Biomaterials Lab
Plastic insulation like Styrofoam is commonplace in seafood packaging and buildings. But plastics never completely disappear, instead they break up into ever smaller particles or microplastic. These tiny particles are harmful to the soils, marine environment and wildlife, and may affect human health.
Researchers with the Biomaterials Lab seek to better understand the effects of these stray plastic bits. The team is working to solve the global plastic pollution problem by developing insulation that is recyclable, reusable, and biodegradable. Researchers combine design-thinking, microbiology, and physics to dream-up scalable biological materials that store carbon and provide a sustainable vital barrier from the elements.
Their key ingredients to de-carbonizing industries include beetle-kill spruce trees and renewable cellulose that is literally grown in a lab. The Biomaterials Lab is an active innovation platform for new bio-based materials and circular bio-economy solutions in the Circumpolar North. The lab uses norm-critical design thinking as a framework to tackle some of the most pressing environmental and public health problems facing the Arctic today.
NEWS & Stories
The UAA Hunger and Homelessness Support Network (HHSN) was created to identify and combat housing insecurities that students face. UAA Alumni and current Academic Advisor Jennifer Spencer is one of the three people serving as HHSN Chair. She explains how she uses her personal experiences with homelessness to help find solutions for students.
Ever since she was six years old, Panikaa Teeple, B.S.W. Social Work ’21, knew that spreading love was her life’s purpose. Next year, Teeple will have the opportunity to spread love internationally as UAA’s latest recipient of the Fulbright U.S. Student Program grant, which provides students in more than 140 countries the opportunity to pursue graduate study and research abroad.
When human services and social work alumna Cass Pook says she has always been a helper, she’s not just referring to her nature as an empathetic and compassionate listener. “Culturally, it's in my DNA to be a helper,” said Pook. “Looking back on it throughout history, 100 or 200 years ago I would have been doing the same thing. I was born to be a social worker.”
UAA alumna and associate professor Holly Martinson hopes the new Biomed U-RISE program "lights a fire" in Alaska's research community by empowering undergraduate students with lab experience, mentorship and financial assistance. Martinson and co-PI, Professor Tracey Burke, welcomed the first cohort this academic year and will soon open applications for cohort two.
Restorative justice is a form of resolution that allows victims of crimes to work with the criminal justice system to address and correct the harm caused. UAA’s Ingrid Johnson from the Justice Center and Rei Shimizu from the School of Social Work spoke to the Alaska Beacon about how restorative justice can be used in cases of domestic violence.
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Phone: 907-786-6574
Email: nbbeckage@alaska.edu
