UIC students to travel, study on Arctic's Northwest Passage

CHICAGO (AP) - University of Illinois at Chicago students will travel across the Canadian Arctic's remote Northwest Passage with the help of a $3 million research grant.

The National Science Foundation is funding the three-year climate and marine research program.

Students and ocean scientists will take a 17-day journey in August aboard a 200-foot sailing vessel.

Researchers from the University of Rhode Island's Graduate School of Oceanography's Inner Space Center are leading the initiative. They're collaborating with UIC and five other institutions that serve large numbers of minority students.

The students will learn about the changing Arctic and retrace expeditions that were lost to the Northwest Passage. They'll also contribute to live broadcasts that will be broadcast at the Smithsonian Institution's national Museum of Natural History.