SFOS Newsletter
Fall 2009
GREETINGS FROM THE DEAN
by Denis Wiesenburg, Dean,
UAF School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences
This will be an exciting year for the School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences. After adding seven new faculty members last year, five new faculty will join us this semester and two more after the first of the year. We also begin this semester with more graduate students and the largest incoming class of fisheries undergraduates (20) in our history. Now that the B.A. in fisheries is fully operational, we have a goal of 25 new fisheries students per year by 2012. We are well on our way.
Bill Smoker. Photo by Todd Paris,
UAF Marketing and Communications
Much of the expansion of our fisheries programs occurred while Dr. William W. Smoker was director of the SFOS Fisheries Division. Bill retired on June 30 and I would like to recognize his career at UAF. Raised in Juneau, Bill received his Ph.D. at Oregon State University. He joined the University of Alaska Juneau faculty in 1979 as an assistant professor of fisheries and became a UAF faculty member when SFOS was established in 1987. He was promoted to professor in 1993 and became Fisheries Division Director in 2000. As a student mentor, Bill graduated 30 students with M.S. and Ph.D.s and almost all are working in professional careers, many in Alaska.
Bill was proud that 70 percent of our M.S. and Ph.D. fisheries graduates work in Alaska after they graduate. His research interests were salmon aquaculture technology, salmon biodiversity, and salmon ecology and he published more than 50 papers in these areas, many with his graduate students. Before he agreed to retire, Bill extracted a promise that we would fill his position with another salmon scientist; Megan McPhee will join our Juneau faculty in January as a salmon biologist.
During my first year as dean, Bill and I worked to convince the Alaska Legislature to provide the $10 million needed to complete the Lena Point Fisheries Building. While driving from Auke Bay to the State Capitol, Bill could teach me just enough about Alaska fisheries issues to be dangerous in any conversation. Fortunately, he was always there to straighten things out.
We also worked together to successfully seek support from the Rasmuson Foundation to create our new B.A. in fisheries. Working on multiple iterations to develop an acceptable plan helped us form a friendship as well as an exciting new opportunity for our students. I am pleased that Bill will continue to support our efforts as an emeritus professor. When I saw him last month, he had rod in hand and was off to our Kasitsna Bay Laboratory to teach students how to fish. Congratulations to Bill on a great career; enjoy retirement.
Click on the image to download the Fall 2009 newsletter (5.6 MB PDF).
Greetings from the Dean
This will be an exciting year for
the School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences. After adding seven new faculty members last year, five new faculty
will join us this semester and two more after the first of the year. We also begin this semester with more graduate students and the largest incoming class of fisheries undergraduates (20) in our history.
New findings show increased
ocean acidification in Alaska
The same things that make Alaska's marine waters among the
most productive in the world may also make them the most vulnerable to ocean acidification.
According to new findings by a University of Alaska Fairbanks scientist, Alaska's oceans
are becoming increasingly acidic, which could damage Alaska's king crab and salmon fisheries.
Christie takes over Alaska Sea Grant
The University of Alaska Fairbanks has appointed David Christie as the director of the Alaska Sea Grant College Program.
Bristol Bay region welcomes local as new Marine
Advisory Program agent
Bristol Bay, home to Alaska's largest wild commercial salmon fishery, once again has an Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory
Program agent to help fishermen, seafood processors and marketers, and other marine resource users.
Spotlight: Richard H. Carlson Scholarship
Scholarships are increasingly important as our current economy encourages more people to attend and return
to higher education. In times like these, scholarships are vital because for many students scholarships are the
difference between taking two classes or four, filling up their gas tank or buying books, and
they provide stability in otherwise uncertain times.
Mathis didn't graduate with his bachelor's degree saying "I want to be an oceanographer," but he did say "I want an adventure."
Featured faculty
Jeremy Mathis, Asst. Prof. of Oceanography
Jeremy Mathis never expected to be an oceanographer in Alaska, and he certainly
never expected to be a voice for the effects of climate change on Alaska waters.
Atkinson takes the helm at the Fisheries Division
Shannon Atkinson is the new interim director of the UAF Fisheries Division, headquartered in Juneau.
Atkinson took the helm from Bill Smoker, after he retired this summer.
Standouts - Faculty and Staff News
AOOS launches Prince William Sound Field Experiment
This summer, the Alaska Ocean Observing System conducted high-tech, high-speed field experiments in Prince William Sound
to collect data and evaluate models that predict wind, waves, ocean circulation, and oil spill trajectories.
More
"I grew up hearing about Alaska from my parents and neighbors and later in college from friends who worked on fishing boats. The stories fed my imagination and much of what I imagined I found to be true."
Featured Staff
Deborah Mercy, Program Development Media Specialist
Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program
In 1976 I visited Anchorage during the spring break of my final year at the University of Washington. After graduation, that
same year, I got a job on a Southeast Alaska salmon purse seine fishing boat. We were based out of Craig on Prince of Wales
Island.
PROJECT Spotlight
Surveying the giant Pacific octopus
by Tara Borland, Proposal Coordinator
In a partnership with the NOAA Alaska Fisheries Science Center, SFOS Marine Advisory Program agent, Reid Brewer, is working
on a project studying the ecology of the giant Pacific octopus.
"the curriculum has integrated classroom learning and 'real world' opportunities"
Featured Student
Mark Young, Bachelor of Arts in Fisheries
The Army brought my family and me to Alaska. My involvement with UAF started almost immediately upon my
arrival, both as a student and an adjunct instructor in the music department.
Welcome Aboard
by Madeline Scholl, Academic Programs Assistant
As we usher in a new academic year I would like to welcome and introduce our new graduate students joining the SFOS
community this fall. The 19 graduate students joining SFOS this September...
Undergraduate enrollment up at SFOS
SFOS has more undergraduate students than ever before, with 51 total undergraduate fisheries students enrolled this fall.
Standouts - Student News
Congratulations to our Spring 2009 graduates!
Congratulations to our Summer 2009 graduates!
Other Student News
Featured Alumna
Joan Braddock, Ph.D. Oceanography, 1989
SFOS alumnus honored by President Obama
President Obama recently awarded SFOS alumnus Dana Hanselman the 2008 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.
Featured photo
Photo by Pam Goddard
Uinniq Ahgeak (second from left), a B.S. fisheries major, helps sort rockfish with the scientific crew on board
the F/V Vesteraalen as part of her summer internship with the NOAA Alaska Fisheries Science Center.
