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1. Infrastructure Adaptation to Climate Change: Institutional Support in Rural Alaska

   Taylor, J; Poleacovschi, C; Perez, M. (October 2020, Engineering Project Organization Conference)

   Faust, K; Kanjanabootra, S (Ed.)

   As climate change impacts intensify, communities in rural Alaska are undergoing and adapting to changes to infrastructure from increased permafrost thawing, flooding, and coastal erosion. Climate change adaptation, defined as a process, action, or outcome in a system to better adjust to actual or expected climate change impacts, is needed to address significant structural failures and safety concerns. Despite the recognition of the need for support from stakeholders and adaptation of infrastructure, the level of adaptation activity remains limited and inconsistent across regions and communities in rural Alaska. We address this need by identifying drivers and barriers of adaptation based on stakeholder perspectives (N=25). Stakeholders included people who work for government agencies, non-profits, engineering firms, or academic institutions in rural Alaska. Results show that strong community leadership and flexibility of funding conditions were drivers to adaptation of infrastructure. Further, results show that the high cost of technology and infrastructure and lack of access to and stipulations on funding were barriers to adaptation of infrastructure. These drivers and barriers emphasize the importance of adaptation processes that effectively accommodate the unique contexts of addressing impacts in rural Alaska. Results demonstrate the need for national adaptation funding and policy that encourages local decision-making power. Specifically, results outline the need for adaptation funding and policy that supports the collaboration of Alaska based institutions and rural Alaska communities in adaptation. 

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2. Alaska Native Responses to Climate Change: The Role of Community Values in Housing Adaptation

   Taylor, J; Poleacovschi, C; Perez, M. (June 2019, Engineering Project Organization Conference)

   Chinowsky, P; Taylor, J; Tech, G. (Ed.)

   The Arctic is experiencing intensified impacts from climate change, resulting in unprecedented rates of change, especially for Indigenous communities. Alaska Natives are experiencing transformations in housing, food security, economic stability, and cultural practices as a result of the biophysical changes such as thawing permafrost and coastal erosion. In response, communities are prioritizing adaptation. Although Indigenous communities have been adapting for hundreds of years, adaptation strategies, or actions that seek to moderate harm through the adjustment to actual or expected climate change effects, are not well documented. Housing adaptation strategies are especially understudied, which include any adaptation strategy that is in response to or in preparation for a biophysical change affecting housing. Housing adaptation strategies in response to climate change are primarily focused on physical dimensions (e.g., retrofitting homes, constructing sea wall). Nevertheless, adaptations to changes in biophysical systems are closely interlinked to sociocultural systems, which are often neglected in adaptation discourse. Analyzing existing strategies through the lens of community values captures the sociocultural aspects of adaptation and is critical for sustainable adaptation. This paper presents a research design that addresses these gaps in adaptation discourse by asking: How are community values represented in housing adaptation strategies in response to climate change? This research will employ interviews, focus groups, and observations in partnership with two Alaska Native communities in Oscarville, Alaska and Point Lay, Alaska using community based participatory research methods (CBPR). Understanding the role of community values in housing adaptation is essential for developing sustainable adaptation plans, engineering designs, and future research studies. Further, employing CBPR methodologies in the context of adaptation, grounds identified strategies and resulting plans in community experience. As a result, future findings will not only contribute to the intellectual understanding of adaptation processes and theory, but also facilitate actions in response to climate change. 

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3. Middle School Students’ Conceptions of Failure in Rural Communities

   https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE.2018.8658670  

   Paradise, Tawni; Grohs, Jake (October 2018, 2018 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE))

   This work in progress paper in the research to practice category identifies trends in how middle school youth from rural schools conceptualize failure after engaging in engineering-related learning activities. These trends inform better strategies that can be used in the PEERS, Partnering with Educators and Engineers in Rural Schools, program to ensure the goals of the program are met. The PEERS program moves beyond single exposure activities by engaging students in approximately six engineering-related learning activities throughout the year. This program partners researchers, teachers and local industry representatives aiming to (1) challenge misperceptions and create relevant conceptions of engineering; (2) maintain and expand situational interest; and, (3) integrate with individual interests, values, and social identities. Since failure is an integral part of the learning experience, students' conceptions of failure can influence the way students interact in these activities and the outcomes they experience from this program. Interviews were conducted with 38 students across the three rural communities involved in the PEERS program on their perceptions of failure. This paper presents two themes that emerged from initial coding of the interviews and explains how these themes will be used to inform future decisions for PEERS. 

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4. Responding to the housing crisis in the Arctic: A transdisciplinary approach across physical, natural, and social systems, Organizational Interviews - Alaska, Summer 2019 to Spring 2020

   https://doi.org/10.18739/A2N29P81H  

   Poleacovschi, Cristina; Taylor, Jessica (January 2023, NSF Arctic Data Center)

   This dataset contains de-identified transcripts of semi-structured interviews conducted with 25 stakeholders who make adaptation decisions for government agencies, nonprofits, engineering firms, or academic institutions in rural Alaska. The stakeholders included 14 government organizations, 5 private industry organizations, 2 academic institutions, non-profit organizations and tribal organizations each respectively. The file contains questions aimed at understanding stakeholders’ work in rural Alaska and how their work affects the adaptation of infrastructure including barriers of infrastructure adaption and the dimensions of adaptation barriers. The data was collected from Summer 2019 to Spring 2020. 

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5. Stoking the flame: Subsistence and wood energy in rural Alaska, United States

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2020.101819  

   Schmidt J.I., Byrd A. (January 2021, Energy research social science)

   Energy costs are large and increasing in rural Alaska communities, so communities are turning to renewable energy. While, many of these communities have a mixed subsistence-cash economy, the relationship between renewable energy and subsistence has not been studied. Tanana, Alaska has a biomass program and we conducted interviews with 61 households in 2017 to understand how residents perceive the program and its association with subsistence activities. We analyzed Alaska Department of Fish & Game subsistence surveys from 89 communities to estimate differences in subsistence harvest between households that harvest wood and those that do not. Interviews indicated that people who harvest wood for the biomass program were six times more likely to engage in subsistence. Subsistence harvests were nearly double (184 kg/per capita) in households that harvested wood for personal use versus those that did not (101 kg/per capita). Equipment used for both activities was similar, and 57% respondents combined wood harvesting with other activities (e.g. subsistence, travel, etc.). Higher household incomes and employment were positively associated with subsistence participation (p < 0.001) while only household incomes was positively associated with wood harvest through the biomass program (p < 0.001). Overall, the program was perceived as having a positive effect (69%) for the community because it has created jobs (36%), saved people money (23%), promoted sharing (16%), and reduced fuel use by the community (15%). Our research shows that biomass programs have the potential to complement subsistence activities and enhance the sustainability of communities in rural Alaska that are faced with high energy costs. 

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