Yukon College focuses on research
relevant to the Northern climate
Written By Padma Nagappan; Produced by Ian Ross
The Yukon is home to one of the most beautiful and untouched natural environments in Canada, bringing to mind images of crisp air, husky sled dogs, panoramic views and the land of the midnight sun.
It is also home to research in cold climate technologies, as Yukon College and its 13 campuses utilize cutting edge technology to stay connected with each other, as well as students and faculty in remote locations.
Founded in 1963 as a vocational and technical training center, it became a college in 1983 and later moved to its current main campus in Whitehorse, which overlooks the Yukon River valley and offers spectacular views.
Accessibility, affordability
Recognizing the need to extend learning opportunities to people scattered across the vast territory, Yukon College enables accessibility through its 13 strategically located campuses and extensive distance learning courses. Web and video conferencing facilitate classroom instruction to be beamed, not just from campus to campus, but to transmit and receive between many of the universities with which the college has partnerships.
“With small populations and remote locations, cutting edge technology is necessary,” says Dr. Terry Weninger, Yukon College President.
Tuition is lower here than at most other schools, with the aim of keeping education affordable. The college has 750 full-time students and more than 5,000 part-time students pursuing a variety of programs relevant to the northern climate, population and economy.
The majority comprise local residents, although there is a significant contingent of students from other parts of Canada. About 40 percent are enrolled in the School of Access with the other 60 percent pursuing studies in the School of Science, Trades and Technology, School of Health, Education and Human Services, School of Management, Tourism and Hospitality or the School of Liberal Arts.
The college recruits international students from over 20 countries and enjoys relationships with two elite Japanese universities, facilitating the delivery of Yukon based outdoor survival training to their students.
“We collaborate with the Universities of the Arctic, a network of 35 universities across Canada and 100 others across the circumpolar world. The main point of collaboration is to facilitate student exchange programs and a BA in Circumpolar Studies,” says Weninger.
The Northern Research Institute housed within the college focuses on issues relevant to Yukon’s climate, culture and economy, such as cold climate technology, energy efficiency and northern sovereignty.
Climate change and cold climate research
With emphasis on climate change growing worldwide and the well recognized concern that northern locations are the most affected by it, the Yukon government focuses resources on related research.
As a result of this initiative, the college set up the Yukon Cold Climate Innovation Centre (YCCIC) in July 2008, not just for research, but also to commercialize and export cold climate solutions.
Permafrost, which is subsoil that is permanently frozen, is a common phenomenon in most of the extreme northern regions. What concerns researchers is that the permafrost is receding, which could lead to grave consequences.
“We’ve learned to build roads over permafrost, but now what do we do with those roads, since it is receding?” asks Weninger, describing the focus of some research projects currently underway at the YCCIC.
Developments such as this affect the mining industry, power supply and transportation and researchers focus on how to build dams or power lines under these conditions.
Issues unique to the Northern climate
“Culturally speaking, the Yukon is a group of over achievers,” says Dr. Chad Gubala, the director of the YCCIC, “leading to a propensity towards innovation, simply in order to function efficiently.”
He explained that living in a land where winter lasts for eight months with just four hours of daylight and summer that brings round-the-clock sunlight, creates unique situations and calls for adaptations on many fronts, most especially a hardiness to deal with the elements on a daily basis.
The Yukon has a unique geography, winters are long, dry and consistently cold and it has very diverse landscape including Arctic tundra and taiga, boreal and subalpine forests, high altitude and ice field terrain and Beaufort Sea coastline.
It is these factors that make the Yukon an ideal natural laboratory and one where the people have to be innovative.
Research projects
One of the research projects currently underway focuses on finding an economical way to harness Yukon’s cold weather. Gubala cited the communication system, which consists of microwave stations running on diesel generators that power up batteries. Yukon has about 50 such stations that are 40 years old, spanning a land area roughly equivalent to half the land in the US.
Since they are located on top of mountains, servicing them entails providing diesel fuel and batteries, as well as security, routine maintenance and upgrades, all of which need to be transported over long, arduous routes and at great cost. “Research will focus on modifying a Sterling engine, improving its efficiency, in order to take advantage of the cold climate while reducing costs and greenhouse gases,” says Gubala.
Permafrost engineering is another project the YCCIC is focusing on. It is collaborating with the Department of Transportation and a private sector firm in Dawson City, where the department is paving the roads and the YCCIC will install a sensor network on top of and inside the ice, which will measure the differential melting and structural quality of the permafrost.
This is a small demonstration project that has huge potential. The sensor network will alert researchers as to where and when the roads will fail (as in develop potholes, sinkholes or breaks in the ice) and by monitoring the situation, they can enable the government to plan its budget and maintenance management with a lot more certainty.
View Digital Corporate Profile of Yukon College in Technology Digital August 2009