In a guest opinion column for the Iowa City Press-Citizen, UI graduate student Eli Asikin-Garmager reflects on his two months living in a village in Indonesia where he conducted research on a local language and completed requirements toward his graduate degree in linguistics. The language found on Lombok Island in Eastern Indonesia — called Sasak — is spoken by some 2.5 million people, but relatively little documentation of the language exists.

Kelsey Frisk, a senior at the University of Iowa, lived in Malå from January through July as part of the study abroad program. There, she researched policies and cultural issues affecting the Sámi people. Her research included investigations of herders practicing reindeer husbandry, who she said make up about 10 percent of the Sámi people.