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Kenji Yoshikawa, an associate professor in the Water and Environmental Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks is a permafrost researcher. Yoshikawa created his alter ego Tunnelman as part of an outreach program to teach students and keep them interested in permafrost.

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Sam Harrel / AP file photo

Kenji Yoshikawa, an associate professor in the Water and Environmental Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks is a permafrost researcher. Yoshikawa created his alter ego Tunnelman as part of an outreach program to teach students and keep them interested in permafrost.

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Tunnel Man's rap: Climate change for village kids

Published: September 10th, 2009 02:39 PM
Last Modified: September 10th, 2009 02:43 PM

Link: Alaska Dispatch UAF permafrost researcher Kenji Yoshikawa likes to get off the campus and into the field. But he doesn't always work in frigid isolation. He has traveled thousands of miles across the Alaska tundra by snowmachine to drill miniature permafrost laboratories near village schools and get kids excited about learning. A teacher in the tiny Bethel-area village of Oscarville wrote: "The amazing and wonderful thing from Kenji's visit is that he singlehandedly captured the attention of all our students. ... Short of setting myself on fire and doing cartwheels across the room, I really have not been able to accomplish that feat." Yoshikawa also has produced several goofy educational videos in which he stars as Tunnel Man -- a superhero in tights and cape, out to study the frozen earth.

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