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University Relations 202 Eielson Fairbanks, Alaska 99775-7520
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Fairbanks, Alaska - University of Alaska Fairbanks Chancellor Joan Wadlow has announced the appointment of Syun-Ichi Akasofu, an award-winning scientist known throughout the world for his pioneering studies of the Aurora Borealis, as Founding Director of the International Arctic Research Center at UAF.

"I'm elated that Syun has agreed to lead the IARC during its inaugural years of operation," Wadlow said. "His energetic, far-sighted leadership as director of our Geophysical Institute has helped establish UAF as a global leader in arctic research."

Akasofu was named Geophysical Institute director in 1986, four decades after the institute was established by an Act of Congress. Since its creation, the institute has earned an international reputation for studying the Earth and its physical environment at high latitudes, and for training students in related disciplines. Under Akasofu's leadership, the institute has seen a rapid increase in basic research and research-supported activities due in large part to the opening of the Alaska Synthetic Aperture Radar Facility, where images from European and Japanese SAR satellites are captured and processed.

IARC will provide 100,000 square-feet of much-needed research space adjacent to the Geophysical Institute while at the same time bringing together under one roof a collection of international scientists from various disciplines studying global change. U.S. and Japanese federal science agencies will also be located in IARC which was built with a $20 million investment by the Japanese government.

IARC was officially inaugurated during the 49th annual meeting of the Arctic Division of the American Association for the Advancement of Science at UAF in October. The building is expected to be fully occupied by the end of next year when close to 100 leading environmental scientists from UAF, Japan and other countries begin their collaborative research activities under the direction of Akasofu.

The author of more than 400 professional journal articles focusing on global auroral phenomena, Akasofu has written or co-authored eight books and was the invited author of six encyclopedia articles on the subject. He joined the Geophysical Institute as a graduate student in 1958, earned his doctoral degree in 1961, and was promoted to full professor of geophysics in 1964.

In 1985, Akasofu was named the first professor to hold the Sydney Chapman Endowed Chair in Physical Sciences, a position created by a special act of the Alaska State Legislature. Dr. Sydney Chapman, considered one of the most distinguished geophysicists of the 20th century, was professor of geophysics and advisory scientific director of UAF's Geophysical Institute from 1951-70.

Akasofu has been awarded the Chapman Medal by the Royal Astronomical Society of London, the John Adams Fleming Medal by the American Geophysical Union, and the Japan Academy Award. He was chosen the UAF Distinguished Alumnus in 1980, named one of the 1,000 Most-Cited Contemporary Scientists in 1981, and elected the Centennial Alumnus by the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges in 1987. Akasofu received the Japan Foreign Minister Award in 1993 and last year received the $15,000 Bullock award for distinguished university service from the UA Foundation.

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CONTACT: UAF Public Information Officer Debra Damron (907) 474-7122, or Geophysical Institute Science Editor Kathy Berry (907) 474-7798.

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