News and Announcements

Diwakar Vadapalli, assistant professor of public policy at ISER, is the lead author of Alaska Office of Children’s Services: Results of the 2016 Annual Staff Survey, a report recently released by the Alaska Citizen Review Panel. He is also the chair of that panel.  This report is not an ISER publication, but it adds to Dr. Vadapalli’s ongoing research on child welfare.

Federal and state laws require the Alaska Citizen Review Panel to review the policies, procedures, and practices of child protection services in Alaska and make recommendations for change. In 2015, the panel recommended that OCS re-structure its annual survey of employees and further analyze the resulting survey data. OCS responded by asking the panel to conduct the 2016 survey. In turn, Dr. Vadapalli enlisted students in his graduate-level research methods course at UAA to re-structure and carry out the survey.

Download the report (PDF) from the review panel’s website.

Following a nationwide search, Dr. Ralph Townsend has been named to lead ISER beginning in August. Dr. Townsend has nearly thirty years of experience in higher education and government, including research, administration and teaching.

Read more about Ralph and his appointment.

Two of ISER’s long-time economists, Steve Colt and Gunnar Knapp, are retiring this June. Gunnar Knapp is also currently ISER’s director, and Steve Colt was the director from 2007 to 2009. ISER is honoring them with a reception on Friday, June 24, from 3 to 5, in Room 307 of the Consortium Library. Please join us in celebrating two of Alaska’s most-respected economists. Light refreshments will be provided, and parking on the UAA campus is free on Fridays.

Gunnar Knapp joined ISER in 1981, and has over time become internationally known for his research on fisheries markets and fisheries management, in Alaska and elsewhere. Much of his work has focused on the Alaska salmon industry.

Steve Colt started work at ISER in 1984, and he is now considered one of Alaska’s leading authorities on energy issues—especially rural energy—as well as in the valuation of natural resources. He was also instrumental in creating UAA's environmental studies program, and chaired that program from 1998 to 2006.

When: Friday, June 24, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Where: UAA/APU Consortium Library, Room 307

ISER has hired two new assistant professors of economics, Andrew Bibler and Kevin Berry. Andrew Bibler will receive a Ph.D. in economics from Michigan State University this spring, and will start work at ISER in August 2016. He has a strong background in applied econometrics, program evaluation, and education policy. Kevin Berry holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Wyoming. He will arrive at ISER in January 2017, bringing experience in bioeconomic modeling and dynamic systems.

Resumes: Andrew Bibler (PDF, 135KB) • Kevin Berry (PDF, 127KB)

Gunnar Knapp, ISER’s director and a long-time fisheries economist, has received the 2016 Marine Research Award, from the Alaska Sealife Center in Seward. It is one of several Alaska Ocean Leadership Awards the center awards annually to those who contribute, in various ways, to awareness about and sustainability of Alaska’s marine resources. The Marine Research Award is given specifically for “an original breakthrough contribution to any field of scientific knowledge about Alaska’s oceans.” Dr. Knapp was recognized for the extensive research he has done over more than 25 years, looking at fisheries management and seafood markets in Alaska and elsewhere, and for the relationships he has built with people in all sectors of the seafood industry. The award is sponsored by Dr. Clarence Pautzke and Dr. Maureen McCrea.