SFOS Newsletter
Spring 2009
STANDOUTS
Faculty and Staff News
•Rolf Gradinger is a featured scientist in a NOVA four-part
film series called On Thin Ice in the Bering Sea. The series features
Yupik subsistence hunters on St. Lawrence Island and polar
scientists, like Gradinger, on the USCG Cutter Healy. View the
films at www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/extremeice/thinice.html.
• Heidi Herter helped organize the Western Alaska Interdisciplinary Science Conference in Nome in April. Herter chaired a session on applied fisheries and marine research in the Bering Strait region.
• Gordon Kruse chaired the Steering Committee for the 25th Lowell Wakefield Fisheries Symposium on Biology and Management of Exploited Crab Populations under Climate Change, held March 10-13 in Anchorage. Ginny Eckert and five other scientists joined Kruse on the Steering Committee. Approximately 75 participants from six countries participated in the symposium. SFOS was well represented with faculty and students coauthoring 11 oral presentations and three posters. An edited proceedings from this symposium will be published in 2010.
• Scott Smiley, Markus Janout and Kate Wynne presented at the Fishery Policy Forum at ComFish Alaska in Kodiak in April. Smiley spoke about Kodiak's role in the global seafood economy, Janout presented information on temperature controlling processes and cooling in the Gulf of Alaska and Wynne presented on marine mammal-fisheries interactions in Kodiak.
• Anne Hoover-Miller and Alexei Pinchuk published "An exploratory study of marine ecology and oceanography in Aialik Bay" in Alaska Park Science, Scientific Studies in Marine Environments published by the National Park Service.
Click on the image to download the Spring 2009 newsletter (3 MB PDF).
Greetings from the Dean
During the last year, our faculty and staff considered future directions for our school by establishing a new SFOS strategic plan. This plan will allow us to build on our existing strengths and chart a new course for the next decade.
Princess Tours gives $100,000
to UAF Marine Advisory Program
Princess Cruises & Tours has donated $100,000 to the University of Alaska Fairbanks for the support of the Marine Advisory Program.
SFOS scientists make headlines with Census of Marine Life findings
According to a Census of Marine Life press release in February, the waters of the Arctic and Antarctic share 235 marine species. CoML also documented the existence of 5,500 marine species in the Arctic and 7,500 in the Antarctic.
SFOS scientists key to Bering Sea studies
One of the richest and most productive marine ecosystems in the world, the Bering Sea region
provides more than half of the U.S. seafood catch and is home to dozens of marine mammal
species. It is also the source of ...
Juneau high school students do it again
For the third year in a row, high school students from Juneau have won first and second place in the Tsunami Bowl, Alaska's regional version of the National Ocean Sciences Bowl...
COSEE Alaska established; Sigman hired
Marilyn Sigman, a respected marine science educator from Homer, has been named education specialist for the new Alaska Center for Ocean Science Education Excellence in Anchorage.
SFOS dedicates Lena Point Fisheries Building
SFOS dedicated the new Lena Point Fisheries Building in Juneau on April 28. Governor Sarah Palin spoke at the ceremony and congratulated UAF on its contributions to fisheries science.
Other speakers included UA President Mark Hamilton, Representative Beth Kerttula and UAF Chancellor Brian Rogers.
Optimism during an economic recession
History shows that during tough economic times, more people decide to go to college. That's good news for SFOS, and good news for our state.
Standouts - Faculty and Staff News
Featured Faculty: Brenda Konar
Brenda Konar is an associate professor of marine biology who specializes in marine invertebrates and plants. She was raised in California, but she loves the chill and darkness of Fairbanks winters.
Spotlight on the Coastal Marine Institute
by Sharice Walker, CMI Technical Editor
The University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute was created in June 1993 by a cooperative agreement between the University of Alaska and the U. S. Department of the Interior Minerals Management Service Alaska Region.
Featured Student: Megan Murphy
Megan Murphy already knows she wants to live and work in Homer,
Alaska, and is pursuing a graduate degree in biological oceanography at
UAF to help her achieve this goal. She is studying the oceanographic effects
on crab larval transport in Kachemak Bay.
Standouts - Student News
Other Student News
Featured photo
Mayumi Arimitsu, a master's degree student in fisheries, conducting her thesis research in Kenai
Fjords National Park.
