ASF Provides Scientific and Technical Support for Education and Outreach

By Anupma Prakash, Associate Professor – Remote Sensing Geophysics, UAF

Undergraduate and graduate students getting specialized education in the field of remote sensing at UAF have an upper hand to their peers at other universities. Little are they aware of the fact that they work in one of the most data-rich environments in the circum-Pacific north.

ASF has a large archive of SAR data, the only satellite data that is guaranteed to provide ground information in all weather conditions. Students use data sets of Alaska and neighboring regions to carry out small-term projects in the classroom environment. The data sets are used for a variety of applications that have direct significance to the State of Alaska. This education and training prepares them for careers in research, teaching, and industry.

ASF’s support for these educational courses includes providing access to data, user service support to train students on how to order the data, facility tours to demonstrate how data is acquired and processed in near real time in an operational setting, scientific support in the form of guest lectures, and serving as co-mentors for students.

The partnership between ASF and UAF teaching faculty has resulted in motivating many students to pursue careers in earth and space sciences.

The class projects based on the use of SAR data have also been successfully used as training material in selected high schools in the State of Alaska, strengthening UAF’s efforts in public outreach. Educational web sites and CD-ROMs on use of SAR data generated with input from ASF personnel are another means of our public outreach. The most recent product in this direction is an educational web story for 4th and 5th grade students conveying concepts of SAR imaging and facts about Alaska.

Visit: www.uaf.edu/asgp/k12/treasure_hunt/

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