Director Explores Helping Alaskan College-bound Students
September 12, 2012
On his last trip to Anchorage, Director Watson visited the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program (ANSEP) at the University of Alaska Anchorage. While there, he met with Mike Bourdukofsky, ANSEP's Cheif Operations Officer, a graduate of the program. The two discussed ANSEP's Programmatic Components and how they're benefiting Alaska Native youth. ANSEP is a unique program that identifies and develops future engineers to fill the unfolding needs for these technical experts in Alaska. Over the course of its 17-years existence, ANSEP has supported Alaska Native youth from sixth grade through graduate school.
During his visit, Director Watson and Bourdukofsky discussed several key topics that support and develop Alaska Native students. Bourdukofsky explained the methods that ANSEP uses to develop potential science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) students at a young age from across the state. As an example, he detailed the significant outreach efforts, including the ANSEP Middle School Academy, a 12-day summer experience for rising 6th, 7th, and 8th graders who engage in hands-on STEM activities with professional engineers and scientists; and the ANSEP Acceleration Academy, a 6-week summer experiences for high school students who enroll in university math, science, and engineering courses for college credit while engaging in hands-on science and engineering projects; both programs are hosted at the University of Alaska Anchorage campus.
ANSEP partners represent a wide strata of social, cultural, business and government organizations supporting these efforts. BSEE and BOEM are both developing internship opportunities and other projects that can increase the opportunities for the more than 1,000 students presently engaged in this unique.
For more information about ANSEP, you can visit their website.
The director visited ANSEP’s program headquarters building to meet with officials and discuss how BSEE can support students enrolled in the ANSEP program.