Current opportunities at UAF
There are many ways for undergraduate students to get involved in research at UAF!
In addition to URSA funding, several other organizations at UAF, within the UA System,
and outside Alaska offer opportunities for our undergraduate students. Don't be afraid
to reach out to researchers, organizations, and institutes in your field to make a
connection and inquire about future opportunities! On this page we have provide information
about UAF organizations that regularly offer opportunities for funding and/or project
support. If you are looking to join an established project with faculty, staff, or
graduate students at UAF, see the list of opportunities listed below.
If you need assistance contacting individuals or organizations, please reach out! We are more than happy to help you connect with potential opportunities.
Projects Seeking Undergraduate Participation
New listings are posted when received.
Contact: Falk Huettmann
Professor of Wildlife Ecology
Email: fhuettmann@alaska.edu
Contact: Arghya Das
Assistant Professor of Computer Science, CEM
Email: akdas@alaska.edu
*Looking for six (6) students of Junior or Senior standing.*
Program overview: Ready to battle wildland fires with the power of AI and Deep Learning?
Join this Undergraduate Research Training Program and gain the cutting-edge skills
to develop technologies that help manage Alaska's wildfires like never before!
Funded by: DOE RENEW (Award #DE-SC0025715).
Wages: $16.50 - $19.50/hour based on the academic standing and prior research experience, 6 months, can be extended to 1 year based on satisfactory performance in the training and availability of funds.
Other perks and benefits: 1) Get access to a high-end laptop until the training ends (Laptops should be returned at the end of the training), 2) Work in collaboration with scientists from UAF and Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), 3) Opportunity to work on world's most powerful AI supercomputers and hardware.
Prerequisites:
- Must be an undergraduate student enrolled at UAF, UAA, or UAS
- Students with junior standing or higher is preferred
- Students from any STEM disciplines with interest in high-end computing are welcome to apply
- No prior experience in computer programing is required
Time Commitment:
- Start date: Sep 1.
- Duration: 1 semester. Can be extended to one academic year and summer based on performance and fund-availability
- Effort required: Approximately 400 hours
- Mode of research training: Hybrid (Remote + in-person).
- Training type: 100% hands-on. Learn while working on a cutting edge research project that impacts Alaska
Compensation: $16.50 - $19.50 per hour
How to Apply:
- Fill up this application form :https://forms.gle/
cCUxWCbBuXYA7QtY8 - Keep these documents ready!
- Resume
- Updated transcripts (unofficial is acceptable)
- 2 Letters of Recommendation - Deadline: April 30, 2025
Contact: Kristin O'Brien
Professor of Biology, CNSM/IAB
Email: kmobrien@alaska.edu
*Looking for two (2) students of Sophomore-Senior standing.*
We are seeking 1-2 students to join our lab group this summer, investigating the molecular and biochemical basis of hypoxia tolerance in Antarctic fish.
Students may complete their capstone requirements while conducting research. Also, depending on interest, students may present their research at local and/or national conferences.
Students graduating in spring, 2025 are welcome to apply.
Prerequisites: BIOL 115/116, CHEM 105/106, and a physiology course. Genetics and biochemistry are also helpful but not required.
Time Commitment: May - August and possibly longer if there is interest. 30-40 hours per week in the summer.
Compensation: $18 per hour minimum
Deadline to contact: Thursday, May 1, 2025
Contact: Melina Arciniega
Graduate Student, Anthropology
Email: marciniega@alaska.edu
Loking for two (2) students of Sophomore-Senior standing.
This position is through the Institute of Northern Engineering's Water and Environmental Research Center.
We are looking for a student assistant to help with a Fairbanks-based study on water trust and insecurity. The student will be asked to assist in conducting in-person surveys and interviews via a door-to-door style approach with local residents, to log responses, and to take notes. Training will be provided for administering the survey and collecting data during the interviews.
Prerequisites: None, training will be provided. A current driver's license and vehicle will be a bonus but is not a requirement. Please apply even if you do not have a vehicle/license.
Time Commitment: Training will begin in early May and project completion is August 30th 2025. The total hours available for this position are 522. This position can be 1 full time summer position (40 hours per week) or 2 part time positions at 20 hours per week. This will depend on number of qualified applicants and needs of the student
Compensation: This is a paid position at $17.00 per hour.
Deadline to Contact: Thursday, May 1, 2025
Contact: Mike Hull
Assistant Professor of Physics
Email: mmhull2@alaska.edu
Looking for three (3) students (Freshman-Senior Standing).
I am looking for students for both projects listed below:
1) What do students find interesting in their physics lessons? This would involve qualitative content analysis (student reports about what they found to be most interesting in their class each week).
2) How does bottom-up reflexive training about electromagnetic induction compare in effectiveness to top-down reflective training? This would involve analysis of quantitative data (student responses to questions about electromagnetic induction)
Prerequisites: None- an interest in how students learn and an eagerness to grow in data analysis techniques is beneficial.
Time Commitment: These positions are available to start ASAP with a flexible workload and end date.
Compensation: This position is currently unfunded. The mentor would be willing to provide technical support to students interested in applying for project funding.
Deadline to Contact: May 30, 2025
Contact: Dmitry Nicolsky
Research Associate Professor, Geophysical Institute
Email: djnicolsky@alaska.edu
*Looking for one (1) student of Junior or Senior standing*
Over the past few years, I have developed an interactive modeling tool for visualizing
particle dynamics in gravitational, electric, and magnetic fields for educational
purposes. You can check it out here: http://3dspace.alaska.edu.
Currently, the tool includes several animations focused on mechanics, electrodynamics,
and the motion of interacting particles. However, there is potential for expanding
it with additional animations and scenarios. I am looking for an upper-level undergraduate
student majoring in physics or mathematics who could help with this development.
Project Overview:
- We would discuss a given scenario, including physical properties of particles, initial
conditions, and external fields.
- The student would then implement this scenario as an animation within the tool.
- The scenario must be accompanied by the relevant mathematical formulations describing
particle dynamics, including solving the linear momentum equation or Newton’s second
law.
This could be a challenging but rewarding task, as it involves solving second-order
differential equations with external forcing. It’s a great opportunity for a student
to apply theoretical knowledge in a hands-on computational setting.
Prerequisites: Differential equations, calculus, physics
Time Commitment: Flexible hours. The start and end dates depend on the funding opportunity. Most of this work could be done over the summer months.
Compensation: Applicants will need to apply for URSA, BLaST, or other funding to support their work. I am happy to assist in writing the application to help secure funding.
Deadline to contact: December 31, 2025
Contact: Carol Gray
Assistant Professor of Political Science
Email: cjgray5@alaska.edu
Looking for up to 4 students of any standing (Freshman-Senior).
*This is an ongoing project and will accept interest past the Spring 2024 listed date.*
Time Commitment: Minimum of 10 hours per week though, if funding is provided, I would be open to students working more hours if they chose to.
Compensation: This position is unpaid. But I am happy to have interns as volunteers or if they are able to obtain grants through URSA or otherwise. I would be happy to mentor a student who is funded through URSA or some other mechanism.
Additional Position Information:
Students would learn about archiving, historical research, and the politics and context of the anti-slavery movement from the 1800s in Canada and the U.S. Through weekly meetings with the professor, students learn about how archival research unfolds and would be part of creating a valuable data base that could be used by historians and other researchers working on civil and human rights for years to come.
When this internship was conducted at a different institution (not in Alaska), interns who worked on this project did independent research that they presented at a professional conference. I am not sure whether such opportunities would be available here in Fairbanks, but there might be some conferences that are virtual that students might apply to. I would be happy to mentor students in crafting an abstract and submitting a conference proposal.
Contact: Sarah Stanley
Faculty, English Department
Email: sstanley2@alaska.edu
Phone: (907) 474-7335
The InsideOut StoryLab is starting to receive submissions from prisoners for a Boundaries and Bridges Story Collection. The InsideOut StoryLab: Boundaries and Bridges is a story collection from both incarcerated and unconfined writers to be distributed by portable story dispensers inside and outside of carceral settings in Alaska.
- Type up handwritten submissions
- Write response letters submissions
- Evaluate submissions
- Work with a submission database
We are always in process with collections. This is a chance to get involved with community publishing from the ground up. Sarah (your mentor) is an excellent letter writer for a recommendation. Reach out and get involved!
This position listing is looking for up to 3 students (Freshman-Senior Standing).
Prerequisites: None
Compensation: We can work on writing a grant for this--let us know your interest. Open to mentoring
students who apply for funding through URSA or other campus entities (especially a
student that wants to put together a Community-Engaged Learning award for our next
collection).
Contact: Richard Collins
Faculty, Geophysical Institute & Atmospheric Sciences
Email: rlcollins@alaska.edu
In search of 1 student of any year of study (Freshman through Senior status).
UAF researchers have been studying Earth's highest clouds since the 1990's. These
clouds, called noctilucent (night shining, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Additional Position Information: This job involves working with an archive of tapes that is unique. Students can learn more about noctilucent clouds at the following links.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Noctilucent_cloud - https://www.space.com/
noctilucent-clouds - https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/
weather/learn-about/weather/ types-of-weather/clouds/other- clouds/noctilucent - https://earthsky.org/earth/
night-shining-clouds- noctilucent-clouds-how-they- form-how-to-see-them/
Prerequisites: Student should have basic tech skills be able to manage data files, maintain spreadsheets of information, and have ability and interest to learn media skills.
Time Commitment: Start as soon as possible, running through Fall and Spring. Up to 20 hours a week, with total hours ~200-300 hours. The schedule would depend on access to library tape digitizing equipment, but is otherwise flexible.
Compensation: Student Assistant Grade 2, Step 14: $14.67 an hour
Contact: Simon Zwieback
Faculty, Geosciences
Email: szwieback@alaska.edu.
Contact: Tristan Goers
GIS Technician | Digital Services | Fairbanks North Star Borough
Email: tristan.goers@fnsb.gov
Phone: (907) 459-1477
The Fairbanks North Star Borough is offering an internship opportunity georeferencing imagery for course credit to an undergraduate student. This opportunity involves mosaicking and georeferencing scanned historical imagery of the FNSB and may also involve scripting. This work will be completed over one semester with the final deliverables being (1) georeferenced image tiles, (2) a georeferenced, mosaicked, image, and (3) an image tile index. The final product will be an invaluable resource not only for the Fairbanks North Star Borough but also the public at-large. You will be expected to give, at a minimum, weekly progress reports detailing the work completed, any challenges encountered, and any questions you may have.
Prerequisite: Prior exposure to remote sensing or GIS
Pay: This could be a paid internship, an unpaid project for credit, or both.
Please reach out to us to discuss further details.
Benefits: Valuable real-world experience and skills that are in great demand on the job market.
Rolling Deadline- please contact the opportunity provider listed above for more information.
Contact: Simon Zwieback
Professor Geosciences
Phone: (907) 474-5549
Email: szwieback@alaska.edu
The project seeks to characterize permafrost landscape dynamics following temperature
extremes and a bark beetle outbreak. It combines fieldwork in Alaska, soil analysis
in the lab, and remote sensing data analyses.
You will collect field measurements under supervision of experienced researchers.
Laboratory work will include sample preparation and analysis, and data compilation.
Remote sensing analyses may comprise processing and classification of multispectral
and radar remote sensing imagery, and predictive modeling using machine learning.
How long: 10 to 20 h / week during the semester, up to 40 h / week in summer.
Pay: Yes. Salary is negotiable.
Other benefits: Gain field experience in Northern Alaska, potential for research-based credits.
Seeking 2 students, any year of study, willing to learn and work on GIS, climate and
wildlife data.
This project provides opportunities for students to explore and work-up specific forestry
and climate GIS data for birds and habitats in Interior Alaska.
Students will gain experience in learning geographic information systems (GIS, ArcGIS or QGIS), insights into landscape ecology, bird, habitat and climate management issues, and digital data skills for Alaska. Office space, hardware and software provided.
Experience required: R skills would ideal, or at least a willingness to learn
Funding: None provided. Students would need to seek funding from URSA Project application or find another source if they require funding. Project coordinator would help with the process.
Deadline: Ongoing
Opportunities for Students at UAF
UAF organizations that regularly offer opportunities
for funding and/or project support.
Alaska NSF EPSCoR improves Alaska's scientific capacity by engaging in research projects supported through National Science Foundation and state funds. The organization is engaged in a five-year project entitled "Fire & Ice," which examines climate-driven changes to Alaskan wildfire regimes and coastal ecosystems.
Undergraduate Scholarships of up to $1,000 will be awarded through a competitive process. Scholarships are open to new and continuing undergraduate students majoring in the disciplines of science, technology, engineering and/or mathematics (STEM). Students receiving awards in past competitions may apply and receive awards for subsequent competitions.
The Biomedical Learning and Student Training program invites undergraduates at UAS, UAF, and Ilisagvik College to submit proposals for undergraduate research. Up to $6,000 will be awarded to students who have identified a project and mentor in biomedical or health research.
For more information or if you need help identifying a project and/or finding a mentor visit the BLaST Website.
The Alaska Center for Innovation, Commercialization, and Entrepreneurship (Center ICE) is the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Innovation Hub. Through our Innovation Accelerator, we draw from the University of Alaska’s best research to support its development, launch it as a real world solution, and help it scale up. Center ICE also offers the Students2Startups program to place the next generation of leaders at the center of innovation now.
One of the main goals of the Alaska INBRE Network continues to be to increase education and research opportunities for University of Alaska undergraduate and graduate students to guide them into programs and advanced training in the biomedical sciences and to enhance the biomedical infrastructure in Alaska.