Alaska Center for Conservation Science

Fostering research, education, and collaboration on biological conservation and natural resource management in Alaska and the Arctic

Opportunities

ACCS provides research opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students in the University of Alaska system. Other opportunities and job openings will be posted here as available.

Graduate Students

Christopher Guo

Chris Guo smiling on a rocky beach while holding a photarium containing a small fish.

Graduate Student | chguo (at) alaska.edu

Chris is a graduate student in the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences at UAF. He had made his way to Homer, Alaska, where he quickly adopted its community and became enamored with the surrounding coastal environment. His research focuses on spatial and temporal patterns of estuarine fish assemblages and their relationship to habitat conditions. Chris is also an aquatic biologist at KBNERR within ACCS.

Emma Hooper

Emma Lipscomb ready for field research in chest waders and a baseball cap, standing in a subalpine shrub meadow with her hair in braids.

Graduate Student | eglipscomb (at) alaska.edu

Emma is a graduate student in the UAA Biological Sciences program. She was drawn to Alaska because of its unique flora and geomorphology, the majority of which is not found in any other part of the U.S. Her research focuses on permafrost, soils, and their relationship to plant communities in southcentral Alaska.

Aurelia Umholtz

Aurelia Umholtz smiling with arms outstretched while hiking in the Colorado mountains.

Graduate Student | alumholtz (at) alaska.edu

Aurelia is a graduate student in the UAA Biological Sciences program. She earned her B.S. in Environmental Science and Anthropology from Trinity College in Connecticut. Aurelia worked managing invasive species in Colorado, and is thrilled to continue that work in her home state of Alaska. Her research focuses on addressing the threat of invasive freshwater mussels in southcentral Alaska.

Recent Graduates

Sean Fitzgerald

Sean Fitzgerald smiling while looking down at an insect that he is holding in his hands.

Graduate Student | sfitzgerald2 (at) alaska.edu

Sean graduated from the UAA Biological Sciences program in fall 2025. He became interested in Alaska because of its unique habitats and how pollinators there are able to survive and thrive in harsh conditions. His research focused on pollinator biodiversity and abundance across different habitats in JBER.

John McCormack

John McCormack smiling in an orchard and holding a ripe pear in his hand.

Graduate Student | jjmccormack2 (at) alaska.edu

John graduated from the UAA Biological Sciences program in fall 2025. He has studied insect diversity and ecology in Virginia, Massachusetts, and Australia, and he’s developed a particular interest in pollinators. His research focused on pollinator communities in Alaskan apple orchards and size variation in bumble bees.