n act of Congress in 1946 launched the Geophysical Institute at UAF. Congress appropriated $975,000 (approximately $14 million today) for the construction and establishment of a geophysical institute, stating, “Because of [the University of Alaska’s] unique location and the work it has accomplished in the past, [it] is a logical site for a permanent geophysical research station.”

The institute’s director, Robert McCoy, echoes that statement decades later. “We’re strongly a function of where we are,” he says. “In Alaska there is a lot of fascinating geophysics… We’re at the crossroads of the ring of fire and the aurora borealis.” He says Alaska’s geography attracts scientists studying volcanoes, earthquakes, sea ice, glaciers, astrophysics, and countless other fields. “Our faculty and researchers travel all over the Arctic; they have the [US] Navy set up ice camps up on the polar ice.”

The institute is not isolated in a lab environment, and the data it gathers and disseminates have value far beyond pure academic research.

hen a company chooses to hold a conference or meeting in the 49th State, they’ve not only accomplished their goal of getting people together to talk business but also provided lifelong memories for all participants.

Not only do Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Juneau offer their own unique yet incomparable scenery any day of the year, but the local convention and visitor bureaus go out of their way to ensure that meetings exceed conference planners’ expectations.

iners dedicated to El Green-Go’s needn’t worry about the popular food truck returning to Downtown Anchorage this spring. Although closed for the winter, “The food truck stays where it’s at,” says owner Tyler Howie. “We’re going to keep that location to focus on tourism,” namely the location on L Street near Snow City Café.

For enthusiasts who might not wish to venture downtown for vegan-centered Mexican fare, El Green-Go’s is opening a new location inside a former First National Bank Alaska branch at Northern Lights Boulevard and Boniface Parkway.

Brick-and-mortar food service is no mystery to Howie. “I’ve been an executive chef for about twenty years, so this is not new for me,” he says. “I was the chef who took over Ginger during the winter.” He’s been an executive chef and consultant for many Anchorage restaurants, mostly Downtown.

very year, the local chapters of national and international engineering organizations nominate one engineer to represent them as a potential Engineer of the Year, as chosen by Engineers Week Anchorage. The engineers are nominated based on the quality of their work, their participation in the engineering and local communities, and other contributions they make to the profession. Below are the six nominees for the 2025 Engineer of the Year; the winner will be announced during Engineers Week, which is taking place this year from February 22 to 28.

he Engineering Excellence Awards honor projects that demonstrate innovation, creative problem-solving, and how engineering has a unique ability to improve the world. The projects listed here are nominees for the 2025 Engineering Excellence Awards for Engineers Week Anchorage, and the winner will be announced during Engineers Week, which is taking place February 22–28, 2026.

rom elementary schools and medical facilities to resorts, churches, and nonprofit centers, Nvision Architecture’s fingerprints are scattered across urban neighborhoods and remote villages alike, stretching across the entirety of Alaska.

“At Nvision, our vision is to bring people together through design to build better community,” said Paul Baril, the firm’s president and CEO. “Community-minded architecture is something we value and cherish and something we bring forth in all of our products.”

That vision has guided the firm through multiple generations of leadership and evolving design trends. Today, with a team of eleven design professionals based in Anchorage and a new satellite office in Palmer, Nvision continues to balance private and public sector work while staying grounded in a mission that has remained remarkably consistent since the firm’s earliest days.

laska reached a long-awaited milestone with the arrival of the first shipment of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the North Slope to the Interior in October 2025. The delivery demonstrated at last that North Slope gas can be consistently transported to Alaskan consumers.

For years, the challenge was not resource availability, as the North Slope gas fields hold some of the nation’s largest proven reserves. Instead, the challenge was getting that gas to the market. Harsh conditions, complex engineering requirements, and the high cost of pipeline development repeatedly stalled progress. The 2025 shipment signaled a breakthrough, built not on a megaproject pipeline but on a practical, scalable system designed to serve Alaskans first. The milestone proved that a truck-delivered LNG supply chain can reliably serve Alaska’s Interior.

hile Alaskans aren’t seeing unmanned aircraft deploying cargo just yet, the idea of using this technology to deliver food, medicine, and even heavier payloads isn’t far away. In fact, according to Paul Quirion, director of operations for Everts Air Cargo, it is likely that the state could see some of these autonomous flights sooner than people might imagine.

“Our goal is to eventually accomplish operations—at least partially in the autonomous advanced air mobility world—in the next several years,” he says. “Realistically, we are looking at autonomy and systems that are involved with making pilotless flights safe coming to fruition within the decade.”

Certainly, Alaska is poised to pioneer the tools and techniques for long-distance cargo drones. “If not operating under the full-blown CFR, we will certainly be taking part in advancements including some of the test flying and mock segments here in Alaska,” he adds. CFR is the Code of Federal Regulations, specifically Title 14, which contains the rules for Aeronautics and Space.

he grounding of Exxon Valdez in Prince William Sound on March 24, 1989, is a catastrophic example where leadership overconfidence and insufficient regulatory oversight combined to create an environmental disaster. Key findings and factors cited by various reports, including those from the National Transportation Safety Board and the Alaska Oil Spill Commission, suggest that it was the management decisions which created the climate that compromised safety.

Exxon management, long aware of the limitations and inadequate staffing on its supertankers—and having successfully lobbied to reduce the required size of escort tugs in Prince William Sound—operated with the deeply ingrained belief that technological superiority and operational procedures were enough to manage the risks inherent in moving massive amounts of crude oil through pristine, narrow waters.

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