ANSEP is regarded as the most successful and cost-effective science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) education program in the nation according to the Urban Institute.  Drs. Michele Yatchmeneff and Matt Calhoun have conducted engineering education research and have received NSF grant funding to conduct further engineering education research.

Dr. Michele Yatchmeneff is an Unangax (Aleut) woman who grew up living a traditional subsistence lifestyle in rural villages along Alaska’s Aleutian chain.  She was a NSF LSAMP scholar at the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) where she earned a BS in Civil Engineering in 2005 and an MS in Engineering Management in 2009.  After earning her BS, she began working in Alaska’s construction and engineering industry, specializing in water and sewer projects in remote villages across the state.  She also worked as the Deputy Director of the Alaska Native Science & Engineering Program (ANSEP).  Professor Yatchmeneff earned her PhD in Engineering Education from Purdue University. 

She is currently an Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Alaska Anchorage.  Her research focuses on belonging and success for Alaska Native pre-college students.  Professor Yatchmeneff is an Alfred P. Sloan Indigenous Graduate Partnerships (SIGP) faculty advisor where she mentors Native American STEM graduate students at UAA and University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) and manages their fellowships and research efforts.  Dr. Yatchmeneff is also a co-PI on ANSEP’s NSF LSAMP Alaska Alliance where she will be collecting data on ANSEP’s University Success component for undergraduate students to identify STEM degree pursuit and persistence motivators.  Professor Yatchmeneff was also just awarded the NSF CAREER Grant, the first for UAA.