Past Projects

1. Science Potpourri:

Each year, the Scienc Potpourri is held at the Natural Science Building at the Unviversity of Alaska Fairbanks. The different departments at the university present displays or experiment for children.
ORION has had the opportunity to participate in the Science Potpourri the last three years (2000-2002) and with many other outreach efforts in collaboration with the American Chemical Society (ACS) student chapter at the university. Through the Science Potpourri, ORION has had was able to introduce various sources of natural radiation in the environment. The display contained various rocks (Uranium) loaned out from the geology deparment, table salt (Potassium), smoke dectector (Americium), old Coleman lantern mantles (Thorium), dried banana chips (Potassium), and a water filter, along with 3 different types of detectors. The children moved the sensors over the differnt items to determine the individual radiation levels.
Outreach efforts have been made to both local and rural schools in Fairbanks, Central, Kotzebue, and Nome. ORION hopes to continue to support local and rural schools through educational hands on experiments and demonstrations in the sciences.

2. USCG Icebreaker Science of Opportunity:

Participate in a transect of opportunity on USCG Icebreaker from Barrow region to Chukotka region summer 2001 to make shallow CTD measurements (60 meters) with own CTD, water/ice samples where possible for Mercury analysis and carry onboard a NEWNET climatological/atmospheric radioactivity autonomous station which will send data via satellite.

3. Name Change Contest

The American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) sponsored a name change contest for the Neighborhood Environmental Watch NETwork (NEWNET) program here at UAF. The contest was opened to students of all ages ranging from grade school to univeristy level. Students who submitted an entry were required to submit an acronym which contained at least one of the following words: Radiation, Nuclear, Alaska, Northern, Arctic, Radioactivity, Gamma, or equivalent. They were also required to provide an brief explaination on the significance of the name and why they thought it was appropriate for the program. There was a grandprize of $100 and 4 sub-category prizes which were based on grade levels: grade school, junior high, high school, and university level.
The grand prize winner of the name change contest was Ruby Bullchild of Fairbanks. Her entry was ORION - Observing Radiation In Our North. Her brother, Percy Bullchild, won the grade school level prize which was a $25 cash prize. Joe Miller of Fairbanks won the university level prize which was also a $25 cash prize. Pacific Northwest National Laboratories provided additional gifts for the entrants. Prizes were awarded a Fall 2002 AISES Meeting.