Philip Wight
Affiliate Researcher
Assistant Professor of History and Arctic & Northern Studies
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Email: pawight@alaska.edu
Expertise
- Beneficial Electrification
- Climate and Environment
- Education
- Energy History
- Railbelt
- Solar
- Storytelling
- Transmission
BIO
Philip Wight is an assistant professor of History and Arctic & Northern Studies at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He is an energy and environmental historian, with a focus on infrastructure, mobility, and climate. He teaches classes in Alaska history, the contemporary history of the circumpolar north as well as energy and climate history.
Wight wrote his doctoral dissertation on the history of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. His research demonstrates how transportation infrastructures have enormous capacity to influence Alaska’s development, environment as well as lifeways, or ways of life. He is currently finalizing a book manuscript, Arctic Artery: The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System and the World it Made, based on his doctoral research.
Wight's more recent research examines the historical electrification of Alaska, including studies which examine generation and transmission on the Railbelt, as well as technological and energy policy innovation throughout the state.
When not in the archives, Wight could be found cycling, packrafting and skiing throughout Alaska.
Current Projects
- Railbelt Decarbonization Study
- Book project: "Alaska’s Energy Pioneers: How Communities Are Responding to the Climate Crisis"