Sanjay Pyare research project “Migratory seabird research in coastal Indonesia” is hosted by Udayana University, Denpasar. He will investigate the Aleutian tern and its remarkable migration between Indonesia and Alaska, as well as study the role of coastal Indonesia ecosystems in seabird-migration patterns globally.

At a broader level, he seeks to use the science and the story of the Aleutian tern as a flagship to increase avenues for transboundary cooperation and increase the capacity of Indonesians to engage in science. But, he says “in the end, my Fulbright is fundamentally not really about scientific research or even the plight of the ocean environment and seabirds: the Aleutian tern is simply a global messenger about what two far-flung cultures and two wild places of the earth have in common. This is about building a bridge for the next generation, starting with my UAS students here in Alaska and those at Udayana University, to think big and think forward.”

Sanjay is a professor of environmental sciences and geography at the University of Alaska in Juneau, Alaska, since 2005.  He holds a PhD in conservation biology from the University of Nevada Reno.