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Meyer, Siekmann, Walklin named 2025 Usibelli Award winners

The ¾«¶«Ó°Òµhas announced the recipients of the 2025 Emil Usibelli Distinguished Teaching, Research and Service Awards.

The Distinguished Research Award will go to Franz Meyer, remote sensing professor and chief scientist at the Alaska Satellite Facility in the Geophysical Institute. The Distinguished Teaching Award will be presented to Sabine Siekmann, professor of applied linguistics and foreign languages in the College of Liberal Arts. Sean Walklin, associate professor of culinary arts and hospitality at the Community and Technical College, will receive the Distinguished Service Award.

The Usibelli Award recipients will be honored on Sept. 27 at the university’s annual Blue and Gold Celebration. Tickets are .

Franz Meyer

Meyer, an internationally recognized expert in microwave remote sensing, joined ¾«¶«Ó°Òµâ€™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.

Sabine Siekmann

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 ¾«¶«Ó°Òµâ€™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 ¾«¶«Ó°Òµ 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.

Sean Walklin

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 ¾«¶«Ó°Òµ 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 ¾«¶«Ó°Òµ 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 ¾«¶«Ó°Òµ faculty, the student body and the UA Foundation board of directors evaluates the nominees. Each winner receives a cash award of $10,000.

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