ASU professor receives inaugural award for transdisciplinary research
Sara El-Sayed (left), director of The Biomimicry Center and assistant research professor at ASU, celebrates receiving the Fusing Disciplines in Research Award from the Career Faculty Association with her husband, Ahmed Barakat. Courtesy photo
For her work to transcend traditional academic boundaries, Sara El-Sayed received the Fusing Disciplines in Research Award from the Arizona State University Career Faculty Association.
The university-wide association presented career faculty awards for the first time in the categories of teaching, research and service, with additional subcategories that reflect ASU's principles.
“It's been a great honor and humbling to be awarded this award amidst a number of absolutely incredible faculty across ASU campuses,” said El-Sayed.
El-Sayed received the award for her research exploring how biomimetic thinking and pedagogy can be integrated with Indigenous knowledge systems and traditional ecological knowledge (TEK).
“For me, it's really significant to have acknowledgment that the type of work I'm doing of fusing disciplines and bringing together fields like biomimicry, Indigenous ways of knowing, and sustainable food systems is important research work, and work that ASU supports and wants to see grow,” said El-Sayed.
El-Sayed is the director of The Biomimicry Center and an assistant research professor in the Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems and the School of Complex Adaptive Systems, both units in the Rob Walton College of Global Futures and the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory.
Utilizing the “two-eyed seeing” framework, which harmonizes Western scientific methodologies with Indigenous perspectives to create resilient sustainability solutions, El-Sayed’s work in knowledge symbiosis fuses historically siloed disciplines through a variety of culturally relevant mediums, rather than traditional academic publishing.
El-Sayed has co-created a podcast series with Melissa Nelson, a professor of Indigenous sustainability in the School of Sustainability, that utilizes an audio format more closely aligned with Indigenous oral storytelling to disseminate their collaborative research.
Additionally, she has facilitated in-person gatherings that bring together Indigenous community members and biomimicry practitioners to foster cross-disciplinary dialogue on environmental and design challenges.
Her work in food systems reaches beyond campus, where she supports local producers in their transition to organic agriculture and intentionally centers the cultural knowledge, heritage and unique challenges of Indigenous, Black and farmers of color.
The recognition and support El-Sayed received highlight the role that diverse knowledge systems play in creating impactful sustainable solutions for local communities.
“The Career Faculty Association," El-Sayed shared, "has been doing some really incredible work over the past few years to really elevate the phenomenal work career faculty are doing across campus while also providing resources for us to grow within our respective disciplines."