BY GREG KIM & JOHANNA EURICH global honor Yup’ik student earns A Yup’ik student at the Univer- sity of Alaska Anchorage has won an international award for finding a way to extract rare earth metals without hurting the environment. Michael Martinez is a University of Alaska Anchorage science student, whose mother’s family hails from Kotlik. Martinez discovered a way to use microbes to extract rare earth metals while not creating toxic byproducts, and created the company Arctic Bio- tech Oath to develop and market the technology. The High North Dialogue Conference, meeting in Norway, has given Martinez the High North Young Entrepreneur Award. “This is a Yup’ik and indigenous people’s win up here in Alaska,” said Martinez. “This not only shows we’re capable of doing the basic re- search, but this shows that we can impact a great sector. Not only of upcoming technology, but some- thing people are looking forward to in the future.” The system of using microbes for extracting rare earth metals dis- covered by Martinez is cleaner than other methods. Rare earth metals are increasingly needed in the con- struction of computers and other electronic equipment, including cell- phones. Martinez came up through the Alaska Native Science and Engineer- ing Program, or ANSEP.
Photo by James Evans / University of Alaska Anchorage Michael Martinez discovered a way to use microbes to extract rare earth metals while not creating toxic byproducts.
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Summer 2021
The Alaska Miner
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