Category: Research

CAEPR Releases Report on the Cost of Teacher Turnover in Alaska

CAEPERReport
Alaska faces challenges recruiting and retaining educators, especially in its rural and remote communities. A new report, “The cost of teacher turnover in Alaska” by Dayna Jean DeFeo, Trang Tran, Diane Hirshberg, Dale Cope and Pam Cravez, details the costs associated with teacher turnover and calculates an average per-teacher cost in four categories: separation, recruitment, hiring and induction. It details actual dollars allocated to these activities and makes recommendations for policy and practice. Download the report at the Center for Alaska Education Policy Research website.

Source: CAEPR releases report on the cost of teacher turnover in Alaska – Green & Gold News

Alaska Sea Grant Hosts Free Science Symposium in Kodiak

KodScienceSymposium
Alaska Sea Grant will host the Kodiak Area Marine Science Symposium from April 18-21 at the Kodiak Harbor Convention Center. The event connects the Kodiak community to regional marine science research.

The symposium provides a forum for researchers to share their findings with other scientists and the public. It also offers an opportunity for fishermen and other residents to understand how Kodiak’s marine environment and resources function, change and affect them. In addition, the symposium can help researchers plan integrated, cooperative and community-inspired marine research.

Topics will include climate change and its effects on Alaska fisheries and seabirds, underwater archaeology, marine debris removal, socioeconomic risks of military training in the Gulf of Alaska, ocean acidification and paralytic shellfish poisoning. The subject matter will be organized thematically, with a cross-disciplinary approach to encourage dialogue among disciplines.

This is the third Kodiak symposium; it was most recently held in 2014. New this year, each session will be followed by a facilitated discussion to engage participants.

The symposium is free and open to the public. An agenda and more information are available online.

Alaska Sea Grant is a statewide marine research, education and outreach program operated as a partnership between the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program agents provide assistance that helps Alaskans wisely use, conserve and enjoy marine and coastal resources.

Source: Alaska Sea Grant hosts free science symposium in Kodiak – Alaska Business Monthly

Aeronautics in the Far North: Success of Poker Flat, Unmanned Aircraft Program Benefits Alaska

The University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Poker Flat Research Range closed out its launch season earlier this month with a bang — three of them, to be precise. Early in the morning of March 2, three Black Brant IX sounding rockets streaked into the ionosphere, carrying instruments to study the aurora borealis’ visible structure and the formation of auroral “jets” caused by Earth’s magnetic field. In the almost 50 years since its founding, Poker Flat has been a consistent driver for UAF research, a vehicle for advances in atmospheric science and one of the university’s biggest success stories.

Launch seasons at the facility take place from January to March and usually see a handful of rockets fly each year. This year, there were five, with four of them clustered in late February and early March. The range plays a big part in UAF’s space research efforts as well as NASA’s near-Earth space science. At its humble beginnings, the future success of the range would have been hard to predict.

Read the full article here.

Source: Aeronautics in the far north: Success of Poker Flat, unmanned aircraft program benefits Alaska | Editorials | newsminer.com

Fellowships for Graduate Students in Marine Sciences and Marine Policy

Sea Grant and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration offer several fellowship opportunities for Alaska graduate students interested in marine science and policy.

Closest to home is the Alaska Sea Grant State Fellowship Program, providing a unique professional opportunity for soon-to-graduate or recently finished graduate students interested in the science and policy needed to keep marine resources healthy. The program matches highly motivated students and/or recent graduates with hosts in Alaska-based state or federal agencies for a 12-month paid fellowship. Currently Jane Sullivan, Sarah Apsens, and Jennifer Marsh are working as Alaska Sea Grant State Fellows in Anchorage and Juneau, placed at NMFS and the National Park Service. Application deadline for students for the 2017-2018 fellowship is February 24, 2017. Selected fellows will begin jobs in summer/fall 2017.

The Sea Grant Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship Program seeks graduate students with an interest in national policy decisions affecting coastal and ocean resources. Fellows spend a year in the Washington, DC, area in an executive or legislative position, working on national policy issues. Alaska Sea Grant–sponsored Erin Shew is finishing up her year as a Knauss Fellow with the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and Kelly Cates and Charlotte Regula-Whitefield will start their Knauss fellowships in early 2017. The deadline to apply for the 2018 National Sea Grant Knauss Fellowship is February 10, 2017.

The NOAA Fisheries (NMFS)–Sea Grant Fellowship is for PhD students interested in careers related to marine ecosystem and population dynamics, with a focus on modeling and managing systems of living marine resources; or economics of the conservation and management of living marine resources. Recipients work with a mentor from NOAA Fisheries. Fellows interested in population and ecosystem dynamics can receive up to three years of funding, and those in marine resource economics can receive two years of funding. The deadline for applicants is January 27, 2017.

Source: Fellowships for Graduate Students in Marine Sciences and Marine Policy | research | Alaska Sea Grant

Kake Oyster Farmer Donation Creates $375,000 Scholarship Endowment for Southeast Alaskan Students


The family of Robert E Henderson has donated $220,000 and just over 30,500 shares of stock from his estate to create the University of Alaska Southeast Robert Henderson Memorial Award for Mariculture & Fisheries. The endowment will provide scholarships and research experiences for UAS students studying in the fields of mariculture and/or fisheries.

Read the full article here.

Source: SitNews: KAKE OYSTER FARMER DONATION CREATES $375,000 SCHOLARSHIP ENDOWMENT FOR SOUTHEAST ALASKAN STUDENTS