President Joe Biden has named an Alaskan as the nation’s first U.S. Arctic Ambassador -- Michael Sfraga, who currently chairs the U.S. Arctic Research Commission, a Biden appointment in 2021.
Sfraga, considered an expert on Arctic geography and policy, has been a longtime advocate of using Indigenous knowledge to better understand the science of the Arctic.
He has served in a number of national leadership roles that involve the Arctic and helped to found the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.
Sfraga was also a Vice Chancellor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and a faculty member.
He earned the first Ph.D. in Geography and Northern Studies at UAF.
