Students and faculty at Haskell Indian Nations University will play a key role in the new Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets, and Haskell President Karen Swisher couldn’t be happier.

“We are very proud to be part of this continuing relationship with KU, and we are proud to be part of this initiative,” she said.

David Braaten, deputy director of the $19 million National Science Foundation center formally announced Monday, said Haskell students and faculty would work to compile data on polar-ice melting gathered in previous years.

They will use a Global Information System lab developed through the Polar Radar for Ice Sheet Measurement project, which has headquarters at KU.

“We have disparate data sets,” Braaten said. “They’ll look at what we have right now and make sure we don’t duplicate our efforts.”

Haskell also will participate in educational outreach components involved in the NSF project, with faculty presenting GIS seminars to tribes living on reservations. Braaten said the technology could be used to map reservations, including determining where burial sites are located.

Braaten said KU researchers were looking forward to working with Haskell.

“It’s something that’s worked out very nicely,” he said.