About us
Academics
The College of Natural Science and Mathematics offers undergraduate and graduate programs in the physical and life sciences, computer science, statistics and mathematics. The college is known for its use of modern technologies, access to professors, quality undergraduate advising, and opportunities for undergraduate research. Our academic programs are designed to provide a foundation for professional careers or advanced study.
Alaska’s unique environment lends itself to teaching and research opportunities not found anywhere else in the country. Most of the faculty in our college are active in research, providing world class research opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students.
UAF is a diverse, friendly campus with small class sizes. Take a look at our department websites to find the program that is right for you.
Mission Statement
Through instruction and mentoring, the College of Natural Science and Mathematics promotes students’ self motivation to excel and guides them towards professional careers and public service in an environment of life-long learning. Through research, the College advances knowledge of natural, physical, technological and numerical systems from a northern perspective. Instruction, mentoring, research and outreach are brought together within undergraduate, graduate and continuing education programs to benefit Alaska, the nation and the world.
Vision Statement
The College of Natural Science and Mathematics is the education and research leader in science and technology for the public and private sectors of Alaska and the North. Research and instruction are strengthened by competitive grants at the national level, to the benefit of the University and its students. Research, teaching, and outreach contribute to achieve a superior learning experience.
Vitality in scholarship is improved at all levels by recruiting and retaining the best and brightest faculty, staff, and undergraduate and graduate students. Instructional programs use the most current technologies and methods to focus on developing skills for both scholarship and vocation to allow students to develop to their full potential and become the scientific leaders of the future. Leaders throughout Alaska seek our input for solutions to problems facing Alaskans.
Meet Paul W. Layer, CNSM Dean
Paul W. Layer, CNSM Dean, received his BS in geology from Michigan State University, and his MS and PhD degrees in geophysics from Stanford University. He spent three years as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Toronto, Department of Physics, and has been at UAF since 1989 when he was hired as an assistant professor in the Department of Geology & Geophysics and the Geophysical Institute.
He was awarded tenure in 1994 and promoted to professor of geophysics at UAF in 2000. Layer served as department head/chair for the Department of Geology & Geophysics from 1995 to 2003, and then again in 2007. In 2007 he was appointed associate dean of CNSM and in 2009, interim dean. He also served as a faculty senator, president-elect and president of the UAF Faculty Senate. He has chaired the university-wide promotion and tenure committee, and was co-chair of the provost search committee and the chair of the graduate dean search committee. Layer has also been chair and is currently a member of the Alaska Geologic Mapping Advisory Board, State of Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys.
Layer is head of the Geophysical Institute's Geochronology Laboratory which he continues to run. His research focuses on use of the 40-argon /39-argon dating technique to investigate geological and geophysical problems in Alaska and elsewhere. Applications include determining the age of plutonism and tectonic events, dating of volcanoes in Alaska and Mexico, and constraining the time of formation of mineral deposits.
Layer has coauthored more than 100 papers and been involved in international collaborative projects with scientists from Russia, Germany, Canada, Mexico, Sweden and South Africa. He has supervised eight graduate students and numerous undergraduate research projects. Layer teaches courses on general geology, geochronologic methods, and on the use of statistical methods in the geosciences. He continues to teach one class per semester.