The announcement was made during a special ceremony held at UAF's Internet2 Day. Participants included, Douglas Van Houweling, Internet2's president and CEO; Louis Fox, Internet2's director of the K20 Initiative; Steve Smith, UAF's CIO; and Scott Christian, executive director of the Alaska Distance Education Consortium. "Internet2 has worked diligently in partnership with University of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest Gigapop to bring these leading-edge Internet capabilities to the Alaskan K20 community," said Dr. Louis Fox, director, Internet2 K20 Initiative and vice provost, University of Washington. "Through this program, not only will thousands of Alaskan students and teachers be able to take part in the latest networking technology to collaborate and learn in new ways but in turn, they will help enrich their peers in the broader education community by sharing the rich traditions, diverse cultures and institutions that make up this unique region." Through this connection, made possible through the Pacific Northwest Gigapop, teachers and students across Alaska will be able to participate in programs like Megaconference Jr., a project that uses advanced videoconferencing technology to bring together thousands of students in elementary and secondary schools from around the world for an all-day learning conference. Students can also receive live undersea exploration demonstrations from remote locations with famed oceanographer Bob Ballard, take master music classes from world-renowned instructors or use remote-controlled instruments to dissect a biology specimen from 1,000 miles away. "UAF has a long tradition of providing our campus with the most advanced resources available and has served as the state's hub for cutting-edge technology development," said Steve Smith, UAF's chief information officer. "By sponsoring the state's K20 Initiative, we are extending next-generation capabilities to a community which would not otherwise have access to these valuable educational resources." AK20 connects hundreds of Alaska schools, libraries, community colleges and museums. Schools within urban areas such as Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau will connect via a fiber-optic network, while outlying rural areas will use satellite and digital microwave connections. While not all schools have sufficient bandwidth to take full advantage of Internet2's network capabilities, AK20 is working with Alaska's carriers to provide the highest bandwidth possible to these schools.