How the Alaska CASC supports researchers
We fund actionable science in Alaska
Alaska CASC-funded research projects
Please note that the Alaska CASC's last project solicitation closed on May 31st, 2024.
In order to address the science needs of Alaskans, the Alaska CASC puts forward project solicitations for research projects on a roughly annual basis to eligible researchers from the USGS or our university consortium. Ongoing funded research projects include work on mountain goats, avalanches, Tribal capacity-building, Salmon, historical water temperature data, and more.
Depending on budget approvals, the CASC network generally tries to have project solicitations released in the Spring. However, not every CASC has project solicitations every year. If you would like to be notified about project solicitations, please sign up here for our listserv. If you have further questions about project solicitations for the AK CASC, please contact Ryan Toohey or Steve Gray.
Visit the CASC project explorer website to see a list of previously-funded projects, and statewide research.
Read more online, or download a summary of research funded in 2024.
The Alaska CASC Ambassadors program
The Alaska CASC's experience working with Tribes and land management agencies over the years has taught us that relationships are the core of conducting meaningful actionable science. We also know that relationship-building, convening partners, preliminary data collection, and community engagement takes time. Our ambassador program will provide $20,000 for one year to up to three UA Faculty for precisely this work: travel, salary, equipment, and other costs to support work related to climate adaptation and to engage their communities.
For more information about the ambassadors program and for the full details and application instructions visit the Ambassadors Program Project Page.
We support researcher's data and information needs
We are a leader in Arctic downscaling
The Alaska CASC engages experts in climate model downscaling, and in particular dynamical downscaling, to produce sufficiently fine resolution climate scenarios for researchers and land managers. We work to overcome the computational challenges inherent in this work and extend the coverage of fine-scale climate products to Alaska.
We partner with data management and delivery experts
Through our long-standing partnership with the Scenarios Network for Alaska + Arctic Planning (SNAP) the Alaska CASC has been able to support regionally-relevant climate science and the data pipelines that make that work possible. AK CASC researchers have easy access to data management support through dedicated and knowledgeable Data Stewards who can assist with the process of developing and implementing data management plans.
AK CASC Data products will be stored on Sciencebase and various other US Government platforms. Data products that exceed the capacity of these platforms may be stored and delivered via SNAP infrastructure, or integrated into SNAP web tools and visualizations as appropriate and feasible.
We support researchers' communication needs
An integrated communications approach
The AK CASC Science Communication team supports researchers' needs at every stage of the research process by guiding research communications priorities and producing communications outputs to meet the needs of the project and our partners. Example products in the past have included a popular podcast, one-page research summaries & booklets, social media campaigns, participation in large in-person science-focused events, and a Massive Open Online Course.
The AK CASC is also developing an innovative “CASC-Aiding” approach to communications support which aims to institutionalize a previously ad-hoc process of connecting information users with research partners and assisting and guiding those teams through successful projects.
