University of Alaska Fairbanks Campus

NSF Awards · FY 2026 · 2026-06

Glaciers and ice sheets have spurred both intense scientific activity and expanding data streams from satellite remote sensing and numerical models. Yet, there is a growing gap between the societal need for robust scientific expertise and the training of available graduate students in glaciology. This proposal addresses this need by seeking support for an intensive 11-day International Summer School in Glaciology, to be held at the Wrangell Mountain Center in McCarthy, Alaska, near easily accessible glaciers. The course will bring together 28 graduate students with leading glaciologists to provide a comprehensive, research-level overview of glacier and ice-sheet physics, with strong emphasis on remote sensing and numerical modeling. The summer school directly addresses a need for highly trained glaciologists capable of observing, analyzing, and modeling components of the cryosphere. The immersive, remote setting promotes intensive interaction among students and instructors, strong mentoring, and durable professional networks. Many alumni now hold faculty, research, and industry positions in the US and abroad, multiplying the program’s impact through their own teaching, mentoring, and knowledge sharing. The summer school delivers an integrated curriculum in modern physical glaciology, covering glacier mass balance, glacier dynamics (including surging and tidewater systems), ice-ocean interactions, ice-sheet and inverse modeling, subglacial hydrology, and remote sensing in glaciology. Lectures are followed by quantitative exercises and group projects that engage students with real satellite datasets and open-source modeling tools. Each student will work on a data-based glaciology project and present results in a mini-conference at the end of the course. The program builds on seven prior summer schools (2010–2024), which have received consistently excellent evaluations and produced tangible scientific outputs, including multiple peer-reviewed publications arising from student projects. The PI and co-I have successfully organized and taught all previous iterations, and the instructional team includes additional University of Alaska faculty and external experts in glacier hydrology and remote sensing. All teaching materials are made publicly available on a dedicated website, extending the intellectual impact beyond in-person participants. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2026 · 2026-06

This research will focus on advancing the understanding of particle acidity in the atmosphere of cold environments and assessing the effects of fuel oil sulfur reductions on particulate sulfur and other species in Alaskan cities. A recent transition to lower-sulfur fuel oil as part of a government-mandated air quality mitigation strategy in Fairbanks and neighboring communities offers a rare opportunity to directly observe and quantify the atmospheric impacts of reduced sulfur emissions. This work advances public health and welfare by guiding national strategies to reduce exposure to fine particulate matter and addressing the unique air quality challenges faced by Arctic communities. The recently NSF-funded 2022 Alaskan Layered Pollution And Chemical Analysis (ALPACA) study in Fairbanks Alaska showed that a substantial portion of PM2.5 sulfur was found in sulfur compounds that are only formed via aqueous-phase chemistry within a narrow pH range. The unique Arctic winter conditions enabled a new understanding of aerosol processes that enhanced heterogeneous chemistry by partitioning gas-phase precursors (e.g., formaldehyde and sulfur dioxide) into the particle phase and influenced particle pH through the temperature-sensitive behavior of key semi-volatile species like ammonia. In this project, real-time monitoring instrumentation will be used to quantify PM2.5 sulfate, hydroxymethanesulfonate, and related sulfur species, while simultaneously characterizing aerosol thermodynamics focusing on liquid water content and acidity under Arctic winter conditions. The inclusion of high time resolution measurements of gas-phase ammonia, nitric acid, and other trace gases will greatly extend beyond ALPACA’s original scope to better understand the processes influencing aerosol composition and acidity. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2026 · 2026-05

This Research Infrastructure Improvement (RII) EPSCoR Research Fellows project provides a fellowship to an Assistant Professor and training for a graduate student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. This work is conducted in collaboration with Dr. Schwartz at Northern Arizona University. Through the fellowship, the PI will develop molecular biology tools to study microorganisms in permafrost that become active upon thaw. Permafrost, soil that has remained frozen for at least two consecutive years, stores twice as much carbon as the atmosphere. These frozen soils also contain microorganisms with very low or no activity, but when thawed, their activity and ability to use previously frozen carbon remain unknown. The methods developed will enable the PI to identify these microorganisms and assess their activity following thaw events. In addition, this project will train STEM graduate and undergraduate researchers and help to better understand permafrost-affected landscapes, which are experiencing rapid changes with unknown biological and ecosystem impacts. This project will develop and apply quantitative stable isotope probing methods to assess active microbial populations in thawing permafrost using amplicon- and metagenome-based techniques. Specifically, the research will use quantitative stable isotope probing to 1) develop methods for identifying active microbial populations in permafrost, 2) characterize the composition of active microbial populations in permafrost from samples across a range of ages and 3) explore methods for quantifying the metabolic potential of permafrost bacterial populations. Understanding the diversity and activity of these microbial communities after thaw events will help address the knowledge gaps of these important arctic and boreal ecosystems. This project will enhance research capacity at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and support the training of graduate and undergraduate students through hands-on research and workshops. In addition to studying permafrost thaw, the methods developed will also be used to investigate microbial communities and their activity following other disturbances, such as wildfires.This project is supported by the EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement Program: EPSCoR Research Fellows, which supports early- and mid-career investigators in eligible jurisdictions to develop collaborations at the nation’s private, government or academic research institutions. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2026 · 2026-04

This project will advance the understanding of causes and implications of recent extreme sea ice variability in the Antarctic through development of a research and logistical partnership with New Zealand. We focus on the Ross Sea as an area of strategic interest for the US and New Zealand, a major locus of recent variability, and as a key area of significance to global ocean circulation and intact ecosystem food webs, motivating the establishment of the Ross Sea Marine Protected Area (MPA). Understanding drivers of sea ice variability and its implications for this large and remote region requires integration across a range of approaches. This pilot study will integrate deployment and testing of advanced observing technology, modelling, and satellite remote sensing to assess capabilities and strategies for a broader integrated program to understand the drivers and implications of the recent rapid sea ice decline in the Ross Sea. This program seeks to advance capability in key areas, building a strategic collaboration between the United States Antarctic Program and the New Zealand Antarctic Research Program and other international partners, in alignment with the “Antarctica InSync” initiative, supporting coordinated, sustainable research in one of the world’s most logistically challenging environments. This will foster increased collaboration and shared logistics support, and further enhance US leadership in the Antarctic. Insights from this work will help improve predictions of how the Southern Ocean and sea ice both respond to and influence global environmental change. Antarctic sea ice extent has exhibited extreme recent variability, with a modest long term increase culminating in 2015, followed by a dramatic decline in 2016 and record lows in both summer and winter in 2023, although with significant variability over the past decade. These changes in sea ice extent are likely closely related to changes in thickness. The causes of this recent variability and its implications have been identified as a key theme for the international research effort “Antarctica InSync”. This collaborative RAPID project will (1) evaluate advanced and emerging technology that can contribute to an observational network capable of capturing key processes across the Ross Sea, (2) improve and evaluate both satellite and model products with in situ observations, and (3) develop a combined modelling, satellite, and in situ observational strategy to understand these processes. This is centered on capability development through evaluation of techniques in the McMurdo region, leveraging existing programs and logistics. This capability can then be exploited in future projects through widespread deployment of in situ observations, integrated with a refined modelling and satellite observation strategy to address the complex coupled role of various atmosphere-ice-ocean processes in driving sea ice variability. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2025 · 2025-10

This project aims to serve the national interest by preparing a skilled, robust engineering workforce capable of advancing U.S. energy independence, infrastructure innovation, and rural energy resilience. The project is built on three foundational learning methods: interdisciplinary design, experiential learning, and professional networks to create dynamic educational experiences that link engineering frameworks to rural energy resilience and infrastructure. Students will participate in week-long engineering intensives focused on community-based research projects in emerging energy technologies and microgrid systems within Alaska's remote and off-grid communities. Led by researchers from the Alaska Center for Energy and Power (ACEP), these intensives intend to build interdisciplinary problem-solving skills, industry-relevant stakeholder collaboration skills, and professional networks. Participants interested in continued mentorship by the instructor-researcher will apply for funding through ACEP's summer internship program, then culminate their work in their senior engineering capstone. By incentivizing a sustained inquiry pathway, the project will increase retention in engineering programs and advance the next generation of energy engineers. The goal of the project is to advance understanding of how immersive, thematic learning experiences impact student retention, engagement, and career aspirations in engineering. The scope includes designing a flexible intensive framework, delivering four week-long, place-based intensives with energy researchers tailored to Alaska's unique energy landscape, and sustaining research relationships for researchers and engineering students. At the time of graduation, participants are expected to have a rich portfolio of practical experience, research achievements, and a deep professional network, making them highly competitive members of the energy workforce or graduate programs. Project outcomes include a tested framework for thematic intensives that address critical energy security challenges, deeper integration of undergraduates into state and federally funded energy research, and a model for energy workforce pipelines. Results are projected inform future strategies for scaling experiential engineering education that drives economic growth and energy innovation across U.S. regions. The NSF IUSE: EDU Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2025 · 2025-10

This project is jointly funded by the Arctic Observing Network (AON) program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). The layer of ground above permafrost, the active layer, thaws and refreezes annually. Active layer thickness is essential in understanding cold regions as it directly affects vegetation, water flow, and other processes such as ground stability, with implications for community resilience, infrastructure, natural resource management, and socioeconomic development. For example, knowledge about the active layer is critical to building houses, roads, pipelines, and other types of infrastructure on permafrost. The data collected by this project will provide knowledge of geographic distribution and trends in a form that can be used by developers, engineers, local communities, and planners to support smart infrastructure development in Alaska under rapidly changing Arctic conditions. These data will also help to improve the reliability of global ecosystem models and satellite mission products. The Circumpolar Active Layer Monitoring (CALM) project helps to coordinate an international permafrost network, contributing to a widely used public database. This research supports national interests by enhancing understanding of the Arctic, permafrost, geostrategic and infrastructure planning, and workforce development through training students. The CALM project focuses on long-term standardized measurements of active-layer thickness (ALT) and dynamics. Local site conditions and seasonal variability create complex interactions that determine the magnitude of seasonal soil thaw and resulting biogeochemical processes. Time series of thaw measurements at the same locations and across terrain types and regions are required to identify scales of spatial variation, establish trends, and validate models. This project measures long-term active layer and ground temperature as well as thaw subsidence, at sites along three geographical, climatic, and ecological transects in northern Alaska. During the research period, further standardization of the instrumentation and characterization of macro and micro-scale conditions at each northern Alaskan site and comparative analysis of the relative influence of these conditions will be completed. This project also supports the integration of ALT, ground temperatures, and ancillary data with those from international partners (almost 300 sites are in the network) into the Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost database. Recommended standard protocols for subsidence measurements and data archiving will be finalized to aid in comparison between sites, like those previously developed for ALT and near-surface temperatures. These data provide a basis for comprehensive assessment of changes in active-layer and near-surface permafrost, assist in detailed process studies, and support the development and validation of engineering, ecological, hydrological, and geocryological models. The previous CALM data have been used effectively and extensively by the modeling and remote sensing communities. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2025 · 2025-09

The Agulhas Current is western boundary current of the South Indian Ocean subtropical gyre. Due to its strong, warm, and salty flow, the Agulhas dominates the Indian Ocean heat and freshwater budgets. Variability in the Agulhas Current impacts regional weather over Southern Africa and can alter global climate through the transport of warm and salty waters to the Atlantic Ocean, which impacts the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. Under climate change, the Indian Ocean has warmed rapidly while the Agulhas Current has broadened and cooled, while maintaining a constant volume transport. This suggests that the full depth structure of the temperature, salinity, and velocity of the current need to be considered to understand ongoing changes. The goal of this project is to quantify the variability and changes in transports of different water masses within the Agulhas Current from six high-accuracy repeat hydrographic crossings that occurred over 1987-2023. This analysis will also serve as a framework for understanding changes that may occur in other western boundary currents, such as the Gulf Stream and Kuroshio. The student-led Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) workshop at the University of Alaska Fairbanks will be supported, and a graduate student will be trained. The graduate student will participate in the GRFP workshop and submit a fellowship application under mentorship from the principal investigator. Diagnosing changes to the heat and freshwater fluxes of the ocean is essential for understanding how ocean circulation changes are altering climate. It is often assumed that the changing ocean circulation can be monitored through volume transports. However, the integrated volume transport of the Agulhas Current has not changed over recent decades, but the horizontal and vertical structure of the current velocity has changed. Therefore, a thorough investigation of changing heat and freshwater fluxes must consider the changing transports of different water masses -- not only the integrated transport. This project will directly estimate trends in Agulhas Current water mass transports from existing publicly available, high quality repeat hydrographic crossings. The Agulhas Current impacts the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, and thus global climate, primarily through its freshwater flux. Understanding water mass transport trends will elucidate whether a trend in freshwater flux may be present without a trend in volume transport. Physical drivers of water mass transport trends will be determined using a heave/spice decomposition. These analyses will provide a crucial point of comparison for models and reanalyses. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2025 · 2025-09

This award supports a collaboration between the University of Alaska, Fairbanks and the University of New Hampshire to study structure formation in collisionless plasmas. Most observable matter in the universe, including the Sun and other stars, exists in the plasma state. Many of these plasmas, such as the solar wind, are referred to as 'collisionless' because the constituent charged plasma particles very rarely interact directly. A collisionless plasma can form substructures that are sometimes stable and sometimes not, on scales much larger than the size of individual plasma particles but much smaller than the scale of the plasma itself. The study of how these structures evolve will contribute to our understanding of many space and laboratory plasma phenomena such as magnetic reconnection, may improve our ability to predict space weather, and may advance the development of nuclear fusion as a viable energy source. This project will support the training of graduate students at both institutions and will contribute to local education and outreach activities. The main objective of this project is to theoretically and computationally study the global stability and nonlinear relaxation of localized small-scale kinetic structures that are fundamental to the basic properties of collisionless magnetized plasmas. The global stability and nonlinear relaxation of analytic Vlasov-Poisson-Ampère equilibria will be studied, as well as the dynamical evolution of more generic initial conditions, to understand how common these small-scale structures are in realistic plasmas, to determine if a global unstable mode grows much slower than predicted by a local theory, and if an instability saturates to a stable nonlinear equilibrium. New insights in kinetic physics obtained through this project will have fundamental impacts on basic plasma theory, as well as contribute to understanding frontier problems in laboratory, space and astrophysical plasmas including magnetic reconnection, space weather, and the formation of spiral arms in disk galaxies. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2025 · 2025-09

Much of the Arctic is underlain by perennially frozen ground known as permafrost. Over the last few decades, the Arctic is thawing and destabilizing riverbanks and affecting infrastructure, water quality, and fish habitat. Additionally, a significant portion of the United States' natural resources and national security interests are contained within river corridors in Alaska. Arctic and Subarctic Federal, State, and Tribal governments need advanced knowledge and tools to identify and assess more accurately riverbank erosion vulnerability and risk in order to guide local decision-makers. Phase-1 of this work includes an interdisciplinary team of physical and social scientists, land managers, engineering design firms, stakeholders and land owners at local, tribal and federal levels. This team is well positioned to integrate advanced research techniques with community needs to document and forecast ongoing landscape and river changes, and enable the development of pragmatic solutions to protect investments in infrastructure. This project is poised to make an impact with science that informs public policy; increases partnerships between local community members, academia, industry, non-profit, and government sectors; and develops an American workforce in interdisciplinary applied science. This project will develop new state-of-the-art approaches to critical and immediate environmental threats to communities and infrastructure in Arctic Alaska. Solution strategies include: 1) information-based tools for decision making including river-erosion forecasting tools and watershed monitoring networks; and 2) physical solutions to changing rivers including community scale infrastructure to mitigate erosion and siltation and watershed scale solutions. The project will leverage recent advances in Earth science including satellite imagery and novel sub-pixel and machine-learning techniques for change detection, theoretical advances in permafrost erosion and mud transport prediction, low-cost sensor networks for autonomous monitoring of water quality, high-throughput microbial sequencing-as-sensing techniques, and collaborative cyberinfrastructure for watershed monitoring. Solutions will be used to forecast river erosion to protect important infrastructure, increase the ability to mitigate physical risk once identified, and manage water quality for human health and aquatic life. The modeling tools can be broadcast into the future, aiding in decision making that will minimize long-term damage and costs. This project is jointly funded by Regional Resilience Innovation Incubators (R2I2) and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2025 · 2025-09

Use and reuse of long-term ecological data is needed for understanding how biological communities are responding to a changing world. In marine environments, key data includes large-scale patterns such as El Niño, ocean conditions such as sea surface temperature and winds, and biological data such as the distribution and abundance of food resources and marine wildlife. These core data are often collected in non-standardized ways, which makes it a challenge to compare patterns of biological response across different regions or marine ecosystems. The Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) network provides an opportunity to make comparisons between sites as they share similarities in conceptual design and data collection procedures. In this ULTRA-Data project, a team of scientists is harmonizing ecological data from three different LTER sites representing temperate (California Current), subpolar (Northern Gulf of Alaska) and polar (Antarctic Peninsula) marine ecosystems. These three sites are influenced by global-scale processes and each provides comparable local data on ocean conditions, lower trophic level planktonic food resources (euphausiid crustaceans, also known as “krill”), and upper trophic level consumers (seabirds). The investigators are testing the idea that seabird populations and community structure are affected by local ocean conditions (habitat quality) and food resource availability, affected by larger-scale processes as observed during El Niño. Results from this study are helping scientists and marine stakeholders understand how changing ocean conditions and food availability affect marine biological communities. This study is revealing whether large-scale environmental variability is affecting disparate marine ecosystems similarly or if response mechanisms differ between regions. This research is supplying cross-ecosystem knowledge to help inform management and conservation. The scientists are also training younger researchers, including early-career scientists, graduate students, and an undergraduate intern. This project addresses a gap in our understanding of how marine biological communities respond to environmental change by conducting cross-ecosystem syntheses on the climate responses of geographically disparate but functionally analogous prey and predator communities. Seabird communities are an ideal metric for regional comparisons, as their local distribution and abundance can reflect both short-term and long-term ecosystem dynamics, and geographically unrelated seabird communities retain similar functional compositions (e.g. divers vs. fliers, planktivores vs. piscivores, etc.). By leveraging data available from three different Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites, this project is testing how local ocean conditions affect seabird abundance, diversity, and community composition across the California Current Ecosystem (CCE), Northern Gulf of Alaska (NGA), and Antarctic Peninsula (PAL). These three regions represent temperate, subpolar and polar ecosystems, yet are structurally linked by large-scale Pacific climate modes including the El Niño Southern Oscillation, Pacific Decadal Oscillation, and Southern Annular Mode. The three LTER sites have collected similar long-term datasets on oceanography (hydrographic casts), prey (net-sampled euphausiids), and seabirds (at-sea visual observation surveys). Data are thus being harmonized into 30+ year datasets to investigate bottom-up linkages between climate modes, local oceanographic patterns, and local prey/predator variability. Generalized Additive Mixed Models (GAMMs) and Hierarchical Modeling of Species Communities (HMSC) are being used to test biophysical relationships, including the evaluation of temporal effects such as direct and lagged effects of climate mode variability. The integrative and cross-ecosystem framework utilizes valuable data provided by LTER sites, identifies unknown dynamics underlying ecosystem synchrony and divergence, and provides mechanistic perspectives on how regional biophysical processes contribute to productive and globally important ecosystems. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2025 · 2025-08

Volcanoes are dangerous for people living and working nearby because they create ash fall and ash clouds. Mt. Edgecumbe volcano is located in Southeast Alaska, about 15 miles northwest of the City of Sitka. Sitka has 8500 people living there year round, and each summer a few hundred thousand visitors from cruise ships. An eruption from Mt. Edgecumbe will cause problems from ash fall for Alaskans living in the Sitka and Southeast Alaska region, and boats and airplanes traveling downwind from the volcano. In the past, Mt. Edgecumbe had eruptions that created ash fall that covered the Sitka area with more than a foot of ash. Recently, there have been earthquakes and ground movement around the volcano from new magma. Researchers will use rock samples to recreate Mt. Edgecumbe magma and observations of ground movement measured using satellites to estimate the depths within the volcano where magma resides. This project will also examine how the tectonic plates move around the Mt. Edgecumbe region to better understand why the volcano has formed near a transform fault. This type of plate tectonic boundary is not commonly associated with volcanoes. This work will help answer questions about how magma is created in the Earth’s mantle in this unusual location. Together, these results will result in new knowledge such as why Mt. Edgecumbe exists, where magma resides inside the volcano, and what the earthquakes and ground movement might indicate about future eruptions. This work will help volcano scientists decide what future signs of unrest mean and improve eruption forecasts. Researchers will also work with the Sitka Sound Science Center and Sitka Tribe of Alaska to share the results about seismic and volcanic hazards. Researchers will also work with schools to provide hands-on activities in the area and offer training opportunities for community members in volcano science methods. The Mt. Edgecumbe Volcanic Field (MEVF) exists in an unusual tectonic location, in proximity to the Queen Charlotte – Fairweather transform fault, which forms part of the plate boundary between the Pacific and North American plates. The MEVF can produce large, silicic explosive eruptions that have in the past covered the region around Sitka, Alaska, with thick ash deposits. In response to recent seismic and geodetic unrest, this study will use an interdisciplinary approach combining experimental petrology and melt inclusion analyses with geodetic data and models to refine the magma plumbing system model for the MEVF. The outcomes of this work will include a new regional tectonic model that will resolve the cause of magma generation in the region, testing how local extension may play a role in decompression melting feeding the MEVF. Petrology-based magma storage constraints will be combined with recent volcano deformation results that are based on long multi-platform InSAR time series, including tests of how rheological heterogeneities impact the deformation models. Research will also synthesize the tectonic geodesy, volcano deformation, and petrology-based magma plumbing system constraints into a comprehensive unified magma-tectonic model that gives insights into the current state of the MEVF and potential future activity. Ultimately, this project will help inform volcanic unrest in the region and help volcanologists assess the likelihood of future eruptions based on monitoring data. Researchers will also work with the Sitka Sound Science Center and Sitka Tribe of Alaska to share the results about seismic and volcanic hazards. This project is jointly funded by NSF EAR/Chemical Evolution of the Solid Earth and Volcanology and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2025 · 2025-08

This project envisions a prosperous and secure Arctic region focusing on Alaska that can build, maintain, and operate resilient and sustainable coastal and interior civil infrastructure and can adapt to the dynamic marine and terrestrial environmental changes. This vision will be achieved by engaging with Alaskan communities, industry, and local-to-federal government entities, thereby building a pipeline for workforce development of future scientists, engineers, and skilled workers with expertise in Arctic environments. The team will collaborate with the North Slope Borough and the communities in Seward Peninsula to co-develop and implement the solutions to emerging challenges, notably coastal and riverine erosion in the Arctic coastal communities, infrastructure failures induced by permafrost degradation, and flooding. The resilience solutions and technologies, from ideation to implementation, will be co-developed through close collaborations with partners of Indigenous communities, industry, local to federal government, and six academic institutions. The impacts include improved well-being and resilience of individuals and communities in the U.S. Arctic, increased economic competitiveness of the U.S., improved national security, and increased public scientific literacy and public engagement with science and technology. The project will generate new understanding of how the Earth system (including the northern and northwestern Alaska region, permafrost, and coast-land interface) changes, and its interactions with the built and sociocultural systems, thus building the foundational knowledge base to develop solutions to emerging problems. At the end of Phase-1, the project will (1) identify and specify the solutions needed to address the U.S. Arctic challenges from permafrost degradation, erosion, and flooding, (2) identify data gaps and devise approaches to collect new data for the technology development, (3) define specific requirements for the technologies and solutions, and (4) identify application sites for the technologies and solutions and collaborating partners. Project costs and feasibility in translation of research to solutions will be demonstrated by conducting techno-economic analysis on enabling technologies and system-level solutions. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2025 · 2025-07

The University of Alaska, Fairbanks (UAF) in collaboration with the University of Washington (UW) and University of Rhode Island (URI) propose to pilot a Shared Unified Research Fleet IT Support (SURF-IT) program for the US Academic Research Fleet (ARF). SURF-IT aims to establish a Managed Service Provider (MSP) to deliver essential IT and cybersecurity support to the ARF. By leveraging shared resources among UAF, UW, and URI, SURF-IT proposes to provide cost-effective, centralized technical services. This initiative will enhance operational efficiency, ensure robust cyberinfrastructure, and address the gap in dedicated IT support within the ARF. Oceanographic research vessels in the ARF provide at-sea laboratories that support scientists, engineers, post-doctoral scholars, graduate and undergraduate students as well as technicians and teachers as they pursue fundamental research in the marine environment. The principal impact of the present proposal is under Merit Review Criterion 2 of the Proposal Guidelines (NSF 23-525). It will provide fundamental support for cybersecurity and cyberinfrastructure to technicians, science, and crew for NSF-funded oceanographic research projects (which individually undergo separate review by the relevant research program of NSF). This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2025 · 2025-07

The National Science Foundation (NSF) EPSCoR Graduate Fellowship Program (EGFP) supports EGFP designated institutions and programs in EPSCoR jurisdictions by providing funding for graduate fellowships for new or continuing EGFP-eligible applicants. EGFP supports a total of three years of stipend and associated cost-of-education (COE) allowance for each NSF EPSCoR Graduate Fellow. This award at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) will support 12 EPSCoR Graduate Fellows whose research will align with the unique goals and programs supported by the Directorate for Biological Sciences (BIO), Directorate for Geosciences (GEO), and NSF EPSCoR. The project will recruit high achieving students from throughout the United States to pursue marine ecosystem research and earn a PhD degree at UAF. The rich marine ecosystems of Alaska support commercially important fisheries and emerging industries within the blue economy. Effective management of these resources requires a well-prepared workforce in marine science. EMERGE_Alaska will contribute to enhancing the research capacity of Alaska, growing the highly desired workforce in the marine sciences, and transmitting relevant knowledge to coastal and marine communities in Alaska and throughout the United States. The research carried out by EMERGE_Alaska Fellows will be supported by their advisors’ externally funded projects and partnerships, and will address fundamental questions about the physiology, evolution and ecology of marine and freshwater organisms, the physical, chemical, geological and biological processes driving the productivity and function of the ocean, and the roles that humans play in promoting and maintaining healthy ecosystems through natural resource management and stewardship. The EMERGE_Alaska Program seeks to enhance graduate education and marine ecosystem research in Alaska, and contribute to a well-prepared workforce in the marine sciences. The program is anchored on four interactive components: academic training, research and innovation, professional development, and student success support. EMERGE_Alaska will be housed in the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences (CFOS), which has three departments: Fisheries, Marine Biology, and Oceanography. Fellows will be enrolled in PhD programs within CFOS, collaborate with federal and state agencies to conduct impactful research in the Arctic and Subarctic, develop academic-industry partnerships, and engage with local communities. Fellows will be entrained into graduate student support programs within UAF and CFOS and will be paired with CFOS faculty with similar research interests, who will serve as their main advisors. Professional development opportunities will be available to Fellows throughout their entire graduate school experience through formal coursework, workshops, participation in scientific societies, conferences, and Alaska EPSCoR sponsored events. With the four interactive components of the program, Fellows will be in excellent positions to conduct innovative research that is relevant to Alaska, advances marine ecological research, and enhances the marine sciences-related workforce. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2025 · 2025-07

The University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) requests funds for oceanographic instrumentation that are needed to carry out NSF-supported scientific research on board the R/V Sikuliaq, a vessel operating as part of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet (ARF). The specific suite of instrumentation requested includes a shallow water multibeam system which would significantly enhance the vessel’s ability to support a wide range of oceanographic and environmental research; a fisheries sonar suite that would replace an aging system; and a new sub-bottom profiling system processing unit that has reached end-of-life. The combined purchase and installation of these systems would benefit from a planned shipyard in 2026 and would ensure the vessel maintains its high-level capabilities to support NSF-funded research. The principal impact of the present proposal is under Merit Review Criterion 2 of the Proposal Guidelines (NSF 23-525). It provides infrastructure support for scientists to use the vessel and its shared-use instrumentation in support of their NSF-funded oceanographic research projects (which individually undergo separate review by the relevant research program of NSF). The acquisition, maintenance, and operation of shared-use instrumentation allows NSF-funded researchers from any US university or other organization access to well-maintained, high-quality, calibrated instruments for their research. It ensures the collection of high-quality oceanographic data in support of science, reduces the cost of that research, and expands the base of potential researchers. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2025 · 2025-06

Amplified warming in the Arctic may be triggering a surge of mass movements. In the Brooks Range of northern Alaska, slow-moving, frozen landslides (Frozen Debris Lobes; FDLs) are becoming noticeably more active, and they now threaten critical infrastructure like the Trans Alaska Pipeline and Dalton Highway. Unlike other sectors of the cryosphere (glaciers, sea ice), little is known about how responsive frozen mass movements have been to past episodes of climate warming and cooling. For instance, it is unknown when today’s period of enhanced mass movement began in the southern Brooks Range, what climatic conditions triggered it, and how unusual it is compared to the last several centuries. Moreover, a lack of knowledge about how topography and land cover influence the climate sensitivity of frozen mass movements has prevented researchers from predicting where and when new mass movements may emerge in our warmer future. The main aim of this project is to use geomorphic monitoring, remote sensing, and the growth records of trees growing atop FDLs to determine the seasonality and interannual variability of FDL instability over the last ~300 yrs. By comparing reconstructed FDL instability with remote sensing and climate records, researchers will use the past climate sensitivity of these natural hazards to assess the future risk they pose as Arctic warming accelerates. This project will focus on actively moving FDLs in the Central Brooks Range, some of which encroach upon the Dalton Highway and the Trans Alaska Pipeline System corridor. Preliminary tree-ring data indicate that episodes of ground instability associated with FDL movement are recorded in the annual records of the old-growth white spruce trees growing on the FDLs. For the long-term reconstruction of FDL dynamics, researchers will use dendrogeomorphic techniques on 15 FDLs to generate annually resolved records of multi-centennial FDL instability. To monitor sub-seasonal ground movement and tree-growth variability, dendrometers, tiltmeters, and on-site climate records will be used at one FDL location. Quantitative wood anatomy will also be used to detail the seasonality of past movement episodes. Remote sensing will be employed to assess interannual rates of movement in ~160 FDLs in the region since 1955. Daily historical and gridded monthly climate data as well as topo-geomorphic parameters will be fed into a Hierarchical Bayesian Modeling Framework to aggregate site reconstructions and to derive regional trends/drivers of FDL behavior. This project will test three hypotheses: (i) FDL instability is sensitive to changes in air temperature and precipitation, including snow accumulation and heavy summer rainstorms; (ii) the extent/rate of FDL instability was first enhanced during post-Little Ice Age warming; (iii) recent instability is unprecedented both in extent and rate over the past 300 yrs. As FDL activity is thought to be a harbinger of more widespread slope instability in the Arctic, these results will help answer the fundamental question of how Arctic landscapes respond to ongoing change. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2025 · 2025-05

This project is a collaboration between the University of California - Merced and University of Alaska Fairbanks. Climate change and the overuse of natural resources are causing significant shifts in ecological communities, leading to novel states that lack modern equivalents. These changes often result in reduced species diversity and fewer interactions between species. To predict how future ecosystems will respond, it is essential to study the dynamics of past ecosystems, especially those from the distant past. Earth's history includes environmental disturbances of similar magnitude and direction to what we are experiencing today, and the imprints of these events are left on ancient ecological communities that are recorded in the fossil and historical record. This research aims to uncover how marine communities have responded to climate change and resource exploitation in the past, focusing on the evolution of large-bodied filter-feeding baleen whales and their apex predators near the Eocene-Oligocene transition, as well as the more recent anthropogenic impacts of industrialized fishing on these species. By studying these evolutionary and anthropogenic shifts, the aim is to reveal how past changes have shaped marine food web structures and their broader ecological function, providing insight into the potential future of marine ecosystems. The project will support the training of graduate student researchers at the University of California Merced and the University of Alaska Fairbanks. This project introduces a novel framework for reconstructing and analyzing the dynamics of historical and paleo-ecosystems, connecting physiological constraints of species to community structure. The aim is to address three primary questions: (1) Do species interactions predict specific body size constraints shaping marine communities throughout the Cenozoic? By integrating bioenergetic and generalized dynamic models, we will explore how energetic flows among small groups of interacting species (motifs) influence population persistence. (2) How do the dynamics of size-structured species interactions provide insight into structural constraints of food webs? The objective is to assess interaction feasibility based on body size and predict structural constraints in broader community contexts. (3) How do the dynamic limitations of size-structured species interactions impact the stability of Cenozoic marine food webs? This study will evaluate how ancient marine community changes resulted in unique ecosystem structures, offering insights into current and future marine ecosystems impacted by climate change and exploitation. The proposed integrative modeling approach aims to uncover new insights into the structuring forces of ecological communities and pave the way for reconstructing the dynamics of no-analog paleo and historical food webs. By improving our ability to predict and understand the complexities of past, present, and future ecosystems, the proposed approach, rooted in fundamental energetic trade-offs, can be broadly extended to communities across various timescales, from pre-Cenozoic to future climate scenarios yet to be experienced. This project is jointly funded by the Mathematical Biology Program in the Division of Mathematical Sciences and the Office of Polar Programs Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2025 · 2025-05

This RAPID project will support the participation of US scientists in a field campaign named the Dynamics of Emissions, Nucleation, and Aerosols to predict Land-atmosphere-climate Interactions (DENALI). This campaign is being led by the University of Helsinki in Finland. The project features a comparative analysis of biogenic volatile organic compound emissions between the boreal forests in Hyytiälä and those in North America. Differences in the biogenic emissions from these forests can lead to differences in oxidation chemistry and new particle formation, with implications for atmospheric composition. A CAPS NOX-NO2 instrument will be deployed at the Delta Junction site in Alaska from May of 2025 to August of 2025 to supplement the suite of instruments supported by European colleagues. This measurement is important because NOx may significantly influence new particle formation processes. The NOx measurement also will provide a fundamental understanding of the fate of organic peroxy radicals that can affect the formation of highly oxygenated organic molecules (HOMs) in this environment. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2025 · 2025-04

This project provides funding for the Research Vessel Sikuliaq to conduct oceanographic research missions supported by the National Science Foundation. The oceanographic research vessels of the Academic Research Fleet (ARF), operated by the academic institutions within the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) framework are multi-use facilities used to expand knowledge of the ocean environment. The surface work of these ships is complemented by human-occupied, remotely operated, and autonomous undersea vehicles and sensors that provide vital tools to understand the oceans and their resources. These seagoing research and educational facilities enable scientists and students to study natural phenomena and train future scientists while on board state-of-the-art oceanographic research vessels utilizing high-quality instrumentation. The ship operators will also conduct learning activities for students and the general public including hands-on demonstrations of marine science research guided by faculty, students, and ship crew members. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2025 · 2025-04

This project aims to serve the national interest by implementing a relatively new, and innovative, pedagogical approach, "Drawing as an Interdisciplinary Pedagogy," to support undergraduate student success, specifically in difficult, undergraduate Human Anatomy and Physiology courses and, more broadly, in STEM. It is generally accepted that there is a positive association between feelings of well-being and academic achievement for many students. While arts-based teaching approaches are known to support science content memorization and recall, less is known about the importance of the role of drawing in supporting other dimensions of student success in undergraduate science, such as understanding and explaining concepts. This Level 2 Engaged Science Learning project aims to investigate the relationship between the act of drawing and student achievement and engagement in science. The goal of this project is to bring science and art faculty together to design and implement process-focused, interdisciplinary drawing exercises. These drawings are not intended to be used for determining students' course grades, rather they may be useful for assessing when students have misconceptions about difficult anatomy and physiology concepts. In addition, the importance of the act of drawing in thinking about science concepts is to be investigated, helping to answer questions about how the act of drawing itself influences learning anatomy and physiology and how it might increase scientific competencies in students through the development of keen observations. Interviews, surveys, and analysis of drawings are intended to investigate student science learning and changes in areas of science well-being, such as science engagement, science self-efficacy, and sense of belonging in science. The project also plans to track changes in outcomes such as STEM persistence and to broadly share the project approach and findings across the state of Alaska and nationally through workshops and presentations. The NSF IUSE: EDU Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2025 · 2025-03

Landfast sea ice, which typically forms and breaks up every year along Arctic coasts, is an important link between the land and sea. People living in Alaskan Arctic coastal communities depend on landfast sea ice for hunting and travel. These communities report that landfast ice is becoming less stable and request better predictions about the seasonal evolution of landfast sea ice. This research will study how the ocean affects landfast sea ice, especially during the spring and autumn seasonal transitions. The investigator will measure ocean temperature, waves, and currents using buoys, ships, and instruments installed in the ice. These observations, which the investigator will share with the North Slope Borough Search and Rescue department, can be integrated with local knowledge to ensure travel and hunting activities are completed safely. The results of the study will improve ice forecasting, including better predictions of rapid ice breakup events. The investigator will involve an undergraduate student and local community members in this research. This research will study oceanographic processes driving nearshore and landfast ice evolution during the breakup and freeze-up seasons, evaluating the relative contributions of thermodynamic and dynamic processes. The first objective of this research is to understand the coupled evolution of the ocean wave field and nearshore ice at daily timescales and kilometer spatial scales. This project’s observations of the air-ice-ocean system will resolve the evolution of wave attenuation rates and the nearshore ice edge’s location in response to wave forcing. The investigator will use these data to study feedbacks between wind- and wave-driven ice drift, ice edge compactness, and wave attenuation in the diverse ice types of the nearshore ice pack. The results from this part of the study will adapt parameterizations developed for the offshore marginal ice zone to the nearshore environment. The second objective of this research is to understand how the ocean contributes to landfast ice breakup via currents, waves, or sea level changes. Using concurrent observations of the atmosphere, ice, and ocean, this study will identify oceanographic variables that destabilize the landfast ice and precondition breakup. The results from this part of the study will connect local ice dynamics to readily available (larger scale) weather and ocean predictions. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2025 · 2025-02

The increasing concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere has significant impacts on global climate. It is imperative to explore new materials for CO2 capture. The goal of this fellowship project is to collaborate with NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) to develop new porous sorbents for CO2 capture at low pressures by exploiting defects in metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). The advances of this project will be transformative in guiding the design of effective CO2 solid sorbents and economics of carbon capture. This will enable economic activity to flourish and increase economic competitiveness of the United States. This work will benefit society by providing fundamental scientific understanding of the defective MOF (DMOF) structural properties that exert the greatest control over enhanced CO2 capture. This fellowship will support the PI in transforming her career trajectory and further developing her research potential in developing new sorbents for gas adsorption and separation, water treatment, and energy storage. The University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF)-ARC partnership resulting from this fellowship will have a lasting impact on research and workforce development at UAF. It also expands UAF’s capabilities to better serve the public industry, State and Federal agencies, and Alaska’s science community. The increasing concentration of atmospheric CO2 has significant impacts on global climate. Currently, porous sorbents developed for CO2 capture are less effective at low pressures because of poor CO2 selectivity. We propose that the interior of MOFs can be engineered by creating defects through post-synthetic treatments to impart coordinatively unsaturated sites, thereby increasing CO2 adsorption capacity by increasing CO2 affinity to MOF at low pressures. The PI will collaborate with NASA ARC to examine the crystal structures of DMOFs to obtain fundamental knowledge of defect chemistry in DMOFs and understand how structural defects affect CO2 capture. The research objectives are: (1) design and fabricate DMOFs and elucidate the relationship between defect-inducing variables of post-synthetic treatments and the properties of structural defects; (2) measure CO2 adsorption capacity in DMOFs and investigate the structure-property-performance relationship of DMOFs in CO2 capture. This project provides fundamental knowledge in understanding how structural defects can improve CO2 capture in MOFs at low pressures. This will advance the current state of knowledge and provide new strategies for creating DMOFs with targeted CO2 adsorption properties at low pressures. These results will be useful to researchers focused on solid sorbents for many applications important to national prosperity and competitiveness. A fundamental understanding of structure-property-performance relationships of DMOFs in CO2 capture will drive new design strategies for solid sorbents beyond current performance limits for applications such as hydrogen storage and adsorptive separations. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2025 · 2025-01

This research fellowship aims to address the significant challenges in the development of secondary batteries, particularly the risks of spontaneous combustion and explosion due to thermal runaway. By focusing on improving battery thermal management systems, this research seeks to control temperatures within safe limits and ensure temperature uniformity between batteries. Oscillating heat pipes (OHPs) present a promising solution for efficient thermal management due to their high heat transfer capability, passive operation, and flexibility in design. The adoption of OHPs can lead to improved battery safety, enhanced performance, and extended lifespan, making them an attractive cooling solution for high-capacity batteries. Through this project, the Principal Investigator (PI) will collaborate with NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) to leverage their expertise in battery testing and software. This collaboration will provide the PI with access to advanced tools and techniques, enhancing the understanding and application of OHP technology. The outcomes of this research will not only advance the field of thermal transport but they will also have broader impacts, such as improving energy efficiency, extending the lifespan of batteries in cold climates, and supporting education and workforce development in STEM fields for underserved populations and Alaska Native communities. The proposed research will experimentally evaluate the heat transfer performance of an OHP-assisted cooling system for high-capacity batteries. The study will investigate the transient heat transfer characteristics of OHPs during the rapid charging and discharging of batteries, identifying potential thermal management issues and operational limits under severe thermal conditions, including transient heating, localized intensive heating, and low temperatures. The research will explore the effects of various factors such as working fluid, fluid fill ratio, location of heating, and size on the performance of OHPs. A key innovation of this project is the introduction of a volume-adjustable OHP design, which allows for easy adjustment of the fluid fill ratio to identify optimal operating conditions. The outcomes of this research will enhance battery safety and performance, reduce energy consumption, and improve battery lifespan in cold climates. By collaborating with NASA GRC, the PI will gain valuable insights into the performance and operational limitations of OHPs, significantly contributing to the advancement of this technology. The fellowship will also support a graduate student’s visit to NASA GRC and serve as a starting point to solve the problems of low-temperature-operating secondary batteries to be used in the future decarbonized energy in cold areas. The research outcomes will enhance national research capacity and competitiveness in cold climate research, establishing a research program focused on high-capacity batteries at extremely low temperatures. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2025 · 2025-01

This project addresses challenges in constructing lunar infrastructure, specifically the high costs and risks associated with transporting materials to the Moon, exacerbated by its harsh environment. By utilizing lunar in-situ resources, the project aims to enable sustainable and cost-effective lunar construction, crucial for advancing human exploration of Mars, conducting scientific research, and potentially establishing human settlements beyond Earth. The project focuses on developing Lunar Thermochemically Activated Concrete (LTAC), a non-hydraulic cementitious composite designed to withstand lunar extremes. Aligned with NASA's Lunar Construction Capability Development Roadmap, LTAC is intended for diverse lunar applications including landing pads, habitats, and transportation infrastructure. The project contributes to scientific advancements by improving construction techniques for extraterrestrial environments, supporting national space exploration objectives. Additionally, it aims to enhance educational opportunities in STEM fields and potentially foster societal benefits by promoting sustainable living beyond Earth. This effort ensures American global leadership in space technology through the development of advanced materials, structures, and manufacturing capabilities, as well as facilitating access to extraterrestrial resources. The LTAC utilizes lunar regolith as its primary raw material and employs a novel thermochemical process that combines alkali activation with thermal processing under vacuum conditions. Research in this fellowship program focuses on designing, developing, and evaluating LTAC, with an emphasis on assessing its microstructural and engineering properties. Computational modeling complements experimental investigations, enhancing the understanding of LTAC synthesis and its performance in lunar environments. Project objectives include formulating LTAC mixture designs and synthesis parameters to meet engineering specifications for lunar construction, refining LTAC properties through rigorous testing under lunar conditions (including temperature variations, thermal cycling, abrasion, and impact), and developing models to optimize LTAC design and predict its performance in lunar settings. Furthermore, the project aims to broaden participation and integrate educational activities by creating research opportunities, outreach programs, and incorporating project outcomes into educational curricula and workforce development initiatives. Collaboration with NASA's Glenn Research Center provides essential support for simulating lunar conditions, including isobaric temperature cycling and impact testing, crucial for evaluating material performance in lunar-like environments. The project's intellectual merits lie in developing a novel thermochemical activation process for casting construction composites using locally sourced materials without water at low temperatures, applicable to both lunar regolith and terrestrial aluminosilicate materials. Integrating regolith derivatives like glass fragments and cast basalt enhances LTAC's structural stability and resilience in lunar settings. The vacuum curing process aligns with lunar construction conditions, aiming to advance lunar construction technology and establish sustainable and resilient infrastructure on the Moon. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2025 · 2025-01

This project provides funding for the Research Sikuliaq to conduct oceanographic research missions supported by the National Science Foundation. The oceanographic research vessels of the Academic Research Fleet (ARF), operated by the academic institutions within the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) framework are multi-use facilities used to expand knowledge of the ocean environment. The surface work of these ships is complemented by human-occupied, remotely operated, and autonomous undersea vehicles and sensors that provide vital tools to understand the oceans and their resources. These seagoing research and educational facilities enable scientists and students to study natural phenomena and train future scientists while on board state-of-the-art oceanographic research vessels utilizing high-quality instrumentation. The ship operators will also conduct learning activities for students and the general public including hands-on demonstrations of marine science research guided by faculty, students and ship crew members. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.