Posts Tagged ‘University of Alaska Fairbanks’
Can mushrooms replace Styrofoam and keep the oceans cleaner?
A University of Alaska Anchorage researcher who hopes to curb ocean pollution thinks fungi might have a useful role to play. Philippe Amstislavski, an associate professor of public health at UAA, is experimenting with using mushrooms to create biodegradable insulation, shipping material and other environmentally friendly products. Alaska Sea Grant, a partnership between the National…
Read MoreUnraveling the mysteries of spot shrimp
Northern spot shrimp are an important species in Alaska, for commercial, sport and personal use. But in Alaska’s southeast panhandle, their numbers are declining for reasons that are not at all clear. In the Juneau area, the spot shrimp fishery has been closed to sport and personal use since 2013 due to low abundance. Could…
Read MoreBristol Bay students learn lessons in state politics in Juneau
Alaska Sea Grant is helping lead a group of Bristol Bay students in the state capital this week. Our Dillingham agent Gabe Dunham, together with University of Alaska Fairbanks emeritus professor Mike Davis, is teaching a seminar called “Fisheries and the Legislative Process.” The class is offered annually by the University of Alaska Fairbanks Bristol…
Read More“We have never been here before” — Gay Sheffield, on ecosystem-wide changes in the Bering Sea
The Bering Sea is undergoing massive changes that include the dramatic loss of sea ice last winter. As Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory agent Gay Sheffield notes in the interview below, “we have never been here before.” Sheffield spoke to the Associated Press at the American Geophysical Union conference this week in Washington, D.C., saying…
Read MoreMarine advisory agents promoted
Julie Matweyou and Gary Freitag of Alaska Sea Grant’s Marine Advisory Program received promotions this month. Matweyou, the marine advisory agent based in Kodiak, received tenure and is now associate professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, where Alaska Sea Grant and the Marine Advisory Program are housed. Matweyou…
Read MoreNew Alaska Sea Grant-funded graduate students dive into research
Six graduate students from the University of Alaska became research fellows last summer and this fall with funding from Alaska Sea Grant. The students are working on projects that address scientific issues in Alaska coastal communities and ecosystems. Jesse Gordon is working with associate professor Anne Beaudreau on a project titled, “Integrating local ecological knowledge…
Read MoreNew cohort of State Fellows start Alaska-based jobs
For the fourth year, Alaska Sea Grant has funded five graduate students to begin marine policy and science communications work with local host organizations this fall. Modeled after the highly successful Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship, the Alaska Sea Grant State Fellowship provides recent graduates with a unique professional opportunity to work firsthand on the science…
Read MoreClams and climate change — new Alaska study examines the connections
SEWARD, Alaska — July fourth in Seward is known for its fireworks, festivities and the grueling Mt. Marathon race that draws elite athletes from around the world. But for a University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) graduate student, the holiday took on a whole different meaning this year. “It was the first time I was able…
Read MoreUAF student completes salmon predation study
Very few juvenile salmon return to spawn. Many are consumed by larger fish who eat them as they migrate from rivers or hatcheries to the ocean. That’s a problem for hatcheries that release millions of young salmon, called smolts, into the waters of coastal Alaska. Alaska Sea Grant funded research on chum salmon predation by…
Read MoreHeather Brandon to lead Alaska Sea Grant
The University of Alaska Fairbanks has chosen Heather Brandon as Alaska Sea Grant’s new director. Brandon is an environmental policy leader with experience in fisheries issues on a broad geographic scale, ranging from Alaska to the Arctic and Russian Far East. The Juneau resident was selected after a competitive national search.
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