ALASKA: NSF announces a new EPSCoR Track-1 award to combat climate change in Alaska

The U.S. National Science Foundation has awarded Alaska with $20 million through the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) program, which is designed to build research and development capacity, competitiveness and education in U.S. states and territories that have not received the levels of investment seen in other parts of the country.   

The five-year Research Infrastructure Improvement Track-1 award will help Alaska assess the impact of climate change on local communities, develop methods to respond to challenges and create programs to educate future generations of researchers. 

"Science, technology, and innovation-based solutions for mitigation, adaptation, and resilience to climate events are increasingly important to our nation's communities," said NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan. "This important EPSCoR award will help build resiliency to climate risks unique to Alaska, educate their citizens, protect infrastructure and safeguard the state's economic future."