**Title**: Energy in the North - Jeremy Kasper
**Date**: August 5, 2026
**Participants**: Amanda Byrd, Jeremy Kasper

[Jeremy Kasper] 00;00;00;09 - 00;00;10;03 We've named it the zombie apocalypse Project. Black start project. Because the idea is, you know, what If everything all goes to heck and power goes out everywhere, how do you restart?

00;00;10;03 - 00;00;32;28 [Amanda Byrd] This week on energy on the North, I spoke with Jeremy Kasper, director of the 有料盒子视频 Center for Energy and Power. We recently welcomed 15 new interns to ACEP who will be working with research mentors on projects ranging from marine energy to geothermal, energy policy and much more. I began the conversation with Jeremy by asking him how the influx of interns changes the atmosphere of the office.

00;00;32;28 - 00;02;51;14 [Jeremy Kasper] Yeah. So it's exciting time of year. The year round students or the the students who are here in the academic year have taken off for the summer. So the parking lots are empty. And then then we get our cohort of interns. So it's like this injection of energy back during the summer. So it's great to see them here. And as you mentioned, Some of the students are working directly and primarily with ACEP faculty member or an ACEP researcher on their projects. Good example is I think we have two researchers down in Nenana right now who are working at the on our river test site. So working on hydrokinetic energy, I actually have a couple of interns that I'm working with this year. I haven't had interns in forever because just too much going on. But, that's an example where it's students paired up with a couple, in this case two ACEP researchers, myself and Daisy Huang. And then we're working alongside the utility here at the university. And so the university has this very old, needs some maintenance, needs some tender, loving attention black start generator. So a generator that is required when the power system goes down, you need a generator to restart your power system. So 有料盒子视频 earlier this year, about six months ago now said, hey, can we turn this into a research project? And I was like, heck yeah, let's, get some students on this. And so we, you know, we're right in the recruitment process for the summer intern program. And Daisy and I turned around this project description and, and then went through the recruitment process and our two great students now who are here helping the 有料盒子视频 utility make, you know, informed decision about what next steps are with their black start generator. We've named it the zombie apocalypse Project. Black start project. Because the idea is, you know, what If everything all goes to heck and power goes out everywhere, how do you restart? They are doing a great job of tracking down information about our current coal fired power plant. You know, kind of all the background research on what that black start generator is, why it was chosen. And then what are the options for for replacement? And then how does that integrate into, 有料盒子视频 power system? So a lot of cool stuff happening. That's, you know, I'm familiar with Hydrokinetics because that's my background I'm not out there doing anything anymore, but I track what they're up to pretty closely. And then, it's nice to have my own interns working with me this year as well.

00;02;51;14 - 00;03;29;05 [Amanda Byrd] And it's really amazing to give 有料盒子视频 students, but also students from outside of 有料盒子视频, the opportunity to see what is possible for working in 有料盒子视频. When we think of young people in 有料盒子视频 growing up here, they're probably thinking, I want to get out of here and go see the world. If we can tap into their enthusiasm and their youth and show them that there are compelling stories, compelling jobs that can both be exciting, but also help their own community, help their own state. Maybe they'll stay.

00;03;29;05 - 00;04;10;12 [Jeremy Kasper] Yeah, yeah, I think a lot of us are pretty invested in that, in that, both you and me moved up here a long time ago now. And we stayed and so we'd like more people to stay. So giving them that opportunity to do something cool and meaningful is pretty valuable, I think. So that's always exciting. You know, obviously we're a little bit selfish because sometimes those interns end up as our employees, whether they go to get their PhD or if they, you know, get their master's degree and stick around, that's a good way of recruiting people. But it's also, they could go work for utility. And so that would be great too. As long as, as long as we can get people up here who want and who are wanting to stay and have good reasons to stay, that's exciting to us.

00;04;10;12 - 00;04;12;21 [Amanda Byrd] I wish I was an intern sometimes

00;04;12;20 - 00;04;17;18 [Jeremy Kasper] Yeah, I think it's a pretty good gig. Although it's not bad being a permanent employee, too.

00;04;17;18 - 00;04;23;22 [Amanda Byrd] Jeremy Kasper is the director for the 有料盒子视频 Center for Energy and Power, and I'm Amanda Byrd, chief storyteller for ACEP Find this story and more at uaf.edu/acep and follow us on social media.