Beneath the Prudhoe Bay, Kuparuk River and Milne Point fields of Alaska's North Slope lie some 44 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. "The gas is untapped potential because we haven't yet found a way to get it out of the ground," says Associate Professor Shirish Patil. UAF's research potential is well known, making the university's petroleum engineering department and Petroleum Development Laboratory a natural fit for a $19 million, four-year U.S. Department of Energy grant. The goal of the grant, shared by UAF, the University of Arizona, BP Exploration (Alaska) and the U.S. Geological Survey, is to determine the best way to extract the most gas.

Patil is leading a group of UAF faculty and students on the petroleum and reservoir engineering portion of the project. The team knows a sizeable amount of gas is sitting right underneath the infrastructure already in place for conventional oil drilling, making it a much more attractive site than trying to recover gas scattered across the North Slope. And because they're able to use confidential field research from BP, they can create more accurate predictions for gas recovery rates and economic analyses.

"Gas like that on the North Slope is considered an unconventional resource," says Patil, but there's nothing unconventional about UAF helping business in Alaska. The program could one day help fill the projected gap in U.S. domestic gas production.

UAF has big expectations for a lot of tiny devices. In April 2004, the Office of Electronic Miniaturization opened its lab, including a state-of-the-art microelectronics packaging line. A special clean room provides sustainable prototyping and low-volume capacity for miniaturizing electronic components and component systems for government and commercial needs. These components can be used in everyday items like cell phones and personal computers as well as even more complex equipment.

The multimillion-dollar clean room is unique in Alaska. Along with the OEM's research counterpart, the Center for Nanosensor Technology, the clean room will help diversify the state's economy by creating new educational opportunities, and developing experts for high-tech jobs in Alaska.

OEM has already produced and tested its first four lots of prototype microelectronic devices, which must pass rigorous tests of function, reliability and lifespan to be acceptable.

"Ninety percent of the first lots passed the required tests, which is a very good indication of our capability," says David Bunzow, OEM's deputy director of facilities and operations.

There are now 11 lots in the prototyping line. "We learned a lot during the process, and we expect later lots will have a significantly higher yield than the first ones," says Lawrence Bowman, OEM's senior technologist.

Says Bunzow, "I believe that, within the next five years, OEM will attract business and educational opportunities from throughout the world, establishing Fairbanks as an incubator for future economic growth outside the traditional industries."

Some scientific discoveries happen by accident. Without a slippery strainer, UAF marine scientists Brenda Konar and Katrin Iken wouldn't have made an important discovery.

Last summer, the researchers and a team of graduate students were in Prince William Sound surveying marine life as part of a global study of ocean biodiversity.

Sorting through buckets of collected marine creatures, Iken accidentally dropped overboard a sieve that separates different-sized organisms.

"We dove in and found the sieve right under the boat," Konar says. "Looking around, I saw all these little tumbleweeds. I thought, that's a rhodolith bed, and as far as I know, rhodoliths have never been described before in Alaska. We were shocked at how many there were."

Rhodoliths are a type of coralline red algae that deposits calcium carbonate within their cell walls to form hard structures that resemble coral. One of the Alaska rhodoliths is a type found in the Atlantic Ocean; the other appears to be an entirely new species.

"Most of them were the size of pingpong balls," Konar says, "with lots of branches that come out from a centerpiece, like pink jacks."

Rhodoliths fill an important niche in marine ecosystems around the world as a transition habitat between rocky and sandy areas, but after more than 15 years of diving in Alaska, Konar had never seen them here.

"It's important to find out how many of these beds there are, where they are and what organisms associate with them because they could be an important nursery for species in our waters."

With five rural community campuses, UAF is well aware of its role beyond urban Alaska. UAF works closely with other universities and institutions to address pressing needs in rural and Native health. Among its programs:

• The Center for Alaska Native Health Research, established through a grant from the National Institutes of Health, investigates Alaska Natives' weight, nutrition and health from genetic, dietary and cultural-behavioral perspectives. CANHR also has offices at UAA and collaborates with the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corp., Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and the Southcentral Foundation.
• UAF researchers studying how the brain protects itself from damage benefit from the Alaska Specialized Neuroscience Research Program, funded jointly by NIH and the National Institute for Neurological Diseases and Stroke. SNRP researchers capitalize on IAB's access to unique animals that survive freezing temperatures and stroke-like reductions in blood flow to study natural protective processes that may one day help treat stroke patients.
• The psychology department works with the Fairbanks Native Association and the Tanana Chiefs Conference to provide mental health services to Interior Alaska Native children. The department is also investigating trauma experienced by rural Athabascan children, made possible by funding from the National Institute of Mental Health.

The pressure of meeting the health needs of Alaskans can seem overwhelming, but UAF is leveraging its northern latitude, premier research capabilities and cooperative agreements to help meet those needs.