ALASKA: EPSCoR co-lead receives research award
Alaska EPSCoR Boreal Fires co-lead Uma Bhatt, professor of atmospheric sciences at the Geophysical Institute and College of Natural Science and Mathematics, has been named winner of this year’s University of Alaska-Fairbanks Emil Usibelli Distinguished Research Award.
Bhatt, who holds a master’s degree and a doctorate in atmospheric sciences, arrived at UAF in 1998. She also has two bachelor’s degrees: one in Russian and another in mechanical engineering.
At UAF, she has conducted wide-ranging research into climate-related phenomena of value to scientists, resource managers and industries. She published a groundbreaking study of the connection between sea ice and tundra vegetation, and she currently leads a worldwide effort to better predict the seasonal extent of sea ice. She also is working on methods to seasonally forecast wildland fire risks.
“It is her facilitation of inclusive and broad community participation that has distinguished Uma and, in the process, made UAF a hub for research on sea ice, wildfire and Arctic vegetative change,” wrote John Walsh, chief scientist at the UAF International Arctic Research Center, in a letter supporting her nomination.
The Usibelli Awards are among the university’s most prestigious awards. They are funded annually from an endowment that Usibelli Coal Mine established in 1992. Each year, a committee that includes members from the UAF faculty, the student body and the UA Foundation board of directors evaluates the nominees. Each winner receives a cash award of $10,000.