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The �þ�����Ƶ has announced the recipients of the 2026 Emil Usibelli Distinguished Teaching, Research and Service Awards.

The U.S. National Science Foundation announced on July 14 that it will fund a major critical minerals project led by the �þ�����Ƶ. The regional collaboration aims to reduce the nation’s dependence on imported critical minerals used in everyday products and important to national security.

“They” are the birch shield bug, Elasmostethus interstinctus. They are native to Alaska and are about the size of a small blueberry. They are also known as stink bugs.

Speaking entirely in Yup’ik during the 2026 Western Alaska Interdisciplinary Science Conference in Bethel, John described holing up in his home when ex-Typhoon Halong tore through his village last October. At one point, his son looked at his GPS and told John that their coordinates were changing. They weren’t just �þ�����Ƶing the storm, they were adrift in the current.

Drilling for a permafrost core on this late-March day first required creation of a workspace. A gas-powered coring drill with a 2-inch hollow-center bit was driven into the frozen ground late that morning. 

�þ�����Ƶ paleontology student Daniela Barrera Guevara has received a 2026 scholarship from the Barry Goldwater Foundation, joining just over 500 such recipients nationwide.

Students in environmental chemistry from across the University of Alaska system came together to present their research at the 2026 Environmental Chemistry Symposium in late March, hosted by the UAF Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. 

From wildfire behavior to permafrost thaw, research topics spanned many facets of environmental challenges in Alaska and the science driving the solutions. 

Researchers have used a tiny patch of skin cut from a taxidermy mount of Balto to determine that the 1925 Serum Run hero had no wolf in his recent background. They also found that Balto, a black husky built like a tank, was full of mixed-breed vigor and was adapted to make the most of a diet that included starch.

“Cumikluten (Pay Attention)” is a 36-minute documentary produced by , an interdisciplinary project to identify sources of resilience in the rural Western Alaska communities of Chevak and Dillingham. The film follows local residents as they describe the impacts of environmental change on the two communities and show the various ways people are confronting it.

Every summer, high school students from rural Alaska communities gather in Fairbanks to begin their summer adventure — GeoFORCE Alaska.

Hibernation research at UAF and its applications to human medicine and therapeutic care.  Story and photos by Katie Everett

Mount Edgecumbe volcano in Southeast Alaska sits in a place where a volcano shouldn’t really be sitting.

A �þ�����Ƶ proposal to reduce the United States’ dependency on foreign sources of minerals critical to the technology and defense industries has been named one of 15 finalists in a National Science Foundation competition.

After a nationwide search, UAF’s Dr. Cristina (Nina) Hansen has been appointed to the role of attending veterinarian.

The �þ�����Ƶ has announced the recipients of the 2025 Emil Usibelli Distinguished Teaching, Research and Service Awards.

A 2,500-mile, 16-day research cruise that began Thursday in Seward and concludes in Nome aims to advance environmental research in coastal Alaska through a novel addition: public tours of the research vessel when it makes port calls.

Tape, a seismologist at the �þ�����Ƶ’ Geophysical Institute, has driven me to two Alaska ghost towns on this smoky midsummer night. 

This June, UAF had the honor of hosting a two-week summer school sponsored by the Simons Laufer Mathematical Institute (SLMath), an internationally renowned center for advancing mathematical research and innovation, funded by the National Science Foundation and private donors

Department of Biology and Wildlife M.S. student, Sam Simon, has been selected as a co-recipient for the 2025 Angus Gavin Memorial Migratory Bird Research Grant award.

A powerhouse of ice flows rapidly on Greenland’s west coast, heading toward the ocean. Some of Earth’s largest icebergs are produced here, tumbling from the tip of Jakobshavn Glacier.

Leanne Bulger recently found a new hole in the forest floor on the west end of Fairbanks. Into it, she poked a long plastic pipe.

The work by professor Lee Ann Munk of the UAF Geophysical Institute focuses on geological basins that contain lithium-rich liquid brines or brines that have dried out.

This award honors faculty who exemplify the core values of the Honors �þ�����Ƶ and demonstrate an outstanding commitment to student success. This marks Johnston’s second nomination for the prestigious honor.

Veenstra’s BLaST research project focused on the Cripple Creek restoration project in Fairbanks, where local partners have worked to restore flow to a historic rearing habitat for juvenile Chinook salmon. 

A �þ�����Ƶ graduate student researcher has been named one of 20 recipients nationally of a top award from the American Chemical Society.

Mathematics faculty, Jill Faudree has been awarded the Distinguished Teaching Award for the Pacific Northwest Section of the Mathematical Association of America.

Spencer Baysinger is a third-year BLaST scholar and a junior at UAF, pursuing a bachelor of science degree in computer science with a minor in mathematics.

Mount Churchill stands in a white corner of the Alaska map, deceptive in its cold, windblown silence. At least twice in the last few thousand years, the peak’s ice-covered caldera has spewed ash that reached as far as Ireland and piled up to force northern animals out of the territory.