Skip to main content

Participant Stories

Meet some of the participants who are advancing scientific research and discovery. Learn about how their research experiences have advanced their academic and professional careers.

 

CHRISTOPHER WOODRUFF

The Arctic Advanced Manufacturing Innovator Program is pleased to welcome its second Arctic Innovator, Chris Woodruff.  Woodruff will be working with the University of Alaska Fairbanks Center for Innovation, Commercialization, and Entrepreneurship (Center ICE) and Idaho National Laboratory (INL) on a new technology to break down the toxic “forever chemicals” known as PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances).

At INL, Woodruff will be working with Robert Fox, an expert in additive manufacturing, materials development, and hydrothermal processes, and Woodruff will leverage INL facilities to explore novel material approaches for corrosion resistance in harsh working conditions.

In Alaska, Woodruff will explore using the technology at military, industrial, and municipal sites.  Woodruff is part of the team at Aquagga, which is developing a foundational technology invented at UAF.  Woodruff will split his two year stint as in the Arctic Innovator between Fairbanks and Idaho Falls, Idaho. Woodruff says “the combination of technical resources and entrepreneurial support provided by the program, along with the flexibility of leveraging facilities at both UAF and INL, will be invaluable in getting this technology out of the lab and out into the field.”

woodruff-chris.jpg
prisco_lab-picture.jpeg

NATHAN PRISCO

Congratulations to the first Arctic Innovator, Nathan Prisco, Ph.D.  Prisco’s research and commercialization project has two targets: producing clean hydrogen from Alaska’s North Slope, and safely exporting it as an ammonia superfluid that allows North Slope producers to move more product using less energy.  In both cases, Prisco’s work would contribute to environmental sustainability, Alaska’s economic development, and rapid deployment of decarbonized fuels at global commodity scale.

Prisco is working with the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) Center for Innovation, Commercialization, and Entrepreneurship (Center ICE) as well as the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL).  At PNNL, Carlos Fernandez is guiding Prisco development and testing of the technologies.  In Alaska, Prisco is exploring the commercialization and deployment options, making industry connections, and collaborating with North Slope oil research leaders.  Prisco’s company, Mighty Pipeline, is establishing industry relationships to bring his technology to the market.