Flying cameras | Words in war | Sowing harmony
Spring 2014
A daughter’s dedication to her father
For alumni and friends of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Charles E. Bunnell Collection, - - , Archives, University of Alaska Fairbanks. “Margaret Thomas (now Mrs. O. J. Murie), second year graduate, and fi rst girl to have the honor of an Alaska degree.” When When degree.” fi and Alaska an of honor graduate, have the year to girl rst second Murie), O. J. (now Mrs. Thomas “Margaret ADVANCEMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS AND VICE CHANCELLOR FOR FOR CHANCELLOR VICE Michelle Renfrew, ’ Renfrew, Michelle ’ ’ , Sfraga, Mike sciences facility on the Fairbanks campus was named the Margaret Murie Building in to commemorate her life and work. work. and life her commemorate to in Building Murie Margaret the named was campus Fairbanks the on facility sciences Brian Rogers Brian CHANCELLOR adventures and environmental activism for which she would receive national awards and an honorary degree from UAF. life from new The degree honorary an and awards national receive would she which for activism environmental and adventures UNIVERSITY ANDUNIVERSITY STUDENT DIRECTOR OF MARKETING the anonymous writer of this caption described the diploma-bearing Mardy Murie in , the “girl” was just embarking on the the on embarking just was “girl” , the in Murie Mardy diploma-bearing the described caption this of writer anonymous the UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS OF ALASKA UNIVERSITY Amber Darland Jordan, ’ Joan Braddock, ’ , ’ , ’ ’ , ’ , Braddock, Joan Mike Mike Lorna Shaw, ’ , ’ ’ , Shaw, Lorna Marusek David Peggy Shumaker Peggy Reichardt Paul AURORA ADVISORY BOARD ADVISORY AURORA Campbell, ’ , ’ ’ , Campbell, Tori Tragis, ’ , ’ ’ , Tori Tragis, Todd Paris, ’ Todd Paris, Andrea Swingley Jenn Baker, ’ Baker, Jenn Venus Sung, ’ Sung, Venus Sherrie Roberts, ’ Sam Bishop Darcy Harrod, ’ Darcy Harrod, ’ Davis Kim WEB DESIGNERS AURORA MAGAZINE AURORA CREATIVE DIRECTOR MANAGING EDITOR MANAGING DESIGNERS EDITORS PHOTO MANAGER Visit www.uaf.edu/woodcenterbook/Visit Birthdays. Children love them, but as we get older some of some older we get as but love them, Children Birthdays. Regent Jo Heckman is planning a book about our collective collective our about abook planning is Heckman Jo Regent excitement and nostalgia. UAF’s will be no di UAF’s no be will nostalgia. and excitement erent. almost is institution’s centennial An 2015. in cornerstone — 100th —yes, 100th its on UAF up coming is celebrate. archives to fi you. with to share treasures those nd always a drawn-out a adrawn-out always of lots to generate intended air the way, such as the 100th anniversary of the laying of the of laying of the the anniversary way,the 100th the such as will be more we’ll tell you about soon. soon. you about tell we’ll more be will photos, and more trivia and tidbits about our university’s university’s our about tidbits and trivia more and photos, existence. their to deny wish us journey to 100. to 100. journey next few years as much as we’ll enjoy digging through the the through digging enjoy we’ll much as as years few next The Cornerstone on College Hill College on Cornerstone The book, his memories of Wood Center. She would love to include yours. of Wood love yours. would to Center. include She memories updating is ’78, Terrence ’76, —Professor Cole, gifts bearing archival more interviews, alumni more history, more birthday in 2017. There are milestones to acknowledge along NOTE EDITOR’S To we are to going include in rolling, Aurora things start We hope you enjoy reading about UAF’s history over the UAF’sWe about history reading you enjoy hope Some of our alumni and friends are coming to the party party to the coming are friends and alumni of our Some Celebrate UAF’s centennial with us! with UAF’s centennial Celebrate For a university, the older it gets the more we wish to we wish more the gets it older the For auniversity, The University of Alaska Fairbanks is accredited by the Northwest Northwest the by accredited is Fairbanks Alaska of University The or to PO Box , Fairbanks, AK , or call - - . We - - . call or , AK Fairbanks, , Box PO to or equal opportunity employerequal and opportunity educational institution. those of the authors and do not necessarily refl o ect the of necessarily not do and positions cial authors the of those Commission on Colleges and Universities. UAF is an a an is UAF action/ Universities. rmative and Colleges on Commission Send comments or letters to the editor to [email protected] to editor the to letters or comments Send University of Alaska Fairbanks. Alaska of University UAF photos by Todd Paris noted. Class unless notes otherwise photos provided by alumni unless otherwise noted. / noted. otherwise unless alumni by provided reserve the right to edit for grammar and length. Visit us on the web at at web the on us Visit length. and grammar for edit to right the reserve Produced by Marketing are and Opinions expressed Communications. www.uaf.edu/aurora/ . Kim Davis, managing editor managing Davis, Kim , with the UA Press. UA the , with Press. to share. There There to share.
Volume 6 No. 2 Published twice a year for alumni and friends of the aurora University of Alaska Fairbanks
Running down a dream Iraq and back again: A Fobbit’s By Maureen Sullivan tale By Frank Soos Many students take a break Literary success is elusive. Soldier- from school. Kelly Carr took scribe David Abrams, ’04, thought time o to run halfway across a major magazine piece was his breakthrough. en a book deal fell Alaska to raise research funds in apart. en came Iraq. honor of her father, diagnosed In plane sight with terminal cancer. By Amanda Bohman Unmanned aircra are changing the way we count wildlife, monitor volcanoes, map roads and see the world.
Sound a ects Story and photos by Todd Paris A virtuoso musician with one goal: Show at-risk kids the beauty in every breath they take.
Then again: Ed Ruckstuhl, ’ Interview with Ed Ruckstuhl, ’63. “My rst challenge was learning how to walk [on snow] wearing leather shoes. e solution: row the leather shoes 10 away.”
Departments Briefl y On the shelf 18 Full Frame Social connections Class notes/In memoriam Nanook Nook
spring 2014 | www.uaf.edu/aurora/ 1 BRIEFLY
New-found Follow “Arctic Odyssey: Voyages of the R/V Sikuliaq,” coming to the UA Museum of the North in May 2014. http://arcticodyssey.wordpress.com old insect A strange insect collected The researchers named the by graduate student Jill species Caurinus tlagu for the Stockbridge during her thesis Tlingit tribes that have lived research on Prince of Wales on the northern half of Prince Island is a newly discov- Dinos on the Yukon ered species of snow scorpionfl y. Derek Sikes, UA Museum of the North curator of insects, Stockbridge. Jill by Photo said it belongs to an enigmatic group that might help scientists 2 mm understand the evolu- tionary origin of fl eas. of Wales Island for thou- Stockbridge got stuck sands of years. “The word when she tried to identify the tlagu means ancient, which tiny, fl ea-like insects she’d we thought was appropriate found. She turned to her since this creature has been thesis advisor, Sikes, who was around since the Jurassic,” equally ba ed. He posted a Stockbridge said. Fossil evi- dence indicates the scorpionfl y belongs to a group that dates Hind footprint of an ornithopod. The exact back more than 145 species of this type of herbivorous dinosaur has million years. not yet been determined. The 2-millimeter- long animals
Photo by Joey Slowick. Joey by Photo are members of the insect order Mecoptera, which includes the scorpi- onfl ies, hangingfl ies Jill Stockbridge and Derek Sikes, on Prince of Wales Island. and snow scorpion- fl ies. Although their digital photo on Facebook to mouthparts look like those see if any of his entomologist of a predator, they feed friends could o er an opin- on a leafy liverwort found ion. Most of the suggestions in coastal forests rather were wrong, but one scientist, than sucking blood like Michael Ivie, recognized that fl eas. However, they hop the specimen belonged to like fl eas, are the size and the genus Caurinus, of which color of fl eas, and even only one species was previ- have the same shape when The four units of the Sustainable Village are the newest ously known. viewed from the side. addition to student housing options on the Fairbanks campus. The homes use state-of-the-art energy-saving materials and utilities, and provide data for possible future uses through Alaska.
2 aurora | spring 2014 The Fairbanks Community The pantry is overseen by “I thought, not why open live o campus and aren’t on o live but is very the prod- much is open two a week. days It in food service, the like read a national news story who needs food.” university, so they don’t have the by pantry, away tucked pool tables Center, in Wood winter holiday closure. uct student of and initiative perseverance. “It’s a pantry,” the proper nutrition because they paying were bills for the same reaction,” he said. thing, many clients that there to go that far goto that for food.” The the Student Activities O ce the Student Activities O for more than knowledge. students.are UAF a pantry right here the at about students not getting “Everybody had UAF. at a meal plan, or during breaks school or other things. He started asking questions at ces o student-centered students.” Food Bank told him the same Cruz said, “for students, by Some students are hungry Social work major Juan Cruz Extra helpings fi lls a gap for students who fi They’re hungry for food. “They all know somebody
Photo by Roger Topp. spring 2014 | www.uaf.edu/aurora/ 3 The museum is working local communities and to with villages and Native about the discovery with dence an of extinct ecosystem never knew we existed.” Yukon the along corporations coordinate future exploration. future coordinate River share to information Druckenmiller said, “evi- tracks for safe transport to the fossils. Katherine Anderson, Meg wrap aluminum foil around around foil aluminum wrap museum while Druckenmiller Druckenmiller museum while eld notes about the makes fi O’Connor and Julie Rousseau Rousseau Julie and O’Connor Each unit is built slightly di erently Each unit is built slightly di On the http://bit.ly/SusVill. web: heat recovery ventilation, triple-pane indoor air quality. gallons. ow showerheads. windows and low-fl temperature (think permafrost) and permafrost) temperature (think for a variety things, of including ground are superinsulated, with features like so researchers can study which meth- energy user the village at used only 463 ods work best for cold climates, but all energy-e ciency standards uses about energy-e 660 the biggest Even gallons a year. The houses are also being monitored http://arcticodyssey.wordpress.com Those blobs were left were blobs Those The specimens to date The footprints are natural “We found diver- a great by dinosaursby big and small, and plant-eaters.meat-eaters look like blobs with toes.” with blobs like look kind discovery of would you expectedhave in the Lower known sites around Alaska. impressions,” Druck- impressions,” rock androck sometimes print after the dinosaur they stick out from the than those from other well- about 90–100 million years ago, the middle the of Creta- about 35 million years older sity dinosaur of types,” stepped in mud. sand fi lled in the foot- sand fi enmiller said. “Rather “Rather said. enmiller casts, formed when ceous Period, making them 48 a hundred years ago.” “These are not negative Green houses get good grades good get houses Green best-performing house used the equiva- lent 366 of gallons heating of oil. In half as energy much as an average new house in Fairbanks and substantially cient less than an average energy-e rst occupancy, year of house during the fi in Fairbanks uses about 920 gallons, while the average new house meeting to its name in its fi The fourrst year. itsto name in its fi according an to analysis the Cold by student housing complex, lived up contrast, the average same-size house Climate Housing The Research Center. 1,600-square-foot homes usedless than The Sustainable Village, newest UAF’s Researchers from from Researchers lection, according to in Alaska along the pounds dinosaur of places left in the paleon- where world to the museum’s col- theto museum’s the UA Museumthe UA tologists can just go footprints added were for dinosaur fossils a major new site summer. Aboutsummer. 2,000 earth sciences curator of theof North found Pat Druckenmiller. Druckenmiller. Pat “There aren’t many Yukon River last Yukon
Photo by Pat Druckenmiller.
left behind: footprints. A lot keep out an for eye dino- saurs, least or at what they dinosaur footprints,” Druck- of them. enmiller said. “This is the out and fi nd thousands of out and fi If you’re ever on the Yukon, on ever the Yukon, you’re If ,” coming to the UA Museum of the North in May 2014. North Museum May the of in UA the to coming ,” Follow “Arctic Odyssey: Voyages of the R/V the of Odyssey: Voyages Sikuliaq “Arctic Follow Photos courtesy of Kelly Carr. 4 aurora | spring 2014 | spring By Maureen Sullivan
JOURNEYS START IN DIFFERENT PLACES BUT THEY END THE SAME. A GLACIER RECEDES. A RIVER ERODES A MOUNTAIN. A LIFE ENDS. IT IS THE ENDING WE ALL TRAVEL TOWARD, THOUGH WHAT WE CONSIDER A LONG LIFE FOR A HUMAN IS A FLASH COMPARED TO THE MOTION OF A GLACIER OR THE CREATION OF THE BEDROCK ON WHICH WE LIVE OUR LIVES.
spring 2014 | www.uaf.edu/aurora/ 5 “I’m a realist. I knew I had limited time with
t was spitting rain at 4:40 a.m. on my dad, and I knew I had to make it count.” July 20, 2013, when I turned right o Peger Road, in Fairbanks, onto Ithe Mitchell Expressway, part of the parallels the Alaska Railroad and passes metastasized. Kelly immediately decided George A. Parks Highway. I parked my by rolling tundra, muskeg bogs, boreal to drop her classes at UAF to spend what truck at the site of Milepost 360, signi- forests, raging rivers, active glaciers and time was le with her father. en she fying the distance separating Fairbanks the snow-capped peaks of the nation’s ran up and down the hotel’s stairwell for from Anchorage. tallest mountains. an hour. Kelly Carr, a 24-year-old biology major A er leaving Fairbanks, the highway Hidden faults at UAF, knows the Parks Highway well, climbs into the Tanana Hills, which span but that drizzly Saturday morning, she from the Minto Flats west of Fairbanks e theory of plate tectonics postulates was minutes away from what would to the Alaska-Canada boundary line. By that mountains rise where crustal plates become a three-week journey where the time the road crosses the Tanana meet. One plate dives under the other, she’d come to know the road even better. River bridge at Nenana, the hills have and the plate on top thrusts upward, Kelly was going to run from Milepost given way to windy lowlands dotted with forming a mountain. When plates pass 360 to Milepost 1 in Anchorage. small lakes formed in glacial till mantled each other laterally — side by side — the “I had to do something,” she explained. with silt. result is a major fault. “I couldn’t just sit there and wait. at’s Pleistocene sediments make up the e Parks crosses a series of thrusts not me.” vegetated sand dunes along this stretch and folds and faults — two of the Alaska Journeys start in di erent places, but of road that follows the Nenana River to Range’s major fault lines are the Hines they end the same. A glacier recedes. A Cantwell. Large-scale coal mining e orts, Creek and Denali faults. Tectonic events river erodes a mountain. A life ends. It is with the ensuing scarring of the hills, from long ago determined the rise of the the ending we all travel toward, though are notable above Healy. Past Healy, the Alaska Range, including Mount McKin- what we consider a long life for a human landscape changes again, giving way to ley, or Denali, the iconic landmark of the is a ash compared to the motion of a jaw-dropping views, the churning river Athabascan landscape and Alaska’s most glacier or the creation of the bedrock on on the right, high rock walls on the le popular tourist attraction. which we live our lives. and a stunning eyeful of the range ahead. Describing the geology along the Kelly’s bedrock dissolved when her Depending on the time of year, small Parks, geology professor Rainer New- father, Stephen Carr, was diagnosed waterfalls tumble down onto the road, berry wrote in an email that of Alaska’s with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma relocating bits of rock, slower than the many faults, “some of them are clearly the previous fall. IC is an insidious liver miners do to the north, but the cycle of active. Many (the majority) have moved cancer with no cure. e long-distance movement continues all the same. Noth- in the past and might move again.” e run would be a tribute to her father and ing stays put forever. word “might” underscores the unpredict- a fundraiser for the American Cancer ough a lifelong athlete, Kelly had no ability many of us never really get used Society. Already the event had garnered experience as an endurance runner. She to. Movement of these faults change the more than 500 Facebook event invites, had never run a marathon before; her shape of our landscape over time, but with friends and strangers alike provid- longest run before beginning training for scienti c models can’t make exact pre- ing encouragement. this was 15 miles. dictions. When and how shi s happen Kelly had decided to do the fund- remain uncertain. Constant change raising run en route to Seattle, where Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma is a rare type of liver cancer in the U.S., but e Parks Highway, built in 1971 and the entire family spent anksgiving liver ukes, very common in Asia, can named in 1975 for one of Alaska’s terri- while Stephen had a section of his infect the bile duct and cause the cancer torial governors, boasts the most diverse liver removed. A er the surgery, the to form. Mary Jo Carr said that a er her topography and is the most traveled. It doctors reported that the cancer had
6 aurora | spring 2014 husband died, she found letters from him in Vietnam to his mother, detail- ing an illness due to a liver uke. e cancer-causing uke could have been dormant in him since he was a young man. Gallstones also increase the risk of cholangiocarcinoma, and he had had more than 300 hundred stones out years before. Whatever the cause, no one had seen this coming. “Initially,” Kelly said, “the whole family was in denial about the diagnosis,” which gave her father mere months to live. “I’m a realist. I knew I had limited time with my dad, and I knew I had to make it count. I had to do something. We drove that road a million times, so it was signi cant for me, plus my dad loved to watch me run.”
“It gave me the best little guardian angel a girl could ask for on such an adventure — my dad.”
Kelly and her sister grew up in Fair- banks. eir parents moved from California to Fairbanks in 1974, not long a er the highway was completed and before it even had a name. Stephen was a physician assistant, Mary Jo a legal secretary. Like so many Alaskans, the young couple hadn’t meant to stay, but they built a life in Fairbanks and raised their family there. roughout her youth, Kelly had played soccer for a competitive traveling
spring 2014 | www.uaf.edu/aurora/ 7 team, and her dad drove her to Anchor- fragments of Earth’s crust that have trav- Force and resistance age for all her games. eled across vast distances, now bound Gulches are V-shaped ravines; fast-mov- e original plan for the run had been together by faults. ing water moves the sediment and for Stephen and Mary Jo to follow Kelly Kelly has the kind of energy that carves into bedrock. e river can only in an RV, and for Kelly’s older sister, makes people want to put on their run- forge when the ground is weak enough Molly Wood, to accompany Kelly on bike. ning shoes and join her. Many did, more to receive it. An interplay between a “It didn’t work that way. We didn’t have than a dozen, at di erent points along river’s force and the land’s resistance much time.” the three-week run. determines the time it will take to turn a Surrounded by his family, Stephen It was not only Kelly’s dogged deter- trickle into a formidable river. At Mile- passed away in early April. mination that drew people to support post 174, the bridge crosses a daunting Kelly posted on her Facebook page: the event; it was her unwavering enthu- 254 feet over a deep gorge known as “Sadly, my father lost his battle with cancer siasm. While people frequently thanked Hurricane Gulch. e whitewaters of on April 5, 2013. is however didn’t sway her on Facebook for doing it in honor Hurricane Creek churn beneath before me or make me want to cancel the event. of everyone a ected by cancer, no one emptying into the Chulitna River. In fact, it drove the run deeper into my posted more words of encouragement At Milepost 104, the highway crosses heart. It gave me the best little guard- and gratitude than the runner herself. the Susitna, or “Sand River” in Dena’ina. ian angel a girl could ask for on such an She was constantly thanking everyone is river is one of the major drainage adventure — my dad.” for the support, their donations, their systems in the Denali region. Beginning at the Susitna Glacier in the Alaska Eons later, the landscape plays both silent Range, the muddy, silt-laden river contin- spectator and unwitting participant in our uously carries sediment to the Cook Inlet for more than 300 miles. human endeavors. e Parks continues through a green tunnel of birch forest until reaching Willow at Milepost 70, the edge of a goodwill. Her own fundraising e orts The sum of their parts huge glacial outwash plain formed of were minimal — a few iers and the e road runs parallel to the Tanana sand and gravel deposited by a meltwater Facebook page that an out-of-state friend River for a ways. Late Precambrian to glacial stream. Rivers from glaciers in created. e rest came with little e ort. early Paleozoic schist and quartzite make the Alaska Range ow into the Susitna A running store donated shoes, the local up the bedrock of this area, but “divid- from the west, carrying tons of sediment Catholic high school held a fundraiser, ing the Parks into logical subdivisions,” each day. During the last Ice Age, glacial and a combination of social media and Newberry wrote, “is an interesting prob- dri was deposited from a retreating ice word of mouth solicited the rest. lem.” ere is no easy way to separate the highway into logical sections in terms of what lies under the surface. Since glaciers have covered half of Alaska at one point or another and the entire state has a rich tectonic record, the Parks runs through a patchwork quilt of materials, including Precambrian schists, Paleozoic sandstone and Mesozoic basalt. is quilt gives rise to astonishing beauty. On geolog- ical maps, one can nger the highway as it passes through di erent terranes,
8 aurora | spring 2014 lobe. Sediment-rich kettle ponds dot the of Alaska’s geological history aside new area, formed by blocks of ice melting out suburbia. from within the glacial deposits. What e last stretch of the road into looks so permanent and tranquil at rst Anchorage follows the Knik Arm. On glance is actually the result of thousands March 27, 1964, an earthquake in Prince of years of movement. William Sound registering a 9.2 magni- tude on the Richter scale caused massive landslides. e earthquake stole more “All I keep on my than 100 Alaskans’ lives and devastated much of Southcentral Alaska. mind is my dad On the eve of Aug. 8, with just 20 miles and his milepost, le to run, Kelly posted on her Face- book page: number 1.” “Ended at milepost 20. Today was de nitely one of the hardest days thus far. e wind was a battle in itself. But we’re Eons later, the landscape plays both almost there... Struggling pretty hard at Photo courtesy of Kelly Carr. silent spectator and unwitting partic- this point, never felt this much pain and An emotional end to the run: Kelly with ipant in our human endeavors. Kelly exhaustion. But it’s de nitely all worth it. her mother and sister in Anchorage, averaged 18 miles a day for the remainder Our family has grown so much from this. miles from home. of the 21 days on the road. On a partic- It’s a ected us permanently in such a posi- ularly hot day she became hyponatremic tive way. And when I take a step back and to raise $10,000. When this magazine a er 15 miles, drinking too much water see how many people’s lives I’ve a ected, went to print, the amount was more than while not taking in enough salts. Medics it absolutely blows me away. All I keep $18,500. A popular donation amount is were called, took care of her and told her on my mind is my dad and his milepost, $360, one dollar for every mile of one to give her a body a rest. number 1. One of the only things keeping family’s journey through a constantly Kelly was driven to run not just to raise me going at this point, since this is wayyy changing world. funds; she had also o ered to run mile- beyond something physical. It’s pretty Kelly ran down her dream. She’s back at post dedications along the route. People much all mental now. Not to mention UAF and plans to graduate with a degree requested mileposts for loved ones lost to an extremely emotional healing process. in biology this spring. Her sister, Molly, is or living with cancer, and she ran those Wish us luck on our last day.” working on her education degree, also at miles with that person’s name tagged to In a sense, it is luck and chance that UAF. her shirt, sometimes a whole picture. “I get all of us from our respective Point don’t want to let anyone down,” she said. As to Point Bs. It is chance that a rock Maureen Sullivan, ’ , is a writer, health coach and is moved hundreds of miles by a glacier adjunct faculty at UAF/CTC teaching literature, Chance in time and then carried hundreds more down a writing and art online. She splits her time between e highway through Wasilla is anked river. Chance that one tectonic plate gets Barrow and Homer, beach combing Alaska’s with box stores, but to the west of the the upper hand and becomes a mountain. coasts, making art with her fi nds and training for her next marathon, though she has no plans to run busy town, a swarm of drumlins stands. Chance that one cell duplicates and keeps any farther than that. Drumlins, long mounds formed by gla- on duplicating erroneously, until it forms cial deposits, looking like a bit like whale a cancerous mass. heads gently breaching the water, are Kelly started a fundraising page on ancient, postglacial landscape reminders the American Cancer Society’s website, http://bit.ly/CarrDream, initially hoping
spring 2014 | www.uaf.edu/aurora/ 9 IN , UAF’S GRADUATE WRITING PROGRAM WAS FULL OF AMBITIOUS AND Iraq GIFTED WRITERS. AMONG THEM WAS A GUY WHO RUSHED INTO CLASS EVERY WEEK STILL IN and back HIS WORK CLOTHES FATIGUES. THAT WOULD BE SERGEANT ABRAMS, A JOURNALIST ATTACHED again TO THE TH INFANTRY A Fobbit’s tale DIVISION LIGHT AT FORT WAINWRIGHT. By Frank Soos Sgt. Abrams — David — was not a soldier who suddenly took a notion to become a writer. Instead he was a writer who’d chosen the Army as his day job while he pursued a career in literary ction. He’d already nished an undergraduate degree in English at the University of Oregon, and had written a large chunk of a rst novel, a novel he says will remain forever locked in a desk drawer. A person digging around on the Internet can nd a picture of a young, newly married David, no GI haircut, a full mop of hair, presenting a check, a payment for an early publication,
to the camera. at photograph captures Abrams. David of courtesy Photo a beginning moment in a life of accom- plishments and setbacks. David began college life in Wyoming, thinking he would be a theater major, an actor. He found parts in locally produced, David Abrams (right, in sunglasses) and fellow soldiers ready themselves to broadly comic shows where he was o en leave Baghdad and return to the U.S., in December . cast in the role of an oa sh character. But while he and a friend were making plans to strike out for Denver or even New York to pursue their ambitions on a larger stage, he met a young woman named Jean. He invited her to a play he was in, but she was not especially impressed, so David instead showed her some short stories he’d been working on. “I think you’re a better writer than an actor,” she told him. He made an abrupt change in direction.
10 aurora | spring 2014 By 1987, David had earned his BA, was he planned to use what free time he had satirically. Satire, David says, is “poking married to Jean and was the father of two to work on a revision of Dubble, his grad- holes in what we expect something to be young boys. And he was working as a cook. uate thesis novel, and get it in shape for … letting the air out of the tires.” e young couple took a chance, pulled up publication. e satire begins with the title. A Fobbit stakes in Oregon and moved to Montana, When he made the last leg of his trip is a member of the Army, but one sta- with no prospects waiting for them there. wearing full body armor and clutching tioned safely within the perimeter of a David got on as a beat reporter for a small his M16, when he at last touched down in Forward Operating Base. In his year of paper, e Madisonian. He was paid 50 Iraq and the rear cargo ramp opened onto duty in Iraq, David ventured outside the cents per column inch for his words — a hot desert landscape, David Abrams wire only once, for a ceremony. Fobbits, typical journalists’ pay for the time — so adjusted his thinking: is strange new David learned how to write a lot of words. world would be the subject that held his From there he moved to e Livingston “You’re always going to have to take Enterprise, where he climbed up the ladder something away from something. a few rungs and had We all make choices. It’s tough.” the chance to do some feature stories. Sent to cover a photo exhibit, he lucked into an attention and would be the focus of his interview with actor Je Bridges. writing and his work for the next six years. David was writing, but his work didn’t e Forward Operating Base (the FOB) pay the bills. Soda pop was a luxury he was not what David had expected. If he and Jean couldn’t a ord. imagined eating MREs, sleeping in a tent, So he enlisted. Oct. 11, 1988, was su ering sand and heat, what he found his rst day of a 20-year career writing was a large metal building lled with a press releases and articles for the Army. cubical jungle. e Fobbits worked in His third child, a daughter, was born air-conditioned comfort while they cre- in December of that year. He and his ated PowerPoint demonstrations, ground David spoke at a writer’s craft talk and gave a public reading at UAF in family set out on the typical Army life, fresh co ee beans at their desks, joked November . moving around the country, including to around like any group of o ce workers. Fairbanks. is environment occasioned David’s like all soldiers, carry guns, but their During that time, David caught attitude of “surprised irony.” He was not M16s are rather like the umbrellas civil-
Photo courtesy of David Abrams. David of courtesy Photo moments when he could write, at nights in the war he had expected, and as a result ians might carry when there is a slight or on weekends. at time might have the novel he wrote is not the war novel chance of rain. ey are not fully immune been family time. “I don’t really regret people might expect. from danger — the occasional mortar writing,” David says, “but I regret not Fobbit was published to general acclaim round does fall inside the FOB. (One having a better balance. in 2012. Writing in e New York Times such round proves to be a pivotal event in “You’re always going to have to take Book Review, Christian Bauman found the course of the novel.) Fobbits live in a something away from something. We all Fobbit to be “a very funny book, as funny, world of shillyshallying political maneu- make choices. It’s tough.” disturbing, heartbreaking and ridiculous vering. Fobbits have a health club, hot On the day the twin towers fell, David, as war itself.” showers, fast food and movies. Like hob- like most of his fellow soldiers, saw a Yes, funny. A number of books, c- bits, perhaps their distant kin, the Fobbits deployment of some sort as inevitable. So tion and non ction, have come out of are “reluctant to go beyond their shire.” 17 years a er his enlistment, three years the Iraq war, most all of them brutal [See excerpt on page 12.] a er 9/11, David found himself on a mil- and harrowing. Few have as much as a Lieutenant Colonel Eustace Harkleroad itary transport bound for Germany, the moment of accidental humor. With the is the very model of Fobbitry. His bulging rst stop on the way to a deployment in war and its attendant atrocities and polit- excess weight tests the fabric of his uni- Iraq. As a writer going into a war zone, he ical failures still fresh in people’s minds, form. He’s given to nosebleeds at times set in to reading Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, nothing could be riskier than treating the of stress, and he writes long, self-aggran- but as far as his own work was concerned, war humorously — or more speci cally, dizing emails home to his mother. Once
spring 2014 | www.uaf.edu/aurora/ 11 Fobbit will be among those books that, as decades go by, people will turn to in order to place the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in a historical context.
Excerpt from Fobbit: the character of Harkleroad came into David’s head, the novel began to take They were Fobbits because, at the core, they Gooding worked in the public a airs o ce of shape. David says Harkleroad’s many were nothing but marshmallow. Crack open the Seventh Armored Division, headquartered emails almost wrote themselves. e their chests and in the space where their hearts in one of Saddam Hussein’s marbled palaces. novel was o and running. should be beating with a warrior’s courage His PAO days were fi lled with sifting through Sgt. Chance Gooding Jr. is among the and selfl ess regard, you’d fi nd a pale, gooey reports of Signifi cant Activities and then writ- center. They cow- ing press releases about subordinates who must try to do their ered like rabbits in what he had found. His jobs under Harkleroad’s feckless com- their cubicles, busied job was to turn the bomb mand. Gooding, though, is a di erent sort themselves with Pow- attacks, the sniper kills, of Fobbit. While others play video games, erPoint briefi ngs to the sucking chest wounds, avoid the hazard of and the dismemberments stream ballgames from the States on their Baghdad’s bombs, into something palat- computers or watch pornography, Good- and steadfastly clung able—ideally, something ing reads Cervantes and Dickens. He is white-knuckled to patriotic—that the Amer- not so di erent from his creator. David their desks at Forward ican public could stomach Operating Base Tri- as they browsed the morn- has admitted, with a bow to Flaubert, umph. If the FOB was ing newspaper with their “Chance Gooding, c’est moi.” Gooding a mother’s skirt, then toast and eggs. No one keeps a journal, and David has acknowl- these soldiers were wanted to read: “A soldier edged that many of Chance Gooding’s pressed hard against was vaporized when his the pleats, too scared patrol hit an Improvised musings are close variations on his own. to venture beyond her Explosive Device, his Gooding maintains a cool, ironic dis- grasp. fl esh thrown into a nearby tance on all around him. at distance Like the shy, hairy- tree where it draped like probably began for David himself when footed hobbits of Spanish moss.” But the he enlisted. “I joined the Army as this guy Tolkien’s world, they generals and colonels of were reluctant to go the Seventh Armored who was writing short stories. I joined beyond their shire, Division all agreed that as this guy who was separate from what bristling with rolls of concertina wire at the the folks back home would appreciate hearing: he was becoming a part of, and that just borders of the FOB. After all, there were gob- “A soldier paid the ultimate sacrifi ce while carry- intensi ed when I got over to the war lins in turbans out there! Or so they convinced ing out his duties in Operation Iraqi Freedom.” themselves. Gooding’s weapons were words, his sentences zone.” Supply clerks, motor pool mechanics, cooks, were missiles. It is through Gooding’s eyes that read- mail sorters, lawyers, trombone players, logis- As a Fobbit, Chance Gooding Jr. saw the ers see some of the most absurd elements ticians: Fobbits, one and all. They didn’t give a war through a telescope, the bloody snarl of of the press releases he must write for the shit about appearances. They were all about combat remained at a safe, sanitized distance making it out of Iraq in one piece. from his air-conditioned cubicle. And yet, here public a airs o ce, press releases bland Of all the Fobbits in the U.S. military task he was on a FOB at the edge of Baghdad, geo- and evasive that still must be vetted by force headquarters at the western edge of graphically central to gunfi re. To paraphrase the chain of command before they can be Baghdad, Sta Sergeant Chance Gooding the New Testament, he was in the war but he o ered to the public. Jr. was the Fobbitiest. With his neat-pressed was not of the war. uniform, his lavender-vanilla body wash, and While Gooding re ects that dead sol- the dust collected around the barrel of his FOBBIT © by David Abrams; reprinted with the permission of the publisher, diers “are objects to be loaded onto the M16 rifl e, he was the poster child for the stay- Grove/Atlantic, Inc. back of C-130s somewhere and deliv- back-stay-safe soldier. The smell of something ered like pizzas to the United States,” he sweet radiated o his skin—as if he bathed in gingerbread. cranks out the same boilerplate release: “A soldier paid the ultimate sacri ce while carrying out his duties in Operation Iraqi Freedom.”
12 aurora | spring 2014 . Living in Butte, Mont., will be amongthose books Beyond the community fellow of Fobbit e Quivering gives Pen David a chance be the the of center literary universe — soldiers (and perhaps thesoldiers narrower(and com- literary friendships. David is the of son lation and reading. took to Looking back larger, continent-size communitylarger, writ- of last November, David was asked last he November, how to explore and celebrate his various the familyfrom the East Coast Wyo- to that the friendships among his classmates kid, stuckpreacher’s under a halo whether the best they could. that, willpeople as decades by, go turn into place to the order wars in Iraqand he wantedhe not. So or accepted he it his iso- hadface to facts. “Who am kidding? I I on those on days, David recognizes that he ers maintained through his weekly blog, away from New York — still from thought York New away to Davida vehicle for build to a network of and when his fathera preacher, moved andred tape, with those served who doing active and activist a much member of a reading from the in novel Fairbanks fromhis father: Each Sunday sermon was munity of fellow Fobbits), David is an munity fellowFobbits), of mingand newa congregation, found he ment, at least at ment, in the short run, is that the initial was intent write to a book that reading interests, and be to has proven community him. to didn’t writedidn’t an apolitical His judg- novel.” David’s hassolution been bringto the was also learning something important were already were formed. Besides, was he the war was a mess politics, of bureaucracy wantedbe to read. it replied He that his would be as apolitical as possible. he But e Quivering Pen Afghanistaner inhistorical a context. A
Photo courtesy of David Abrams. spring 2014 | www.uaf.edu/aurora/ 13 . , Ben, to their to around — while on the world. His timing was excellent. excellent. was His timing world. the e Yellow Birds e Yellow As he worked along, he began to feel a feel to began along, he As worked he sense of urgency to get the novel out into into out novel the get to urgency of sense Billy Lynn’s Long Hal ime Long Hal BillyLynn’s , followed by Lea by , followed Carpenter’s Eleven and Roxana Robinson’s Sparta and Roxana Robinson’s When seen in the context these of books o ering varyingtakes our on bookso satire bites harder on commissioned o - satire harder bites commissioned on o Daviders told that pretty he much sta stan. Another signi cant audience is the stan. Another signi liking. Allowing the for hyperbole nec- essary in satire, even some public a airs essary in satire, even public a some and Air served who Force there. David’s munity writers. of His most immediate many in Marines people the Navy, Army, guardduty — and enjoying thoroughly. it groups seem Fobbit found have to right.it got His critique, favorite though, recent wars,recent David writer is one in a com- community might be that his of fellow came from a soldier in Afghanistan who cers than enlisted on both people, but writers the of wars in Iraq and Afghani- wrote in an email that and he his buddies passingwere Fobbit Fountain’s Kevin Powers’ Days Walk was beginning take to shape. entered the entered literary along- world Hisnext posting as— turnedit his out, Once was the he of out Army still but When arrived he in Iraq with a stack of became — and still is — his wake-up time for, among other things, writing press releases, managing a photo library, answering answering library, photo a releases, managing press writing things, other among for, side other side well-regarded Iraq war novels: spend an the hour on manuscript before staying in Georgia. Living alone, when he hadshould time plenty of have work to last — was was he the where at Pentagon, to feelto a sense urgency of get to the novel the project lapse. David determined to to simplyto capture thedetails whathe of media questions, editing a biweekly internal newspaper and “fi the in jams paper xing “fi and newspaper internal biweekly a questions, editing media he needed to get up earlier still to nd nd needed he earlier get up to still to he got up early up got he the next morning and the out inout the His world. timing was excellent. expected be to a life-changing experience. empty notebooks to ll,David planned empty notebooks to a “geographic bachelor,” his wife anda “geographic kids bachelor,” for writing. for Asalong, worked he began he for work. He tried work. He for it, and had he a pro- next. Fobbit get up earlyget up and morning, one 5 o’clock, journals could be made into a novel. doing his physical training and heading ductive morning with his manuscript. developing had his he found let he novel, o ce printer.” ce o Energized and reconnected his to project, Davidbegan thesee to how material in his It wasIt that, be to sure. point, some at But working time for the novel. ree-thirty working time the for novel. working a full-time David job, found As public a airs o Forcecer Baghdad at Task headquarters, Abrams wasairs responsible o As public a Fobbit Homecoming, with Jean and their daughter, Kylie: “One a carefully cra ed 20-minute of the ... happiest days of my essay. life.” rough all the hurrah sur- rounding the publication of colleagues who know about Fobbit and the accompanying his literary pursuits have been disruptions in his work sched- supportive. ule, David has continued to rough steady hard work, produce new work. Lately that David has made himself a work has been in the form fully enfranchised member of
of short stories. His stories Abrams. David by courtesy Photo the literary world, in love with can be found in the Iraq and the wonder of well-told stories, Afghanistan war anthologies whether his own or others’. He Home of the Brave: Some- realizes his short story collec- where in the Sand and Fire tion and the novel Dubble may and Forget: Short Stories from or may not get into print or the Long War, as well as a more nd the same level of acclaim. broadly conceived volume, Undaunted, philosophical Visiting Hours. ese stories will lead to risen; he’d leave the Army when the cur- about the good luck and bad luck that has his own collection — with luck — soon. rent term of his enlistment expired and informed his writing career so far, David Meanwhile, Dubble, that novel project live the life of a writer. It didn’t quite says, “It’s been a 30-year train chugging put on hold when David was deployed to down the tracks, and it nally pulled into Iraq, is back on his desk for another round the station.” of revisions. Dubble is the story about a “It’s been a 30-year Still, being a writer means being some- star-struck dwarf who sets out to make thing of a professional fatalist. What you his mark in Hollywood. He nds work train chugging down did in your last novel or story or poem is as a stunt double for an obnoxious child the tracks, and it fi nally no use in writing the next thing. You’re actor. Informed by work of the classic always starting from scratch, always Hollywood director Preston Sturgis — a pulled into the station.” accepting that rejection is part of the deal. ne satirist himself — Dubble is, like Like every writer, David would like to see Fobbit, a serious story wrapped in wildly the day when his day job would be doing humorous episodes. happen then. (Neither did his graduate his own work — writing more stories and In his graduate student days, David career: a combination of Army moves and novels. But he worries the abundance of wrote a wonderfully imagined short procrastination meant he didn’t get his freedom would not necessarily translate story, “Providence,” about a freakishly master’s degree from UAF until 2004.) into the discipline needed to spend seven deep ssure in the earth on a Georgia at rst agent did not see the market- hours at his desk. Given all he has accom- farm, converted to a state park. at story ing potential in Dubble, and at the time, plished in the bits of time he managed to was accepted by Esquire, among the most short story collections were not strong grab for himself over the years, that seems prestigious venues for serious short ction. sellers. In David’s words, a story collec- an unlikely outcome. at acceptance was a signi cant mark of tion looked like “moldy bread to agents; So until his dream job becomes his day distinction for any writer, especially for a they didn’t want to touch it.” job, David Abrams still wakes up at 3:30 guy who had not yet completed his degree. Now, despite the success of Fobbit, David every morning in the cold dark, sitting at When he got the call from his agent is still working a full-time, 40-hours-a- his desk, cra ing another story to tell. relaying the happy news, he was at work week job in public a airs for the Bureau of in his public a airs o ce. David, not Land Management. It’s a better situation Professor Emeritus Frank Soos taught English and wanting to do personal business on Uncle than his Army job, less red tape and with- creative writing at UAF for years. He takes con- Sam’s time, hung up and quickly stepped out the burden of a chain of command siderable pleasure in witnessing the success of his into the hall to call her back on the pay second-guessing his every sentence. He students in the literary world. phone. Fi een years before the publica- is his own one-man shop. His BLM boss tion of Fobbit, he thought the appearance has been exible and generous in granting in Esquire meant his literary star had David time o to promote his book, and
14 aurora | spring 2014 ON THE SHELF Images courtesy of publishers or Google images. Google or publishers of courtesy Images
4. River of Light: A Conversation with Kabir John Morgan and Kesler 1. The Raven’s Gift 2. Into Great Silence: A 3. Steam Laundry Woodward, professors emeriti Don Rearden, ’97 Memoir of Discovery and Loss Nicole Stellon O’Donnell, ’97 2014, University of Alaska Press 2013, Penguin Group 2012, Boreal Books/Red Hen Press www.donrearden.com among Vanishing Orcas www.nicolestellon.com Surrender to a wild river and Eva Saulitis, ’93, ’99 unexpected things can happen. John Morgan and his wife can 2013, Beacon Press Steam Laundry is a novel in poems Time on the water can produce barely contain their excitement based on the true story of Sarah moments of pristine clarity or upon arriving as the new teachers Ever since Eva Saulitis began her Ellen Gibson, a miner’s wife during hatch wild thoughts, foster a in a Yup’ik Eskimo village on the whale research in Alaska in the the Klondike and Alaska gold deep connection with the real windswept Alaska tundra. But their 1980s, she has been drawn deeply rushes. Her journey began as she world or summon the spiri- move proves disastrous when a into the lives of a single extend- followed her husband to Dawson tual. River of Light is centered deadly epidemic strikes and the ed family of endangered orcas City, Yukon Territory, in 1898. She in one man’s meditations isolated community descends struggling to survive in Prince stayed there three years as the while traveling on a river. John into total chaos. When outside William Sound. Over the course of town’s boom and her marriage Morgan* spent a week traveling aid fails to arrive, John’s only hope a decades-long career spent ob- burned out. In 1903, she left her the Copper River in Southcen- lies in escaping the snow-covered serving and studying these whales, husband and sons to start over in tral Alaska, and the resulting tundra and the hunger of the other and eventually coming to know Fairbanks, Alaska, with another encounters form the heart of survivors — he must make the them as individuals, she has, sadly, man. Based on archival research this book-length poem. Artwork 1,000-mile trek across the Alaska witnessed the devastation wrought and incorporating historical by distinguished Alaska artist wilderness for help. by the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989 documents and photographs, the Kesler Woodward is a sublime — after which not a single calf has poems approach the past through companion to the text. been born to the group. the ghosts of correspondence. *No relation to the character in Don Rearden’s work of fi ction, far left.
spring 2014 | www.uaf.edu/aurora/ 15 FULL FRAME
Sculptor Joan Bugbee Jackson perfectly captured the energy and purposefulness of the university’s first president. Charles E. Bunnell began as the first leader at the Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines in 1921, but by the time he retired 18 years later, his school of six students had become a much larger institution with a new name: the University of Alaska.
Bunnell was widely admired by students, many of whom regarded him as having played a pivotal role in their lives. He could also be dictatorial and a less-than-congenial colleague. Among other professional tiffs, Bunnell engaged in a long- running feud with James Wickersham, who had been instrumental in establishing the college. Everyone, however, respected his dedication to the university. Relive your memories of college. You
TM can order a reprint of this photo and many others at www.photos.uaf.edu. IN
PLANEHOW UNMANNED AIRCRAFT ARE TRANSFORMING SCIENCE
18 aurora | spring 2014 SIGHT By Amanda Bohman
its of Styrofoam, plastic bottles, dri wood He is working with UAF to determine if and how and shing nets litter the Paci c Ocean by the unmanned aircra can be launched from marine ton. “We still don’t know how much is oating vessels and own over the ocean to identify debris. B out there,” said Bill Pichel, a scientist with the “Manned aircra are very expensive,” the scientist National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. said. In contrast, unmanned aircra can y low, y “ ere has been a lot of debris coming up on Alaska in dangerous conditions, and take high-quality video coastlines.” and photographic images. UAF is helping develop a way of identifying “We are experimenting with cameras and tech- marine debris using small robotic aircra out t- niques in searching,” Pichel said. ted with cameras. Some are launched by hand and at means determining which unmanned aircra guided using a tablet computer. and cameras work best, which search patterns are e Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircra e ective, and at what altitude the aircra should be Systems Integration, an arm of the Geophysical o w n . Institute, uses remote-controlled aircra to advance Marine debris damages habitats. Animals can eat science in various ways, including studying volca- it or become tangled up in it and die. e debris also noes, surveying glaciers, mapping archaeological carries invasive species. A large commercial sheries sites, measuring sea ice, monitoring wild res and dock broke loose during the tsunami in Japan and counting Steller sea lions. e program’s mission is oated across the ocean, washing up on an Oregon broad — to explore ways unmanned aircra can be beach more than a year later. e highly invasive used for science or the public good — and is carried Asian brown seaweed and the Asian shore crab were out all over the world. found on the dock. Pichel became interested in unmanned aircra NOAA is considering out tting all of its marine IN a er meeting Greg Walker, who founded UAF’s vessels with unmanned aircra for various projects, program and is now its chief technology o cer, at according to Pichel. a conference in Anchorage in the early 2000s. ey “It’s a tool,” Pichel said. agreed to collaborate. e project grew more urgent e Idaho Power Co. decided to try unmanned a er the 2011 tsunami that washed out entire com- aircra for monitoring the fall chinook salmon run munities along Japan’s eastern coastline. Scientists on the Snake River a er a 2010 helicopter crash think most of the millions of tons of rubble probably killed a pilot and two biologists. e utility called on sank. NOAA tracked the rest of the debris using UAF for help. satellite images until it dispersed in the vast Paci c It was the second helicopter to crash while con- Ocean. ducting the salmon-counting work. “ at really “ e resolution from the satellites isn’t good,” threw up the red ag to us as to how dangerous it Pichel said. “ e resolution isn’t good enough to was to do this work,” said Phil Groves, senior sher- know if you are looking at a piece of debris or a wave ies biologist with Idaho Power. breaking.”
UAV operator Mike PLANE Cook (right) and graduate student Sam Vanderwaal (opposite, bottom) work on components of aircraft they’re building. Vanderwaal’s device is built primarily from plastic parts generated from a -D printer housed in the ACUASI lab in Fairbanks. SIGHT spring 2014 | www.uaf.edu/aurora/ 19 Groves contacted the unmanned aircra testing center. In 2012, the facility used an Aeryon Scout quadcop- ter — essentially a ying camera — to get images of the oval, bed-sized salmon nests, which are easy to see from the air. e salmon, protected under the Endangered Species Act, spawn down- stream of three hydroelectric dams in Hells Canyon. Idaho Power monitors the salmon run, along with government agencies and a tribal agency. Flying the canyon is challenging because of wind and unpredictable weather. “I’ve had some really freaky ights,” Groves said. Flying unmanned aircra allowed biol- ogists to view live video of the spawning salmon from a safe location. ey later used the recording from the Scout to count the nests. ey also “IT’SThe Federal Aviation Administration A designated TOOL.” UAF as one of six UAV test sites in the country. UAF will manage the Pan-Pacifi c UAS Test Range Complex, working with counted the nests from a helicopter and partners in Oregon and Hawaii. The Aeryon Scout (above) is one of several UAVs being compared the results with the unmanned studied for their potential uses in national airspace. aircra . Using the video, they counted 1,316 nests. From the helicopter, the The Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration
he unmanned aircraft testing center at missions are for research or humanitarian aircraft is about the size of a smoke detector UAF is the largest research facility of its purposes. and weighs 2 ½ pounds. T kind in North America, with about 150 One humanitarian mission helped get a “The little ones are as useful as the big small robotic aircraft and a sta who travel much-needed fuel tanker to Nome. A storm ones,” Walker said. “It depends on what the world demonstrating what the aircraft caused the town in western Alaska to miss problems you want to solve.” can do. its fall fuel delivery, so a Russian tanker It also depends on the payload, the “We are not using the aircraft for spy wound up supplying Nome the following cameras and sensors attached to the purposes,” said Greg Walker, chief January. UAF dispatched an Aeryon Scout aircraft. The payload is what brings home technology o cer of the testing center, unmanned aircraft to collect images of sea the data. known as the Alaska Center for Unmanned ice to assist ships approaching the Port of “What’s important is the data. The data is Aircraft Systems Integration. Nome. what drives everything,” said Rayjan Wilson, Walker helped UAF launch its unmanned The aircraft can be fl own using a mouse, an aerospace engineer for UAF who works aircraft program in 2001. The fi rst project stylus, keyboard or touch screen, or they with the testing center. was a high-altitude, long-endurance test can be programmed. Wilson’s job is to determine which kinds fl ight to Alaska from the Southwest United The university has special permission of cameras and sensors are needed for a States. The former U.S. Army o cer has from the Federal Aviation Administration to project. Sometimes engineers design and been working with unmanned aircraft since fl y unmanned aircraft. fabricate the payload. Sometimes they graduate school. Some of the aircraft owned by UAF were purchase the cameras and sensors and Formerly located at the Poker Flat donated by the U.S. Air Force; the rest modify them to suit the situation. Research Range, o ces are now situated in were bought by the university. Each piece “We’ve gotten a lot of success out of using an industrial area in south Fairbanks. The of equipment is valued between $300 and a GoPro camera,” Wilson said. center has a sta of about 15, with half the $100,000. One model is gas-powered, GoPro cameras are small, lightweight workers employed by UAF and half working while the others are electric. and cost only a few hundred dollars. They as contractors. UAF owns nine di erent models of mount easily to unmanned aircraft and The testing center fl ew more than 150 unmanned aircraft. The largest aircraft in produce high-quality video and still images. missions in 2012, according to Walker. The UAF’s collection has a 10-foot wingspan Wilson said lasers on unmanned aircraft center bills clients for its services. All and weighs about 40 pounds. The smallest are also used to gather information such as
20 aurora | spring 2014 count was 1,375 nests. e di erence Rogers, director of the unmanned aircra the animals. Scientists are studying the between the two numbers is insigni - testing center. sea lions to learn why their populations cant, according to Groves. He suspects e aircra can be own over roads so appear to be on the decline. the count from the unmanned aircra is builders can get images showing the road e sea lion count also provides a more reliable than the one from the heli- conditions. Using the photographs, they glimpse of how the testing center might copter but said further study is needed. can decide what materials are needed to y unmanned aircra from marine ves- “We had fantastic success,” Groves said. make repairs, Rogers said. sels over the open seas to detect marine “It’s been great working with them. It’s Infrared cameras can be attached to debris. amazing what they are doing with these unmanned aircra to locate polar bear Pichel, the NOAA scientist, said he things.” dens. e U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service expects eld testing for the marine debris In Iceland, UAF used unmanned monitors polar bears on Alaska’s North project to take place during the rst half aircra for a project to survey a Viking Slope. Oil companies are required to be of 2014. settlement. In South Africa, UAF tested aware of dens and avoid disturbing them. “We want to get the technology to the unmanned aircra as a tool for wildlife Unmanned aircra work well in point where it can be operationally used,” management. In Chile, the testing center locating wildlife because the aircra can he said. used the aircra to map a glacier. y low, and they don’t seem to bother In Alaska, the center is looking at animals. “ e aircra can go out and Freelance writer Amanda Bohman, ’, can be ways the oil and gas industry can use look for where the bears are denning reached at [email protected]. unmanned aircra . e center collab- without actually disturbing the bears,” Web extra: Learn more about UAF’s unmanned orated with the U.S. Coast Guard to Rogers said. aerial vehicles and the Alaska Center for experiment with using unmanned air- e testing center carried out a Unmanned Aerial Systems Integration at www.uaf.edu/aurora/. cra for oil spill response. Oil companies highly successful Steller sea lion count are looking at using the aircra to detect in the western Aleutian Islands, ying pipeline leaks, survey roads and locate unmanned aircra low enough to get polar bear dens, according to Marty high-resolution images without spooking
pipeline leaks. When air moves Raven A — This fi xed-wind ScanEagle — This fi xed- through a small sensor attached aircraft is built in California wing aircraft of carbon-fi ber to the aircraft, lasers inside the UAVS and weighs a little more than 4 construction weighs about 26 sensor dim when hydrocarbons, pounds. With a 4-and-½-foot pounds and is 4 feet long with a Aeryon Scout — such as methane, are present. wingspan and Kevlar wing 10-foot wingspan. Its maximum Manufactured in Canada, this construction, the aircraft can takeo weight is 44 pounds. The The data are then transmitted tiny helicopter is 8 inches tall fl y up to 500 feet in altitude ScanEagle can fl y for more than to researchers on the ground. and 32 inches in diameter. and for up to 90 minutes. The 20 hours. Its maximum speed is The next step for the Powered by a lithium polymer operational speed for this 95 mph. The aircraft is built by a testing center is refi ning how battery, its top speed is 30 mph battery-powered aircraft is subsidiary of the Boeing Co. it provides data to its clients. with a ceiling of 1,500 feet. 34 mph. Currently, the center provides Made of carbon fi ber, this Puma — The Puma All the raw data and the client must aircraft has a fl ight duration of Environment can be hand- synthesize the information. 25 minutes. launched quickly. It’s rugged Wilson said the center is and suitable for land-based looking into ways to process and maritime missions. This the data and package it. “We’re fi xed-wing aircraft is quiet trying to provide an end-to-end and stealthy at extremely low solution,” he said. altitudes. It carries both video and still cameras. The aircraft is powered by lithium ion batteries. It has a range of 15 kilometers and a fl ight endurance of two hours. The aircraft weighs 13 pounds and has a 9-foot INSITU ScanEagle wingspan. Image courtesy of Insitu Inc.
UAV descriptions adapted from manufacturers’ information.
spring 2014 | www.uaf.edu/aurora/ 21 22 aurora | spring 2014 Story and photos by Todd Paris anadian Mike Stevens is one of the most I’ve seen kids pick up a harmonica sought-a er harmonica players in the for the very fi rst time and be able world, but the residents of Akiak don’t to use it instantly to express their care much about that. ey care about the music. During a break at a dance and feelings and emotions in a way concert performance with a local band in they’ve never experienced before. the village’s community center last July, Stevens invited the kids to follow him It can make them feel better by Cinto the attached laundry room, where he handed being able to say something on out free harmonicas, followed immediately by an the instrument that is genuinely impromptu lesson on how to play. For most of the kids, it was their rst experience with the instru- theirs and instantly valid. ment, and the smiles that resulted were topped only by the variety of weird and wonderful sounds that ensued. Stevens and fellow musician Raymond McLain made the trip to the Kuskokwim River commu- nity through an outreach e ort by Terese Kaptur, director of the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival. Sally Russell, assistant director at UAF’s Kuskokwim Campus in Bethel, jumped at the chance to host the event. Stevens has devoted a good part of the past decade to ghting substance abuse, primarily hu ng, in remote northern villages of his native Canada. (Hu ng is the debilitating and sometimes deadly practice of sni ng toxic fumes from small bags to get high.) In 2012, Stevens was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee award for founding ArtsCan, a nonpro t organization that brings together art- ists and indigenous Canadian youths in creative expression. Stevens said the harmonica is a perfect avenue for his work with substance abusers. Not only are they small and easily transportable, they connect in a more practical way with kids who are into hu ng. “Harmonicas are the gateway since it’s all about breathing,” he said. “I’ve seen kids pick up a har- monica for the very rst time and be able to use it instantly to express their feelings and emotions in a way they’ve never experienced before. It can make them feel better by being able to say something on the instrument that is genuinely theirs and instantly valid.” A er visiting Akiak, Stevens and McLain stayed an extra day in Bethel, where they again performed
spring 2014 | www.uaf.edu/aurora/ 23 before an appreciative local audience, but not before visiting with residents of the state’s only hu ng treatment center. Stevens again passed out free har- monicas to the dozen or so residents, all young men between the ages of 13 and 18. He shared a quick lesson, but more importantly, he listened to their stories with compassion and without judgment. Stevens and McLain returned to Bethel and Akiak in March, which Mike Williams, Akiak’s village chief, was glad to see. “It was an event that had lasting in uence about positive self-esteem,” he said. If funding allows, they hope to return for a third visit during their arts festival stint in July. Stevens believes in maintaining a relationship with people he meets during his travels, and that follow-up is crucial to providing a positive in uence on young people. “It’s been close to 14 years since I rst saw kids hu ng in Sheshatshiu [an Innu community in northern Labrador],” Stevens said. “Since then I’ve been able to get back there twice a year. e money comes in from garage sales and concerts and private donations, with very little government money.” “It all comes down to building relationships,” he continued. “When you get people talking and just shut up and listen to them and become friends, then the barriers break down and conversations begin that can lead to real solutions. But you’ve got to earn that level of trust, and that doesn’t come from a single visit.”
Todd Paris, ’ , is the campus photographer for Marketing and Communications. You can see more of his UAF work at www.photos.uaf.edu or his personal work at http://parispub.smugmug.com.
Alumni in this story: Terese Kaptur, ’, ’
24 aurora | spring 2014 “Some of the kids are still playing along with some adults,” Chief Williams said. “They have been asking about when the next visit would be because they really enjoyed the jam session.”
When you get people talking and just shut up and listen to them and become friends, then the barriers break down and conversations begin that can lead to real solutions.
Web extra: Read more about Mike Stevens and his youth outreach program at www.mikestevensmusic.com/artscan/. Warning: The accompanying video includes scenes of drug use by children.
spring 2014 | www.uaf.edu/aurora/ 25 THEN AGAIN ED RUCKSTUHL, ’63
Ed Ruckstuhl returned to Fairbanks for his 50th class reunion in September 2013. While on campus, he gave an oral history interview with archivist Leslie McCartney, curator of oral history with the Alaska and Polar Regions Collections and Archives in the Rasmuson Library. An excerpt follows. e complete interview is available for checkout. Visit http://library.uaf.edu. Photo from Denali from Photo yearbook.
A er graduation, Ed worked all over the world doing what he learned to do at UAF: build- ing a runway in Barrow for the Alaska Division of Aviation; constructing o shore platforms and pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico for Conoco; dredging canals in Indonesia and a base for operations in Madagascar; and building facilities in other places, including Louisiana, the United Kingdom, the Neth- erlands, ailand, Norway, the North Sea and the Republic of Georgia. Ed retired in 2001. He credits his time at UAF for setting the stage for his success. College, he says, is meant t o prepare you not just for a job but for life. Barrow expedition image ED RUCKSTUHL, ’63 courtesy of Ed Ruckstuhl.
Leslie: How did a Southern boy from Louisiana end up at UAF? was under construction. e old power plant was across the Ed: I was attending school in the South when I had a car acci- street from where the bookstore is now, and the new power dent, so I took a semester o . In the meantime my father had plant, now 50 years old, was under construction. gone to Alaska to work at the ballistic missile site in Clear, in charge of the power plant. On one of his visits home, I returned Leslie: What about Signers’ Hall? with him and my mother. We drove from Louisiana to Fair- Ed: at was the gym. at was where Starvation Gulch used to banks in December of ’59 and I started at the university in be held. at’s where tradition came in and the Tradition Stone. January. It was quite an experience, as I’d never really seen snow Just prior to my coming here, Starvation Gulch was the biggest before. My rst challenge was learning how to walk wearing function on campus for the students. It was the freshmen’s leather shoes. e solution: row the leather shoes away. responsibility to provide the alcohol, or home brew, to serve at It was a totally di erent culture here. I was raised in a segre- Starvation Gulch. One year they apparently did such a good job gated society [in Louisiana]. Coming to Alaska, segregation did that people dressed up in their mining out ts, [complete with] not exist. ings I had been raised with, I found wasn’t really rearms and bullets, and the result was the loss of some light society, it wasn’t how we should act as human beings. at really bulbs, windows and other possible structural damage to the changed my perspective and I think helped make me a success- roof. It was decided a er that function that alcohol should not ful person. Everyone on campus was so open. We had students be allowed on campus. from every state and ve or six foreign countries. We had less Leslie: What other types of social activities were there? than 500 students total but to have that vast di erence in people Ed: Engineer’s Day was held on St. Patrick’s Day. e miners and cultures was a great experience. I’m really so glad I came would detonate a bit of dynamite to wake everyone up at ve in here for that. the morning. One year it was cold, 30 below, and the detona- Our classes were small and we knew our professors on a rst- tions in the cold air broke several windowpanes on campus. name basis. ey had us over for dinner. It was almost like we ere was usually some sort of rivalry between the engineering were their children. We had George Knight, Professor Menden- and business administration students. One year the head of hall, Hal Peyton, Professor Burdick, a really great group of men. business administration was kidnapped, put on an airplane and In those days salaries were very high so the university probably dropped o in a remote village. ere would be a tug-of-war had their pick of who would come here to teach. and to make it interesting they’d de ne the line with manure My largest class was an English class in the Bunnell Building from the experimental farm — [all] in front of the cafeteria auditorium, maybe 40 people. [Constitution Hall]! Leslie: Did you live on campus? Ed: Yes, I spent time in Nerland, MacIntosh and Hess. e Hess
I’m talking about no longer exists. Fairbanks. Alaska of University Archives, - - , Collection, Photograph Sigler John
Leslie: What buildings were here when you were here? Ed: Back in those days you had men’s dorms and ladies’ dorms. e ladies were all in Wickersham. e original Hess Hall was right next to Wickersham. Eielson was here, and the Old Main building, which was the university building when I rst came but was only here for the rst year and a half. Across the street to the north, another original structure housed the ri e team and ROTC and perhaps some of the wildlife [department]. e basement and rst level of the engineering building were built while I was here, and the Bunnell Building was here. Down campus you had MacIntosh, Nerland and Stevens, which was the newest dorm. We were the rst graduating class to use the new gym [the Patty Building] for the ceremony; the program even said “commencement services will be held in the new gym- Volleyball match, Signers’ Hall. Signers’ was the gym in the ’s, when this photo was taken, and in the early ’s when Ed nasium.” I don’t think it had been named yet. e Tilly cafeteria attended UAF.
spring 2014 | www.uaf.edu/aurora/ 27 28 SOCIAL CLASS behalf. on his citation and plaque the accepted ’ , Ann Tremarello, 2013. wife, His August in of Fame Hall Association’s Activities School Alaska the into posthumously ’ ’ , Tremarello, Joe 19
CONNECTIONS NOTES 50 aurora Like • s 24 minutes ago University ofAlaska Fairbanks 32 people Comment | spring 2014 | spring • like this. Share , was inducted inducted , was
O’NEILL #NanookNation Connect with Snowshoes to Wingtips Snowshoes From UA book, of Press a2007 author the He is of 98. 2013 age at the September in of Fame Hall Patrick O’Neill, ’ , ’, ’ H* Bob Janes of Juneau. Janes Bob with doubles mixed 65–69 the in won bronze also Carol doubles. mixed women’s age 65–69 the in gold medal the upwin to teamed Carol Jane ’ , Parrish, Utah. George, St. in World Games at the Senior tennis table in bracket age women’s 65–69 the in singles Carol Johnson, ’ 19 nonpro and philanthropy to groups. t ication ded- and contributions for their Professionals of Fundraising Association Day) by the 2013 November Philanthropy in (on National Award Wilson R. Eugene the with presented Shumaker, emeritus professor ’ , ’H* Usibelli, Joe 60 s . , earned a bronze medal medal abronze , earned Peggy Peggy , and Maya Salganek,’07 Riley,Brenda ’02 Ed King,’04, ’12 ’11 Cynthia Berns, ’12 Andrea ’98, Bean, Darrell Clark, ’97 Under 40”Alaskans: Alaska JournalofCommerce asamongthe2014“Top Forty Congratulations tothefollowing UAF alumnihonored by the Like Like inspire-wall/index.html For thingssocialatUAF: all • • onsocialmedia. Comment Comment yesterday University ofAlaska Fairbanks 10 minutes ago University ofAlaska Fairbanks 60 people , were and and • • Share Share like this. of Natives Convention in Fairbanks. Fairbanks. in Convention of Natives Federation Year 2013 Awardthe at Alaska the Toni ’ Mallott, on UA’smember of Regents. Board longest-serving the also is She board. national on this the is serve to She nance. Alaskan rst gover- on higher-education authority premier country’s the Colleges, and Universities of Boards of Governing Association the ’ Hughes, Mary 19 , was inducted into the National Mining Mining National the into inducted , was 70 http://uafcornerstone.net/ s , received the Citizen of Citizen the , received , was appointed to to appointed , was *H =honorary degree Paul Krejci, ’ , ’ , ’, ’ , traveled to the Canadian Arctic to nd the remains of an arctic trader, Joe Bernard, who died 100 years ago. e trip was research for Paul’s book, In C.B. McNeil, ’ , president Search of a Stranger. of the rst graduating class from the state Herb Maschner, ’ , teaches at Idaho university (all previous classes were from the State University and is the director for the territorial university), retired in September Idaho Museum of Natural History. He 2013 a er 29 years as a Montana state district visited the UA Museum of the North last judge. Read more at http://bit.ly/CBMcNeil. summer to complete a project creating an online database of bones from every known arctic bird, mammal and sh. e Virtual Zooarchaeology of the Arctic Project can be seen online through Idaho State University. MCNEIL Read more at http://bit.ly/Maschner. John David Rausch Jr., ’ , was inducted into the Academic Hall of Fame of Stephen Jewett, ’ , ’ , received the Bill O’Leary, ’ , is the new president and Tulpehocken High School in western Berks 2013 Conrad Limbaugh Award for Scienti c CEO at the Alaska Railroad Corp. He was County, Penn., in 2013. He graduated from Diving and Leadership from the American born and raised in Fairbanks, and began his THS in 1985. Dave is the Teel Bivins Professor Academy of Underwater Sciences. He is a new position at the railroad in November of Political Science at West Texas A&M research professor in the School of Fisheries 2013. University in Canyon, Texas. and Ocean Sciences at UAF. Je Roach, ’ , was promoted to colonel in the Alaska Army National Guard in 1990s Fairbanks on Oct. 25, 2013. Je currently 1980s Pat Pitney, ’ , was one of 14,000 people to commands the 38th Troop Command, a carry the Olympic torch on its journey to the Michael A. Abels, ’ , was inducted into brigade-size unit with more than 1,000 troops 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. She the U.S. Martial Arts Hall of Fame July 20, stationed around Alaska. During his 32-year traveled with several other torch bearers to 2013, as a silver life member for 30-plus years career as an Army aviator he has own the the North Pole on a Russian icebreaker. Pat is in martial arts training. UH-1H/V, OH-58A/C and the UH-60A/L the vice chancellor of administrative services helicopters. His deployments include a tour in Carl F. Benson, ’ , was inducted into the at UAF. Alaska Nanook Hall of Fame in 2013. Carl Europe in support of Operation Joint Guard, David Berube, ’ earned a pair of All-American honors for the a tour in Afghanistan supporting Operation , was reappointed in Nanook men’s swim team at the 1986 NCAA Enduring Freedom and a tour in Kosovo in June to the State Vocational Rehabilitation Division II Championships. He placed third support of Operation Enduring Freedom. He Committee. e committee promotes in the 100-yard breaststroke and h in the is a recent graduate of the U.S. Air Force Air statewide interest in the rehabilitation and 200 breaststroke. He received Alaska’s Most War College, where he earned a master of employment of people with disabilities. David Valuable Swimmer honor in 1985 and 1986 strategic studies degree. Je ’s awards include is the legal rights advocate for the Disability and was named UAF’s Male Scholar Athlete the Bronze Star, the Meritorious Service Law Center of Alaska. Medal and the Combat Action Badge. He is in his senior year. Carl is now the principal Janet Bartels, ’ married to Sherilyn and has three children, , is the executive director scientist for a Fairbanks environmental con- of the Alaska Division of the American Heart sulting rm. Amber, Daniel and Victoria. Je lives and works in Fairbanks, where he is the northern Association. region planning manager for the Alaska Jennifer Moss, ’ , displayed her work Department of Transportation and Public called “Edge of the Wild” for the Art in Heart Facilities. Project in downtown Fairbanks last fall.
Douglas W. Huber, ’ , and Anne M. Huber, ’53, ’61, celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in Denver on Aug. 23, 2013. ey have lived in Austin, Texas, since 1991. “We are 1953 and 1954 graduates of UAF. We were married in Fairbanks, and our three children were born there. Later, I taught music at Joy Elementary School, and a er get- ting out of the Army, my husband also taught in the UAF mining engineering department for seven years under Earl Beistline and Don Cook. We enjoyed our years at UAF very HUBER much.” HUBER
spring 2014 | www.uaf.edu/aurora/ 29 CLASS NOTES Jeremy Vermilyea, ’ — “Found out I have been named as one of U.S. News and World Report’s 2013 ‘Best Lawyers.’ Who’d a thunk it?” Scott Gelber, ’, was promoted to prin- Mark Lomax, ’ , ’ , is director of cipal from senior manager at Ernst & Young in Seattle in Substance Use Disorder Programs for Akeela. 2013. Scott advises clients on IT and information security operations. Jane Parrish, ’ , earned a silver medal in the women’s singles 65–69 age bracket in table tennis at the World Senior Games in St. George, Utah. She teamed up with Carol Johnson, ’ , to win the gold in women’s doubles. GELBER Carmen Randle, ’ , was awarded the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for the city of Fairbanks from the Government Michele Harmeling, ’, is the Finance O cers Association. membership development coordinator and board secre- James Soileau, ’ , was awarded the tary for the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce. Prior to Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for joining the chamber, she worked in nonpro t, outreach the city of Fairbanks from the Government and volunteer management roles at the Alaska Center for Finance O cers Association. Performing Arts and other organizations in Washington state. Je Kulawiak, ’, is project manager of business continuity for Premera Blue Cross in Washington. HARMELING 2000s Meadow Bailey, ’ , is the development Lacie Grosvold, ’ , director for the American Heart Association joined the KTUU Channel 2 News team in in Fairbanks. November 2013 as a reporter and multimedia journalist with a focus on investigative news. Teisha Simmons, ’ , ’ , received the Hannah Solomon Woman of Courage Award at the 2013 Alaska Federation of Natives Convention in Fairbanks. Photo courtesy of KTUU. GROSVOLD Zachary Kassel, ’ , and Manda Kassel, ’ , ’ , welcomed a baby girl named Zahna Mae in 2013. Kristen Sullivan, ’ , ’ , is the owner of Ruby Snacks, which has evolved into a full-time business of natural dog treats. e Gail Dabaluz, ’, is the director of company is named a er her sweet dog, Ruby, business and economic development for the Central Council Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. who has since passed. Goldbelt. of courtesy Photo Joe Hardenbrook, ’ , and Anna Sorenson, ’ , are co-partners with Christopher Quist in a café on Driveway Street, near the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner o ces. It is properly named the LUNCH Café DABALUZ and Eatery. Joe Kemp, ’ , is the technical engineer in the State Pipeline Coordinator’s O ce for the Alaska Department of Natural Resources in Clarissa (Dicke) Toupin, ’, Anchorage. received a ve-year teaching fellowship from the Knowles Science Teaching Foundation. e KSTF Teaching Heather Gaines, ’ , married M. Scott Fellowships aim to improve science, technology, engineer- Moon Sept. 21, 2013, in Nikiski, Alaska. She ing and mathematics education in the nation by building is a registered nurse at Central Peninsula a stable, sustainable corps of STEM teacher leaders. Surgical Services in Soldotna and lives in Kenai. Photo courtesy of Knowles Science Teaching Foundation. TOUPIN
30 aurora | spring 2014 UAF photo by Todd Paris. KUAC poster. KUAC 2014 for the selected was art Ermine” and Her “Raven fall. last Fairbanks downtown in Project Heart in Art for the Perch” “Gulls Iris (Wood) Sutton, ’ Initiative. Warriors Wellness Family the in Foundation Southcentral for the specialist Angelina ’ Santa Ana, Anchorage. in School High at Service Education Indian VII for Title selor Ralph Elook, ’ Wash. Renton, in College Renton Technical for the manager project Maria Anastario, ’ www.etsukokimura.com/. at web on her the Visit 2013 Anchorage. in May in Foundation Rasmuson by the tion for composi- music award artist individual ’ Pederson, Etsuko published]. previously 2012 [not as August November in Conference Chiefs Tanana for the recruiter HR the as ’ Livingston, M. Lanien 2013. October Texas, in Denison, in Nationals Strongman American ’ Garee, Matt section. evaluation resources the in Gas and of Oil Division of Alaska’s State the for engineer apetroleum is Chirag February. in child second their had and atoddler, Eve, Chirag Raisharma, ’ , have adaughter, Grace Farstad Raisharma, ’ children. three have and David. 10 years band, married have been ey over hus- her Maine, Waterville, in position Ward for 1warden November the in election Jennifer (Caims) Johnson, ’ , competed in the North North the in , competed , is the community coun- community the , is , is the HeW the , is Grant , was awarded an an awarded , was , displayed her art art her , displayed , is a training atraining , is , was hired hired , was , and , and , won an , won an SCHNURR ( Obesity” “Governing called initiative research of alarger part be will Her research Denmark. in of Copenhagen, University at the aPhD pursuing abit before travel to le winter this Fairbanks subjects. human in on e GLUT4 at the expression eresia conditioning looking is of physical ects 2diabetes. study current type to eir aprecursor is which resistance, insulin of GLUT4 indicate ’ Dunlap, Kriya Professor Assistant with working been has and undergraduate an as research the began She dogs. sled of cells blood white in transporter, glucose (or GLUT4), insulin-responsive an transporter-4 glucose examined 2013. Award October in In which Memorial thesis, master’s her Boswell defended eresia Frances Marion the awarded was She career. undergraduate her throughout skiers and runners Theresia Schnurr,Theresia ’ http://go.ku.dk/ http://bit.ly/KristenShake. more at Read policy. marine on arctic University at Clark research conducting is comprise will that ve Shake seasons. eld Observatory Biological Distributed sponsored Foundation- Science National of the part seas. Chukchi and ework was Bering Laurier Wilfrid Sir icebreaker Guard Coast Canadian the 2013 July aboard in expedition science arctic ’ , ’ Shake, Kristen Sitka. in ment director Roy, ’ Rachel ri e and smallbore. h in air in fourth taking Olympics, Beijing 2008 the in competed She 2006. in smallbore and ri air in 2003 titles e in national individual earned She 2006. and 2004 2003, in ships champion- team the win help to 2002–2006 at UAF from competed she All-American, Iri Division NCAA Aformer October. e in of Fame Hall Nanook Alaska the into Gray, (Beyerle) ’ Jamie http://bit.ly/AlishaDrabek more at Read generation. of her speakers one of the second-language Alutiiq rst educator, and community resident, Kodiak a is She Kodiak. in Museum Alutiiq at the ’ Drabek, Alisha Fairbanks. in Garden Botanical 2013, Georgeson at the ’ ’ , Bonilla, ’ McFarlane, Ben Turkey. Izmir, Güzelyal, in Fairbanks. in live ey were married Miller ’ Biceroglu, Huseyin 20 10 ). , on new, minimally invasive methods for detecting insulin sensitivity. Low levels levels Low sensitivity. insulin for detecting methods invasive , on new, minimally s , cruising in the northern northern the in , cruising , were married Sept. 7, Sept. , were married , is the economic develop- economic the , is , is the executive director director executive the , is Johanny Felix Felix Johanny , and , participated in an an in , participated , and Kristina Kristina , and . , was inducted inducted , was , earned a BS degree at UAF and was one of UAF’s was at UAF top and degree aBS , earned 31 2014 | www.uaf.edu/aurora/ spring to share it with UAF.” it with share to Iwanted reason it?!) the that’s you believe So (Can Nanooks. called was which company imaginary an make to Ihad which in project 2013 July for a in Value-Added Performance) (Maximizing MVP with awarded Iwas stint my short In Halliburton. by Landmark, o solutions drilling ered on various consult and train/mentor to My is job consultant. 2013 adrilling as January in Halliburton with Ashish Kishore Fatnani, ’ Guard. National Air Alaska the in airman a senior at UAF. also for He compliance is director Charlie Hill, ’ fall. last Fairbanks downtown in Project Heart in Art “Kindan-No/ for the Pool” eForbidden Hannah Foss, ’ technician for the Tanana Chiefs Conference. Chiefs Tanana for the technician Dana Wassmann more at http://bit.ly/LaurieOlin July. in Read ceremony at the humanities and arts for the medals receive to people 24 one of was Laurie for artists. award national highest the is Arts, for the Endowment House. National ehonor, by the bestowed White at the Obama President from Arts Olin Laurie fall. last Fairbanks downtown in Project Heart in Art for the Assemblage” Glowa Philip Matriculates [email protected]. www.uaf.edu/alumni/classnotes/ oremail Send usyour news at TOUCH IN KEEP received a National Medal of Medal aNational received displayed his art “Marbled “Marbled art his displayed , is the assistant athletic athletic assistant the , is , displayed her art art her , displayed is a human resources resources ahuman is — “I started —“I started . IN MEMORIAM
David Aspelund, ’ , Oct. 6, 2013, Naknek Vera Oovi-Kaneshiro, former sta member, Christine Attla, ’ , Sept. 20, 2013, Fairbanks Nov. 19, 2013, Anchorage Niilo Koponen, ’ Jennie Baker, ’ , Jan. 7, Minto , Dec. 3, 2013, Fairbanks Donald Lynch, professor emeritus Jane Behlke, matriculate, Oct. 1, 2013, , Jan. 30, Fairbanks Bernice Marie Hildebrand Anchorage Lawrence Mayo, ’, Sept. 30, 2013, Fairbanks Joseph, ’ , ’ , passed away Albert Belon, ’ , ’ H* and professor emeritus, Sept. 9, 2013, Ester Edmund McMahon, ’ , Aug. 5, 2013, Jan. 7 from pancreatic cancer, in Paul Richard Blackwell, ’ , Oct. 1, 2013, Anchorage Fairbanks. Chicago, Ill. Evolyn Melville, matriculate, Oct. 26, 2013, She was born March 12, 1964, Annie Cungauyar Blue, ’ H*, Nov. 4, 2013, Fairbanks in Tanana and raised in Nulato. Togiak Samuel Moses, ’ , Aug. 8, 2013, Anchorage Bernice earned a bachelor’s and Florence Bowen, ’, Aug. 23, 2013, Big Lake Janice Neimeyer, ’ , Aug. 8, 2013, Auke Bay a master’s degree from UAF, and Sally Jean Burris, matriculate, Oct. 9, 2013, Judith Kay Nelson, Bristol Bay sta member, Fairbanks Sept. 15, 2013, Dillingham was working on her PhD from Axel Robert Carlson, professor emeritus, Naomi Ogden, ’ , Community and the University of South Australia Sept. 8, 2013, State College, Penn. Technical College sta member, Aug. 6, 2013, Adelaide. Bernice retired from Patrick Cole, ’ , Nov. 21, 2013, Fairbanks North Pole Rose Ringtsad, ’ her job as vice chancellor and Gene Dinkel, ’ , Oct. 1, 2013, Wasilla , Jan. 15, Fairbanks William Root, ’ executive dean for Rural, Native Maryanne Douglass, ’ , Aug. 28, 2013, , Jan. 18, Anchorage and Community Education in Geneseo, N.Y. Robert “Pete” Russell, ’ , Jan. 2, Vancouver, Wash. May 2013. Marianne Dudley, ’, Aug. 12, 2013, Fairbanks Robert Shafer, ’ , Sept. 5, 2013, Tallahassee, Fla. Bernice’s tireless dedication David Edmunds, ’, Dec. 4, 2013, Anchorage Judith Shapiro, ’ , Oct. 27, 2013, Fairbanks to the education of Alaska’s Tommy Evon, ’ , July 1, 2013, Manokotak Michelle Simpson, ’ Euncha Fisher, ’ , ’ , Jan. 1, Anchorage , Nov. 18, 2013, indigenous peoples was a passion North Pole Denis Fox, matriculate, July 1, 2013, Fairbanks of hers, one she was successful Raymond Strength, ’ , Dec. 12, 2013, in accomplishing. Her cultural Daniel Glass, ’ , ’ , Sept. 22, 2013, Fairbanks Santa Monica, Calif. knowledge and heritage was the Willis Greimann, matriculate, Jan. 4, Donald Turner, professor emeritus, Jan. 21, Fairbanks foundation for advancement of Fairbanks Florence Hage, ’ , Dec. 7, 2013, Fairbanks her Western education. Bernice Jimmie Watford, ’ , Nov. 15, 2013, Edith Hall, ’ , Dec. 7, 2013, Fairbanks Canton, Miss. always consulted respected com- L. Evelyn Harvison, ’ , Aug. 13, 2013, Richard Whitbeck, ’, Jan. 17, Longview, Wash. munity members in whichever Fairbanks Jane Williams, matriculate and former region she was in before address- Melinda “Mindi” Hawman, matriculate, library sta member, Aug. 24, 2013, Fairbanks ing the local community. She Nov. 25, 2013, Fairbanks Thomas “Sonny” Young, ’ , willingly shared her knowledge Dorothy Hildre, ’ , July 12, 2013, Juneau July 21, 2013, Sitka and wisdom with all who crossed Edward Hoch, ’, Oct. 17, 2013, Fairbanks Mary Jane Yerg, ’ , Nov. 21, 2013, Minneapolis, Minn. her path. Robert Hunsucker, professor emeritus, Kenneth Zonge, ’ , Nov. 21, 2013, Tucson, Ariz. She was a rm believer that Jan. 9, Klamath Falls, Ore. you could achieve anything you Constance Jones, ’ , Aug. 22, 2013, Anchorage put your mind to; any goal was
attainable. *H = Honorary degree A tribute to Bernice was entered into the U.S. Congressio- nal Record on Jan. 13. Her body was laid to rest in Nulato.
32 aurora | spring 2014 NANOOK NOOK
Do not wipe the tears from my eyes, For I am not dying.
ink not of sadness because I may be gone soon, For I am returning home.
She called me back, and I heard Her, For my bones belong to Her.
My heart has never le Her, For She is my home.
I have never le Her, For She owns me.
I must go home again, So the Great One may look upon me as I go.
e memory can be a strange thing. I may not remember It took me an instant to say, “ is is my home!” I knew a every word of this perfectly, but this is what happened during a truth so deep that something resonated in me that I feel to visit to a village in the mid-70s. this day. I had a conversation with a very old Alaska Native. I con- ere was just a hint of a smile as he said, “ en She sidered him an elder. I did not know his status in the village, owns you.” but I was taught to respect those older than me, and this man I do understand the concept of returning to the Land, but had respect etched into his skin. He asked me, “Are you an this seemed to be di erent. e puzzled look on my face pro- Alaskan?” duced a genuine smile. If a blush could have could be seen on a e question, though not startling, gave me pause. I have black man, I blushed. been in Alaska since 1970 and never really thought about it. I “ e Great Land is not just home. She owns you, all of you. was an Army brat. At that time I had lived in Germany, Italy, For it to be your home, She takes you. You do not choose. If you California, South Carolina, Maryland, Virginia, Alabama, are an Alaskan, then you are my brother, for She is our Mother,” Georgia, perhaps some others, and had crisscrossed the Lower again with that calm that sees to the core of your being. 48 a few times. I was born in South Carolina, but Alaska was I have moved away from Alaska, but this memory reminds becoming “home.” me more than anything that I have a home. For the longest time “Yes,” I said. I thought I chose Alaska as home. She chose me. I will nd a “You are a black man. You are not from here. How can this way to spend my last days there and allow my spirit to be taken be?” He asked with such calm that I knew he was not in the by Her and my bones to mingle in e Great Land. I belong least bit insulting. to Her. I am an Alaskan.
Ron Williams, ’ , ’ , graduated from UAF with a BS in physics and an MS in space physics. He currently lives in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area working in the IT fi eld as a chief technical architect. He has done stints as CIO and CTO for various companies in Texas.
The Nanook Nook showcases the talent of our alumni and students. If you have an original poem, essay, short story, artwork or photograph(s) you would like to share with our readers, contact [email protected] for submission guidelines. University of Alaska Fairbanks PO Box 757505 Fairbanks, AK 99775-7505
NEXT ISSUE: DEBRIS LOBES “Debris Lobes” — the name might conjure images of aliens or a weird growth you’d want a doctor to see. Actually, they’re worse. Forty-three of these slowly sliding fields of rocks and trees lie near the Dalton Highway and trans-Alaska pipeline where they pass through the Brooks Range. A handful have state highway officials and pipeline owners Artwork by Daniel Darrow. Daniel by Artwork worried. Read more about the frozen debris lobes in the fall 2014 issue of Aurora.