The University of Alaska System is Alaska's public university system, governed by the Board of Regents. Its campuses, the University of Alaska Anchorage, University of Alaska Fairbanks, and University of Alaska Southeast, conduct research on Arctic climate, fisheries, and natural resources.
Photo by Bernt Rostad, via Flickr · CC BY 2.0
Alaska
Magnitude 5.6 earthquake near Lake Minchumina is felt in Fairbanks and Wasilla
A magnitude 5.6 earthquake northwest of Lake Minchumina was felt in Fairbanks, Healy and Wasilla early Thursday. USGS forecasts a 7% chance of a magnitude 4 aftershock.
by Walter AlaskaNews3d ago2 min read
UAA gets $725,000 for nursing simulation equipment at rural campus sites
University of Alaska Anchorage receives $725,000 HRSA grant for rural nursing simulation equipment, requested by Sen. Lisa Murkowski; one of six Alaska HRSA equipment awards.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago2 min read
University of Alaska Southeast students received about $1.47 million in Pell Grants last school year
University of Alaska Southeast students received about $1.47 million in federal Pell Grants for 2025-26, need-based aid for undergraduates in Juneau, Ketchikan and Sitka.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago1 min read
UAF gets federal award to run Alaska Native elders resource center
The University of Alaska Fairbanks will run the National Resource Center for Alaska Native Elders under a federal agreement worth $215,343 in its first year, with two more years possible. The center will train tribal elder-program staff in dementia care and disaster preparedness.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2w ago2 min read
Northern lights outshine a nearly full moon over Fairbanks as solar wind keeps the aurora active
Aurora over Fairbanks outshines a nearly full moon as coronal hole solar wind keeps geomagnetic activity high; NOAA forecast, viewing tips and next active window.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Kotzebue gets $1.5 million to keep growing food above the Arctic Circle
The USDA awarded $1.5 million to the University of Alaska's Drumbeats food systems collaborative, led from the Chukchi Campus in Kotzebue, over three years.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4w ago2 min read
Arctic's warmest summer since 1950 included the rain that flooded the Susitna Valley
The Arctic Summer 2026 Climate Review ranks this summer the warmest since 1950 and logs the July Susitna Valley flooding as an extreme precipitation event.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Bristol Bay students can apply for a December leadership forum
Bristol Bay high school students can apply through Oct. 9 for a youth leadership forum in Anchorage in December, co-hosted by Bristol Bay Native Corporation.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
The University of Alaska owns the look of a Fairbanks man's pliers
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued design patent US D1,146,544 S on Sept. 8, 2026. The University of Alaska Fairbanks is the listed applicant and the University of Alaska the assignee, giving 15 years of protection on a pliers design by Fairbanks inventor Timothy Illguth.
by Alaska News1mo ago1 min read
Two Arctic climate-data sources lose federal funding, kept alive by others
Two federally funded Arctic climate-data programs Alaska relies on lost their funding this year and are now supported by universities and private groups.
by Alaska News1mo ago2 min read
Three UAA hockey teams become the first teams in the Hall of Fame
UAA Athletics has set July 20-22, 2027 for its first student-athlete reunion, where the 2027 Seawolf Hall of Fame class will be inducted. The class includes three hockey teams, the first teams honored since the Hall was founded in 2001.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Magnitude 6.3 quake off Nikolski sets off dozens of Aleutian aftershocks
A magnitude 6.3 earthquake hit the seafloor south of Nikolski in the central Aleutians early Thursday, followed by dozens of aftershocks. No tsunami or damage was expected.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
University of Alaska draws $8.7 million Education Department payment running through 2031
The U.S. Department of Education recorded an $8,685,195 direct payment to the University of Alaska Systems in Fairbanks, with the funding period running through Aug. 31, 2031. The public record describes the purpose only as "GRANT PROGRAM."
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago1 min read
Dozens of earthquakes struck one patch of seafloor near Nikolski
A swarm of 34 earthquakes, including a magnitude 5.2, struck the seafloor southwest of Nikolski in the Aleutians over roughly a day, with no tsunami danger.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Alaska's smallest fire year since 1995 was also one of its most destructive
A season recap found Alaska burned about 88,700 acres in 2026, the lowest since 1995, even though lightning strike counts were typical. The Mukluk Fire at Tok still damaged or destroyed more than 40 homes.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago2 min read
UAF launches a fellowship to grow Alaska Native leaders in food and agriculture
The USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded the University of Alaska Fairbanks $499,976 over three years to create the Alaska Native FANH Fellows Program, training 16 Alaska Native and rural undergraduates in two cohorts of eight.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Four quakes off Nikolski, largest magnitude 5.3; no tsunami danger
At least five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.5 to 5.2 were recorded offshore southwest of Nikolski within about three hours early Tuesday. The Alaska Earthquake Center reviewed the largest and said no felt reports had come in.
by Alaska News1mo ago1 min read
Alaska has no marine radio examiner, so UAS is asking to become one
Southeast Alaska deck officer students are taught radio procedure but have no local way to sit for the federal exam. In an Aug. 28 application, the University of Alaska Southeast asked the FCC for authority to administer Marine Radio Operator and GMDSS tests itself.
by Melinda Communities.Newsadded 1mo ago2 min read
Researchers get $812,016 to study Glacier Bay's iceberg seal habitat
Two National Science Foundation grants announced Thursday, totaling $812,016, will fund three years of fieldwork on how the advance of Johns Hopkins Glacier is reducing the iceberg habitat that up to 2,000 harbor seals use for pupping and molting in Glacier Bay.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago2 min read
UAA patents insulation grown from Alaska birch sawdust and a native fungus
A University of Alaska Anchorage team has patented a biodegradable insulation grown from Alaska birch sawdust and a native fungus, Irpex lacteus, to replace polystyrene foam.
by Melinda Communities.Newsadded 1mo ago2 min read
Anchorage wildfire mitigation would be paid for citywide, researchers say
A University of Alaska progress report recommends any Anchorage wildfire service area cover the whole municipality rather than high-risk neighborhoods alone.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
UAF is buying an instrument its accredited chemistry program has gone without
A $249,966 National Institutes of Health grant will buy the University of Alaska Fairbanks a mass spectrometry system its chemistry program has been missing.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago1 min read
A UAF mathematician builds software to untangle interbreeding species' family trees
The National Science Foundation awarded the University of Alaska Fairbanks $289,888 for a project led by mathematician Elizabeth S. Allman. The grant funds free software for inferring evolutionary networks from genome-scale data, plus a summer school and teaching materials.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago2 min read
UAF's satellite water-depth mapping wins NSF money to test whether it can become a product
The National Science Foundation awarded University of Alaska Fairbanks researcher Erin Trochim $50,000 under its I-Corps program to test whether an explainable AI system that maps water depth from satellite imagery has commercial buyers. The award runs from Sept. 1 through Aug. 31, 2027.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago1 min read
Alaska students will spend the year researching the veterans buried at Fort Richardson
The VA's National Cemetery Administration awarded the University of Alaska Anchorage $325,000 for a one-year Veterans Legacy Program project sending dual-enrolled high school students and undergraduates into the burial records of Fort Richardson National Cemetery, with a campus memorial and a cemetery walking tour among the deliverables.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago2 min read
Bristol Bay 2027 sockeye forecast to fall below 50 million, ending an 11-year run
A preliminary university forecast released Aug. 18 projects a 2027 Bristol Bay sockeye run of 44.2 million fish, which would end eleven straight years above 50 million. The authors call the number advisory, with the formal forecast due in November 2026.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
UAF will study the landslides thawing under Alaska's pipeline
The National Science Foundation awarded the University of Alaska Fairbanks $294,141 for lab testing of landslide samples from the central Alaska Range, work aimed at predictive tools for protecting the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System and highways as permafrost thaws.
by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago2 min read
UAA students to train inside ANTHC facilities under new workforce partnership
The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and UAA have launched a partnership placing university students in clinical and professional settings at ANTHC, which employs more than 4,000 people, as the consortium expands facilities using contract support cost settlement funds.
by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago2 min read
Sealaska Heritage honors four Southeast educators at Juneau conference
Sealaska Heritage Institute gave awards to four educators from Juneau, Metlakatla and Sitka during its Our Cultural Landscape conference, held Aug. 4-6 at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall in downtown Juneau.
by Melinda Communities.Newsadded 2mo ago1 min read
New $605k research asks why some Denali spruce survive the beetles
A spruce beetle outbreak has killed 45% to 60% of spruce around Denali. NSF-funded UAA research will study why some trees survive and what happens to the soil after the rest die.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
A UAF fix for the battery-and-generator clash in village grids
A UAF researcher is developing a way to stop batteries and diesel generators from destabilizing village grids, a fix that could help remote Alaska cut diesel and energy costs.
by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago2 min read
UAA trains rural school workers to become teachers without leaving home
A UAA apprenticeship lets rural Alaska school employees earn teaching licenses without leaving home, aimed at out-migration and staffing rural schools.
by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago1 min read
Can a bacterium pull rare earths out of coal waste? Alaska researchers just got $4.7M to find out
UAA and UAF received $4.7 million from the National Science Foundation to test whether a bacterium can extract rare earth elements from coal mining waste, a potential domestic supply source.
by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago2 min read
A UAF mathematician is building better tools for understanding networks
The National Science Foundation has awarded $150,000 to the University of Alaska Fairbanks for a three-year project on group-labeled graphs led by Youngho Yoo, with graduate student training written into the grant.
by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago1 min read
Federal money, not oil, drove half of Alaska's growth — and now it's shrinking
At a June 23 ISER forum, University of Alaska economists put federal spending behind roughly half of Alaska's $16.5 billion in GDP growth from 2015 to 2023, ahead of oil and gas, mining and fishing combined.
by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read
Alaska lost 15.8% of its federal civilian workers in two years, ISER economist reports
Alaska shed 15.8% of its federal civilian workforce from 2024 to 2026, above the national rate, an economist told a forum, with the losses coming mostly through buyouts.
by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read
As Alaska's glaciers retreat, new carbon-storing bogs are forming behind them
The National Science Foundation awarded the University of Alaska Fairbanks $94,000 for InsPIRE, a three-year study of how carbon-storing peatlands form in landscapes exposed by retreating glaciers, with mapping products aimed at land managers and communities.
by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago2 min read
Students get to fire the HAARP transmitter at UAF's summer school
A $199,999 NSF grant funds UAF's 2026 summer school at HAARP, where students design and run their own ionosphere experiments on the Gakona research array.
by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago1 min read
A $1.6 million grant to help Alaska burn on purpose, before wildfire does
A $1.6 million NSF grant to UAF would build a fire-weather forecasting tool suited to Alaska, helping managers plan the controlled burns that reduce wildfire risk.
by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago1 min read
As melting ice opens the Arctic to more ships, a UAA scientist studies how a spill would behave
A UAA researcher received a $364,999 NSF grant to study how sunlight degrades toxic oil-spill compounds in Arctic waters, as retreating sea ice raises shipping and spill risks.
by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago1 min read