SFOS Newsletter
Spring 2009
Featured faculty
Brenda Konar,
Global Undersea Research Unit
by Carin Stephens,
SFOS Public Information Officer
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.
How did you end up studying science?
When I was an undergraduate, I was actually an economics major. Then I started to take classes that I thought were fun. And after a few years I sat down with an advisor and realized that I had taken all of these zoology courses and I could graduate sooner if I got my degree in zoology.
What did you first find interesting about zoology?
The biodiversity. I took a course in invertebrate zoology—and I loved it. I thought it was cool that there were so many different critters and they had all these different niches and all dealt with the world in a different way. It was just mind-boggling to me.
You are an algae expert. How did this come about?
Algae are the base of the food chain so everything relies on them for either food or for structure. They also are easy to work with. They are easy to track, observe growth and experiment with because they are immobile.
What did you do for your Ph.D. program?
I started looking into getting a Ph.D. at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Once I was accepted into a program, I had a choice of projects among the Olympic Peninsula, Adak or Shemya [in the Aleutians]. I chose to go to Shemya. I ran a sea otter project, but I could choose whatever I wanted for my Ph.D. I lived out at Shemya Island for two and a half years, on an island that is two miles long by half-mile wide. You get to know everybody on the island very, very quickly. There were about 100 people there in the summer and 60 in the winter.
"I actually really like... the winters here. I like the cold, I like the darkness. I like the quiet, the solitude. It's just very peaceful to me. And gorgeous in the winter."
What did you do for your field work?
I ran a sea otter project. We radio tagged them, did foraging observations, did typical sea otter biology/ecology. I wasn't a sea otter person when I started. I learned a lot through osmosis by being in charge of the sea otter project. But that started an interest in marine mammal habitat for me. Before that, I was very algal-centric. I started with the algae and looked up to see how other organisms fit in with the algae. This gave me an opportunity to think of everything from a bottom-up approach. I think now my approach is much more top-down; i.e., who is using the habitat? Why are they using it? Why is this habitat being used and that one not? Why is this one better than that one? I see myself as a kelp ecologist who likes to do habitat work. So hence a lot of my students don't have to be interested in kelp necessarily, as long as they have more of a habitat question.
How did you come to work at UAF?
I wanted to come back up to Alaska because this is the place I had done most of my research. I contacted some people at UAF and was hired as the staff scientist for the Global Undersea Research Unit at SFOS.
What did you like about Alaska? Why Fairbanks?
I actually really like (this may sound bizarre) the winters here. I like the cold, I like the darkness, I like the quiet, the solitude. It's just very peaceful to me. And it's gorgeous in the winter.
What do you like about working with students?
I like teaching field courses because I like watching students get excited about nature. I like listening to students talk to each other the first time they try to lay out a transect and actually record data. Or when you give them a core and you ask them to go take a sediment core. They come up from a dive and are so excited and say "I was going to do this but I ran into a clam shell and I couldn't get it through" and it is such a big deal to them. Working with students helps you stay young. When I worked for a scientist at Moss Landing, we went to the Antarctic for a couple years. Every time we went he would bring a nonscientist with us. It was his way of educating non-scientists but he said that having these people around makes you realize how great your job is. One year we brought down Barry Lopez and every dive he came up from, he would say "Oh my God, that was the coolest thing in the world." And it's the same thing with students. They get so excited. I get to do this for a living. It keeps you energized and makes you appreciate what you've got.
Dr. Konar currently has more graduate students than any other faculty member at SFOS. She teaches scientific and cold-water diving, kelp forest ecology and this fall will offer a seminar on controversies in science.
Read more about Brenda Konar at www.sfos.uaf.edu/newsletter.
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.
