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 Chief Operations Officer and a product of the program. The two discussed ANSEP's Programmatic Components and how they're benefitting Alaska Native youth. ANSEP is a unique program that identifies and develops future engineers and scientists to fill the unfolding needs for these technical experts within Alaska. Over the course of its 17 year existence, ANSEP has supported Alaska Native youth from the 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 experience 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 come from across a wide strata of social, cultural, business and government organizations in their support of these efforts. BSEE and BOEM are both working to develop internship opportunities and other projects that can increase the opportunities for the more than 1,000 students presently engaged in this unique program.
For more information about ANSEP, you can visit their website at: www.ANSEP.net
Director Watson visited ANSEP's headquarters building to meet with officials and discuss how BSEE can best support students enrolled in the program.