The fall semester at UAA begins Aug. 27, and many of the special summer programs that go on when the campus is less busy in summer are wrapping up. Here's a look at three:
UAA's School of Engineering camps are so popular, advertising now is strictly word-of-mouth
The last camp, four weeks of robotics, ended Aug. 3. Here's just five seconds of glory when one robot 'captured the flag' and dunked a ping pong ball in the target.
And here's a shot of students who made amphibious cars that ran on a computer chip. They also designed miniature wind turbines and used fans in a hallway to see if they could generate enough power in their turbine to light an LED lamp. All the engineering school camps were financed with a grant from BP.
UAA School of Engineering summer camp
ANSEP's Acceleration Academy
But it's not all fun and games in summer. ANSEP, Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program, which aims to draw Alaska Natives into STEM careers (engineering, technology, science and mathematics) went full bore for six weeks stimulating and challenging high school students from all over the state.
This program takes the long view of cultivating students for these careers. Nurturing and guidance can follow the budding engineers or scientists from 6th grade through a successful Ph.D. Students take a college-level science class in the morning and math in the afternoon. Meet the Introductory Biology class as they head to Goose Lake for a little field research to create an environmental food web.
ANSEP's Introductory Biology class on their last day this summer.
Undergraduates from around the U.S. come for research opportunities at UAA
Allison Zimont from Michigan searched for bacteria in the Matanuska Glacier
Also just finishing up is a National Science Foundation-funded program for undergraduate research, called Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU). In this short story, read about Allison Zimont's work with Hymenobacter bacteria that she isolated from the Matanuska Glacier; Devinn Sinnott of Washington D.C. and her work on arctic squirrel gut microbes and how these fast-fattening rodents might shed light on human obesity; and finally, Brady Salli of UAA, who has been working on circadian rhythm behavior of migrating songbirds and is now turning to arctic ground squirrels to understand if their dark dens help them maintain their circadian rhythms.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR FOR THESE FREE UAA EVENTS
Click links below for more details.
>>Visiting Chinese scholar discusses the I Ching, Aug. 8
