Tina has made Alaska her home since 1998. Before joining AFP, she worked at UAF’s International Arctic Research Center, in the world of climate science research. Her academic background is in biology — ask her about what pollinates blueberries! Outside of work, she lives and plays in Fairbanks with her husband, two sons, a goofy-looking dog and a grouchy cat.

You can reach Tina at tina@alaskafellows.org

Julia Cheesman moved to Fairbanks in 2024 to be a Fellow on the Coastal Mapping Team at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She stayed within the same team to pursue her Master’s in Earth System Sciences with a geospatial concentration. With a love for building community, she enjoys helping new fellows integrate into life in Fairbanks. In her free time, she loves to ski, run, craft, and bake.

Kayleigh Hamernik moved to Anchorage through the Alaska Fellows Program in 2023 and immediately fell in love with the people and landscape. She completed her fellowship with The Nature Conservancy, where she now works full-time. As a site coordinator for Anchorage, Kayleigh is passionate about welcoming new fellows to Alaska and helping them find community and purpose here. When she’s not working, she can usually be found out on wild ice, and she loves introducing fellows to the magic of wild ice skating.

Lauren Hudson, a former Alaska Fellow, now serves as a site coordinator supporting new fellows as they build community in Anchorage. With experience in international relations and student support, she supports fellows as they adjust to Alaska’s unique rhythm, all while enjoying her own growing list of hobbies, from cross-country skiing to knitting.

Molly Simons is a 2024-2025 Alaska Fellows Program alum who moved to Fairbanks to be a fellow at the Cold Climate Housing Research Center. She transitioned into a full-time gig at her host organization and loves the chance that it gives her to help in the Fairbanks community. As a site-coordinator for the Fairbanks fellows, she enjoys crafting with them, skiing with them, and learning what makes each cohort unique. 

Ephraim Froehlich is a born and raised Juneau kid. He recently returned home to raise a family of his own after spending over a decade working in and around Congress in DC. Ephraim is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Maryland Law and now operates a policy consulting business, AKWA-DC. During his career in policy, Ephraim has worked with many Alaska Fellows and alumni of the program, and those great experiences inspired an interest to get further involved.

Ira Slomski-Pritz is a graduate of Yale College, an alumnus of both the Sitka and Anchorage sites, former staffer to Alaska Governor Bill Walker, and a NOLS instructor.

Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins (Founder) was born and raised in Sitka, Alaska, attended Yale College, and most recently represented his hometown and a dozen-plus other rural Southeast communities in the Alaska Legislature.

Pat Race is a filmmaker and illustrator with a background in computer science. Pat served on the Alaska State Council for the Arts from 2015-2021, and his artwork was featured on Alaska's "I Voted" stickers in 2018. Pat is co-owner of the Alaska Robotics Gallery in downtown Juneau, a comic shop and art gallery which was selected as a finalist for the 2019 Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Award.

Radhika Krishna serves as the AFP Board Treasurer. She has an undergraduate degree in Philosophy from Grinnell College and an MBA from Alaska Pacific University, and was recognized as one of Alaska' Top 40 Under 40 in 2022. Radhika lives in Anchorage and is the Executive Director of the Anchorage Downtown Partnership.

Rachel Thomson is a 2020-2021 AFP Sitka alum and a graduate of Stanford University. She is the Chief Operating Officer at Outer Coast, an emerging two-year liberal arts college in Sitka, where she first began as a fellow in 2020.

Tom Hewitt was born and raised in Fairbanks and attended the University of Alaska Fairbanks for his undergraduate studies in journalism. After more than a decade in journalism working for the Anchorage Daily News, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and KXDF/KTVF TV news, he is now working in municipal government as special assistant to the Fairbanks North Star Borough mayor.

Savannah Fletcher lives in Fairbanks with her family. She is a graduate of Columbia University and Stanford Law School, and now works as a civil rights attorney with the Northern Justice Project. Savannah also runs Solstice Books — Fairbanks' independent bookstore — and is a founding board member of Fairbanks' low-barrier warming center, HopeLink.

Max is a lifelong Alaskan from Juneau. He is an owner of Barnacle Foods, an Alaska food brand and manufacturer.