SEARCH Highlights

When SEARCH came together in September 2021 with funding from the National Science Foundation’s Office of Polar Programs, we relied on our shared values to guide us into a new way of working together. We needed everyone’s observations and knowledge to be equitably included regardless of whether they were communicated in writing or orally. Mere…

From her childhood in Savoonga on St. Lawrence Island to a career bursting with advocacy and marine management, Vera Kingeekuk Metcalf’s life has been dedicated to Alaska’s oceans and coasts. Earlier this year, that dedication was recognized when the Alaska SeaLife Center presented Vera with the Walter J. and Ermalee Hickel Lifetime Achievement Award. Awarded…

In February 2023, principal investigator Brendan Kelly traveled to northwest Alaska, first to Kotzebue where he and SEARCH team member Cyrus Harris discussed the changing environment with representatives of the Native Village of Kotzebue, Maniilaq Corporation, and the Northwest Arctic Borough. After touring a program—co-produced by Cyrus, colleagues from Maniilaq, and a food scientist—that feeds…

There’s a lot to do when you’re a full-time graduate student. Classes, projects, internships, networking, career development, and side jobs are but a handful of the things that can occupy your time. Sometimes, folks add collaborating with SEARCH to the mix. This past May, two of our Research Assistants graduated from the Middlebury Institute of…

The vast Arctic Ocean at the top of our planet has been covered in sea ice longer than humans have been on Earth. Crucial habitat upon which Arctic ecosystems and people rely, that sea ice cover has historically remained even in the warmest summer months. With rising greenhouse gas emissions from around the world warming …