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One of the National Science Foundation’s flagship initiatives for the past few years is called Navigating the New Arctic. It looks at the effects of a warming climate on Arctic communities. However, some in the field believe NSF isn’t doing enough to involve Indigenous people who live there.
Margaret Anamaq Rudolf is a doctoral candidate at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. An Inupiaq woman originally from Fairbanks, her area of study is cross-cultural science education.
“How do we improve working relationships between researchers and Indigenous communities,” Rudolf explained.
Rudolf is also one of the people who authored the letter to the National Science Foundation. While she welcomes the foundation’s initiative, she says it falls short of its potential to include the people who live in the Arctic.
Recently, GCI and Quintillion announced their partnership to bring broadband to Kotzebue and Nome businesses, schools and health clinics. It was stated they may be able to bring broadband to those residents by the end of the year. Some of you may be wondering if it will be affordable or why other communities on the fiber weren t included? After all, Quintillion fiber does land in those communities and if the goal is to serve rural Alaskans, why not add all those residents immediately
The problem is that we spend a lot of money and we re expanding broadband at a snail s pace. Large fiber and microwave projects that extend into rural communities are primarily aimed at providing broadband to schools and health clinics, which are heavily subsidized by the federal government. These systems, when used for consumer broadband, result in the high prices that you see today.
Print article Alaska has the opportunity to reverse the brain-drain that plagues our state. Each year, many college-bound students leave the state, never to call it home again. When I left for school, I thought I would too. I’m a lifelong Alaskan from Talkeetna. I graduated as valedictorian from Susitna Valley High School and with the Early Honors Achievement award from Alaska Pacific University’s Early Honors Program in Anchorage. After spending my senior year living in Anchorage, skiing for Alaska Pacific University and interning for Assemblyman Forrest Dunbar, I left for Brunswick, Maine. There, I attend Bowdoin College, an elite, top-ranked liberal arts college. I will graduate in May with honors.
Many of us who grew up watching Saturday Night Live in the 1990s will remember Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy. One proverb offered from this segment advises, If you ever drop your keys into a river of molten lava, let em go . because man, they re gone! Wise words in the wake of failing Arctic oil prospects.
A few hours after inauguration, President Joe Biden signed an executive order requiring further review of Arctic oil leases. This comes after the eleventh-hour Trump administration lease sale for oil development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Alaska can t keep fighting for the past this latest challenge shows that it s time to look beyond oil.
GCI donates $20,000 to APU with Donovan Walsh Scholarship January 21st |
In an academic year wrought with challenges and change, GCI is providing an extra boost to students through a $20,000 donation to Alaska Pacific University in honor of Donovan Walsh, an Alaskan who suddenly passed away in late August 2020. Donovan was the son of Bob Walsh, a longtime GCI employee beloved by all who have worked with him. As GCI s director of rural affairs, Walsh played a key role in delivering connectivity to small, rural communities statewide. He retired from GCI in 2019.
APU will use the donation to administer the GCI Donovan Walsh Scholarship. Ten scholarships will be awarded to students based on need. While these scholarships are available for all current and incoming students, preference will be given to students from rural Alaska and Alaska Native and Native American students. The university will oversee the student application and selection process.