The Program in International and Comparative Studies (PICS) is pleased to announce a generous gift from Wendy Sturm to the Arctic Internship Fellowship fund which supports students at the University of Michigan in pursuing independent, student-designed research projects in the Arctic Region.
This donation from Ms. Sturm is given in memory of her family friend, Dr. David Scott, who in 2012 conceived of and provided the funding to create the Arctic Internship Fellowship program.
He believed in the human potential for justice, equality, and moral purpose based in education and science—both social and physical. He believed in investing in people, not things and he did all this quietly without need for recognition.
“It is difficult to summarize who Dr. Scott was to me, given that he influenced both the trajectory and quality of my life,” said Ms. Sturm, upon presentation of her gift.
"He taught me culture, history, and the value of integrity. He showed me the power of thoughtfulness, generosity, and educated opinions. He did all these things with kindness and curiosity about who I would become. He did this not only for me but several people. This is, I believe, the genesis of his gift to this program.
"He believed in the human potential for justice, equality, and moral purpose based in education and science—both social and physical. He believed in investing in people, not things and he did all this quietly without need for recognition. His true goal in life was to use his wealth and social capital to create opportunities for people who would otherwise not have them. He believed that people who have struggled or overcome adversity have something to say in this world worth hearing. He was correct. These are the people who have changed—and will continue to change—the world for the better. It is my hope his spirit lives on in the students who benefit from his gift. Dr. Scott would have told them to go out and make something happen."
Interviewed in 2022, on the 10 year anniversary of the fellowship’s inception, David Scott reflected, “I became aware of all of the international internships, and…I noticed there was really nothing in the Arctic or subarctic region. There's so much going on there: climate change, social justice, military and security issues. There are so many aspects of society where the Arctic is at the forefront.”
Asked about the legacy of the fellowship he had created, Dr. Scott continued, “I believe in [the program] as much as I ever did. There are important things happening in the Arctic that our students should know about.”
The Arctic Internship Fellowship supports independent, student-designed research projects in the Arctic region. Past interns have worked with—among other organizations—the Inuit Circumpolar Council-Alaska; the Labrador Institute; the Green Program, Iceland; and the University of Alaska Fairbanks Arctic and Northern Studies Program.
Students from any major are encouraged to apply for the fellowship. Program participants come from diverse academic backgrounds, including anthropology, chemistry, neuroscience, political science, and more. Over the past 12 years, we were able to award fellowships to 47 students, totaling about $100,000.
I learned about what issues are faced by Inuit communities at the local, national, and global scale. Most importantly, I was able to collaborate with ICC and bring a valuable perspective to the organization by assisting with a project that will benefit them in preparations for international negotiations.
In 2024 the fellowship supported two undergraduate students, Anders Foltz and Chadwin Ng.
An Anthropology and Spanish major, Anders Foltz interned with the Inuit Circumpolar Council in Anchorage, Alaska where he worked on a project compiling a dataset enumerating 10 Arctic nations’ priorities for the region, with a particular focus on teasing out those nations’ “valuation of indigenous knowledge.”
Foltz added:
"Apart from the project I worked on, I also gained invaluable experience and knowledge about who Inuit people are. As a student studying cultural anthropology, the knowledge I gained aligns well with my academic career and interest in exploring other cultures. Alaska was a place I had never before visited, and I am incredibly grateful to have learned about what it’s like to live there. I was able to have in-depth discussions each day with my coworkers about their lives and what it means to be Inuit. I learned about what issues are faced by Inuit communities at the local, national, and global scale. Most importantly, I was able to collaborate with ICC and bring a valuable perspective to the organization by assisting with a project that will benefit them in preparations for international negotiations.”
Chadwin Ng, a Chemistry and English major, worked with U-M’s Pratt Lab, which studies the chemical interactions between atmospheric trace gasses, particles, clouds, and snow with the biosphere and cryosphere to understand processes associated with air quality and climate change.
About the research he assisted in, Ng observes that with the Arctic “warming faster than any other region on Earth, it puts great emphasis on how studies on Arctic SSA are limited, and even fewer explore single-particle morphology and composition of SSA. Hence, my studies with the comprehensive characterization of individual Arctic SSA particles is crucial for further predictions on the radiative forcing.”
The example of how these two students, this year, were able to make use of the Arctic Internship Fellowship is an effective demonstration of the broad scope and reach of the fellowships. The funding encourages students from virtually any discipline to focus that disciplinary eye on the Arctic, where they have the opportunity to both learn about, and contribute to the future of, the Arctic region.
It was the foresite and benevolence of Dr. David Scott that created this program, and the generosity of Wendy Sturm that has allowed it to flourish. The goal now is to create an endowment that will ensure that these fellowships will continue in perpetuity to support students who want to learn from, and apply their minds to, a part of the world that each year becomes more crucial for us to understand.
If you would like to support the Arctic Internship Fellowships, and ensure that resources are available in the future for students who dream of interning in the Arctic region, please consider making a gift to the Scott Family Arctic Studies Community Building Fund.
