The University of the Arctic (UArctic)

The University of the Arctic (UArctic) IPY Higher Education and Outreach cluster is composed of a wide-ranging group of projects that reflect a diverse set of approaches to satisfying the higher education and outreach needs of IPY. Originally comprised of 18 projects [original cluster] that had submitted IPY Expressions of Intent (EoIs), the cluster was an integral part of UArctic’s IPY proposal, The University of the Arctic: Providing Higher Education and Outreach Programs for the International Polar Year, submitted in September 2005 and endorsed in November 2005. At the core of the cluster are UArctic and the International Antarctic Institute (IAI). Endorsed by the IPY Joint Committee, they are responsible for the coordination and delivery of higher education and outreach in the Northern and Southern hemispheres, respectively, during IPY.

The cluster projects cover a range of topics, including workshops and conferences, course development, undergraduate research opportunities and interdisciplinary graduate programs. The projects are in various stages of planning, execution and completion. Some have not yet been funded, and some are no longer being actively pursued. Four new projects have joined the cluster since its original inception. A table that includes PI information and a short description of each project that is actively being pursued is available here. At right are links to UArctic news items related to several of the cluster projects.

In June 2008, cluster project representatives attended a breakout session at the annual UArctic Council Meeting.  A list of participants and a brief report on the session can be found here.

A brief sampling of projects, below, illustrates the diversity represented by the cluster.

• The International Sea-Ice Summer School (Peter Haugan, PI) was held 2-13 July 2007 at the University Centre in Svalbard, bringing together over ninety participants (primarily graduate students) to learn from the world’s foremost experts in the field of sea-ice research. Besides facilitating a rich sharing of information, the summer school aimed to inspire and stimulate networking and cooperation within the sea-ice research community. See web site at http://www.seaice.info.



















• EarthSLOT: An Earth Science, Logistics and Outreach Terrainbase for the IPY (Matt Nolan, PI) has created an exciting IPY layer for the popular application GoogleEarth which is highlighted on main page of the International IPY website.

• GLOBE IPY Seasons & Biomes (Elena Sparrow, PI) and Ice e-Mysteries (Andy Baird, PI) are two examples of projects involving primary and/or secondary teachers and their students. The focus of Seasons & Biomes is monitoring the interannual variability of seasons in different biomes worldwide as part of climate change studies. The Ice e-Mysteries project is an on-line writing collaboration in which partnered middle school classrooms in Alaska and Australia create fictional storybooks with accurate polar science themes. The two projects held a joint workshop at the University of Alaska Fairbanks In June 2008.



















• Another cluster project, Nutshimiu Atusseun: Opening Paradigms for Education in the North (OPEN) (Trudy Sable, PI), is a collaborative effort involving Saint Mary’s University, the Innu Nation of Labrador, the University of Alaska, the Smithsonian Institution, Memorial University of Newfoundland, and the Tshikapisk Foundation, to develop a sustainable, open learning, certified, model program called the Innu Environmental Guardians Program (IEGP).