Climate Scholars Program at UAF
The Climate Scholars Experience
Climate change is one of the defining issues of our time. Meeting its many challenges will require innovative solutions and well-planned action 鈥 at both a local and global level. The Climate Scholars Program at UAF offers the first opportunity of its kind in the nation for undergraduates to get involved and make a meaningful impact.
As a Climate Scholar at UAF, you鈥檒l engage in a highly interdisciplinary academic experience that connects the arts, humanities and sciences. You鈥檒l also have the chance to work with top climate science experts who are engaged in cutting-edge research on climate and the Arctic.
What is a Climate Intensive?
Climate Scholars Program Intensives are opportunities to study with expert faculty in some of Alaska鈥檚 most unique ecosystems. We invite you to the remote places in Alaska where you will integrate theoretical knowledge with practical experiences to gain new skills in environmental data analysis, visualization, and effective advocacy while gaining a new perspective and context for Earth Systems.
Current Intensives
Adina Preston Photography
From 2019 to 2020, University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers were involved in one of the largest international polar research expeditions in history: the MOSAiC Expedition. These scientists spent the year on a research vessel, frozen and drifting throughout the Arctic Ocean ice, for the primary purpose of collecting ice core samples to better understand the changing Arctic.
During this Climate Scholars Intensive, planned for spring semester 2025, students will work with scientists from the MOSAiC expedition to learn techniques for ice research on Interior Alaska鈥檚 frozen ponds, work with sea ice samples and data collected from the Arctic, and design their own research projects with mentoring from professional cryosphere (ice and snow) scientists. Students who complete this Intensive, spread over the span of several weekends throughout spring semester, will gain firsthand research experience, ask and answer questions about our frozen environment, and be better equipped to talk about our changing sea ice and the Arctic.
In this course, students will learn how to build the power, influence, and momentum required to impact climate policy and compare different approaches to making change in climate policy at the state level (legal, activist, lobbyist, etc.) Students will prepare and lead meetings with state officials, climate advocacy organizations, and local activists. Students should expect to walk away from experience with a greater understanding of how to have an impact on Alaska State climate policy.
This Intensive approaches the goal of climate healing using multiple artistic mediums (such as birch bark and tanned salmon skin), traditional stories from Indigenous Elders, research from 爱污传媒 climate scientists, experiential exercises, musical exploration, and personal reflections from participants.
*Gath is King Salmon and K鈥檌yh is Birch in Benhti Kokhut鈥檃na Kenaga dialect
The way climate change research in the Arctic is conducted across all fields is rapidly transforming. In the past, the colonial methods of "helicopter researchers" observing and interpreting the Arctic system in short bursts without consent or consultation of Indigenous Arctic community members. Today, we strive for community-centered and co-produced research where local consent and Indigenous knowledge is valued and essential.
This Intensive introduces students to methods for this type of research. You will spend the week learning from Alaska Native Elders, artists and scientists and other experts in the field of co-production of knowledge. You will leave with concrete examples of good collaborations that span Indigenous and Western science, a piece of traditional art that you make, and a spirit of self reflection and determination for a just and equitable future for Arctic climate research.
Upcoming Intensives
Farming in Alaska? In a state where winter lasts for nearly six months of the year, growing vegetables isn鈥檛 the first thing that comes to mind. However, agricultural in Alaska is on the rise. This intensive offers a deeper understanding of expanding regenerative agriculture practices in the state, accompanied by a hands-on harvesting experience at the only commercial farm in Western Alaska. At Meyers Farm in Bethel, Tim and Lisa Meyers have spent the past twenty years honing their ability to grow thousands of pounds of organic vegetables, shipping them to villages down the Kuskokwim River and alleviating food insecurity in the region one produce box at a time. Students will be asked to reimagine how agriculture is currently conceptualized in Alaska and in the lower 48, analyzing how farming can be approached sustainably in their own home communities.
The University of Alaska team, comprised of engineering students and Climate Scholars, travels to eclipse viewing sites across the country, makes frequent observations by launching hourly radiosondes on helium-filled weather balloons, works with atmospheric science experts throughout the project, and publishes results in peer-reviewed academic journals.
Art has been used throughout millennia as a powerful tool for activism. For a subject that is deeply politically divisive like climate change, art too can be used as a tool to reach across the partisan divide and communicate how rising global temperatures will impact shared important cultural events. This intensive offers student participants an interdisciplinary approach to understanding and communicating how climate change is impacting one of the largest trademark events in the state: the Iditarod. Over the course of a week, students will use an ethnographic and interview-based approach to learn about community perceptions of the Iditarod in a warming world. Students will hone their ability to communicate climate change through various artistic mediums while building their toolkit to engage in arts activism.