NNA Community Newsletter

February 2023 Issue

• Call for Flash Talks: NNA-CO Community Engagement Session at the Alaska Tribal Conference on Environmental Management
• PSECCO's Spring 2023 Conference Travel Grant Applications Now Open
• Colorado Social for Polar Scientists
• Special Journal Issue of Ecology and Society: Convergent Science for Sustainable Regional Systems
• NSF Dear Colleague Letter: Supporting Workshops to Develop a Strategy for the NSF Arctic Observing Network (AON) Program
• Dr. Colleen Strawhacker selected as Program Director in the NSF Arctic Sciences Section
• NNA Project Highlight - Groundwater treatment, delivery and use in rural Alaska
• Upcoming Events

Call for Flash Talks: NNA-CO Community Engagement Session at the Alaska Tribal Conference on Environmental Management

March 21, 2023 - 9:45-10:45am AKT | In-person & virtual

The NNA-CO will be hosting a Community Engagement session during the Alaska Tribal Conference on Environmental Management (ATCEM) and invites NNA projects to submit pre-recorded flash talks and attend a meet & greet with interested Tribal community members. Flash talks will center around 1) how they seek to support, collaborate, and/or partner with interested Tribal leaders, organizations and Alaska Native communities, and 2) work across knowledge systems, languages, and disciplines in the interest of centering Indigenous community priorities and concerns in co-developed research projects, processes, and outcomes.

If you have interest in providing a 5-minute pre-recorded flash talk and attending the meet & greet with interested Tribal community members (indicate whether you will be attending in-person or virtually), please reach out to Karli Tyance Hassell (ktyancehassell@alaskapacific.edu), NNA-CO Indigenous Engagement Coordinator, by March 7th, 2023.

PSECCO's Spring 2023 Conference Travel Grant Applications Now Open

Colorado Social for Polar Scientists

March 23, 2023 - 7-9pm MT @ Rayback Collective in Boulder, Colorado

The NNA-CO is partnering with the Polar Science Early Career Community Office (PSECCO) to host an in-person social gathering for Colorado-based polar scientists and early career researchers in Boulder, CO on March 23, 2023. The event will take place from 7-9pm MT at the Rayback Collective located at 2775 Valmont Rd. Join us for some mixer activities, followed by unstructured social time. 

Please click the RSVP button to let us know you'll be attending.

Special Journal Issue of Ecology and Society: Convergent Science for Sustainable Regional Systems

“Convergence research is an emerging approach to navigating the complexity of rapidly changing ecological and social systems and the challenges they face (Angler et al. 2020). 

This Special Feature will highlight convergence-based research in order to advance both theoretical conceptualization and practical outcomes associated with a convergence science approach. It will explore the challenges associated with convergence research.

If you are interested in contributing to the Special Journal Issue, please submit a proposed abstract by March 31, 2023.”

Click the image to learn more.

NSF Dear Colleague Letter: Supporting Workshops to Develop a Strategy for the NSF Arctic Observing Network (AON) Program

Through this Dear Colleague Letter (DCL), the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Section for Arctic Sciences (ARC) of the Office of Polar Programs (OPP) announces plans to support workshops to identify key science drivers as well as critical infrastructure and technology needs to strengthen the NSF Arctic Observing Network (AON) Program.

Read more here.

Dr. Colleen Strawhacker selected as Program Director in the NSF Arctic Sciences Section

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced that Dr. Colleen Strawhacker has been selected as a Permanent Federal Program Director in the NSF Office of Polar Programs Arctic Sciences Section.

Dr. Strawhacker came to NSF in 2018 as a Visiting Scientist (VSEE) and serves as a Program Officer for the Arctic System Science, Arctic Research Coordination and Policy Support, and Navigating the New Arctic Programs.

Dr. Strawhacker earned her PhD in Anthropology from Arizona State University in 2013, where she focused on the archaeology of climate-driven risk to food security in the U.S. Southwest and the North Atlantic. Her expertise includes convergent research approaches spanning the natural and social sciences and developing cyberinfrastructure approaches for the social sciences and Indigenous Knowledge. She spent the first part of her career working on the interplay between humans and their environment in the U.S. Southwest and then transitioned to working in the Arctic during a postdoctoral position at the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Groundwater treatment, delivery and use in rural Alaska

In rural Alaska, groundwater does not freeze in the winter and, based on regulations, requires less treatment than surface water. However, groundwater can contain naturally occurring elements (e.g., arsenic, manganese, iron) that pose a persistent treatment challenge. The Groundwater treatment, delivery and use in rural Alaska project team is working to identify factors that affect treatment, delivery and use of drinking water in rural Alaska. Their focus is on communities that currently do or could access groundwater. 

During the COVID pandemic, the project team conducted 20 semi-structured interviews with engineers, program managers, service providers, and researchers involved with drinking water projects across rural Alaska. Questions were designed to uncover attributes contributing toward successful or failed projects with additional probing about groundwater; however, respondents spoke about all water sources. Responses revealed the importance of built (i.e., operation and maintenance), social (i.e., community buy-in and affordability), and natural (i.e., water availability) factors. The team noted that most attributes could directly influence or be influenced by built-system factors, indicating that water-system designs can enable success by considering climate, geography, cultures, preferences, and economic realities of rural Alaska. 

The project team is currently interviewing members of ten communities located in the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta that use groundwater as their treated water source. They are interviewing 2-3 water users per community and seeking perspectives from women, men, and at least one Elder. Interviews have been conducted in both Yup’ik and English, and explore the various water sources individuals use, treatment and delivery in the past and present, and what people expect and hope for in the future. 

For more information, please contact Becca Neumann at rbneum@uw.edu.

Figure from: Thelemaque, N.; Cotherman, A.; Pearson, R.; Eichelberger, L.; Neumann, R.B.; Kaminsky, J.A. Identifying the Built, Natural, and Social Factors of Successful and Failed Rural Alaskan Water Projects: Perspectives from State and Regional Professionals. ACS EST Water 2022, doi:10.1021/acsestwater.2c00201.

NNA-CO Community Engagement Session at ATCEM 2023

• March 21, 2023 - 9:45-10:45am AKT

Colorado Social for Polar Scientists

• March 23, 2023 - 7-9pm MT @ Rayback Collective in Boulder, Colorado