Q&A with George Payne

George Payne in the snow
George Payne, MS Engineering '25 (Photo courtesy of George Payne)

George Payne is a recent graduate of the Master of Science in Civil Engineering program and former UAA athlete on the Track and Field and Cross-Country Running teams. He is originally from Portland, Tennessee, and graduated from the University of Tennessee at Martin with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering with a minor in Mathematics in 2023. He delivered remarks to his peers as a student speaker at the College of Engineering Celebration of Graduates in December 2025.

Hometown: Portland, Tennessee  Current City: Anchorage, Alaska

Degree Program: Master of Science in Civil Engineering

Graduation Date: Fall 2025

Favorite season? Summer  Green or Gold? Green

Coffee or Tea? Tea  Morning person or night owl? Night owl

Please share a little about your professional and educational background. I graduated from the University of Tennessee at Martin with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering with a minor in Mathematics in 2023 and was on the UT Martin Cross Country and Track teams.

What made you want to pursue graduate school? During my freshman year of undergrad, the pandemic began and because of that, the NCAA gave athletes another year of competition eligibility. That extra year gave me the opportunity to look for a graduate school where I could also use the remainder of my NCAA eligibility.

My proudest moment as a graduate student was when I was able to show people my thesis project. It's a lot of fun when pieces you've been working on for a while come together the way they are supposed to.

George Payne, MS Civil Engineering '25

Why did you choose the degree you're pursuing? Building upon my undergraduate degree, I knew that if I was going to move to Alaska, I wanted to do something unique. I was deciding between an MBA and civil engineering, and civil engineering offered many more opportunities that interested me. The engineering problems in Alaska can be very different from those in Tennessee, and I thought it would be challenging and rewarding to try to understand the many issues facing this state that weren’t focused on in my undergraduate program.

What made you choose UAA? UAA reached out to me in the transfer portal when I was looking at schools. I was able to visit campus for athletics and meet with some professors in the civil engineering department. After evaluating my options, the opportunity to compete in Cross Country and Track & Field at UAA while exploring the Alaska engineering world seemed too good to pass up.

What is your plan now that you've graduated? After graduating, my plan is to put some more time into my research paper with the goal of getting it published. I’d like to stay in Alaska and get a civil engineering job, since there are still more Alaska things I want to experience, and moving back to Tennessee would make that a bit harder. While I’m working on my research paper, I’ll also be able to take the time to search for a job.

Have you benefitted from any affordability programs or financial aid while pursuing your graduate degree? For my research project, I had the opportunity of my project being supported by Alaska SeaGrant which sponsors many different types of projects going on at UAA, UAF, and other places in Alaska.
 
Is there anything you found particularly interesting or compelling in your coursework or other academic experiences? My thesis project, “Arctic Wave Flume for Investigation of Permafrost Coastline Erosion,” has been the most interesting experience of my degree. The goal was to convert the open-channel flume in the Fluids Lab in EIB into a wavemaker flume and run tests to examine the effects that water temperature, wave action, and soil content have on niche erosion rates in a frozen bluff. The flume consisted of two main parts: a wavemaker on one end and a frozen sample on the other. The wavemaker generated waves that traveled up the channel and crashed into the frozen sample. As the waves hit the block, a niche (or cutout) formed, creating a bluff.
 
A really cool part of my graduate school experience has been going from knowing very little about Arctic processes when I started, to knowing at least a few more things now! It’s been exciting to learn about different Arctic processes in the classroom and then design a lab apparatus capable of examining those same processes.
 
George Payne running for UAA Cross-Country
George Payne MS Civil Engineering '25, running for the UAA Men's Cross-Country Running team. (Photo courtesy of George Payne)
 

Are you involved in anything extracurricular with UAA or in your community that you'd like to share? I was a member of the cross country and track teams for the first four semesters of my graduate school experience. In my first semester at UAA, I was able to help the team return to the NCAA DII Cross Country Championships and represent Alaska at the national meet.

It has been quite the experience representing Alaska at competitions in the Lower 48, where people are often amazed to learn that there’s a university in Alaska with collegiate athletics. Competing in Tennessee is very different from competing in Alaska. I had to learn quickly how to become friends with living—and running—in cold weather. I also had to learn the ins and outs of TSA screenings, since I’ve flown more in the past two years than at any other point in my life.

Balancing collegiate athletics with a graduate degree in engineering has been quite the challenge. There aren’t as many classes to juggle in a graduate program, but it’s still important not to slip into a laid‑back mindset and to stay on top of deadlines. Navigating every‑other‑week travel for meets during the semester while starting and continuing a thesis project definitely wasn’t the easiest thing in the world.

What has been your proudest moment so far as a graduate student? My proudest moment as a graduate student was being able to show people my thesis project. When I conducted tests, I invited some friends to come by and see everything I had been working on in action. They had heard bits and pieces about the project, so they had an idea of what it involved, but they all seemed pleasantly surprised when they saw the whole setup working. It’s also incredibly rewarding when the components you’ve spent so much time building finally work and come together the way they’re supposed to.

What has been your favorite class or experience so far at UAA, and why? My favorite experience was going to the NCAA DII Cross Country National Championships and representing UAA on one of the biggest stages in the sport. My favorite class was probably Coastal Engineering, where I learned about different coastal processes and a whole new field of engineering that I knew nothing about. Tennessee-Martin did not have a class devoted to coastal engineering. Why would it? It's a land locked state.

Would you like to acknowledge any supporters or collaborators in your graduate school journey? The advisors of my thesis project, Dr. Thomas Ravens and Dr. Zhaohui Yang, as well as Tim Kirk and Corbin Rowe in the engineering department who have been very helpful in the brainstorming and construction processes of my thesis project.
 
Any fun or suprising facts you'd like to share? When I first moved to Alaska, I started a moose tally. I wanted to keep a running count of how many moose I’d seen since moving to Anchorage. My first time in the state was February 2023, and I officially moved to Anchorage in August 2023. As of December 2025, my tally is at 387 moose. That number always impresses people back home, though not so much true Alaskans.
 
Anything you're looking forward to? More adventures and unique experiences in Alaska.
 
What is the best advice you've ever received? Find joy in the little things.

Learn more about the Master of Science in Civil Engineering graduate degree and UAA Athletics.