2022-2023 Engineering Stories

Profile photo of Tanya Bratslavsky

Tanya Bratslavsky Left Her Mark on Engineering in Alaska

December 5, 2022

Engineering was not the easy career choice for a woman in the 1970’s. When Tanya
Bratslavsky, a Ukrainian immigrant, graduated with a double degree in civil and structural engineering, women made up only 3% of the U.S. engineering workforce. Her successes soon resulted in a reputation as a highly competent Professional Engineer.

Profile photo of professor Yang

Liquid earth: UAA researchers study earthquake models

November 29, 2022

In 2002, a large earthquake (Mw=7.9) struck in the Alaska Range near Tok, inflicting severe infrastructure damage to two sites: the Tok Cutoff highway near the Slana River and the Northway Airport by the Canadian border. This may sound like old news, but in UAA’s College of Engineering, researchers are still uncovering valuable findings from this disaster — findings that may help the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities (AKDOT&PF) better prepare for future earthquakes.

 

Student, Peter Renor standing behind a plasma tank.

Undergrad research training leads UAA alum to Sandia National Labs

October 19, 2022

For Peter Renner, the last four years have felt like sprinting a marathon. He went into Texas A&M’s mechanical engineering Ph.D. program in 2018, right after graduating from UAA, and just four years later he is now a postdoctoral fellow at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico. That means he blasted through his coursework, exams and dissertation in practically record time — even with the coronavirus pandemic and a newborn daughter thrown into the mix.

Dr. Hailu attaches a resevoir of liquid nitrogen to a spray nozel.
Cryogenic Solid Particles and Lunar Rovers

July 25, 2022

If you spent much time around the Engineering and Industry Building this last year, you were almost guaranteed to see UAA College of Engineering Professor Getu Hailu carting industrial sized thermoses in and out of the building. It turns out the thermoses were not for his lunch. They contained freezing cold liquid nitrogen for use in his NASA-funded research into how extreme cold affects different materials.