Director Holdmann Announced as Fulbright Scholar
Two researchers from the University of Alaska Fairbanks are among 17 scholars selected
as the inaugural cohort of the U.S. Department of State’s Fulbright Arctic Initiative.
Gwen Holdmann, an energy researcher at the UAF Alaska Center for Energy and Power,
and Tamara Harms, a biologist at the UAF College of Natural Science and Mathematics
and UAF Institute of Arctic Biology, will join their colleagues from eight Arctic
nations next month in Iqaluit, Canada, for the launch of their 18-month appointments.
Holdmann and Harms were selected from among a pool of more than 100 applicants from
the United States and the seven other Arctic Council nations: Canada, Denmark, Finland,
Iceland, Norway, Russia and Sweden.
The Fulbright Arctic Initiative is an interdisciplinary collaborative research program
to study the changing Arctic region. Launched to coincide with the U.S. chairmanship
of the Arctic Council, which begins this week, the initiative supports the U.S. goal
of stimulating international scientific collaboration on issues facing the Arctic,
while increasing mutual understanding between the people of the United States and
the people of other countries. Through international exchanges, three group seminars,
online engagement and collaborative research, Fulbright Arctic Initiative Scholars
will explore public-policy research questions and engage governments, NGOs, businesses
and Arctic communities. The group’s research will focus broadly on the impact of climate
change on the Arctic and particularly on the issues of water, energy, health and infrastructure.
The selected group of scholars includes junior scholars as well as established experts.
Disciplines range from hard sciences, including geology and biology, to law, sociology,
global health and art.
The program will officially launch at an initial group seminar and program orientation
meeting in Iqaluit, Canada, from May 17-21. This seminar will follow on the heels
of the Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting in Iqaluit on April 24, which will bring
together ministers of the Arctic states, including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry,
as the chair of the council officially passes from Canada to the United States. At
the seminar, Fulbright Arctic Initiative co-lead scholars Mike Sfraga, of UAF, and
Ross Virginia, of Dartmouth College, will guide the research teams in establishing
guidelines and goals for their work.
ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: Mike Sfraga, UAF, 907-474-2600, msfraga@alaska.edu. Gwen Holdmann, 907-590-4577, gwen.holdmann@alaska.edu. Tamara Harms, 907-474-6117, tkharms@alaska.edu. U.S. Department of State, eca-press@state.gov, 202-632-6452.
ON THE WEB:
Tamara Harms information: http://www.harmslab.org/
Gwen Holdmann information: http://acep.uaf.edu/team/team.aspx
Fulbright Arctic Initiative Scholar biographies: http://www.cies.org/program/fulbright-arctic-initiative
About Fulbright: http://eca.state.gov/fulbright
Photo: Gwen Holdmann. Courtesy of T. Paris, UAF.