer coach before becoming a volunteer assistant in 2021-22 and a full-time assistant coach last season.

Published Jan 9, 2024

More than 20 Native American-led humanities projects are among the latest awardees of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) $33.8 million fund.

University of Alaska, Fairbanks 

Indigenizing the Humanities: Troth Yeddha’ Indigenous Studies Center

Construction design and site preparation for an Indigenous Studies Center at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. ($500,000/ Infrastructure and Capacity Building Challenge Grants)