Two grants from the U.S. Department of Education International and Foreign Language Education office will allow at the 91探花 to award eight to 10 fellowships each year to students studying French or an Indigenous language spoken in Canada.

The center from a National Resource Center Grant with the Center for Canadian-American Studies at Western Washington University and a Foreign Language and Area Studies, or FLAS, grant.

The grants, awarded for the 2022-26 cycle, will allow the center to build expertise in Canadian Studies, particularly in the Salish Sea region, Francophone Canada and the Arctic, and help develop a greater understanding of the role of Indigenous peoples in global affairs. 91探花received the ninth-largest FLAS grant in the country.

FLAS fellowships allow students to gain modern foreign language and area or international studies competencies, and the 91探花is one of just two National Resource Centers in the country to offer instruction in Indigenous languages spoken in Canada. Canadian Studies started offering fellowships in Indigenous languages in 2004 and has since funded fellowships in 10 languages spoken on Vancouver Island and in northern Ontario, the Arctic and more.

While the FLAS grant will fund fellowships, the National Resource Center grant will primarily be used to pay instructors and subsidize research and programming, including supporting visiting faculty. Because most languages aren鈥檛 taught on the 91探花campus, visiting faculty often teach remotely.

, interim director of Canadian Studies, said the center has awarded close to 50 FLAS fellowships in Indigenous language studies over the past 15 years.

鈥淲hat our center works to do is to approach these regions and cross-border issues with a focus on Indigenous peoples and their experiences,鈥� Fabbi said. 鈥淲e work to provide courses, research and programming that includes Indigenous voices and knowledge.鈥�

Fourteen FLAS fellowships were awarded for the 2022-23 academic year to master鈥檚 and doctoral students who are studying French, Nuu-chah-nulth and X瘫aad K铆l, or the Haida language. The fellows represent four departments in the College of Arts & Sciences and five professional schools, including law and marine and environmental affairs. Three of the current fellows are Indigenous students.

鈥淭he center focuses on Indigenous studies, international relations, Francophone Canada, environmental justice, and the Arctic,鈥� Fabbi said. 鈥淭he themes and issues that we touch on are of significant interest to our faculty, students and other colleagues.鈥�

, a doctoral candidate in the 91探花Information School and a citizen of the Haida Nation (Haida Gwaii), was a FLAS fellow studying X瘫aad K铆l in the summer of 2022. Kuhn鈥檚 work focuses on community-engaged research at the intersection of Indigenous research review, social media and health communication. She also works to build relationships with Tribal communities in the U.S. and Canada to support the development of Indigenous research ethics boards.

Kuhn hopes her work will benefit Tribes and Bands as they seek to create and sustain their own research review processes as well as develop community-engaged approaches for social media research. She also wants to help expand the information sciences field to ethically consider how Indigenous communities use technology to support their sovereignty, cultures, language and well-being.

Kuhn was part of an interdisciplinary group of 91探花graduate students that co-created the first Haida FLAS cohort at the UW.聽 After her summer FLAS fellowship ended, Kuhn continued to attend X瘫aad K铆l classes with her cohort throughout the academic year. She said learning her own language has been an essential part of her growth as an Indigenous scholar in academia.

鈥淚 am more fully able to reflect on my own positionality as a Haida scholar within my Indigenous research and studies and, from this place, thoughtfully contribute to Indigenous theory, practice and meaning-making,鈥� Kuhn said. 鈥淭his experience has been a great gift as it connects me so fully to my Haida language and culture, supporting me as I work with Tribes and Bands on both sides of the border, while contributing so much to my own learning and research.鈥�

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For more information, contact Fabbi at nfabbi@uw.edu.

Joyce Yen honored with the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring

On Feb. 8, President Joe Biden Joyce Yen and 14 other individuals and organizations as recipients of the (PAESMEM). is the director of the UW鈥檚 , a program that works to eliminate underrepresentation of women faculty in STEM at the 91探花and beyond.

Established in 1995, PAESMEM recognizes the critical roles mentors play outside the traditional classroom in the academic and professional development of the future STEM workforce.

鈥淭his award not only validates the importance of mentoring, but it also elevates the intersection of excellence and diversity and those pushing the STEM ecosystem to be better,鈥� Yen said. 鈥淚 truly love the work I do fostering communities and cultures in STEM that support and advance inclusion and belonging.鈥�

In March, Yen was about the award, the work of the ADVANCE Center and the challenges of increasing women鈥檚 participation in STEM academic fields. Launched in 2001 with funding from the National Science Foundation, the center partners with faculty, chairs and leadership across campus to remove barriers for women faculty and develop accountability for institutional change.

Yen is following in the footsteps of two of her mentors, and , as PAESMEM awardees. Denton, the original principal investigator of the ADVANCE IT grant, was honored in 2003, and Riskin, the faculty director of the center, was honored in 2020.

Riskin nominated Yen for the award.

鈥淛oyce鈥檚 impact on the careers of so many faculty in STEM at 91探花and across the country has been profound,鈥� Riskin said. 鈥淪o many people are in rewarding careers thanks to Joyce鈥檚 efforts and support. I am so thrilled she was selected for this honor.鈥�

The National Science Foundation, which manages PAESMEM on behalf of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, provides each recipient $10,000.聽 Award recipients also receive a certificate signed by President Joe Biden.

The White House has invited the awardees from 2020 and 2021 to Washington, D.C. from May 24 to 26 for events that will include professional development activities as well as an awards ceremony and dinner. Both Yen and Riskin are planning to attend.

Professor Nathan Kutz elected SIAM fellow

, 91探花professor of applied mathematics, has been elected as a 2022 fellow of the (SIAM). Fellows are chosen for their exemplary and outstanding service to the community.

Kutz was recognized for his innovative contributions across many disciplines of applied mathematics. Most recently, he has pioneered contributions that integrate modern machine learning methods with traditional dynamical systems modeling. These innovations have paved the way for emerging methods to be applied to complex systems where many traditional applied mathematical methods have failed.

鈥淚 believe this award ultimately is a reflection of the exceptional graduate students and postdocs I have mentored in my time at the UW,鈥� Kutz said. 鈥淭hey have been the driving force and inspiration behind all the years of progressive developments leading to new paradigms and innovations in applied mathematics. I am truly thankful for the time I have had with each one of them in my journey of exploration.鈥�

Kutz joins the UW鈥檚 Anne Greenbaum, Randy LeVeque, Robert O鈥橫alley and Fred Wan as SIAM fellows.

鈥淭he department is honored to welcome a fifth SIAM Fellow among its ranks with the recent recognition of Professor Nathan Kutz,鈥� said , professor and chair of the Applied Math department. 鈥淩ecognitions like these reflect the outstanding quality present in the department, in these and many other areas of research.鈥�

Alexina Kublu wins 2022 Inuit Language Recognition Award

, an instructor in the 91探花, is one of three people to receive the 2022 . Kublu teaches Inuktitut, the Inuit language of Canada.

The award is given out by the Inuit Uqausinginnik Taiguusiliuqtiit board, the language authority created by the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut. Nunavut is a territory of northern Canada that stretches across 4 million square kilometers of the Canadian Arctic, and Inuktitut is one of its official languages.

Kublu, the former Languages Commissioner of Nunavut, teaches at the Nunavut Arctic College and the 91探花remotely from her home in Iqaluit, the capital of the territory. In December 2021, she taught classes to aspiring teachers as part of the Nunavut Arctic College鈥檚 teacher education program, which prepares students to become classroom teachers in the territory鈥檚 schools. The students in those classes nominated her for the award.

Kublu once lost her native language, so teaching it to others is personally meaningful for her.
Starting in the early 20th century, the Canadian government established racially segregated hospitals to treat Indigenous people for infections like tuberculosis. Children and adults received treatment, , for months or years at a time. Sent to one of these hospitals as a child, Kublu forgot how to speak Inuktitut while she was away.

But she learned her language again, thanks to her grandmother. That experience shaped how she teaches the language.

鈥淚 think I’m more able to see my language from an analytical point of view,鈥� Kublu said, 鈥渞ather than just something I speak.鈥�

Kublu teaches Inuktitut for the 91探花as a part of the , offered through the Canadian Studies Center. The fellowship supports students as they acquire a foreign language and conduct research related to Canada. In 2004, the Canadian Studies Center got its first fellowship application to learn Inuktitut. Since then, they鈥檝e awarded 38 of these fellowships to 17 students. Many of the students are conducting research in the Arctic, where the language is spoken.

The 91探花is the only institution in the U.S. offering students the chance to learn Canadian Inuit languages and the only institution in the U.S. awarding the Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship in Indigenous languages.

Nadine Fabbi, managing director of the Canadian Studies Center, says that Kublu鈥檚 award shows the high caliber of training fellows are receiving.

鈥淭his award just proves that Kublu is not only one of the foremost linguists in Inuktitut in Canada, but she鈥檚 also a good teacher,鈥� Fabbi said. 鈥淚’m just proud that this is a caliber of teaching that’s occurring for these fellowships. It鈥檚 a boon to the program to see that our language teachers are also the top of their field.鈥�

The blog series began publication July 5 and will continue through Sept. 7 at the World Policy Institute’s website. The first of the student pieces, by Brandon Ray, has been .

Kicking off the series was a piece by , managing director of the 91探花Canadian Studies Center and lead for the Arctic Fellows Initiative in the Jackson School, with Jackson School lecturer and independent scholar Eric Finke, on “.”

Essays by fellows in the International Policy Institute and their topics and dates are as follows.

July 6: “Is the Arctic Council Still a Visionary Leader?” by

July 10: “Is the U.S. Ready for an Arctic Oil Spill?” by

July 17: “Bonanza Denied 鈥� the Double-Edged Sword of Arctic Development,”
by

July 24: “Protecting the Polar Seaways,” by

July 26: “The Ripple Effect 鈥� Downstream of the 66^th Parallel,” by
Aug. 2: “Breaking the Ice for Indigenous Voices on the World Stage,” by

Aug. 7: “No No Gain for Indigenous Groups,” by
Aug. 9: “Ships and Ice Don’t Mix,” by

Aug. 16: “Stronger Together: Weaving Indigenous Knowledge and Western Science,” by
Aug. 21: “An Emerging Voice: The Arctic Council Could Lead in Right to Water,” by

Aug. 30: “#SomethingHasToBeSaid: Angry Inuk鈥檚 Direct Yet Gentle Crusade,” by

Sept. 6: “Who Needs the Arctic Council Anyhow? Quebec鈥檚 Arctic Leadership,” by

Sept. 7: “Asian Tiger Meets the Polar Bear,” by

The Jackson School’s International Policy Institute is funded by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, with the of better connecting higher education research and expertise with the policy world in the area of global affairs.

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To learn more about the Arctic Fellows Initiative, contact Nadine Fabbi at 206-543-6269 or nfabbi@uw.edu.

The daylong conference is titled “.”

Jackson School Director will welcome the participants. , vice chairman of the Cohen Group, will deliver the conference’s keynote address. He is also former U.S. under secretary of state for political affairs, ambassador to Turkey and assistant secretary of state for European Affairs. , longtime professor of international studies, will give concluding remarks.

The conference will feature three panels moderated by members of the 91探花community.

• , managing director of the Canadian Studies Center, will moderate on “Changing Political and Economic Dynamics in the Arctic: Nation-States and Indigenous Permanent Participants.”
• , professor and associate director of the Jackson School, will moderate a panel on “New Regions, New Frontiers: Pacific Northwest and Asia in Outer Space.”
• , associate professor in the Jackson School and Evans School of Public Policy & Governance and director of the , will moderate a panel on “Public-Private Collaborations in Establishing International Cybersecurity Norms.”

“This New Frontiers conference launches the 91探花’s new ,” said Kasaba. “This institute intends to聽generate original thinking on emerging topics in international affairs and bring a聽new and uniquely Pacific Northwest voice to the policy conversation.”

Kasaba said the event “continues and expands upon” the school’s ongoing work to connect academic and research insights with international affairs practitioners, business leaders and policymakers and international development experts as well as media representatives and security professionals from Seattle to Washington, D.C.

The event is a collaborative effort between the Jackson School and the American Academy of Diplomacy, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to “support and strengthen U.S. diplomacy and enhance public appreciation of its critical role in advancing the national interest.” It is made possible through support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Henry M. Jackson Foundation.

Also attending the conference will be representatives of the RAND Corp., the Brookings Institution, the U.S. Department of State, Microsoft Corp., The Seattle Times and Aerojet Rocketdyne, among others.

The conference will be held from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16, in Room 334 of the Husky Union Building on the 91探花campus. The event is free but organizers request that those planning to attend .

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For more information, contact Kristina Bowman, Jackson School communications specialist, at 206-221-1323 or kriscb@uw.edu; Monique Thormann, director of communications, at thormm@uw.edu; or Jennifer Butte-Dahl, organizer and Jackson School lecturer, at 206-221-8577 or jenbd@uw.edu.

The 91探花’s new “” initiative seeks to build on that research in a region now undergoing rapid changes. The initiative includes several new hires, a new minor in Arctic studies and a winter lecture series.

“This is partly recognizing how much is going on in polar research at the UW,” said initiative director , a 91探花professor of Earth and space sciences who studies ice cores. “This initiative is designed to bring more visibility, integration and investment in an area that is experiencing dramatic changes.”

The 91探花College of the Environment will hire in polar research, while the 91探花Applied Physics Laboratory will hire two or three . The two units, along with the Quaternary Research Center, will hire up to three joint for interdisciplinary work relating to polar science.

“This initiative is about building the pipeline, attracting new talent and promoting collaboration so the 91探花can continue to be a strong player in high-latitude research,” said , chair of the Applied Physics Laboratory’s Polar Science Center.

A winter quarter , organized with support from the 91探花Graduate School and the Alumni Association, will feature 91探花faculty and off-campus experts.

Among those attending the talks will be 91探花undergraduates doing a winter quarter based around the series. Roughly 30 students will meet with the speakers and do coursework around each topic, ranging from Arctic governance to the marine organisms that live in sea ice.

Students in that course will be earning the first credits toward the new, interdisciplinary , pending 91探花faculty council approval. The minor, which is open to students in all departments, is being led by of the 91探花Canadian Studies Center, of aquatic and fishery sciences,聽 from the 91探花Applied Physics Laboratory and from oceanography.

The initiative and minor also include faculty from international studies, Earth sciences, anthropology, law, policy and the Burke Museum.

Over time, the initiative seeks to connect researchers from across campus and create a central hub for polar education and scholarship.

“Our goal is to bring together people working on different pieces that help us to understand the connections, to provide better insight into policy decisions and give communities a better understanding of their options,” said initiative co-director , a 91探花associate professor of anthropology. Fitzhugh’s archaeological studies in Northern communities reveal how early people developed the adaptations that made it possible for humans to live in very cold and highly seasonal environments.

The Future of Ice initiative’s first large research event will be a spring workshop, supported by the 91探花College of the Environment, that brings together 91探花faculty, colleagues, industry experts, non-governmental organizations, Arctic leaders and others to discuss research priorities.

“The reason for creating a College of the Environment was to achieve new levels of integration,” said , dean of the college. “The 91探花has tremendous depth in Arctic research, and it’s shared among a number of units. Pulling these threads together will allow researchers to take their scholarship to the next level, and more closely connect it to policy 鈥� a key component of the vision for our college.”

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For more information, contact Steig at 206-685-3715 or steig@uw.edu or Graumlich at 206-221-0908 or graumlic@uw.edu.