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The 23rd East-West Center International Graduate Student Conference (IGSC), taking place on February 15-17, 2024, is an annual conference led by, and for, graduate students conducting cutting-edge research on the Pacific, Asia, and the United States. One of this year’s conference Co-chairs is Ian Wynn, EWC Graduate Degree Fellow and a 2nd-year PhD Student in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, where he specializes in seismology, or the study of seismic waves in the earth. Alongside his Co-chair Paul Cosme (Philippines, MMUS Music) and a team of EWC student interns, Ian serves young academics by giving them a platform to share their work with like-minded researchers in a warm and collaborative environment.
Originally from Plains, Georgia, Ian attended a homeschool cooperative at Koinonia Farm in Sumter County. Growing up in rural Georgia, Ian learned about farm work and communal living culture, developing an early interest in geography and all forms of natural sciences.
“As a kid, I traveled to western China every summer with my family, in support of a local ceramics project focused on the use of local resources. I collaborated with this project by studying the local geology that made these ceramic resources, which became my undergraduate thesis. The aim of this work was to identify these local resources as effective economic deposits, which would be economically beneficial to the local community.”
In his graduate studies, Ian uses distant earthquakes to identify the location of magma deep within the crust at Alaska-Aleutian volcanoes. Researching the volcanoes’ deeper crustal structure, he explains, is critical in understanding how arc volcanoes in the Asia-Pacific region erupt. Says Ian, “My current and future research goals focus on advancing subduction zone science, which is of particular relevance in the Asia Pacific region, in places such as the southwest Pacific or Japan.”
At the East-West Center, Ian was able to quickly immerse himself into the vibrant community.
“From the moment we were actively onboarded in the East-West Center Community Building Institute [new student orientation], I was blessed with many great friends, who have been invaluable support in the transition into graduate school and continued positive social health, and I love the community I have come to be a part of.”
Ian Wynn
The theme for this year's conference, "Elucidating the Periphery," aims to shed light on overlooked backgrounds, issues, or approaches within the status quo of a given culture or academic discipline. The purpose of this year’s IGSC is to “elucidate”, or to bring light to, the peripheries across many disciplines.
Reflecting on his East-West Center experience, Ian shares, “In being in such a close community with so many different backgrounds, I have learned many different cuisines and cultures, as well as issues that are often overlooked or ignored entirely in the social spheres in the [continental US]” This February, Ian aspires to bring East-West Center’s spirit of fostering global connections among like-minded researchers to the 23rd year of this unique and dynamic international student conference.
The East-West Center offers scholarships for graduate study as well as affiliation programs for service-minded students with a focus on the Asia-Pacific region to join our international graduate student community. Ian is supported by the East-West Center Alumni Endowment Scholars Award.
The 23rd East-West Center International Graduate Student Conference (IGSC), taking place on February 15-17, 2024, is an annual conference led by, and for, graduate students conducting cutting-edge research on the Pacific, Asia, and the United States. One of this year’s conference Co-chairs is Ian Wynn, EWC Graduate Degree Fellow and a 2nd-year PhD Student in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, where he specializes in seismology, or the study of seismic waves in the earth. Alongside his Co-chair Paul Cosme (Philippines, MMUS Music) and a team of EWC student interns, Ian serves young academics by giving them a platform to share their work with like-minded researchers in a warm and collaborative environment.
Originally from Plains, Georgia, Ian attended a homeschool cooperative at Koinonia Farm in Sumter County. Growing up in rural Georgia, Ian learned about farm work and communal living culture, developing an early interest in geography and all forms of natural sciences.
“As a kid, I traveled to western China every summer with my family, in support of a local ceramics project focused on the use of local resources. I collaborated with this project by studying the local geology that made these ceramic resources, which became my undergraduate thesis. The aim of this work was to identify these local resources as effective economic deposits, which would be economically beneficial to the local community.”
In his graduate studies, Ian uses distant earthquakes to identify the location of magma deep within the crust at Alaska-Aleutian volcanoes. Researching the volcanoes’ deeper crustal structure, he explains, is critical in understanding how arc volcanoes in the Asia-Pacific region erupt. Says Ian, “My current and future research goals focus on advancing subduction zone science, which is of particular relevance in the Asia Pacific region, in places such as the southwest Pacific or Japan.”
At the East-West Center, Ian was able to quickly immerse himself into the vibrant community.
“From the moment we were actively onboarded in the East-West Center Community Building Institute [new student orientation], I was blessed with many great friends, who have been invaluable support in the transition into graduate school and continued positive social health, and I love the community I have come to be a part of.”
Ian Wynn
The theme for this year's conference, "Elucidating the Periphery," aims to shed light on overlooked backgrounds, issues, or approaches within the status quo of a given culture or academic discipline. The purpose of this year’s IGSC is to “elucidate”, or to bring light to, the peripheries across many disciplines.
Reflecting on his East-West Center experience, Ian shares, “In being in such a close community with so many different backgrounds, I have learned many different cuisines and cultures, as well as issues that are often overlooked or ignored entirely in the social spheres in the [continental US]” This February, Ian aspires to bring East-West Center’s spirit of fostering global connections among like-minded researchers to the 23rd year of this unique and dynamic international student conference.
The East-West Center offers scholarships for graduate study as well as affiliation programs for service-minded students with a focus on the Asia-Pacific region to join our international graduate student community. Ian is supported by the East-West Center Alumni Endowment Scholars Award.
