In 2006, the State of Alaska closed its defined benefit retirement plan and required all newly hired public education employees—mostly teachers—to join a defined contribution plan. This paper examines whether that change in pension structure affected recruitment or retention in Alaska’s public education workforce.

Over the last decade, several costly infrastructure issues have been presented to Solid Rock Bible Camp (SRBC) due to deferred maintenance, poor record-keeping, and short-term, donation-based funding. This has cost the organization substantial time and money and has risked its ability to obtain insurance for its infrastructure. The application of project management principles to SRBC’s unique nonprofit structure and values identified SRBC's current infrastructure needs, pursued future infrastructure solutions, and prioritized future project recommendations. This project documented the campus’s current state and compared its inventory to industry standards and the needs of its stakeholders to find deficiencies. These deficiencies were prioritized by stakeholders based on their impact on SRBC’s mission statement and then ranked using a cost-benefit analysis. The products of this project delivered to SRBC included: Current Infrastructure Inventory, Photographs of Each Structure, Estimated Rebuild Costs, Infrastructure Report Card, Summary of Deficiencies Identified, Summary of Solutions and Costs, Prioritization of Project Solutions, and Site-Specific Best Practices.

Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is an emerging diagnostic tool in neonatal care, yet widespread use in NICUs remains limited by provider training, confidence and organizational readiness. The purpose of this evidence-based practice project was to evaluate whether a brief POCUS educational intervention improved NICU provider readiness for adoption. Using a pre/post design, NICU providers at a regional tertiary NICU in Alaska completed the POCUS Readiness and Adoption Survey (PRAS) immediately before and after a structured 45-minute POCUS orientation presentation. The PRAS measured six domains: knowledge, attitudes, change efficacy, organizational support, intent to adopt, and perceived barriers. Twelve providers completed both surveys. Paired t-test analysis demonstrated significant improvements in knowledge (p < .001), attitudes (p = .022), change efficacy (p = .011), organizational support (p = .001), and intent to adopt POCUS (p = .006). Qualitative responses emphasized enthusiasm for POCUS integration and identified needs for structured training, clear credentialing pathways, and increased equipment access. Guided by the Iowa Model and Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovations, this project established foundational readiness and identified system-level barriers to adoption. Findings indicate that when provided with an appraisal of evidence, there is support for moving forward with comprehensive POCUS training, competency development, and interdisciplinary implementation planning to enhance diagnostic safety and neonatal care outcomes.

Wildfires represent a growing threat to property and human life due to climate change and development into higher exposure areas. These risks are particularly salient in the Arctic and subarctic where changes are occurring quickly. This paper uses a hedonic model of home sale prices in Alaska to estimate individuals’ willingness to pay to avoid wildfire exposure. A hedonic housing price analysis shows that the homes most exposed to wildfire actually sell at a premium compared to those homes that are least exposed. However, this premium disappears once proximity to public firefighting infrastructure is accounted for, suggesting that the premium reflects public mitigation and moral hazard. These findings highlight the influence of mitigation efforts and moral hazard in buyers' willingness to pay. Homeowners currently have an economic incentive to locate in high risk areas; more sophisticated insurance risk models and better aligning local taxes with risk may be potential policy interventions.

When discussing hate groups in North America, few evoke as immediate and visceral a reaction as the Ku Klux Klan. Often regarded as a symbol of radical white supremacist ideology, the Klan is widely associated with the American South; its white hoods, burning crosses, and Confederate flags have become enduring emblems of racial hatred and extremist nationalism. While many assume the Klan's influence was confined to Southern states, the reality is far more expansive and troubling. During its resurgence in the 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan extended its reach well beyond its traditional strongholds, gaining footholds in states such as Idaho, Washington, and, most infamously, Oregon. Surprisingly, and often overlooked in historical discourse, the Klan's influence even reached into America's most remote and rugged territory: Alaska, the so-called Last Frontier. Where explicitly and implicitly attempted (and possibly in some areas succeed) to influence race relations, politics, and community organizations.

Water quality parameters for temperature, electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen, pH, and turbidity and ion activity for calcium, chloride, and magnesium were measured during a period of five winters at eight locations along Chester Creek that flows from the Chugach Mountains east of the Municipality of Anchorage through the Municipality to the west into Knik Arm. The goal of the project was to identify the impact of meltwater on water quality due to common winter street treatments. Each year had its unique conditions. Melt events occurred when air temperature reached above freezing which were sometimes accompanied by rain events that enhanced snowmelt. Melt events throughout the season varied between four and nine with no considerable trend over the duration of the project. Maximum snowpack due to record snowfall occurred in winter 2022/2023 and 2023/2024. Electrical conductivity, which measured the total ion concentration in the water, and turbidity, which measured the concentration of particles, showed the major impact on water quality during melt events. Both parameters can be related to street treatments with salt/deicer and sand/gravel which are used on streets, parking lots, and walkways to reduce hazardous conditions, and both parameters generally increase from the east to the west as the creek runs through the Municipality. The highest electrical conductivity and turbidity were measured in the Middle Fork of Chester Creek at the Northern Lights location and directly in storm drainages at the Seward Highway location. The electrical conductivity correlated well with chloride concentration--a major compound of deicing agents and salts. This supports the assumption that the increase in electrical conductivity is due to street treatments. The total amount of ions, derived from electrical conductivity, is related to the area of each sub basin upstream from each sampling location, and indicates that the sub basin of the Seward Highway sampling location contributes fewer total ions to the creek per sub basin area than other sub basins. Comparing the measured values to water quality standards for aquatic life and propagation (18 AAC 70 Water Quality Standards, March 2020), the electrical conductivity should not exceed 1,500 µS/cm, and this value was only exceeded once on March 26, 2021 in the Middle Fork. Turbidity should not exceed background values by more than 10%. Background values for the sampling locations derived from times before freezing and in the absence of rain range from 0.7 to 5.17 NTU from east to west. Values measured during melt events and summer rain events frequently exceeded this water quality standard.

Rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta) are a circumpolar species endemic to high elevations and latitudes of North America and are common throughout Alaska. The r- selected life history of ptarmigan indicates that reproduction and specifically nest and brood survival is the most important component of population growth. However, factors affecting these population parameters have not been studied extensively or intensively, since there have only been three studies done in Alaska. Rock ptarmigan exhibit population fluctuations, which may be caused by changes in reproduction and survival due to predation and weather events. Warming climatic patterns and shifts in the range of their food resources may also be impacting rock ptarmigan populations. Previous research on rock ptarmigan in Alaska was completed five decades ago and methods of assessing their populations have improved. Therefore, a better understanding of factors affecting nest and brood survival is essential for understanding factors limiting population growth, particularly in a rapidly changing environment. In this study, we investigated whether variations in hen age, weather, timing of nest initiation, and nesting habitat affected nest and brood survival across two study sites. We focused this study on previously studied alpine populations of rock ptarmigan at Eagle Summit and Denali Highway sites in Interior Alaska from spring through summer in 2018 and 2019. Hens outfitted with transmitters were monitored weekly to determine the status of their nest or brood. We found canopy cover around the nest had the most effect on nest survival. Survival of nests with a closed canopy was more than five times higher than those with an open canopy at the Eagle Summit site and nearly two times higher at the Denali Highway site. Ptarmigan at Eagle Summit had higher brood survival than ptarmigan at the Denali Highway site. Our modeling indicated that survival of nests and broods was not affected by fluctuations in seasonal weather (e.g., minimum temperature and maximum precipitation). Establishing a basis for understanding temporal and spatial trends in population ecology is essential for effective management in a rapidly changing environment and these findings may improve the management of rock ptarmigan.

This dissertation addresses optimal control problems for nonlinear evolutionary variational inequalities involving Volterra-type operators and inverse problems for the Dirac system on finite metric graphs. The first part presents the historical background, novelty, and motivation behind the research studies. In the second part, we focus on solving the initial value problem for nonlinear evolutionary variational inequalities with Volterra-type operators, proving the existence of a unique solution using the Banach fixed-point theorem. The third part explores an optimal control problem for these inequalities, establishing the existence of a solution under specific assumptions on the given data. In the last part of the dissertation, we examine the inverse dynamic problem for the Dirac system on finite metric tree graphs, as well as a graph with a single cycle (a ring with two attached edges). First, we solve the forward problem for this system on general graphs using a novel dynamic algorithm and then address the inverse problem for the same system on finite metric tree graphs. We recover unknown data such as the topology (connectivity) of a tree, edge lengths, and matrix potential functions associated with each edge. This is achieved using the dynamic response operator as the inverse data and the leaf peeling method. We also determine the minimum time required to uniquely identify the unknown data. Finally, we demonstrate the solution to the inverse problem for the Dirac system on a ring with two attached edges, establishing the minimum time needed to uniquely determine the unknown parameters for this graph.

In chemotherapeutic treatment for leukemia, the drug cisplatin is highly effective. However, there is an immense need for cisplatin analogues that are more clinically viable. Cancer cell assay studies have shown that the platinum(IV) complex Pt(CH₃)₂I₂{2,2'-bipyridine} exhibits significant anticancer activity against the human breast cancer cell line ZR-75-1, with an EC50 (effective concentration 50%) concentration of 6.1 μM— substantially lower than that of cisplatin (16.4 μM). To explore the unknown structure-activity relationship between DNA binding and anti-cancer activity, three isomers — Pt(CH₃)₂I₂{2,2'-bipy-n,n'-(CH₃)₂} where n,n’ = 4,4’; 5,5’; 6,6’— were synthesized. The intent was to demonstrate decreased cytotoxicity as complex-DNA steric hindrance increased through the positioning of the methyl groups on the bipyridine ring of the isomers. All isomers were structurally characterized via single-crystal X-ray diffraction, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and infrared spectroscopy (IR). Their cytotoxic profiles were evaluated through the National Cancer Institute’s Sulforhodamine B screening assay. Among them, Pt(CH₃)₂I₂{2,2'-bipy-6,6'-(CH₃)₂} demonstrated the most potent activity with a notable LC50 (lethal concentration 50% ) value of 7.34 μM against ovarian cancer (OVCAR-3). DNA- binding studies using UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy revealed intrinsic binding constants (Kb) of 1.74×10⁴ M⁻¹ and 3.74×10⁴ M⁻¹ for the 6,6'-dimethyl and unsubstituted bipyridine complexes, respectively. A competitive displacement reaction monitored by 'H NMR showed that Pt(CH₃)₂I₂{2,2'-bipy-6,6'-(CH₃)₂} reacts completely with free 2,2’-bipyridine to yield Pt(CH₃)₂I₂{2,2'-bipyridine} and liberated 6,6’-dimethyl bipyridine. These findings suggest that DNA-binding affinity does not directly correlate with cytotoxic potential and that steric factors introduced by ligand substitution play a more critical role in determining anticancer efficacy in these bipyridine-stabilized platinum(IV) compounds.

The biologically productive northern Gulf of Alaska continental shelf receives freshwater from surrounding watersheds and wind stress from atmospheric pressure systems. A better characterization of the relationship between wind and salinity spatiotemporal variability is important for understanding the fate of freshwater and its ecological importance. In Chapter 2, I analyzed 25 years of northern Gulf of Alaska hydrographic data to reveal mid-shelf and shelf­ break freshwater pathways that impact stratification, currents, and freshwater distribution. Process studies of the Copper River plume’s propagation towards the shelf-break and beyond inform ecological function on the northern Gulf of Alaska shelf and productivity in the high- nutrient, low-chlorophyll waters of the adjacent slope and basin. Horizontal density fronts are often sites of locally enhanced ecological activity and accumulated biomass that contribute to biological patchiness on continental shelves. In Chapter 3, I analyze a high-resolution hydrographic dataset spanning spring, summer, and fall to identify wind-driven symmetric instabilities in the upper water column, improving our understanding of northern Gulf of Alaska submesoscale dynamics, its seasonality, and its role in driving phytoplankton patchiness. Autonomous underwater glider observations can improve our understanding of environmental forcings influencing spring bloom timing. In Chapter 4, I analyzed four environmental parameters: the potential energy anomaly, the mixed layer depth, light, and chlorophyll-a concentrations, assessed in relation to the stabilizing and destabilizing effects of wind, surface buoyancy flux, and tides. Bloom onsets coincided with high irradiance throughout the mixed layer, reduced wind stress and, over the mid-shelf, shoaling of the mixed layer above the euphotic zone driven by stratification, while in a coastal embayment, stratification had less influence on bloom onset. Primary productivity was estimated using a bio-optical model. These results clarify how interacting physical processes shape production in the northern Gulf of Alaska, improving our ability to anticipate ecosystem responses to climate change.