Researchers sell reindeer antlers to support their program. Grace Bieber/Sun Star

The first reindeer calf of the year was born on March 30 at UAF’s experiment farm. The reindeer are part of the Reindeer Research Program.

According to Program Manager Greg Finstad, the calf was born about two weeks early this year, as the peak for reindeer births is usually around mid April. Finstad first started working with the program in 1982 when the program began. The program was created to provide a local meat source, and to study the reindeer for continued improvement in production and quality.  “It really brought the reindeer industry into modern meat production,” Finstad said.

As part of the program’s outreach to school children, children can submit different names for the reindeer on its website. “We help teach a K-12 curriculum as part of our educational outreach program,” Finstad said, “part of that is visiting the schools to get the younger kids more engaged in the reindeer program.”

Darrell Blodgett, the data specialist for the program said some of the names submitted this year were Sarah Palin, Stew and T-Bone.

Finstad said that he prefers names like these because, “It gives them the right idea. We want them to keep in mind that these reindeer are for food.” At the end of July the calves are weaned when they reach about 45 kilos or 99 pounds. After weaning, each staff member picks out three or four names that they like and then they vote on them.  By the time the reindeer are ready for their adult tags, the researchers know their personalities, according to Erin Carr, a research technician, “Some of the names really fit the deer, like Hoodini, any time we weighed him he would sneak away,” Carr said.

Before the reindeer are given names they are assigned numbers which tell the researchers important information about the reindeer. Tags in the left ear show that they are females, while tags in the right ear show that they are males.

“You know the year they are born, you know the sex and what order they were born in just by looking at the tag,” Carr said. The tags also help the researchers to better keep track of and locate the reindeer. Carr takes better care of the reindeer, gives tours of the farm to school children and mixes feed.

According to Findstad, one of the most rewarding aspects about teaching children about reindeer is knowing  it leaves an impression on the students. Sometimes he will be recognized by a student years later, “If you can do something that someone remembers later, you feel good that you made an impact.”

A calf that was born on April 18, 2013. Grace Bieber/Sun Star

Locally grown feed prepared by the researchers. Grace Bieber/Sun Star

There’s a new fish in the sea for students casting about for a minor. The School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences is now offering a minor in Marine Science. Faculty in the Marine Science department designed the program which began last spring and currently has seven students enrolled in it.

“We started it because there was student interest,” said Assistant Professor of Chemical Oceanography, Dr Ana Aguilar-Islas. Before the minor became available, there was only one undergraduate marine science class offered. The course was a 100-level general oceanography class for non-science majors. With the Marine Science minor, two new oceanography courses are available. MSL 211, Intro to Marine Science I offered in the fall, covers the physical aspect of the oceans including how oceans form and the physics, geography and chemistry of the ocean. MSL 212, Intro to Marine Science II offered in the spring, covers ocean biology including the ocean’s animals and plants and how they interact. These two classes, along with a lab, make up the minor’s seven-credit core. The lab is offered in the spring and must be taken concurrently with MSL 212. In the lab, students apply everything from 211 and 212. They learn how to look at and handle ocean animals and plants, read and use maps, identify rocks and use a compass.

“It’s a lot of fun,” said Nicole Farnham, a junior in the minor program. “The classes are very interesting.” The minor requires 15 credits total. In addition to the core, students take eight credits in electives relating to the ocean. Electives are offered on a wide variety of subjects including classes such as Scientific Diving, Introduction to Marine Mammal Biology, Kelp Forest Ecology and Introduction to Natural Resource Economics. In the future, Aguilar-Islas hopes to add more electives in more disciplines to the program.

Farnham joined the program last year, when the minor was just starting, so she could gain a better understanding of the oceans. Farnham hopes to further pursue oceanography in graduate school after she finishes a bachelor’s degree in Fisheries. Farnham is interested in marine mammals and would like to stay and work in the Arctic.

Students in any degree program can pursue the Marine Science minor and the core classes can be taken by those not pursuing the minor. Aguilar-Islas chose to open it up this way because she says marine science is important and having a background in it can give students an edge when it comes to job searches or graduate school, especially in Alaska. “We take so many resources from the ocean and we want to protect it,” Aguilar-Islas said. “I didn’t learn much about oceanography in high school, but the ocean covers 70 percent of the planet.”

There are many jobs where having literacy in Marine Science is important. “It’s very interdisciplinary,” Aguilar-Islas said. It can be helpful in many fields including Geology, Biology, Physics and Natural Resource Management, according to Aguilar-Islas.

“It’s not always in the field or in the lab. There’s a nice balance between,” Aguilar-Islas said. Marine science has enabled Farnham to participate in a seal study and a Bowhead whale project and has taken Aguilar-Islas all over the world. “The ocean is way cool, right?” Aguilar-Islas said.

Encased in wood, the Ice Arch of UAF rises up from the ashes as it is constructed in the Cornerstone Plaza on February 20, 2013. Adam Taylor/Sun Star

Civil Engineering students raised the annual ice arch in the Cornerstone Plaza last Wednesday at 12:30 p.m.  The ice arch is continuing the 50 year UAF tradition as a part of Engineering Week.

This year’s ice arch took on a boxed-in design and new color from the use of pykrete.  Pykrete is a composite material made up of sawdust and water.  Ryan Cudo, the arch designer and build team co-captain chose the material for its increased durability and slow melting rate.

“It’s the first time this has been done, I’m interested to see how it holds up,” said Tripp Collier, the treasurer of the UAF Chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Local Fairbanks company Ghemm Co., volunteered to operate the lift that placed the arch up, while four team members, two on each side of the arch, held and led it into place.  The team reviewed how the arch lined up according to their measurements.

One end of the arch was over-sanded, causing an imbalance when placed onto the supports.  Engineering students used their hard helmets to scoop snow, and packed in the gap with bare hands or pieces of plywood to keep the assembly moving.

“We’re real limited on what were allowed to use, since the campus pulls on safety.  It’d be real easy to get a chainsaw and flat drop it right on there,” Collier said.

Students foresaw the next concern. According to their observations, the columns or abutments, would not be tall enough to hold the top piece above the arch.

ASCE President Andy Chamberlain brought out a grinding tool and shoveled out a wall outlet to prepare for its possible use.  The grinder contains a custom wheel, designed by Wilhelm Muench, for shaving down ice. Muench is a Structural Engineering Teaching Assistant and master’s student that assists with the ice arch and steel bridge projects. “He’s probably one of the best resources all civil students have,” Collier said.

Around 1:30 p.m., abutments were placed beside the arch, while students sprayed water between the arch and it’s base.  After reinforcing the current structure with a pykrete solution, they decided to put on the top piece without grinding the arch’s tip beforehand.

ASCE vice president Pat Brandon and Team Captain Will Riley, stood on ladders at each side, and carefully lowered the final piece onto the abutments.  As expected, the tip of the arch was preventing the piece from laying flat.  Instead of using the grinder, Cudo passed them plywood to raise the abutments and the top piece was placed.  More pykrete was filled between the gaps containing plywood and the 2013 ice arch was complete.

Cudo began working on the new ice arch design last summer, starting with a solid ice design that uses rebar as the structural skeleton.  After speaking with various faculty and upperclassmen, Cudo learned the process needed so the arch would stand.  Then, Brandon brought up the idea of using pykrete for the arch.

“I wasn’t familiar with that material, and so questioning him, I learned what that was.  I thought it would be really cool to design something out of pykrete, something that had never been done before,” Cudo said.

Cudo brought the idea to Riley, who knew about pykrete already.  They worked on the initial design ratio, starting with the standard formula of 14 percent sawdust to 86 percent water by weight.  Flexural testing was done to test the tension of the pykrete.

The pykrete was saturated overnight, there was a more uniform distribution across the beams.  It froze six inches at a time, with no cracking temperatures at temperatures around 10 degrees. However, anything below zero, would cause large thermal cracks along the top.

Two by four framed forms were built in the steel bridge room, and would be used to mold the arch.  The abutments and top piece were constructed as one single piece and the arch was built out of several angled wooden squares.

“We were thinking it wouldn’t turn out too archy,” Riley said. “But as you can see, it’s pretty archy.”

During winter Break, the forms were broken apart and taken outside to be patched back together.  Riley, Cudo and Geological Engineering student Justin Calkins filled the forms with pykrete, one inch at a time to prevent cracking.

“As long facilities services doesn’t come and knock it down, it will theoretically last until June or July,” Cudo said.

Cudo and Riley are very satisfied with the results of this year’s arch.

“I had always heard about pykrete when I was young,” Riley said. “And now I’ve actually built something out of it.”

Encased in wood, the Ice Arch of UAF rises up from the ashes as it is constructed in the Cornerstone Plaza on February 20, 2013. Adam Taylor/Sun Star

The Ice Arch of UAF is constructed in the Cornerstone Plaza on February 20, 2013. Adam Taylor/Sun Star

Encased in wood, the Ice Arch of UAF stands in the Cornerstone Plaza. February 22, 2013. Adam Taylor/Sun Star

This powerplant is currently a part of UAF and a new university powerplant is scheduled to be constructed soon. David Spindler/Sun Star

While most students don’t think twice about where their electricity comes from, it might scare them to know that they are relying on heat and power from a power plant that has outlived its life-expectancy. So UAF administrators are working on plans to replace the university’s half-century old power plant in the coming years.

Senior Project Manager Michael Ruckhaus said that his team recently completed a preliminary design and cost estimate for a new, coal-fired power plant to be built within the next few years.

UAF submitted a $22 million request to the state legislature to design the actual plant. Ruckhaus expects to get approval before the end of the legislative session in April. Based on preliminary designs, the new plant will cost around $245 million. Once a final cost is worked out, the university will ask the legislature for funding.

The current power plant was built in 1962, which makes it due for a replacement after an expected life span of 50 years. The plant uses technology that has existed since the 1890s, according to Ruckhaus, though with a few modifications.

The new plant will use a circulating fluidized bed boiler, in which the combustion bed is 80 feet tall. The current plant uses stoker technology in which the coal is conveyed mechanically on a flat bed, which makes filtering pollutants more difficult. The plant will also be injected with limestone to absorb pollutants.

The technology will be about 10 percent more efficient, according to Ruckhaus. Ruckhaus said that the university has submitted an application to the EPA “that fulfills all of the requirements” for air quality standards that he expects will be approved after eight to 12 months after a public comment period.

In a presentation about sustainability on campus last Tuesday, Chancellor Brian Rogers said that the current plant needs to be replaced soon. “If [the plant] breaks down at minus 30, this university goes out of business,” Rogers said.

The university currently spends about $8 million on energy. Though the university spends only 45 percent of its budget on coal, coal accounts for 80 percent of the energy produced, since the university buys additional energy from the local energy association, GVEA at a much higher cost than what is produced on site. Chancellor Rogers said that electricity produced on site costs about 2.5 cents per kilowatt hour while GVEA energy costs about 22 cents.

The new power plant would be able to meet the university’s growing energy demand and therefore reduce the need to compensate by buying the expensive GVEA energy.

Rogers said that the new power plant would cost about the same to feed accounting for increased energy demand, but would significantly reduce emissions of various pollutants, such as nitrous oxides, carbon monoxides and sulfur dioxides, though carbon dioxide emissions would remain constant.

No interviews, no resumes, just an opportunity for UAF engineering students to meet with potential employers and grab a bite to eat.  The third annual Engineering Connections Dinner was held at the Westmark Fairbanks Hotel and Conference Center last Tuesday at 6 p.m. to give an inside look at the job prospects of various companies like BP, Baker Hughes and Design Alaska.

The American Society of Civil Engineers and Society of Women Engineers hosted the event with the objective to connect students with the engineering industry, allowing students to self-promote and share their interests.

James Bowman, KinRoss representative, gives a brief speech. September 18, 2012. Alan Fearns/Sun Star Reporter.

“It’s a great platform for interacting with so many companies in a short period of time,” said Chaitanya Borade, president of the Society of Petroleum Engineers chapter at UAF,

Students register for the event and choose which company they would like to be seated with when filling out the application.  They provided students with a chance to familiarize themselves before the Job Fair held the next day.

“You get to cozy up with the company you want to meet, and tomorrow hand them your resume,” said Justin Cannon, secretary of the Society of Petroleum Engineers UAF chapter.

The dinner provides students the opportunity to learn if the company is suited for them or not quite what they expected.

“Last time I met a company that was completely off-the-wall, so this time I’m hoping to meet a company in my field,” said Calvin Beattie, a sophomore petroleum engineering student.

After everybody was seated, Sally Starn,  a junior petroleum engineering student and representative of SWE, warmly welcomed the students, faculty and organizations for attending the event.  Andy Chamberlain, president of ASCE, recognized student achievements and activities including the steel bridge, electric snow machine and ice arch.  This gave the companies that sponsored the projects a chance to see what they invested in.

BP Engineer at Prudhoe Bay Jennifer Star was the guest speaker. Star gave a speech on how she became an engineer and encouraged students to take opportunities outside of their comfort zones.

“The more that I could learn the better,” Star said.

Following Star’s speech, a microphone was passed between company representatives to give a brief introduction of themselves and what they are looking for.

“Your education is going to get you your interview. Your attitude is going to get you the job.” said James Bowman, ChiefEngineer for KinRoss at Fort Knox.

After each company introduced themselves, beef and chicken were served, followed by door prizes.

The SWE  spent $6,000 to reserve the room, catering and other costs.  Many attending companies participated in sponsorships that covered SWE’s fees.  Current indications show that the net profit from sponsorships is over $4,000. Remaining funds will be divided between SWE and ASCE as specified by the sponsors’ contracts to fund field trips and sending students to out-of-state conferences.

Be on lookout for posters, banners and class presentations for learning more about attending the next Connections Dinner in the spring.  Students looking to be involved with planning the event can contact engineering clubs with information found in Duckering 243.  Involvement will require time and dedication.

“Start out your freshman year, and start working on getting professionalism down,” Starn said.

UAF’s Museum of the North’s new Changing Alaska gallery highlights the impacts of climate change on Alaska, but the museum’s installation is only half of the story. Museum employees visited four communities across the state as part of the museum’s ongoing campaign to attract younger Alaskans to science.

The exhibit includes a spherical screen globe, a tree slab from North Pole, a pair of differently colored ptarmigan and informational placards.

Part of the new climate change gallery at the UAF Museum of the North is a piece of petrified wood that has been around for the centuries. The gallery also includes informative plaques on the walls, and a screen shaped like a globe that informs readers about the physical changes of the earth since its birth. Sept. 18th, 2012. Erin McGroarty/ Sun Star

“Changing Alaska is just the tip of the iceberg of what we have in our collection at the museum,” said Roger Topp, the Museum’s Head of Production. “And our collection is just the tip of the iceberg of what is out there in the world.” Changing Alaska has already visited Nenana, Nome, Glenallen and Kenny Lake, according to Chris Cannon, Special Programs Coordinator in the Museum’s Education and Public Programs wing. According to Cannon, there was good turnout at all of the communities, except Nome where a snow storm this spring cancelled classes and forced a quick rescheduling.

The communities were selected based on their own interest in hosting the gallery, and the museum’s interest in attracting potential students to UAF. “It’s trying to get a younger audience interested in science,” Cannon said. It’s also about making science more “accessible and understandable” to the younger generation, possibly even interested in studying at UAF, Cannon said.

The Museum of the North teamed up with the Anchorage Museum and the Challenger Learning Center in Kenai to develop a curriculum. Each museum had a specific job, with Topp in charge of creating a film that will was shown at each community on the globular screen. The other two museums also brought mobile units to more remote communities, but each museum focused on those closest to their region.

The installation was funded by NASA as part of its “Eyes on the Arctic” grant program. The grant mandated that there be a traveling unit to show in remote areas in the state. The museum is not new to traveling installations, as they are currently doing a similar project with a planetarium. The focus on a changing Alaska is an especially important aspect of what Topp sees as a museums duty to the community. “A lot of people think of a dusty old cabinet when they think of a museum,” Topp said, “but now museums have to focus on displaying the research that is taking place.” The exhibit is particularly important to Alaska.

“We all live in Alaska and climate change will particularly affect the polar region,” Cannon said.

The Arctic Innovation Competition, an annual contest celebrating and encouraging innovative ideas is taking place once again this fall.  The contest is open to everyone, and the prize for first place is $10,000.  The final deadline to enter the competition is Friday, Sept. 21, and the final competition will be held on Oct. 19 in the Wood Center Ballroom.

It’s a common misconception that AIC is put on by the UAF Engineering Department.  In fact, Ping Lan, the founder and creator of AIC, is the director of the UAF Master’s of Business Administration program.

The judges of this years Arctic Innovation Competition. The competition is hosted by the School of Management. Sept. 18, 2012. Allen Obermiller/Sun Star

Lan started the competition in 2008 with one of his graduate business classes, who still help to run and organize it.  “The competition is for everyone, not just for technical or business [people.]” said Lan. Funding for the competition comes from outside sponsors, not the university budget, and the community is involved in judging and welcome to participate.

Lan’s goal is to create a medium for people to use their brains, to encourage more innovative business and stimulate the economy.

“Everybody is innovative. They need a stage to show their creativity,” Lan said. “Innovation is not a monopoly. Every student has the ability to generate good ideas. If you have a problem you can come up with some ideas. People have lots of problems, so they can come up with lots of ideas.”

Last year there were more than 200 entries. Ninety percent of the entries submitted were from Alaska-50% from Fairbanks-and 10% from the lower 48 and countries such as Canada, Korea and Finland.

UAF is now getting international recognition as a business school because of this competition, noted Mickela Lamb, a former business student of Lan and MC of last year’s competition.  “The AIC has drawn attention to the university in an area they weren’t known for,” said Lamb. “UAF needs more of this.”

The competition brings in a large variety of ideas. Last year, a participant had an idea called Temporary, Sunscreen-Reminder Tattoos to put on kids.  The tattoo would disappear when sunscreen was put on it and reappear when the sunscreen wore off.  This idea placed in the top 20 last year.

“There is a misconception that the idea has to be arctic or scientific or really thought out,” said Sierra Sadler, a graduate student at UAF. “People with rough ideas can compete with people who have complete ideas.”

Last year’s first prize winner was the HydroHeater, developed for winter sports to keep athletes’ water sources from freezing.

This year Lan and his students will be holding a Junior AIC for ages 17 and under, with prizes for the top three entries. Kids have competed against adults in previous years, but now they can compete with others their own ages.

“The more the merrier,” said Anthony Shaw, a former graduate student of Lan.  “When I was younger it seemed kind of cliché, but as I have gotten older I see that it is important to get the kids involved.”

During a sunny day in Fairbanks, a team member tests out the speed of the electric snow machine that was built by a group of UAF students and mentors. Photo provided by Isaac Thompson.

Despite the cold March weather, the UAF ME Clean Snowmachine Team brought the heat at the Society of Automobile Engineers’ “Zero Emission” Snowmachine competition this year.

The competition was held in Michigan, and consisted of four teams: Michigan Tech, South Dakota School of Mines and Tech, UAF and McGill University.

The team consisted of Christin Davis, Isaac Thompson, Ben Neubauer, Karlin Swearingen, Russell Carroll, Craig McKenzie, Amanda Mertes, Adam Burnett and advisor Michael Golub.

The team won nine out of 12 events and took first place in the overall competition.

“It took us a year to make the machine,” Thompson said. “Its MSRP is valued at about $17,000.”

The team was disqualified from the distance event due to an engine mishap.

“During the noise competition the throttle was held wide open,” Thompson said. “Since the rev limiter is on a one second delay it can be bypassed by holding the throttle open. So the engine kept revving up and it shorted out.”

The team was able to ship a spare motor overnight to the competition.

The team was then disqualified from the distance event because of the newly replaced engine.

The snowmachine has a peak horsepower of one hundred, can reach a top speed of 70 miles an hour, and weighs 580 pounds.

“A regular snowmachine weighs around 540 pounds,” Neubauer said. “With a little more time we can get our machine there.”

“With the battery at three quarter of a charge it went sixteen miles, It could easily get to twenty with a full charge,” Thompson said.

Even with all this power, the machine has a zero emission rate, makes little to no noise and runs off nothing but battery power.

“You have to be careful when you’re riding the snowmachine, it has more power then you think,” Swearingen said. “One time I was driving it around, I pushed on the throttle too fast and nearly flipped it.”

Because of the team’s sweeping victory, the National Science Foundation asked the team to bring the snowmachine to Greenland for emission research. The team and the electric snowmachine will help researchers come up with new ways to efficiently travel between research stations without fear of emissions ruining data at the stations.

Events Won

• MSRP (Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price)
  The cost effectiveness of the machine
• Weight
  The total weight of the snowmachine
• Oral Presentation
  Presentation to the judges about how the machine was made and the parts used
• Draw Bar Pull – 592 pounds
  Demonstrating how much weight the machine could pull
• Cold Start
  Using the snowmachine in colder climates requires it to be able to start in freezing temperatures
• Schematic Design
  The plans used to build the machine
• Noise Test
  Machine was driven at 15 MPH to determine noise levels

“If we get the money to do this again,” Thompson said. “We can build an even better one, maybe we could even try it out at Arctic Man, if someone was brave enough to drive it.”

During a sunny day in Fairbanks, a team member tests out the speed of the electric snow machine that was built by a group of UAF students and mentors. Photo provided by Isaac Thompson.

Photo provided by Isaac Thompson.

Picture of group. Photo provided by Isaac Thompson.

Receiving the prize. Photo provided by Isaac Thompson.

Snowmachine mechanics. Photo provided by Isaac Thompson.

Photo provided by Isaac Thompson.

National Science Foundation Assistant Director John Wingfield visited West Ridge to speak with graduate students and professors about recent updates to the agency and its biology programs. Wingfield offered a detailed Power Point presentation, followed by an open-ended Q-and-A session, which sputtered to a stop after only two questions.

The NSF recently decided to change the way grant proposals are submitted. The controversial decision was the most talked-about subject during the visit. The upgrade, according to Wingfield, will make the grueling process flow more smoothly.

The new system will include submitting preliminary proposals first. If the preliminary proposal is approved, known to NSF as either an “invite” or an “encouragement” depending on the grant, those requesting the investment could submit a full grant proposal. Wingfield described the new structure as a solution to a system on the verge of imploding. “We had to do something,” said Wingfield, who is also an environmental endocrinologist, “Bear with us.”

The NSF is an independent federal agency, with a 2012 budget of $7 billion and a requested 2013 budget of $7.4 billion. The NSF is the source of funding for approximately 20 percent of all federally-supported research colleges and universities in America, according to the agency’s website. Fields such as mathematics, computer science and social science are some of the NSF’s cash cows.

The NSF assistant director opened up after the presentation while sitting at a conference table with thirteen of the biology department’s graduate students. The group snacked on pizza and sipped soda while students asked Wingfield questions. Wingfield discussed the inner workings of the agency’s recent trip to Congress, detailing their conversations with the OMB and entertaining the group with humorous tales of the trip. Questions from the students focused mostly on grants and the struggle to store the vast amounts of data online collected through years of research.

Wingfield stressed his role within the agency. “It’s my job to make sure biology is represented on all levels,” he said.

He’s worried about administrators with no biology degree making decisions to destroy online data.

“It scares me,” he said.

They received more than 3,500 pre-proposals already, Wingfield said, and they wish they could fund all of the projects. They try to select those who are in the greatest need, with less money or less opportunity.

Wingfield also opened up about the “firestorm of protest” that accompanied the new change in procedure. Wingfield is visiting communities and campuses around the U.S. to connect with graduate students and instructors on a more intimate level to discuss the changes.

BGSA president and graduate student Garrett Savory thought the discussion went well, he said.

“Talking one-on-one with someone like that is a little bit easier for grad students because asking questions in front of everyone after the presentation can be a little intimidating,” Savory said. The discussion gave a much better understanding and appreciation for the process, he said. 

“I think when a project gets turned down, we’ll have more of an understanding of why,” he said.

It also shows the students that they aren’t the only ones with money issues. “At the end of the day, I think NSF is fighting for science,” Savory said.

Scientists face obstacles on all levels when applying for funds to match their growing research requests. The NSF cannot lobby Congress, Wingfield said.

“We cannot ask the community to lobby, we can only stress that there is a need,” Wingfield said.

At the second day of the 2012 Alaska FIRST State Robotics Championship, on March 3, Lathrop senior Annie Sisson (left) and UAF student Evan Mathers, do some last minute checks on their robot before sending it into the competition ring. Erin McGroarty/Sun Star

It doesn’t take an athletic event to draw a large crowd at the UAF Patty Center. On March 4, the Patty Center was packed with students and spectators from all over the state who came to UAF to duke it out Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Robot style in the Alaska FIRST State Robotic Championship. FIRST stands for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. The non-profit was founded in 1989 by Dean Kamen to foster an appreciation of science and technology among young people, according to the group’s website.

Approximately fifty teams, ranging from grades 7-12, came from across the state to join in the spirit of robot competition.

Even Pohrtal, the Division II world championship team from Lathrop High School, competed in this year’s state competition. Lathrop’s FIRST robotics team  won the Idaho State FTC Championship in 2011, which allowed the team to compete in the world Championship.

In the tournament teams consisting of two robots battle each other in an arena ring. The team who gained the most points in the match was declared the winner.

The arena contained crates filled with racquet balls, large cardboard tubes and large bouncy balls. Teams were allowed to use their robots in creative ways to score points, such as knocking down crates, returning a bouncy ball to the teams’ starting zone, or picking up baskets and filling them with racquet balls.

Each match consisted of three rounds. In each round there were multiple phases, including a 30-second placement time and two two-minute competition rounds. In the two-minute rounds, two of the team members drove the robots to lead their teams to victory.

Many of the teams robots had a robot to lift baskets, and one to carry the “bowling balls” back to the bases. Among the sea of metal there were a couple of robots that stood out from the crowd. One robot used a crane to lift instead of two arm-like mechanisms. The robot Schrödinger’s Hat resembled a cherry picker.

While most of the robots scored their points in the conventional way of knocking over and picking up baskets, the Fairbanks-based Ryan Middle School team Schrödinger’s Hat had the crowd in an uproar when they won their match by having their robot scoop up a basket and lift it 17 feet in the air.

The team has worked on the robot since September, putting the most effort in during the final month before the competition, the team said.

Flint Hills Resources and the UAF College of Engineering and Mines sponsor this event to encourage upcoming engineers to show the community their genius, CEM recruitment coordinator Ryan Smith said in an email.

Out of all the competitors, there will be one winner from each of the three FIRST competition brackets - the Lego League for grades 7-9, the Tech Challenge for grades 10-11, and Robotics for grades 11-12.

These winners will be invited to the World FIRST Championship Competition along with Team Pohrtal. The championship will be in Saint Louis, MS in late April.

On March 3, the second day of the tournament, two of the referees for the 2012 Alaska FIRST State Robotics Championship look over some charts before cleaning up the competition ring in preparation for the next round of robots. Erin McGroarty/ Sun Star

On March 3, the second day of the 2012 Alaska FIRST State Robotics Championship, Cameron Hendrix (left), Matthew Perry (middle), and Clay Allen (right) show off their contraption which they have done "Bully Bot". This name comes from the fact that while in the competition ring, rather than trying to make points for itself, it tries to keep the other robots from gaining points. Erin McGroarty/ Sun Star

At the second day of the 2012 Alaska FIRST State Robotics Championship, on March 3, Lathrop senior Annie Sisson (left) and UAF student Evan Mathers, do some last minute checks on their robot before sending it into the competition ring. Erin McGroarty/ Sun Star

Corey Upton, 18, a mechanical engineering freshman at the University of Alaska Fairbanks describes his DIYDRONE to eagar listeners at the Science for Alaska lecture on January 31st, 2012. He completed this drone as his high school senior project at Huchison High School last year. Upton now works under Gregory Walker at the Poker Flats Research Range located near Fairbanks, Alaska. Michelle Strehl/ Sun Star.

Extreme climate and geography can cause problems for researchers throughout the Alaska wilderness. Because of this, scientists risk life and limb when collecting data via manned aircraft.

In order to introduce the Fairbanks community to new technology, the UAF Geophysical Institute is hosting their annual Science for Alaska lecture series. The first lecture educated the audience about the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

The audience at the Westmark Fairbanks Hotel & Conference Center fell silent as Greg Walker, UAF unmanned aircraft research project lead, took the floor and explained how his team accomplishes research missions by using UAVs.

Walker is the manager of the Poker Flats Research Range, a division of the UAF Geophysical Institute, and has been designing and making control systems for unmanned aircraft since 1998.

“Our team is attempting to show that unmanned aerial vehicles are a cost-efficient and readily-available tool for research, when manned aircraft is not an option,” Walker said as he stood in front of the audience.

Throughout the presentation, Walker described each of the different UAVs the team uses for research.

UAVs come in both airplane and helicopter models, and are invaluable tools in many research projects and problems. They have appeared in projects such as assessing the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, examining difficult-to-access BP equipment, mapping Steller sea lions in Dutch Harbor, participating in pathfinder missions in Arctic regions and mapping forest fires.

“My personal belief is that UAVs work well for natural resource management,” Walker said. “Survey of climate change studies, emergency response and pathfinder missions.”

For an emergency response mission, the faster a plane is sent out, the better.

“It takes time to inspect and prep a manned aircraft for a mission,” Walker said. “With a unmanned aircraft we are able to prepare quickly if the mission calls for it.”

On top of being able to prepare a UAV quickly, an unmanned aircraft can be used to observe animals in their natural habitat with disturbing them.

“In a manned aircraft, the only pictures of Steller sea lions we get are of their tails,” Walker said. “Instead of acting normally, the sound of a large plane will normally scare them into the water, while a UAV can successfully take pictures of the sea lions acting naturally.”

Because of their size and maneuverability, the projects that used UAVs were able to get to altitudes and angles that a manned aircraft could not.

“Sometimes it’s dangerous to put humans out there,” Walker said. “If you have a project that’s hundreds of miles from land, and you have to maintain a low altitude, if you have any problems it’s a good chance you will die.”

However, by using UAV’s for these missions, the only risk is losing a plane — nowhere near the cost of a human life.

“The planes are fairly cheap,” Walker said. “It’s the computers and programming within the UAVs that make them expensive.” 

The UAVs used by Walker and his team range in price from $300 to $100,000, and perform jobs such as orthographic mapping, high-resolution photography and aerosol analysis.

As well as being somewhat cheap, most of the planes that Walker’s team uses are electric-powered, able to sustain flight for long periods of time, making UAVs extremely cost effective.

“I thought it was an interesting presentation,” junior Brian Thomason said. “I didn’t know how useful UAVs could be in the research field, hopefully we will start seeing them used more in the future.”

A Gatewing x100 was ehxibited during the Science for Alaska lecture on Tuesday night at the Westmark Regency Hotel. The Gatewing 100X is an unmanned aerial vehicle used for mapping. The lecture 'Alaska - As Seen From an Unmanned Aircraft' was given by Gregory Walker on January 31st, 2012. Michelle Strehl/ Sun Star.

Gregory Walker, who works with University of Alaska Fairbanks's Geophysical Insitiute and oversees the Poker Flats Research Range, delivers the lecture 'Alaska - As Seen From an Unmanned Aircraft' in the Science for Alaska series in Fairbanks, Alaska on the night of January 31st, 2012. Michelle Strehl/ Sun Star.

An AR Drone is ehxibited during the Science for Alaska lecture on Tuesday night at the Westmark Regency Hotel. The lecture 'Alaska - As Seen From an Unmanned Aircraft' was given by Gregory Walker on January 31st, 2012. Michelle Strehl/ Sun Star.

Gregory Walker, who works with University of Alaska Fairbanks's Geophysical Insitiute and oversees the Poker Flats Research Range, delivers the lecture 'Alaska - As Seen From an Unmanned Aircraft' in the Science for Alaska series in Fairbanks, Alaska on the night of January 31st, 2012 at the Westmark hotel in downtown Fairbanks. Michelle Strehl/ Sun Star.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks unmanned aerial vehicle 'Scaneagle' was displayed during the Science for Alaska lecture on Tuesday night, January 31st, 2012. The lecture was delivered by Gregory Walker, director of the Poker Flats Research Range located near Fairbanks, Alaska. Michelle Strehl/ Sun Star.

This 'scout' drone used as a way of gathering data to aid in the clean up of oil-spills. This drone was on display at the Science for Alaska lecture on Tuesday night. The lecture 'Alaska - As Seen From an Unmanned Aircraft' was given by Gregory Walker, the director for the Poker Flats Research Range, the the Westmark, Regency Hotel on Tuesday night, January 31st, 2012. Michelle Strehl/ Sun Star.

Corey Upton, 18, a mechanical engineering freshman at the University of Alaska Fairbanks describes his DIYDRONE to eagar listeners at the Science for Alaska lecture on January 31st, 2012. He completed this drone as his high school senior project at Huchison High School last year. Upton now works under Gregory Walker at the Poker Flats Research Range located near Fairbanks, Alaska. Michelle Strehl/ Sun Star.

The few remaining planting pots clump together under a heating lamp in the soon to be shut down, USDA/ARS greenhouse on Friday, Dec. 2, 2011. Erin McGroarty/ Sun Star

Andrew Sheeler / Sun Star Reporter
Dec. 6, 2011

When the United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service (USDA/ARS) set up shop last summer in their new Geist Road greenhouse facility, workers said hopes for the place were high. The facility was state-of-the-art, with two greenhouses, several “grow chambers” where plants can be grown using exact conditions and a number of ATCO units housing research labs. Previously, ARS researchers had worked out of lab space in the O’Neil Building on West Ridge.

With the building unmarked and surrounded by a barbed-wire fence, ARS secretary Judi Philibert said  her West Ridge colleagues joked that they must be growing marijuana there. Their actual subjects of study were much less controversial.

As part of their partnership with UAF, USDA/ARS researchers used the facility to study pest management, seed quality and herbicide use at high latitudes; plant diseases and genomics; and use of fish byproducts in agriculture. The Fairbanks facility was ideally suited for such fields of study, said ARS spokeswoman Sandy Miller-Hays.

“They’re looking at a more holistic approach when dealing with pests,” she said.

Then the axe came down.

“It’s been hanging over us since February,” Philibert said of looming budget cuts. Funding was in jeopardy ever since the U.S. Senate, House of Representatives and the president all included USDA cuts in their 2012 budgets. The threat became real on Nov. 18, Miller-Hays said. ARS had its budget cut by $40 million and it was announced that facilities would be shut down in Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and West Virginia.

Now the facility’s a quiet place. One greenhouse stands empty, the other one nearly so. A line of empty cubicles make up the bulk of the main office, with Philibert’s desk the only one showing signs of life. The one greenhouse in use is almost bare, only a handful of its state-of-the-art rolling tables taken up by planters containing thistle and orange hawkweed, invasive species that were being studied before the program was cut.

As federal employees, the Fairbanks ARS workers will be reassigned elsewhere in the Pacific West region. That means they could go to California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Oregon or Washington. Philibert said she and the others will find out where they’ve been reassigned in January, and they’ll have 30 days to decide if they want to relocate or lose their jobs. Philibert, a 30-year Alaska resident, said she wasn’t sure if she’d move or not.

“It depends where they assign me,” she said.

Miller-Hays said ARS can only plan from year to year based on their budget, that it’s unclear whether they’ll return to Alaska.

“We don’t know what the future will bring,” Miller-Hays said.

In addition to the Fairbanks greenhouse, ARS had an experimental farm in Palmer and a fisheries research center in Kodiak. ARS will suspend research at all locations. Philibert said she wasn’t sure what would happen to the new greenhouse, which is owned by the USDA and sits on land leased by a private party. For Philibert, the new facility represents a wasted opportunity. She feels people are misguided when they cheer the loss of jobs in the federal sector.

“I heard on the radio the other day, they were talking about how they eliminated 20,000 federal jobs. That’s us.”

Sunlights peeps in through the new West Ridge Greenhouse rooms on Nov. 18, 2011. Fernanda Chamorro/Sun Star

Rebecca Lawhorne/Sun Star Reporter
Nov. 22, 2011

Following the sound of muffled machinery through a plastic-wrapped doorway, there is a freshly painted room lit by groups of long bright lights. To the right, an orderly line of seven teal-colored machines, which resemble heavy-duty refrigerators, occupy the empty space.

Those machines are growth chambers for horticulture research at UAF, and that room is the bottom floor of the newly-constructed greenhouse attached to the south side of the Arctic Health Research Building on West Ridge.

The 4,500-square-foot, state-of-the-art greenhouse replaces the West Ridge greenhouse. The previous greenhouse was removed earlier this year to make room for the construction of the new Life Sciences building.

The new facility is a major upgrade, according to Carol Lewis, the dean of the School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences (SNRAS) and director of the Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station (AFES).

“This is the most state-of-the-art facility in the state,” Lewis said.

The West Ridge greenhouse, built in the 1960s, didn’t provide the up-to-date experience for students looking at careers in the current greenhouse industry, Lewis said. 

“The old greenhouse couldn’t be automated or controlled in any way, or even lit or heated on the bottom level. It was very minimal,” Lewis said.

The upper level will be fully ready for use by December. The level is equipped with 1,100 square feet of classroom space, a laboratory, two offices, a clean room, storage and an area for handling plant materials, fertilizers and potting media. It also features energy curtains that control the temperature and sunlight. The technology also has controls to program the temperature, lights and humidity.

The unfinished lower level provides 900 square feet for the growth chambers, and sections divided into 750 square feet each, according to a recent press release by the SNRAS/AFES information office.

The greenhouse was budgeted for $5.3 million dollars, and with $1.8 million leftover, the lower level will need to be ventilated and automated. The only catch, according to Lewis, is that the department “will have to bid on another contract to complete it.” This will cause the construction to extend into next year.

Some students expressed frustration with enduring such a long wait for the greenhouse’s completion. For the past 8 months, they had to make do with no greenhouse to conduct research in.

Jackson Drew, 20, a biology and chemistry student, was a student worker in the West Ridge greenhouse since June 2010, until it’s demolition this spring. He then worked up until this fall as the only student worker at  the Georgeson Botanical Garden, a project of the SNRAS department. Four, full-time employees maintain the garden year round.

The Institute of Arctic Biology greenhouse also assisted during the difficult  transition, but since much of it’s space was dedicated to other projects, it could only offer much room to store research plants.

“They didn’t have enough space for us,” Drew said. Research plants were scattered and stored all over campus during construction. Recently, the plants began the journey into the new greenhouse. In the new classroom, foliage in large pots stretches to the ceiling and lines the sides of the room.

Potential greenhouse users are also concerned about the size. Although the square footage is larger, Drew worries that the actual growing space seems to be much smaller than in the original greenhouse, he said. Drew hopes they will still have room for some of the same projects, he said. Typically, during the summer, the greenhouse grows produce to sell in order to raise revenue. The less space for potential produce, the less money raised.

Although it will be slightly smaller than the West Ridge greenhouse at first, Lewis claims what it lacks in size, it makes up for in technological advancement. Lewis said that since the SNRAS focuses on research, they wanted to build a research greenhouse.

“Overall, it’s a much better teaching opportunity for students,”Lewis said. Drew agrees that the new machinery, specifically the new soil-mixing machine, is “a pretty neat improvement,” and will save researchers time and energy.

With all the new technology, future projects will include looking at plant-light interaction and refining current research with LED lights.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new greenhouse will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 22 at 4 p.m., and it will be open to the public. Speakers include UAF Chancellor Brian Rogers, Sen. Joe Thomas, businessman Bernie Karl, and Jim Mitchell of Ghemm Co, who helped fund the project. All the speakers worked with the SNRAS department toward the completion of the greenhouse.

“I have a soft spot for greenhouses,” Lewis said, “and we are very proud and excited about this one.”

An interior hallway in the new West Ridge Greenhouse. Nov. 18, 2011. Fernanda Chamorro/Sun Star

Father Leroy Trujillo, 61, mixes cove base material and daughter JayLee Trujillo (front), 29, measures the product in different ratios for the new West Ridge Greenhouse on Nov. 18, 2011. Fernanda Chamorro/Sun Star

Sunlights peeps in through the new West Ridge Greenhouse rooms on Nov. 18, 2011. Fernanda Chamorro/Sun Star

Although the winters at UAF are cold, the scientific research is still hot. On Nov. 16, the National Science Foundation awarded the University of Alaska Fairbanks Institute of Arctic Biology $16.3 million to help fund the Toolik Field Station’s research.

The Institute of Arctic Biology wrote a grant proposal for the award. Institutions across the country peer edited the proposal. This will be the third time the NSF gave the station this award. The grant also comes with a five-year cooperative agreement with the NSF.

Toolik Field Station is located in the northern foothills of the Brooks Range on Alaska’s North Slope. Scientists there have conducted ecological and arctic observatory research since 1975. This station is a test site for both national and international research. Now that the station has earned this award, it is seen as a “major” part of the National Science Foundation facilities according to a press release.

Toolik Field Station researchers mainly track and monitor environmental and terrestrial data. They study the life stages of plants, snow from year to year, weather data and animal life on the Slope.

“Much of what is known about terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, adaptations of plants and animals to the Arctic and the effects of climate change come from long-term, process-based ecological research conducted at Toolik,” UAF arctic biology scientist Marion Syndonia “Donie” Bret-Harte said in the Institute of Arctic Biology press release.

Timothy Sharp, a UAF senior, works in Bret-Harte’s soils lab.  He is a lab assistant for graduate student Claire Addis. ”She is observing the effects of higher snow density on shrubs sent from the Toolik Station from winter to winter,” Sharp said.

Because of this award the station can afford improvements that “will enable the station to increase and improve the provision of housing, utilities, meals, communications, modern lab space, vehicles and common-use science equipment to the hundreds of scientists and students who work at the station each year,” according to the press release.

“Most of the buildings at the station are tents, with the exception of kitchen and dining hall. Although with the funding from NSF we will be able to build another dorm, and more labs in the next five years.” Bret-Harte said. Not only will this award allow for better housing, meals and utilities, it also will improve the station’s creditability internationally.

Currently the station hosts around 450 researchers that come from across the nation each year to Toolik, according to Bret-Harte.  from all over the country. In 2010, researchers at Toolik conducted 61 funded research projects involving more than 500 participants from 68 different universities