NASA Microplastics Research and Education Center - MIRO Award

Funder: NASA (Minority University Research and Education Project Institutional Research Opportunity - MIRO)

Geographic Scope: Alaska, with collaborations across Alaska, University of Michigan, and California

Focus Areas:

• Microplastics research and detection
• Environmental science education
• Alaska waterways and ecosystems
• One Health approach to environmental contaminants
• Alaska Native Traditional Ways of Knowledge integration

Research Scope:
The Microplastics Research and Education Center will explore and detect microplastics in:

• Traditional drinking water sources
• Urban and rural watersheds
• Glaciers
• Coastal waterways
• Ocean column
• High-altitude depositions

Program Goals:

• Contribute to research and education needs of Alaskan communities
• Determine microplastic concentrations in Alaskan waterways
• Assess impacts on human, animal, and ecosystem health
• Integrate Alaska Native Traditional Ways of Knowledge with Western science methods
• Increase workforce diversity in environmental sciences

Eligible Applicants:

• Alaska Pacific University students in Marine and Environmental Sciences program

Student Support Offered:

• Internship opportunities
• Tuition stipends
• Funded research projects
• Collaborations with NASA scientists and academic partners

Key Personnel:

• Principal Investigator: Dr. Dee Barker
• APU Collaborators: Nate Anderson, Dr. Jason Geck
• External Collaborators: Dr. Denise Thorsen (University of Alaska Fairbanks), Dr. Chris Ruff (University of Michigan), Shelly Moore (Institute of Plastics Research, California)

Facilities:
Building capacity of Alaska and Arctic Waterways Analytics (AAWA) lab at APU for microplastics detection and remote sensing ocean surface anomalies using NASA's SWOT satellite system.