About us
Mission Statement
At the University of Alaska Fairbanks, URSA supports, develops and institutionalizes UAF's diverse and robust programs of undergraduate research and creative scholarship. At all levels, URSA aims to improve skills in critical thinking and communication and to engender a culture of life-long learning among all students, as well as enhance preparation and education of students who will fill the needs of Alaska’s 21st century workforce and society.
URSA is UAF’s resource for the development and promotion of experiential learning activities that engage undergraduate students to support UAF’s goal to become a leading student-focused research university. Building on existing efforts and capacities, URSA enables UAF students to pursue varying levels of research engagement from a single credit of first-year seminar to independent scholarly investigations or a senior thesis including BFA exhibit or performance
Staff
Trent Sutton, Ph.D.
URSA Director
Undergraduate Research and Scholarly Activity
Trent is a Professor of Fisheries Biology and an Associate Dean in the College of
Fisheries and Ocean Sciences.
Trent completed his undergraduate education in Fisheries and Wildlife at Michigan State University, and received a M.S. in Biological Sciences from Michigan Technological University and a Ph.D. in Fisheries Sciences from Virginia Tech. Prior to coming to UAF in 2007, Trent held faculty positions at both Lake Superior State University (1996-2001) and Purdue University (2001-2007).
Marie-Sylvestre Olesen
URSA Coordinator
Undergraduate Research and Scholarly Activity
Bunnell 301
Marie manages the URSA awards process, organizes events, maintains the student tracking system and provides assistance for all URSA activities. She received a M.Sc. in Responsible Tourism Management from Greenwich University in Medway, U.K.
URSA Advisory Board
The board consists of faculty from each of the Universities Schools and Colleges. Faculty serve on the Advisory Board for 2 years.
Members for academic year 2019-20 include:
Ana Aguilar-Islas
Associate Professor, Chemical Oceanography
Irving II 335-A , 907-474-1524
amaguilarislas@alaska.edu
Elaine Drew
Assistant Professor, Anthropology
307C Bunnell Bldg.
907-474-6758
emdrew@alaska.edu
Alex Fitts
Vice-Provost and Accreditation Liaison Officer
316 Signers Hall, 907-474-6253
affitts@alaska.edu
Brian Hemphill
Associate Professor, Anthropology
401 Bunnell, 907-474-6755
bhemphill@alaska.edu
Carie Green
Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction, School of Education
714D Gruening, 907-474-5516
carie.green@alaska.edu
Steffi Ickert-Bond
Professor of Botany, Curator of Herbarium
040 Museum, 907-474-6277
smickertbond@alaska.edu
Peggy Keiper
Director, Sport and Recreation Business Assistant Professor, Sport and Recreation
Business
209 Bunnell Bldg.
(907) 474-5905
mkeiper@alaska.edu
Sun Woo Kim
Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering
323 Duckering, 907-474-6096
swkim@alaska.edu
Charles Mason
Professor, Journalism
105B Bunnell, 907-474-6217
cwmason@alaska.edu
Anshul Pandya
Assistant Professor, Biosciences, College of Rural Studies and Community Development
Chuckchi Campus, 907-442-3400, ext. 221
aapandya@alaska.edu
Sveta Stuefer
Assistant Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering
463 Duckering Building
907-474-2714
slstuefer@alaska.edu
Dave Valentine
Professor of Forest Soils
309 O'Neill Bldg, 907-474-7614
dvalentine@alaska.edu
URSA Review Board
The URSA Review Board consists of faculty from all across UAF. All faculty members are eligible to participate. Each student application is reviewed by four faculty members. Current members may participate in one or all of the review sessions each academic year. If you are interested in participating, please contact the URSA office.
The members for 2019-2020 include:
Ana Aguilar-Islas
Jungho Baek
Bahareh Barati
Nathan Belz
Andrea Bersamin
Cam Carlson
Rich Carr
Cheng-Fu Chen
Ross Cohen
Wendy Croskrey
Marina Cuzovic-Severn
Margaret Darrow
Jan Dawe
David Denkenberger
Elaine Drew
Devin Drown
Daryl Farmer
Greg Finstad
Alex Fitts
Javier Fochesatto
Jennifer Guerard
Brian Hemphill
Falk Huettmann
Sun Woo Kim
Ilana Kingsley
Cecile Lardon
Dan Mann
Charles Mason
Anshul Pandaya
Jen Peterson
Terry Reilly
Joshua Reuther
Andy Seitz
Jeremy Speight
Sveta Stuefer
Renate Wackerbauer
Peter Webley
Peter Westley
Sveta Yamin-Pastenak