May 30, 2018
News Release

University of Alaska Fairbanks, PNNL Ink Collaborative Agreement

Meriman Grimes,
UAF, (907) 474-7902
Arctic Shark

The ArcticShark unmanned aerial vehicle will soon be collecting sophisticate atmospheric data over the tundra and sea ice on Alaska's North Slope in the Arctic Region.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks and the U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have signed a five-year collaborative agreement to advance research on hydropower generation, marine renewable energy and underwater technology development.

PNNL and UAF's Alaska Center for Energy and Power will form research teams, pursue joint funding requests and establish joint graduate student research and faculty appointment programs.

PNNL is proud to partner with the University of Alaska Fairbanks to address energy resiliency and national security challenges unique to our region, and to build upon existing collaborations in marine, environmental and energy research.

-Steven Ashby

"This agreement grew out of collaboration between individual researchers in both organizations and provides a substantive basis for much greater transregional engagement of our respective capabilities, toolsets and customer bases. It is truly forward-looking in terms of the technologies, insights and workforce that will be needed in the global blue economy," said George Roe, ACEP deputy director.

Jeremy Kasper, director of ACEP's Alaska Hydrokinetic Energy Research Center, will spearhead UAF's side of the partnership.

Initial collaborations under the agreement will focus on energy system reliability, aquatic environmental monitoring, innovative underwater technologies and maritime security. Future projects may involve using unmanned aerial systems for oil spill and ecosystem restoration monitoring, improving energy efficiency in maritime infrastructure, helping reduce impacts to fish and mammals near marine energy turbines, and using geoinformatics to detect illegal fishing.

"PNNL is proud to partner with the University of Alaska Fairbanks to address energy resiliency and national security challenges unique to our region, and to build upon existing collaborations in marine, environmental and energy research," said PNNL director Steven Ashby. "We will leverage unique capabilities across the two institutions, including PNNL's Marine Sciences Laboratory in Sequim, and help build our future workforce by providing rich research opportunities for graduate students."

The partnership will tap several unique facilities at the two research institutions.

PNNL operates the Department of Energy's only marine research facility, the Marine Sciences Laboratory in Sequim, Wash., and helps manage a comprehensive Arctic observatory on the North Slope of Alaska as part of DOE's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Climate Research Facility.

ACEP's Alaska Hydrokinetic Energy Research Center conducts applied research on river and ocean energy generation and integration, leveraging the resources available at its Tanana River Test Site near Nenana, Alaska, and the Power Systems Integration Laboratory on the UAF campus. Together, these resources provide researchers the ability to test how small electrical grids function while using a wide variety of energy sources.

For more information on PNNL and Alaska, view the brochure.

Key Capabilities

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About PNNL

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory draws on its distinguishing strengths in chemistry, Earth sciences, biology and data science to advance scientific knowledge and address challenges in energy resiliency and national security. Founded in 1965, PNNL is operated by Battelle and supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit the DOE Office of Science website. For more information on PNNL, visit PNNL's News Center. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.