SEARCH Highlights

Jackie Qataliña Schaeffer’s designs dazzled a crowd of cheering hundreds during April’s Far North Fashion Show in Anchorage. An annual showpiece of the Arctic Encounter Symposium, the event features Alaska Native models and designers from across the state. Jackie—SEARCH Co-Principal Investigator and Director of Climate Initiatives at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium—is a pillar…

Nine diverse voices spoke to the increasing severity of Arctic and boreal wildland fire at the 10th anniversary Arctic Encounter Symposium last week. In a session convened by SEARCH Research & Program Management Fellow Alex Shahbazi and Co-Principal Investigator Francis Wiese, these voices presented three-minute lightning lenses on northern wildfire topics including human health, global…

SEARCH recently participated in a unique sharing of science in the middle of a wintery Bering Sea. In the midst of high winds and blizzards, several ARC NAV colleagues traveled to Gambell, Alaska—a Yupik village on St. Lawrence Island—to host a community science symposium. Originally proposed by the ARC NAV team’s research consultant in the community, the…

SEARCH presented its ongoing examination into walrus accessibility in the Bering and Chukchi seas to the Eskimo Walrus Commission (EWC) in December 2023. A collaboration between academic, Indigenous, and policy researchers, the project aims to better understand and respond to  the impacts of environmental change on hunters’ access to walruses across western Alaska and eastern…

“If you’re someone who values a safe and healthy planet where people, ecosystems, plants, and polar bears can all thrive, then I have good news for you,” writes SEARCH Research & Program Management Fellow, Alex Shahbazi. “The message from the earth science community is clear. They have the solutions. They can say what can be…