Local students to participate in pole-to-pole videoconference

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 2, 2007

Children near both poles will have a chance to talk to each other about changes they are seeing in their own environments and how people are adapting to those changes during a pole-to-pole videoconference Monday, March 5 at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Through the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment program, known as GLOBE, students in Fairbanks will exchange their research ideas and interact with students from Ushuaia, Argentina, as well as Antarctic and Arctic scientists.

The exchange is part of the GLOBE Seasons and Biomes project, which trains K-12 teachers and students to investigate seasonal change in their biomes worldwide. The teleconference will be held in room 109 of the Butrovich Building on the UAF campus from noon to 2 p.m. It is part of the program’s and UAF’s participation in International Polar Year outreach efforts.

The GLOBE Program is funded through a cooperative agreement between NASA, the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research and Colorado State University. The Seasons and Biomes project is funded through a grant from the National Science Foundation.

A video and transcript of the videoconference will be available to view or download from the GLOBE web site after the event. Additionally, as a follow up to the videoconference, the GLOBE Seasons and Biomes project will be hosting a web chat for GLOBE students and scientists on IPY and climate change on March 7 and 8. For more information, see the GLOBE IPY web page.

For more information contact Jenn Wagaman, UAF Center for Research Services outreach coordinator, at (907) 474-5082 or jenn@alaska.edu.