ºÚÁϺÚÀúÊ·

2025 award recipients

• Sabine Sickmann, teaching
• Franz Meyer, research
• Sean Walklin, service

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Sabine Siekmann

2025 Emil Usibelli Distinguished Teaching Award

Colleagues and students praise Siekmann for her generosity, innovation and collaborative approach to language education and language teacher professional development.

She treats learners as peers, tailoring instruction to their goals, especially in Alaska Native language teaching. Siekmann often travels to rural Alaska to collaborate with local schools and communities, preparing Native language speakers and learners to become teachers. As director of ºÚÁϺÚÀúʷ’s English as a Second Language program, she has advanced language advocacy and helped modernize applied linguistics classes. She teaches undergraduate German classes and English to international exchange students.

Since joining ºÚÁϺÚÀúÊ· in 2005, Siekmann has authored three books and 25 articles, mentored six doctoral and 37 master’s graduates, and secured $7.3 million in grants for language teacher professional development and materials.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s in English and anthropology from Idaho State University, as well as a doctorate in second language acquisition and instructional technology from the University of South Florida.

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Franz Meyer

2025 Emil Usibelli Distinguished Research Award

Meyer, an internationally recognized expert in microwave remote sensing, joined ºÚÁϺÚÀúʷ’s Geophysical Institute in 2008 and became chief scientist for ASF in 2014. His research centers on using advanced satellite radar technologies to study the Earth and natural hazards.

He has pioneered radar-based approaches for monitoring volcanoes, earthquakes, permafrost, glaciers and sea ice, and he has developed remote sensing tools to support disaster monitoring and response.

Committed to making his field accessible to non-experts, Meyer has developed innovative tools for teaching students online. As a member of the NASA team that launched a synthetic aperture radar satellite with India this year, he has helped ensure the data will be open-source, enabling scientists and the public to study Earth’s changes.

Meyer has authored more than 150 publications and received multiple awards for his efforts to train scientists and students in radar remote sensing worldwide. He holds a master’s in geodetic engineering and a doctorate in engineering from the Technische Universität München in Munich, Germany

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Sean Walklin

2025 Emil Usibelli Distinguished Service Award

Walklin is known for using his culinary expertise to strengthen the Fairbanks community. His private chef dinners have raised tens of thousands of dollars for local charities.

Since joining ºÚÁϺÚÀúÊ· in 2014, he has expanded those efforts to include students, creating partnerships between the culinary program and community nonprofits. These collaborations connect student participation in charity fundraisers to coursework, giving them real-world experience in event planning, food preparation and professional service.

Walklin serves on multiple boards and committees and volunteers as chef for Bread Line Inc., serving food-insecure Fairbanksans. He coordinated the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival culinary program from 2016 to 2024 and served as a judge for the James Beard Awards in 2025.

He was named Citizen Chef of the Year in 2016 by the Midnight Sun Chapter of the American Culinary Foundation. Walklin received a bachelor’s degree in communications from ºÚÁϺÚÀúÊ· and a culinary arts certificate from Apicius International School of Hospitality in Florence, Italy.

The Usibelli Awards are among the university’s most prestigious awards. They are funded annually from an endowment that Usibelli Coal Mine established in 1992. Each year, a committee that includes members from the ºÚÁϺÚÀúÊ· faculty, the student body and the UA Foundation board of directors evaluates the nominees. Each winner receives a cash award of $10,000.