NNA Community Newsletter


June 2024 Issue

  • 2025 NNA Annual Community Meeting Update
  • Arctic Coasts Workshop Report
  • Resources Available - Landscape of Tribal Communities: Context for Working in Rural Alaska
  • Training Available - Open Science 101
  • NNA Project Highlight - Reducing Fuel Oil Consumption in Rural Arctic Communities
  • Upcoming Events

2025 NNA Annual Community Meeting Update

The NNA Community Office (NNA-CO) will host the next NNA Annual Community Meeting within Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW) 2025, which will be held in Boulder, Colorado from March 20-28, 2025. 


NNA researchers, students, Indigenous community partners, and other interested groups are invited to propose NNA-relevant sessions and side meetings at ASSW 2025. 


  • The call for sessions is here, and is now open with an extended deadline through June 30, 2024
  • The call for business and community meetings is here, and is open through September 30, 2024.
  • Full details are also available in the First Circular for ASSW 2025.


In addition, the NNA-CO will be organizing a half-day NNA Community Gathering at ASSW 2025 (date and time TBD) and exploring additional opportunities to build community within NNA and to showcase NNA research at this important international gathering. We will share more details in the coming months.

Arctic Coasts Workshop Report

The final report from the NNA-funded Arctic Coasts Workshop, which was held on October 9-11, 2023 at the University of Colorado Boulder, is now available. The workshop, which was a partnership between various NNA projects, brought together a dynamic group of experts to exchange knowledge regarding coastal hazards and impacts, strengthen and expand partnerships, and develop actionable and immediate recommendations for Arctic research and community resilience. The workshop addressed five specific objectives: (1) to share lived experiences, priorities, and needs from rural community participants; (2) to exchange successful experiences from resilient community-driven projects; (3) to build partnerships to form local to international collaborative networks; (4) to identify scientific data gaps, community funding challenges and opportunities, and future goals and proposal strategies; and (5) to lay the groundwork for the recently funded Alaska Coastal Cooperative for Co-producing Transformative Ideas and Opportunities in the North (ACTION), and other communication and research networks. This final report synthesizes participant feedback toward these objectives.

 

Please contact the workshop lead organizer, Professor Ming Xiao (mzx102@psu.edu), at Penn State University for more information.

Photo: workshop participants shown in University of Colorado, Boulder's Sustainability, Energy and Environment Community (SEEC) building.

Resources Available - Landscape of Tribal Communities: Context for Working in Rural Alaska

“Alaska Native Peoples are disproportionately affected by rapid climate change, including shifts in extreme events as well as long-term change. In response, more funding than ever before is being directed toward the Arctic and climate change. Simultaneously, Arctic research is shifting to center Indigenous knowledge and co-production with communities and Tribes.


This energy toward Arctic climate research and Indigenous priorities is both needed and taxing for Tribal communities in Alaska. Adelheid Herrmann, co-investigator at [the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy] (ACCAP), developed a set of resources to help researchers, academics, federal and state agencies working in rural Alaska understand the current landscape and complexities of Tribal communities.”


Learn more about these resources here.

Training Available - Open Science 101

The Open Science 101 curriculum from NASA’s Transform Open Science (TOPS) initiative is a 5-module curriculum designed to equip researchers, students and citizen scientists with the knowledge and skills to navigate the principles and practices of open science, including developing an open science and data management plan. Expand your Open Science expertise and equip yourself with the essential skills required to excel in the realm of open science. Sign up today to embark on your journey towards advancing your open science proficiency and gain your NASA Open Science Certification.



Learn more here.

NNA Project Highlight

Many remote Arctic communities have high energy costs due to energy inefficient buildings and the use of expensive, imported fuel oil for both electricity generation and space heating. Researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks are partnering with the community of Kotzebue, Alaska on a field study to investigate whether displacing fuel oil used for space heating with energy efficiency improvements and renewably generated electricity can substantially reduce households’ energy cost burden, reduce carbon emissions, and increase the renewable energy contribution in islanded microgrids in remote Arctic communities. The project will also extend a microgrid model to consider thermal loads, examine the policy changes required to expand the use of renewably generated electricity for space heating, and create energy education and training opportunities. 


Baseline data on heating fuel oil and electricity consumption for fifteen households is being collected. The households have been split into treatment and control groups. This summer, energy efficiency retrofits will be conducted and electric thermal storage heaters, a type of supplementary heating appliance that will be powered by reduced-price excess wind energy, will be installed. The impact of these treatments on home energy use and costs over the next year will be assessed. 


Project collaborators include the Kotzebue Electric Association, Native Village of Kotzebue, Northwest Arctic Borough, Northwest Arctic Borough School District, T3 Alliance, Renewable Energy Alaska Project (REAP), RurAL CAP, Intelligent Energy Systems, and the study participants. 



If you have any questions or are interested in learning more about this project, please contact Dominique Pride (PI) at djpride@alaska.edu.

Article and graphic submitted by Dominique Pride, project PI.

Upcoming Events

2025 NNA Annual Community Meeting within Arctic Science Summit Week 2025

  • March 20-28, 2025
We welcome submissions for items to be considered for upcoming NNA Community Newsletters or the NNA News page. 
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The Navigating the New Arctic Community Office (NNA-CO) is jointly implemented by the University of Colorado Boulder, Alaska Pacific University, and the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The NNA-CO is supported through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. National Science Foundation (Award #2040729). 


Contact us: contact@nna-co.org