Education

The Arctic Coastal Geoscience Lab offers a variety of engaging educational programs. This includes undergraduate and graduate courses at UAF, community education and citizen-scientist training, and an undergraduate internship program.  We also mentor graduate students through training and direct experience in research tasks that build the skills and critical thinking necessary for professional or academic careers.

Graduate student research

More information coming soon.

Undergraduate internship program

The ACGL undergraduate internship program offers students a variety of exciting research opportunities and the ability to gain important workforce skills. Student interns work as a team to learn how to use laboratory equipment, software programs for processing and visualizing geospatial data, to carry out sediment core analysis and to work collaboratively to advance the understanding of Alaska’s coastlines.

Two to three interns each year are selected and trained to work at the ACGL. Interns are mentored and trained by Dr. Chris Maio, staff, and graduate students in the collection, processing, and interpretation of project datasets. Interns are afforded the opportunity to participate in research projects that have broader impacts and benefit society.

Environmental coordinator training and knowledge exchange

The ACGL conducts a variety of education workshops and programs within K-12 schools and also provides community and regional workshops. The goal of the community outreach is to engage local residents with research, support informed decision-making, and actively train the next generation of geoscientists. 

Middle and high school education activities

Here is some text from a recent abstract:

In the rural coastal communities of southwest Alaska, flooding and erosion are resulting in the loss of important land, damage to infrastructure, and changes to subsistence activities.  Addressing these issues using local Indigenous knowledge and leadership, scientific inquiry, and place-based active learning techniques provides an opportunity to invest in youth education.  We are designing and piloting coastal hazard focused materials and an accompanying teacher training course for middle and high school classrooms.  

Concept model depicting the drivers and impacts of coastal change.