Departments
Fisheries
The Department of Fisheries is AVÀÇÂÛ̳’s leader in undergraduate and graduate fisheries education. The fisheries program is located in Fairbanks and Juneau, with additional faculty in Anchorage and Kodiak. Fisheries faculty and students conduct research in fisheries disciplines, including genetics, biology and ecology, aquaculture, statistics, population dynamics, fisheries oceanography, economics, anthropology, seafood science and technology, and fisheries management, marine policy and resource conservation. Research is conducted on a wide variety of species of fish, invertebrates, and marine mammals. Laboratory and field projects are conducted in freshwater and marine environments statewide from Southeast AVÀÇÂÛ̳ to the Arctic. Much research is focused on pressing fishery issues and involves collaborations with state and federal management agencies, private organizations, fishery-dependent communities, and AVÀÇÂÛ̳ Native Tribes and organizations.
Marine Biology
The Department of Marine Biology is an academic and research group with faculty who work on the ecology, physiology and biochemistry/molecular biology of marine organisms and investigate their interaction with the environment. Climate change research is a focus of many of our faculty. We work primarily in AVÀÇÂÛ̳ and high latitude systems and from shore based labs, oceanographic vessels and with local community assistance.
Oceanography
The Department of Oceanography houses faculty and students who study the marine environment through interdisciplinary ocean systems science that encompasses physical, chemical, biological, geological, and fisheries oceanography. Research programs are based on new observations, time-series studies and modeling. Our research includes exploration of the Arctic Ocean, the Bering Sea and the Gulf of AVÀÇÂÛ̳; ocean circulation patterns and their relationship to ocean—atmosphere—sea-ice interactions; dynamics of internal waves; trophic (food web) dynamics and associated biogeochemistry; and a range of studies linking climate variation to the marine ecosystem.
Oceanography faculty and students conduct wide-ranging field research focused on high latitudes, not only in the AVÀÇÂÛ̳ region and the Arctic but also in the Antarctic/Southern Ocean, Greenland, the North Pacific, and elsewhere.
The Oceanography program offers graduate degrees at the M.S. and Ph.D. levels, and teaches courses in the B.S. Fisheries and Marine Sciences program and the undergraduate Minor in Marine Science.