ACEP Researcher Spotlight: Jeremy Kasper, AHERC Program Director

Jeremy Kasper

Dr. Jeremy Kasper is a Research Assistant Professor with the University of Alaska Fairbanks Institute of Northern Engineering, Alaska Center for Energy and Power, and is currently the Director of the Alaska Hydrokinetic Energy Research Center (AHERC). He holds a PhD in Oceanography from UAF. Prior to his current appointments, Dr. Kasper was a postdoctoral investigator with the Department of Physical Oceanography at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Dr. Kasper has multiple on-going research projects including: 1) an in-situ and modeling based assessment of wave energy in the near-shore zone of Yakutat, Alaska; 2) an assessment of river borne debris, riverine hydrodynamics, debris mitigation strategies and the potential for fisheries interactions with in-river hydrokinetic energy generation devices in Alaska’s Tanana River; 3) a long-term oceanographic monitoring program in Alaska’s Beaufort Sea; 4) a pilot study to develop low-cost GPS “drifters” capable of measuring small scale sea ice deformation and in the event of an oil spill, tracking oiled ice; 5) a numerical modeling study to understand the impact of immobile land-fast ice on nutrient supply to Arctic shelf environments; and 5) a project to expand UAF’s capacity to conduct river- and sea-bed morphology measurements to understand suspended sediment transport resulting from processes such as coastal and river bank erosion.

Professional Preparation

• PhD in Oceanography at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Fall 2010

• BA in Physics at Reed College Spring in 1999

Photo: Jeremy Kasper.  Photo courtesy T. Paris, UAF.