Did you know one scholarship became a pipeline connecting thousands of Alaska Native students to STEM careers?

April 14, 2026

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ANSEP founder Herb Schroeder receives recognition on stage at the 31st annual ANSEP celebration, with partner banners for Alyeska Pipeline, the U.S. Department of Education and Alaska Airlines visible in the background.
ANSEP founder Herb Schroeder and Executive Director Matt Calhoun at the commemeration. (ANSEP photo)

A generation after its inception, the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program (ANSEP) is just getting started.

ANSEP, a University of Alaska program that guides students from kindergarten through doctoral studies in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and business, commemorated 31 years of changing lives and improving education opportunities for Alaskans this January. 

Several hundred students, alumni, partners and community members gathered at the Dena'ina Civic and Convention Center in Anchorage on January 30 to mark the milestone. The keynote speaker was D.J. Eagle Bear Vanas, an internationally acclaimed leadership expert known for applying Indigenous warrior principles to modern leadership and service. 

A few weeks after the event, State Senator Forrest Dunbar presented a formal citation to the ANSEP community. "ANSEP empowers and inspires thousands of Alaskans to reach their potential. For three decades ANSEP has invited Alaskan youth to participate in STEM and helped them to succeed. At a time when science and Native programs are threatened, we must commend the work of ANSEP's staff and recognize the meaning it has for students across our state." Dunbar said.

State Senator Forrest Dunbar presents a framed legislative citation to ANSEP Executive Director Matt Calhoun at UAA in February 2026, with Michele Yatchmeneff looking on.
On Friday, February 20, Sen. Forrest Dunbar, of Anchorage, presented a citation to the ANSEP community, highlighting ANSEP's role in education across Alaska, improving the quality and accessibility of educational and career development opportunities to Alaska’s students. From left to right: Sen. Forrest Dunbar, ANSEP Executive Director Matt Calhoun, ANSEP COO Michele Yatchmeneff. (ANSEP photo)

How it started

In 1995, UAA engineering professor Herb Schroeder founded ANSEP after years of working on sanitation projects in rural Alaska communities where he had never encountered an Alaska Native engineer. He started a scholarship program with a single student. Marcy Hensch graduated two years later with a bachelor's degree in engineering from UAA, becoming ANSEP's first alum.

Marcy Hensch poses in cap and gown at UAA commencement in 1997, becoming the first student to graduate through the ANSEP scholarship program.
ANSEP's first graduate, Marcy Hensch at her graduation in 1997. (ANSEP photo)
ANSEP University Success students and ANSEP Founder Dr. Herb Schroeder gathering for the 2002 ANSEP Banquet.
ANSEP University Success students and ANSEP Founder Dr. Herb Schroeder gathering for the 2002 ANSEP Banquet. (ANSEP photo)

How it’s going

The program is now a nationally recognized educational model from Kindergarten to Ph.D with thousands of students and alumni. With five full-time Acceleration Academy sites in Anchorage, Matanuska-Susitna, Bethel, Kotzebue and Nome, high school students can take dual-credit courses while enrolled in high school.

By the numbers

  • Nearly 3,000 Alaskans from more than 100 communities served since 1995
  • 60+ college credits earned on average by Acceleration Academy graduates before high school graduation, at no cost to families
  • 81% of ANSEP Graduates are in STEM and Business sectors
    ANSEP students tour an Alaska Airlines maintenance hangar in Anchorage, getting an up-close look at a jet engine as part of the program's career exploration activities.
    Middle school students visiting the Alaska Airlines hangar to learn about aviation. (ANSEP photo)

Partnerships

ANSEP has over 100 partners who are changing the future of Alaska for years to come. Alyeska Pipeline Service Company (APSC) was the

program’s first partnership before there were any ANSEP university graduates and that partnership continues today. APSC has hired more ANSEP graduates than any other partner and many employees are also mentors for ANSEP undergraduate interns. The construction of the award-winning ANSEP building and the creation of the Herbert P. Schroeder endowed chair at UAA were made possible in large part by the Rasmuson Foundation. Alaska Airlines solved a distinctly Alaskan challenge of getting students from communities around the state to Anchorage.

The people

Both Executive Director Matt Calhoun and Chief Operating Officer Michele Yatchmeneff were students in the program. They now play a key role in guiding the future of ANSEP. “If you can see it, you can be it!” says Yatchmeneff. “ ANSEP helped me reach my goals and will be here for the next 30 years, helping the next generation of Alaska Native STEM professionals.” Yatchmeneff adds that there is still a long way to go. “I’m still the only Alaska Native woman engineering professor; there needs to be more.”

A woman speaks at a podium
Chief Operating Officer Michele Yatchmeneff speaks to the crowd at the 2026 event. (ANSEP photo)

Calhoun has been reflecting this year on ANSEP’s past and future. “I joined ANSEP as a university student in 1999 when there were 20+ students in the program. It’s been an amazing journey to be a part of the transformation of ANSEP from a university program to a nationally recognized educational model with thousands of students and alumni.”

“The alumni are a piece that brings it full circle,” says Calhoun. ANSEP alumni volunteer as mentors for ANSEP undergraduate interns at partner organizations, alumni faculty teach ANSEP undergraduate students, and alumni are responsible for over $1 million in donations towards scholarships. 

Audrey Alstrom, doing coursework in 2009.
Audrey Alstrom in 2009. She first joined ANSEP in 2007 as a University Success student. Over the years, she served as Regional Director for the ANSEP Middle School Component and ANSEP University Success Director. (ANSEP photo)

Looking ahead

The work is ongoing. ANSEP is currently partnered with a number of Alaska school districts, with a goal of reaching every district in the state through its K-12 components. A new Headwaters program for K-5 students, piloting in partnership with the Mat-Su Borough School District, represents the leading edge of that expansion. The Acceleration Academy model is scalable to any community with a UA campus, and ANSEP leadership is beginning to think about growing its current location to accommodate the growing program. 

The vision for the next 30 years is clear. "In thirty years, ANSEP will be one of the reasons that educational outcomes and workforce development have turned around for the state," says Calhoun.

Rebecca Lawhorne is the integrated media manager for the University of Alaska System Office of Public Affairs.