You're invited to Science for Alaska 2009! Lectures in our program are designed to be educational and entertaining, and they're free to the public.

You can view 2009 lecture descriptions, biography information on our presenters, and get information about the affiliated continuing education course at this site. If you can't find what you're looking for, or have a question, please contact the Geophysical Institute Information and Education Office for assistance at 907-474-7558 or info@gi.alaska.edu.

We hope to see you at Science for Alaska this year!

After a three-year hiatus, the topic of aurora will once again be included in Science for Alaska. "Rockets Into the Aurora" will launch the Fairbanks arm of Science for Alaska, and will be presented on Jan. 20, 2009 by the Geophysical Institute's Dirk Lummerzheim, a research professor of aeronomy.

It's hard to conduct experiments on something that you can't reach. When it comes to auroral and upper atmospheric research, scientists have worked their way around this problem by taking the experiment to the aurora!

In the lecture "Rockets into the Aurora," Lummerzheim will explain the basics of the aurora and how scientists learn more about the phenomena by launching sounding rockets that fly more than 100 vertical miles to reach the aurora from Poker Flat Research Range, located just 30 miles north of Fairbanks.