Alaska

Testimony

Enhancing Security in a Changing Arctic

Security in the Arctic requires continuous effort to maintain, particularly in periods of transition—from climate change to demographic shifts to economic opportunities and risks to geopolitical dynamics. As an Arctic nation, it is the United States’ responsibility to take steps toward enhancing regional security.

Commentary

Residential Landslide Insurance in Sitka, Alaska: Market Conditions and Options for Improving Availability

This Perspective includes a characterization of the market for landslide insurance in Southeast Alaska and a description of four approaches that stakeholders might consider to make landslide coverage more available.

Periodical

RAND Review: March-April 2023

The cover story describes how K-12 schools can build trust with students to increase threat reporting and strengthen school safety. The Q&A with Ashley Woo explores how restrictions on race- and gender-related topics are affecting teachers.

Blog

Opioids in America, Silicon Valley Bank, Semiconductors: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on addressing America's illicit opioids problem, Silicon Valley Bank’s demise, Taiwan’s semiconductor dominance, and more.

Journal Article

Community-Level, Participatory Co-Design for Landslide Warning with Implications for Climate Services

This paper describes a community-level co-design process among academic, state, and federal scientists and the community of Sitka, Alaska to develop a novel landslide warning system for the small coastal town.

Journal Article

Efforts to End a Stalemate in Landslide Insurance Availability Through Inclusive Policymaking: A Case Study in Sitka, Alaska

We explored how participatory techniques could overcome one disaster risk financing-related stalemate: the case of landslide insurance in a highly landslide-prone location, Sitka, Alaska.

Journal Article

Section 1332 Waiver Evaluation Report: Evaluating the Alaska Reinsurance Program

This report documents findings from the evaluation of Alaska's waiver, through which the state implemented the Alaska Reinsurance Program (ARP).

Journal Article

A Community-Partnered Approach to Social Network Data Collection for a Large and Partial Network

To help improve landslide communication in Sitka, we used a community-partnered approach to social network analysis to identify potential key actors for landslide risk communication and structural holes that may inhibit communication.

Journal Article

Run Uphill for a Tsunami, Downhill for a Landslide

Following fatal landslides, the town of Sitka, Alaska, worked with scientists to create a new, individualized hazard warning system, revealing the complexities of coproducing knowledge.

Commentary

Local Communities Need a Voice in How to 'Build Back Better'

Long before it was popularized and made its way into political slogans and economic recovery battle cries, the phrase “building back better” was a central tenet of disaster recovery and community resilience. How should community voices be incorporated into “building back better” processes?

Journal Article

Overt Perceived Discrimination and Racial Microaggressions and Their Association with Health Risk Behaviors Among a Sample of Urban American Indian/Alaska Native Adolescents

Analyzing the potential effects of the broad range of perceived discrimination (PD) experiences, including both overt PD and racial microaggressions, among urban American Indian/Alaska Native adolescents on health outcomes offers a unique opportunity to further our understanding of these health disparities.

Announcement

RAND Wins $2.1 Million Grant to Improve Landslide Prediction

A RAND-led team that includes the University of Southern California, the University of Oregon, the Sitka Sound Science Center, and the Sitka Tribe of Alaska will design a novel landslide risk warning system for Sitka, Alaska, a coastal town of 9,000 near the landslide-prone slopes of the Tongass National Forest.

Dissertation

Search and Rescue in the Arctic: Is the U.S. Prepared?

Explores the U.S. capability to handle the Arctic Search and Rescue (SAR) Agreement, a landmark treaty that gives the U.S. responsibility for conducting SAR in a slice of territory that surrounds Alaska and stretches to the North Pole.

Commentary

How to Be Safer in the Arctic

The Arctic is more accessible than it once was, but it's still a formidable place to travel. An emergency involving a cruise ship or a downed plane could stress the search-and-rescue system. But modest investments and planning measures can make a big difference.

Commentary

It's Getting Harder and Harder to Live on Top of the World

In September, a relatively new kind of storm, made possible due to larger swaths of ice-free Arctic Ocean, battered Barrow, Alaska, washing away chunks of coastline, threatening businesses, houses, and the freshwater supply. While mitigation efforts are necessary on a macro level, adaptation measures are needed now for such Arctic communities.

Journal Article

Health Care for American Indian and Alaska Native Women: The Roles of the Veterans Health Administration and the Indian Health Service

VHA and IHS executed a resource-sharing agreement in 2003 to improve access and health outcomes. OBJECTIVE. The authors sought to describe women's healthcare utilization in Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and the Indian Health Service (IHS).

Report

Potential organizational problems of the proposed Alaska natural gas pipeline project

This paper discusses some of the organizational problems that may occur during the construction of the Alaskan natural gas pipeline. To deal with the unprecedented size and nature of this privately-financed venture, the federal government will empla...

People

Peggy Wilcox