{"id":6624,"date":"2021-04-07T12:26:11","date_gmt":"2021-04-07T20:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/pactrans\/?p=6624"},"modified":"2021-04-07T12:26:11","modified_gmt":"2021-04-07T20:26:11","slug":"uafs-autc-replaced-by-arctic-infrastructure-development-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/pactrans\/uafs-autc-replaced-by-arctic-infrastructure-development-center\/","title":{"rendered":"UAF&#8217;s AUTC Replaced by Arctic Infrastructure Development Center"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"140\" src=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/pactrans\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/UAF-AIDC-1024x140.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6625\" srcset=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/pactrans\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/UAF-AIDC-1024x140.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/pactrans\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/UAF-AIDC-300x41.jpg 300w, https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/pactrans\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/UAF-AIDC-768x105.jpg 768w, https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/pactrans\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/UAF-AIDC-97x13.jpg 97w, https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/pactrans\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/UAF-AIDC.jpg 1401w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Last month, PacTrans consortium partner University of Alaska\nFairbanks (UAF) launched the Arctic Infrastructure Development Center (AIDC),\nwhich replaces the Alaska University Transportation Center, which had been\nbased at UAF\u2019s College of Engineering and Mines since it was established in\n2005. With this move, UAF signals a need for an expanded scope of its\ntransportation-focused research center to include a broader emphasis on Arctic\ninfrastructure as climate change reshapes the far north.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe changes are an effort to recast the research center to\nexpand its focus beyond transportation to now include all arctic infrastructure\n(e.g. roads, bridges, airports, rail safety, buildings, utilities etc.) and is\na more accurate reflection of the current research work carried out by the\ncenter,\u201d said AIDC director, Billy Connor. \u201cWe believe the name change will\nalso better position the center for future federal, state, and privately funded\nresearch opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Per the new center\u2019s website, the AIDC will focus on\ndeveloping sound environmentally and socio-culturally appropriate designs for\ninfrastructure in Alaska and other cold regions, addressing: (1) transportation\nincluding highway, aviation, rail and pipelines, (2) utility infrastructure\nsuch as gas distribution systems, (3) vertical infrastructure including\nresidential and commercial buildings, (4) community planning including\nunderstanding the impact of thawing permafrost on communities in the arctic and\nsub-arctic, and (5) development of techniques to address the impacts of climate\nchange on infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re starting to see that many of the technologies we have\nbeen employing may not be applicable to the future with climate change,\u201d said Connor.\n\u201cWe realize we need to look at how we make course adjustments in engineering\nunder these conditions. It had become clear that many of the challenges in\ndesigning cold-region roads and airports are present in other types of\ninfrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Several existing UAF laboratories will work on AIDC\nresearch. These include labs at UAF\u2019s Institute of Northern Engineering that\ntest frozen soils, study traffic and safety, advance the design of asphalt and\nother materials, and test building technology. Research will also be conducted\nat the high-bay large-scale testing facility and cold rooms at UAF\u2019s\nEngineering Learning and Innovation Facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cA lot of the things we were doing under transportation are\nsynergistic with the change in our missions,\u201d he said. \u201cWe were studying these\nthings already, and this adds a little more depth and breadth to that\nresearch.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last month, PacTrans consortium partner University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) launched the Arctic Infrastructure Development Center (AIDC), which replaces the Alaska University Transportation Center, which had been based at UAF\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/pactrans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/pactrans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/pactrans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/pactrans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/pactrans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6624"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/pactrans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6626,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/pactrans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6624\/revisions\/6626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/pactrans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/pactrans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/pactrans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}