Apply for Arctic Innovator Program through Jan. 8, 2021

November 9, 2020

University Relations

Applications for UAF's 2021 Arctic Innovator Program will be open Monday, Nov. 9, 2020, through Friday, Jan. 8, 2021.

The Arctic Innovator Program provides early career innovators and entrepreneurs the opportunity to spend up to two years developing their technology and pursuing commercialization at a U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratory and the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

The Arctic Innovator Program is open to early career professionals:

• who currently have or will have a graduate degree in a science, technology, engineering and mathematics related field before the program start date;


• with a technology or area of research that they are interested in developing toward real-world adoption; and


• whose technology or area of research addresses Arctic-based challenges and aligns with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Manufacturing Office Strategic Goals.

This program, formally titled the Arctic Advanced Manufacturing Innovator Program, provides selected innovators with resources and guidance to maximize their likelihood of success. Innovators receive: a competitive personal stipend, a travel and training allowance, health insurance, a mentor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and a U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratory, and space and collaborative support at each organization. Innovators also have the adventure of living in Alaska while working on Arctic-related challenges.

Nathan Prisco, a 2020 Arctic Innovator, is representative of the passion and skill that the Arctic Advanced Manufacturing Innovator Program is seeking in candidates. Prisco is working on ammonia-based technologies for improving energy production.  He explained that the program offers him “a great way to get science out of the laboratory and into the world at large.” Prisco says he was attracted to the significant research and commercialization support while also being “intrigued by Alaska, both in its pristine wilderness and the feeling that there is an incredible opportunity in the last frontier.” Read more about Prisco’s experience.

You can learn more and apply here, or email Peter Webley, UAF Office of Intellectual Property and Commercialization, at pwwebley@alaska.edu.

This program is sponsored by the Department of Energy Advanced Manufacturing Office and is a collaboration with the University of Alaska Fairbanks.