Research Home
Read the Fall 2024 edition of UAFs'
research publication, Impact
|
Leaning towers of snow explained
March 21, 2025
Pete Wilda, a Fairbanks reader of this column, wanted to know how the snow here can bend off railings and loop from power lines without breaking. He grew up in eastern Wisconsin and doesn't remember the snow defying gravity there.
Traveling through time in the Alaska bush
March 13, 2025
On the dark, frozen white plain of the Tanana River, a white dot appeared in the night. It was the headlamp of Ryan Redington, a dog musher in the 2025 Iditarod race.
Farewell to a funny, brilliant scientist
March 08, 2025
Glenn Shaw died on Feb. 28, 2025, in Tucson, Arizona. The atmospheric chemist was for years a scientist and professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute. He was funny and irreverent and brilliant.
Northern soil microbes staying up all winter
February 28, 2025
We can't see them, but there are more microbes -- tiny fungi, bacteria, worms and other living things -- in a teaspoon of soil than there are people on Earth.
At 120 miles south of the Arctic Circle, the Fairbanks campus is well situated for northern research. UAF research in arctic biology, engineering, geophysics, supercomputing, and Alaska Native studies is renowned worldwide.
UAF ranks in the top 150 of nearly 700 U.S. institutions that conduct research. UAF has ranked in the top 11 of more than 10,000 institutions worldwide for number of citations in climate change publications.
University researchers work to combat challenges Alaskans face on a daily basis. We are helping Alaskans live more comfortably and safely with a secure future by bringing research dollars into the state. More than 80% of the university’s research is directly related to Alaska.
To support research innovation, the University of Alaska hosts many professionally staffed laboratories with highly technical capacities. Our labs and field facilities are available to all scientists.
With more than $200 million in research activity each year, the University of Alaska Fairbanks is Alaska’s research university. We are ready to step up to R1 and join the top 4% of research universities in the United States.
R1 is more than a status symbol. It will take research in Alaska to the next level by opening doors to additional funding and attracting top-tier faculty and graduate students. In addition to powering discoveries that will shape Alaska’s future, UAF’s increased research activity benefits Alaska’s economy with more jobs and more spending at Alaska businesses.