Grad school – Alaska Voices

Deciphering the many facets of weather

January 5, 2026

Two young adults smile in front of a photoshopped background of a road leading to Denali.

“Come here and find out that million-acre years are pretty common and they’re dealt as extreme years, but in more recent years, you wind up seeing more and more million acres burned.” -Jacob Coffey

Partnering with communities for reciprocal research

December 29, 2025

Two women smile in front of a photoshopped background of a Sitka marina.

“There’s this history of research happening, disregarding those pieces, and I’m really excited about this as a mechanism to shine a light on that, and ask those questions: does this work really need to be done? Are you willing to invest in the relationships with the community to ensure that your work is meaningful to the people who live here, and if not, then maybe we need to think twice about it.” -Lauren Bell

Leveling the ivory tower

September 10, 2020

An older man and younger woman look at the camera. Behind them a wall of snow rises.

“As a mentor it’s important for me to advocate for my students, especially as undergraduates you really feel like you’re at the bottom and you have no power.”

Building bridges with sea ice

September 7, 2020

Two women smile in front of a close-up picture of a snowflakeʼs ice crystals.

“I think as humans, especially when it’s in our backyard, we want to feel like we have a process, that we have ownership in that, and we have agency to make our voices heard.”

Loud, critical, ambitious: sexism in science

September 3, 2020

Jessica and Jessie smile in front of a bed of lichen and leaves.

” I have to be able to be on my toes and defend all of the work that my team has done, and yet if I question any of the work any of the other teams have done, immediately I’m called in the office.”

Uneven ground: permafrost thaw and burnout

August 24, 2020

Jessiea nd Kristin smile at the camera, a field of grain behind them.

“The more positive side of people’s brains would say oh, no, no, no, these are learning opportunities or whatever, but at some point it’s actually just failure.”

Navigating oceans and grad school

July 27, 2020

Two women stand close together, smiling in front of Denali.

“Antarctica, it’s fascinating from the scientific point of view, but you don’t have a community that depends on the sea ice in Antarctica.”

Donning a flag for graduation

July 23, 2020

Jessie and Abraham smile at the camera in front of a photoshopped background of a grain field.

“If I were in Ethiopia right now, I would be in jail already, or probably I would be killed.”

Bringing global experiences back home

June 22, 2020

Krista, a woman with pulled-back dark hair, and Arlo, a man with two lip piercings wearing a beanie, smile in front of a blueberry bush background.

“We were in Georgia, the Republic of Georgia, when they were being bombed. And all we had to eat for like six weeks straight was kasha, buckwheat.”

Lessons on long drives and muddy trails

June 1, 2020

Christa and katie smile at the camera in front of a lake with mountains in the distance.

“I want to be one of those ladies that’s dirty every day and slugging through places without trails.”