Mr. Miller said fewer than a third of the child-care providers in Alaska are trained in early childhood development. This program will help meet demand, particularly in Anchorage and rural Alaska, for better child care. Mr. Miller said industries often have ignored the university because its campuses simply haven't offered the technical and advanced training they require. UA aims to change that. Right now, the University of Alaska Fairbanks pulls down vast amounts of information about the North from polar orbiting satellites.
Raw data go to California and other points south for processing and analysis.
Mr. Hamilton can't see any reason other than lack of will and money not to do the analysis in Alaska. It's part of his aim to make the university a leading northern research center attracting top talent in both students and faculty to Alaska. You can't teach more students without more teachers. In recent years the Legislature often has asked if Alaska can afford more investment in the university. But as Mr. Hamilton said earlier this year, the university can't yet handle more.