UAF’s engineering program expands to welcome more students
March 28, 2025
Visitors tour a solar array in Houston near Anchorage to learn about agrivoltaic, or the growth of co-located solar and sustainable agriculture.
A University of Alaska Fairbanks engineering program launched in autumn 2024 is expanding its offering to welcome more students in the fall 2025 semester.
The energy resource engineering baccalaureate program is a four-year, well-rounded curriculum that includes hydrocarbons, renewable energy technologies and energy transition topics such as carbon capture and hydrogen. Its courses are taught by faculty of the College of Engineering and Mines and the Alaska Center for Energy and Power.
A power plant operator opens a door to view inside the coal burning chamber at Aurora Energy facility in Fairbanks
A few students have already declared an ERE major and a new faculty member was hired in the CEM department of petroleum engineering to teach petroleum and geothermal reservoir engineering. The program is scheduled to offer another new course in the fall on carbon capture, utilization and storage — a key solution to reduce carbon emissions from industrial processes and fossil energy production.
The program will guide students to be versatile energy engineers who are prepared to excel in any energy-producing industry. This idea aligns with Gov. Dunleavy’s all-of-the-above energy strategy and opens the door to new partnerships.
A truck transports participants for ARENA, ACEP's workforce development program, to the wind farm in Kotzebue in 2022.
“This is only the first academic year of our program, and we are eager to grow and expand in the coming years,” Abhijit Dandekar, petroleum engineering department chair and professor, said. “We are very excited to nurture the future generation of energy engineers and to advance their workforce preparedness.”
As part of CEM, the program works to meet standards set by ABET, a global organization that accredits programs in applied and natural science, computing, engineering and technology, ensuring that graduates are highly prepared to work in the energy industry.
Learn more about the ERE program.
