The College of Geosciences is co-hosting a visit by Mr. Caleb Pungowiyi, an Yup'ik Eskimo, with students at Allen Academy and Cypress Grove Middle School in College Station on Tuesday and Wednesday (Nov. 13/14). Pungowiyi, a noted spokesperson and advocate for Native Alaskan concerns, will talk to the students about the effects of climate change on coastal communities of northern Alaska. Dr. David Cairns, associate professor of Geography, and Oceanography graduate student Chrissy Wiederwohl will accompany Pungowiyi. He will also be a guest lecturer for a Geosciences 489/689 International Polar Year 2007-2008 course while he is here.

Pungowiyi’s visit to College Station is being sponsored by the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs and ARCUS (Arctic Research Consortium of the U.S.) and hosted by the Sustainable Development Program of the Office of the Vice President for Research and the College of Geosciences’ Environmental Programs.

Pungowiyi is a former President and CEO of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference and of the Robert Aqqaluk Newlin, Sr. Memorial Trust in Kotzebue, Alaska. Other past services include the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs Advisory Committee, Marine Mammal Commission’s Special Advisor on Native Affairs, Inuit Circumpolar Conference Executive Council, the Steering Committee of the Alaska Native Science Commission, the Polar Research Board Committee on Bering Sea Ecosystems, the Advisory Panel on Arctic Impacts from Soviet Nuclear Contamination, the Native American Rights Fund, the Alaska Coastal Policy Council, the Bering Sea Impact Study (a subcommittee of the International Arctic Science Committee), the Arctic Research Consortium of the U.S., and the Alaska Conservation Foundation.