Witness Community Highlights

In August 2023, the NSF-funded Permafrost and Infrastructure Symposium convened at the Barrow Arctic Research Center with over 30 visiting scientists and engineers, 15 North Slope residents, and three international participants. By planning a single event with participants from multiple science projects, Symposium organizers sought to enhance information sharing and synergies between projects while reducing the demands of outreach and engagement on local communities and research partners. NSF strategic objectives of the Symposium included rapid dissemination of results and promoting impact-driven and use-inspired research.

By: Jana Peirce, University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF); Benjamin Jones, UAF; Vladimir Romanovsky, UAF; and Billy Connor, UAF.

Based on the achievements and ongoing efforts outlined in the 2022–2024 IARPC Implementation Plan, IARPC is now soliciting input from all sectors on the next set of research challenges and new priorities for the years 2025–2026. The community is invited to share thoughts and perspectives, on the IARPC-hosted form through Friday, 31 May 2024.

By: Larry Hinzman, Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee, Executive Director

In this Witness Community Highlights video feature, Ming Xiao, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Penn State University, shares insights from his research to better understand changes in permafrost and the related impacts on civil infrastructure. He also highlights the value of collaboration with investigators across academic disciplines, industry sectors, and agencies at the local, state, and federal levels—to understand this complex system.