News and Announcements

Chris Southcott, who has been involved in community-based research in the circumpolar north for more than 30 years, will share final results from his Resources and Sustainable Development (ReSDA) project, which looked at developing ways to ensure that a larger share of resource development benefits stay in the region, and what it means for communities in Northern Canada, Alaska and other Arctic regions at a lunchtime talk at ISER on Thursday, May 16 at noon. 

Using U.S. Census Bureau’s 2016 Annual Survey of School System Finances, Alaska ranks 6th in per-pupil education spending, however the ranking is deceptive since it doesn’t take into account the high cost of delivering education and high cost of living in different places in Alaska. When these costs are considered, Alaska’s per-pupil spending is about average, according to Dayna DeFeo, director of ISER’s Center for Alaska Education Policy Research. 

There are positive signs that the recession is coming to an end, with a slight growth in jobs during January and February 2019, but the recovery is fragile and will be sensitive to changes in oil prices and budget cuts, Mouhcine Guettabi, associate professor of Economics and ISER faculty told attendees at a series of Alaska Economic Summits sponsored by Northrim Bank in April.

Overall, employment increased by 400 jobs between February 2018 and February 2019. This is in comparison to losses of more than 12,500 jobs since 2016.

Diane Hirshberg, along with Charlene Stern, co-chair of Alaska Native Studies and Rural Development at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and Nolan Klouda, director of the University of Alaska’s Center for Economic Development, will be working with partners in the Neets’ąįį Gwich’in communities of Vashrąįį K’ǫǫ (Arctic Village) and Vįįhtąįį (Venetie) to explore Indigenous and non-Indigenous educational pathways necessary to sustain and develop economic, political, and social goals of indigenous communities. 

An increase of $1,000 in the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) affects women in the labor market differently than men, with women working fewer hours and men having increased employment opportunities in the three months after the PFD is distributed. The differing responses, however, nearly balance each other out with a relatively small decline in the number of hours worked on an annual basis, according to a new paper by ISER’s Andrew Bibler, Mouhcine Guettabi, and Matthew Reimer. 

Soon, Alaska Native elementary students in 14 rural Alaska communities will be studying Drones in ways to both connect their science education to their communities and increase their engagement in STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. These are among the objectives and goals of a newly awarded  National Science Foundation Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) grant, “Drone Research and Opportunities for Native Elementary Students" or  DRONES. 

Residents of Cordova and Tanana describe how renewable energy systems, including hydropower and solar power, are impacting their access to food, energy, and water, in two new videos produced by a research team including ISER’s Jennifer Schmidt. 

Jodi Barnett, project manager for ISER’s Center for Behavioral Health Research & Services, is lead author of a new paper in Health Promotion Practice discussing the important role that Alaska youth culture camps have in locally driven and multilevel suicide prevention. 

ISER Professor of Education Policy Diane Hirshberg is co-editor of the new book, Including the North: a comparative study of the policies on inclusion and equity in the Circumpolar North. Nearly four million people live in the Arctic, including indigenous peoples, northerners, and those who’ve recently arrived.