A prototype robot that can help monitor climate change will be tested on the Juneau Icefield the week of June 7-13. The “snowmote” is a small two-foot long robot like a snowmobile. It is autonomous (not remote-controlled) and outfitted with sensors, gauges and cameras.

Georgia Tech associate professor Ayanna Howard, who developed the prototype, is scheduled to arrive in Juneau on June 7.  “In order to say with certainty how climate change affects the world’s ice, scientists need accurate data points to validate their climate models,” said Howard.  “Our goal was to create rovers that could gather more accurate data to help scientists create better climate models. It’s definitely science-driven robotics.”

The Juneau visit marks the first time the robot will be put to the test in Alaska.  Howard envisions SnoMotes roving Antarctica collecting important data. Simulations so far have proved effective.

Howard is being hosted by UAS Environmental Science professor Matt Heavner.  “The NASA funded SEAMONSTER project at UAS is serving as a sensor web test bed, and we have been able to collaborate with two different research groups through the NASA funding:  Dr. Ayanna Howard's Snowmote Robot project from Georgia Tech and Dr. Dipa Sura's sensor web control software project from Lockheed Marting/VanderbiltUniversity.  Several UAS faculty and students are interacting with both of these groups,” said Heavner. SEAMONSTER stands for Southeast Alaska Monitoring Network for Science Telecommunications Education and Research.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks announced the creation of the Susan Butcher Institute, dedicated to cultivating public service and leadership skills for Alaska's residents.  The institute will provide Alaskans with opportunities to learn and grow, both personally and professionally, through a wide variety of workshops and seminars.

Butcher’s husband, David Monson, will serve as the institute’s first executive director. Monson will develop a range of programs intended to inspire people, especially youths and emerging leaders, to improve their own communities through public service, volunteerism and taking on new challenges. The institute expects to offer the programs on a regular basis starting in fall 2010.  Butcher was a longtime Alaskan and accomplished outdoorswoman who once summited Mount McKinley by dog team with Iditarod co-founder Joe Redington Sr. She died of acute myelogenous leukemia in 2006. 

A new report from the Massachusetts-based American Academy of Arts and Sciences identifies investment in early-career scientists and encouragement of high-risk, high-reward research as important priorities in preserving U.S. leadership in science and engineering.
Full story at: http://nationalacademies.org/headlines/20080603.html

If you’ve got a good idea for a new product or technology, you might want to check out some interesting grant programs sponsored by the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA). Funded by the Lemelson Foundation, NCIIA now operates three separate grant programs that provide up to $50,000 to support efforts that move innovative products or technologies from the idea stage to prototype. They can also provide grants for innovative education programs focused on the same goal of moving ideas to commercialization. This is a great opportunity for colleges, universities, research institutions, and their students. A new round of funds has just been announced with deadlines in the Fall and Winter of 2008.

Learn more about the grants programs of the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance.

The ACCRA Cost of Living Index for the first quarter 2008 revealed that Anchorage's cost of living ranks near those of other West Coast cities. Anchorage ranked 126.6 overall (the national average ranking is 100), a .4 percent increase from the same time last year. Other cities scoring similarly include Seattle, WA with 121.5 and Portland, OR with 119.9. The most expensive city in the U.S. is New York, NY at 218.8 and the least expensive city in the U.S. is Mason City, IA at 86.2.

The ACCRA Cost of Living Index - published quarterly by The Council for Community and Economic Research - measures regional differences in the cost of consumer goods and services, excluding taxes and non-consumer expenditures, for professional and managerial households in the top income quintile. It is based on more than 50,000 prices covering almost 60 different items for which prices are collected quarterly by chambers of commerce, economic development organizations or university applied economic centers in each participating urban area. More information about the report is available at www.coli.org.

The BEAR is awake. The Alaska Space Grant Program's Balloon Experiment And Research Program, or BEAR, has launched its first balloon from Poker Flat Research Range. The launch marked the culmination of more than five months of work by researchers with Space Grant and the Arctic Amateur Radio Club, which formed the program in December.

The program's aim was to launch a high altitude balloon equipped with two amateur radio signals and more from Poker Flat Research Range in the spring of 2008. The balloon launched last month flew as high as 95,327 feet above Fairbanks in three hours, capturing more than 100 photos and video during its flight.

The balloon had three payloads in tow, all built and designed by Dan Wietchy of the Fairbanks-based Arctic Amateur Radio Club. The packages performed well, allowing BEAR participants to track and document the balloon's flight and its subsequent recovery. The balloon was found less than seven miles from where it was launched at Poker Flat Research Range.

The Alaska Space Grant Program intends to expand BEAR into a larger program that will allow University of Alaska Fairbanks students the opportunity to fly payloads of their own design and to conduct atmospheric research in the spring and fall. Faculty members from the Geophysical Institute already are interested in designing graduate-level courses that will take advantage of this new arena to bolster hands-on student research.

Angel investment in the U.S. in 2007 totaled $26 billion, up only slightly (1.8%) over the year before, according to a report by the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire. However, the number of ventures receiving investments increased 12%, to 57,120; and the average deal size decreased accordingly. Software accounted for the largest share of investments (27%), followed by healthcare (19%) and biotech (12%). Angels continued to be the largest source of seed and start-up capital, with 39% of angel investments in the seed and start-up stage. Overall, angels funded 14% of the deals offered them. Read more about angel investments in 2007 at:
wsbe.unh.edu/files/2007%20Analysis%20Report_0.pdf

Government agencies need to embrace new models of innovation, according to a new report sponsored by the IBM Center for the Business of Government. The study presents a review of new innovation models—dubbed network-based collaborative innovation---that have been pioneered by leading firms such as Procter & Gamble, 3M, and others. This approach links organizations to outside networks (such as customers or other partners) with the purpose of generating a broader and more diverse set of ideas and possible solutions. In the process, the speed of innovation is increased. Many thorny public policy issues, including areas like environmental conservation and disaster response, could benefit from this model. Yet, government agencies are presently not well suited to this approach, which places a high premium on openness and a commitment to close collaboration. The report provides a series of detailed recommendations for internal reforms that will help create the appropriate organizational culture and structures within government agencies.

Download the 2008 IBM Center for the Business of Government-sponsored report, Transforming Government through Collaborative Innovation, by Satish Nambisan.

Thousands of bloggers trot out their latest theories and thoughts about economics or entrepreneurship on an ongoing basis. Surprisingly, however, a rare few seem to focus on the ties that bind the two together. A new entry into the blogosphere by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation aims to fill that gap, examining the linkages between economics and entrepreneurship from a policy point of view. Dedicated to the full range of topics surrounding entrepreneurship, growthology.org will serve as a platform to share thoughts and ideas to enhance faster economic growth, greater individual opportunity, smart government policy, and the expansion of human welfare. Authored by two economists at the Kauffman Foundation, growthology.org will mix short essays with observations on papers, books, speeches, articles and more. Categories of content include such topics as “jobs of the future,” “the evolution of cities” and “law and entrepreneurship.”

Read more from authors Tim Kane and Bob Litan at growthology.org.

Improving fisheries management models, increasing the size of farm-raised oysters, and learning how to raise red and blue king crab in large-scale hatcheries are among the $1.5 million in new projects, activities, and administration of the Alaska Sea Grant College Program over the next two years, the program announced today.

 Alaska Sea Grant is a statewide marine research, education, communication, and extension service based at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences. The program is funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in partnership with the State of Alaska and private industry.  During 2008-2010, researchers will:  

* Examine whether interbreeding between hatchery and wild salmon diminishes the genetic fitness of wild salmon. This study is aimed at further understanding the consequences of interbreeding on Alaska's wild salmon.

* Study ways to improve single-species fishery management models and understand the uncertainties associated with them. Such efforts will improve the scientific advice given to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council and Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

* Study the early stages of red king crab through laboratory studies on growth and field studies on the importance of specific habitats.