Office of Research
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Office of Research
At UAA, we understand the importance of being on the cutting edge of theoretical and applied research in health, engineering, and the physical and social sciences. We value the impact of our undergraduate and graduate researchers, and we create many opportunities for students to work closely with highly qualified faculty in state-of-the-art labs that are built to address some of the Arctic’s most pressing problems. We do this because we firmly believe that the path forward for Alaska and the world will be driven by our students — by your curiosity, passion, and belief in a brighter tomorrow.
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UAA and LG open heat pump labs for cold-climate HVAC research
Green & Gold News | December 10, 2024
The Consortium for Advanced Heat Pump Research, the groundbreaking partnership between the University of Alaska Anchorage and LG Electronics Inc. (LG), has opened state-of-the-art, real-world-simulated labs to conduct comprehensive studies on cold-climate HVAC and heat pump solutions.
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Practical ethics and pandemic preparedness: Raymond Anthony’s ongoing research in philosophy
Keenan James Britt | November 25, 2024
This August, Raymond Anthony, Ph.D., professor of philosophy, was awarded an Inter-Disciplinary Engagement in Animal Systems (IDEAS) program grant through the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). The grant is in the amount of $300,000 over two years for Anthony’s project, "Developing an Ethical Framework for Zoonotic Disease Emergency Management: Supporting U.S. Agriculture Resilience and Enabling a One Health Strategy."
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'How do we make science a better place?' — The McLaughlin Lab comes to UAA
Keenan James Britt | October 29, 2024
The McLaughlin Lab launched this semester at UAA, with principal investigator Jess McLaughlin, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, placing ethics at the forefront. McLaughlin is recruiting graduate students for the 2025-26 academic year and is actively thinking about how to prioritize students and local communities.
Research Themes
Engineering Solutions for Alaska and Beyond
In many ways, Alaska is a unique place that requires a unique approach to engineering. The wilderness is vast, the population centers are dispersed, and the effects of climate change are felt by many. Thankfully, the faculty and students at the UAA College of Engineering are up to the challenge. To help humans weather Arctic and subarctic conditions, the civil engineers are designing new mixtures of asphalt and testing new materials for home construction, the mechanical engineers are studying cold temperature corrosion, and the geomatics engineers are developing improved techniques for mapping the effects of permafrost melt and earthquakes. In every discipline within the college, there is an opportunity to engage in research that can benefit Alaska and other Arctic communities.
On the Frontlines of Health Research
As the health campus for the University of Alaska system, the UAA College of Health plays a key role in Alaska’s medical community — and the College’s research activities inform decision makers not only at the local level, but also nationally and internationally. For example, the Institute for Circumpolar Health conducts research that offers insights into the challenges and opportunities for rural health organizations. Their results and recommendations are often applicable both in Alaska and in large swathes of the circumpolar region. And this is only one arm of the College of Health’s research activities. In pharmacy, in justice, in social services, and in medicine, there are opportunities to make an impact through research.
Understanding Nature and Human Nature
Across UAA’s many disciplines, there are faculty and students who study the natural world, the social world, and the world of the mind. UAA’s biologists seek microbes in inhospitable environments like volcanoes and glaciers, and then develop techniques to use those microbes to safely mine rare earth metals. UAA’s economists investigate the ways that climate change is transforming not only our environment, but how we operate as individuals and organizations. UAA’s psychologists examine the stimuli that affect lab rats and make connections to the human experience. And these are just a few examples of the many ways that UAA’s natural and social scientists are adding to our body of knowledge.