Alaska EPSCoR is dedicated to improving Alaska's research capacity by distributing National Science Foundation and state funds. We support undergraduates, graduate students and faculty members throughout the University of Alaska system and conduct active K-12 education, public outreach and workforce development programs.

Alaska EPSCoR is currently in the fifth year of a research project entitled "Resilience and Vulnerability in a Rapidly Changing North: The Integration of Physical, Biological and Social Processes." Project research focuses on the rapid environmental and social changes taking place in Alaska and across the world's northern latitudes, and encompasses the fields of physical science, biology, and social science, as well as interdisciplinary research themes of Mobilities, Human-Hydrological Systems, and Ecosystem Services and Livelihoods. For more information, please see Alaska EPSCoR's Project Summary.

A UA research team recently completed a proposal to fund Alaska EPSCoR from 2012-17. The proposal was submitted to the National Science Foundation in November 2011.

The nationwide EPSCoR program is providing three travel grants to University of Alaska graduate or undergraduate students interested in attending the SC12 Supercomputing Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The selected students will participate in a year-long cyberinfrastructure education program, including a kick-off meeting at Clemson University, followed by a regularly-scheduled online training program and an end-of year meeting to a location to be determined. All travel and other expenses of the training program will be paid by EPSCoR, and students who successfully complete the program will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to SC12, where they will serve as certified "Technical Student Volunteers."

Click here for a letter explaining the program in more depth and for a link to the application form.

North by 2020: Perspectives on Alaska's Changing Social-Ecological Systems is now available for purchase from the University of Alaska Press.

North by 2020 is an interdisciplinary volume that addresses a host of current concerns regarding the rapid transformation of the Arctic and its impacts on people and ecosystems. Close to a hundred contributors with a broad range of backgrounds examine Arctic change from an Alaska perspective, providing insight into different approaches of evaluating and preparing for environmental and socio-economic change.

The volume originated from different activities that were part of the University of Alaska’s contribution to the Fourth International Polar Year, and many of the contributors have enjoyed past or current support from Alaska EPSCoR. The book was edited by Amy Lauren Lovecraft, associate professor of political science at UAF and Hajo Eicken, IARC researcher and professor of geophysics at UAF.

Alaska EPSCoR's Facebook page is up and running. Click the button to the left to like us and check us out here. We've also started up a twitter feed, also visible at left.

Alaska EPSCoR provided travel funding for three UA students to present posters at the 2011 National NSF EPSCOR Conference, held from Oct. 24-27 in Couer d'Alene, Idaho. 

Matt Campbell, a UAF graduate student in Biology, presented a poster entitled "Phylogeography and Population Genetics of the Beringian Blackfish." UAF undergrad Sayde Ridling, who is majoring in Biological Sciences, presented on "The Origins of Post-eruption Insect Populations on the Aleutian Island of Kasatochi." And UAA Civil Engineering graduate student Xiaoyu Zhang presented on "Analysis of Laterally Loaded Piles in Liquefiable Soils with a Frozen Crust."

All EPSCoR-supported students were invited to submit posters for the conference, with the three winners selected by the Alaska EPSCoR office.

Congratulations to Alaska EPSCoR grantee Michael Golub, who won $15,000 in the Alaska Marketplace Competition, sponsored by the Alaska Federation of Natives. Alaska Marketpace awards seed money and provides technical support to entrepreneurs whose products or businesses benefit rural Alaska. Golub won for "RevUp: Electric Car Instruction," through which he teaches students in rural areas how to convert gas cars to electricity.

Golub, a graduate student in mechanical engineering at UAF, was one of 21 winners in this year's contest. He has received multiple levels of EPSCoR support, including two undergraduate research grants, a graduate fellowship, and numerous travel grants.