Canadian Studies Announcements

In This Issue:

Academic Opportunities

• Edward E. Hildebrand Graduate Research Fellowship

• Rita Ross Undergraduate Prize in Canadian Studies

Upcoming Events

• Beautiful Destruction: The Tar Sands, the Post-Modern Sublime, and the Subsumption of the Earth

• Taking the Long-Term View: Technology Relations between Canada and the Bay Area in the Age of AI

External Events

• National Women’s Soccer League Canadian Heritage Night: Bay FC vs. Ottawa Rapid FC

ACADEMIC OPPORTUNITIES

Edward E. Hildebrand Graduate Research Fellowship

The Canadian Studies Program’s signature Hildebrand Fellowship provides support for Berkeley graduate students of any citizenship whose work focuses primarily, or comparatively, on Canada. The Fellowship provides up to $5,000 per semester to fund direct travel and research expenses.

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. Applications should be submitted at least one month before the start of any proposed travel.

Rita Ross Undergraduate Prize in Canadian Studies

Deadline: Friday, May 1

The Rita Ross Prize recognizes an outstanding undergraduate research project related to Canada, produced for a UC Berkeley class or independent study project. The competition is open to any UC Berkeley undergraduate student in good academic standing, in any college or discipline.

One $300 cash prize is awarded to a student who has produced a superior undergraduate research paper or other original project that engages with topics, people or events related to Canada. The prize is awarded at the end of the spring semester.

UPCOMING EVENTS

If you require an accommodation to participate fully in any event below, please let us know with as much advance notice as possible by emailing canada@berkeley.edu.

Beautiful Destruction: The Tar Sands, the Post-Modern Sublime, and the Subsumption of the Earth
Thurs., April 9 | 12:00 pm | 223 Philosophy Hall | RSVP

Artists, rather than scholars, were the first ones alive to the fact that something rather unusual was underway in the boreal landscape of northern Alberta. The photography of Louis Helbig and Edward Burtynsky captured the awesome destructive beauty wrought by the tar sands industry, a force capable of reshaping the Earth as if it were a canvas and the industry an abstract expressionist painter. Helbig and Burtynsky’s work evoke the sublime, but this aesthetic seems to bear little relation to the sublime described by Edmund Burke in the eighteenth century. It is not the vastness of nature that inspires the sublime, but rather its destruction.

The viewer of such artworks experienced an uncanny dread, without understanding why. Decades of research in ‘energy studies’ have done little to elucidate this problem. Scholars still seem to trail artists in grappling with the profound implications of the transition to non-conventional fossil fuels. This undesired Energiewende has proven much more significant than the shift to wind and solar, allowing the fossil fuel industry to tighten its grip on the planet. This talk will discuss the limits of previous approaches, such as ‘peak oil’ and ‘petro-states’, and instead will apply the Marxist categories of real and formal subsumption to understand the industry’s changing relationship to the Earth’s elementary systems.

About the Speaker

Dr. Troy Vettese is an environmental historian. He is a Ciriacy-Wantrup Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management at UC Berkeley, as well as a John A. Sproul Fellow with the Canadian Studies Program. He researches the transition from conventional to non-conventional fossil fuels, with a focus on the tar sands industry.

Dr. Vettese holds a PhD from New York University, and master’s degrees from the University of St Andrews and the University of Oxford. He completed his undergraduate education at McGill University. Dr. Vettese has held fellowships at Harvard University; the European University Institute; Copenhagen University; and the New Institute, Hamburg. His first book, Half-Earth Socialism (Verso, 2022), was co-authored with climate scientist Drew Pendergrass and has been translated into half a dozen languages.

This event will have a remote attendance option via Zoom. Please select the “virtual attendance” in the RSVP form to receive the link.

Canadians have made foundational contributions to the world’s technological advances. Before Apple and Google dominated the market, Research in Motion’s Blackberry invented the mobile office. Today’s AI landscape rests on the work of titans like Geoffrey Hinton, Yoshua Bengio, Richard Sutton, Joelle Pineau, Doina Precup, and Ilya Sutskever. Their long-term research pursuits at both universities and companies have fueled modern neural networks and machine learning.

The Bay Area, meanwhile, has long been a hub of technological innovation. It is a place where scientific theory mixes with venture funding and engineering expertise to make designs into successful products. The relationship between the Bay Area and Canada’s technological talent has always been strong, and this panel will explore the current landscape and the outlook for the future. How can we ensure that both the long-term research pursuits as well as the start-ups necessary for innovation thrive in both environments? What can we learn from the different ecosystems, and the relationships that we’ve built up to now?

About the Panelists

Timothy Barfoot is a professor at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS) and a researcher in robot autonomy and vehicle navigation technologies. He is Director of the UofT Robotics Institute, co-Faculty Advisor of UofT’s self-driving car team, and previously worked as Director of Autonomous Systems at Apple in California. Professor Barfoot holds a BASc from the University of Toronto, and a PhD from UTIAS in robotics.

Carl Choi is the President of RLWRLD USA, a physical AI startup developing robot foundation models for industrial environments. Before joining RLWRLD, he was a partner with Alumni Ventures in Silicon Valley, where he led investments in AI, robotics, and foundational technologies. Mr. Choi holds a bachelor of mathematics from the University of Waterloo, a BBA from Wilfrid Laurier University, and an MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.

Matei Zaharia is an associate professor of Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences (EECS) at UC Berkeley. His research focuses on computer systems for large-scale workloads such as AI, data analytics and cloud computing. He is also the co-founder and CTO of Databricks, a cloud-based platform for data analytics. Prof. Zaharia holds a bachelor of mathematics from the University of Waterloo, and a PhD from UC Berkeley. Prior to joining the Berkeley faculty, he taught at MIT and Stanford.

Claire Tomlin (moderator) is a professor in the Department of EECS at UC Berkeley and holds the James and Katherine Lau Chair in Engineering. Her research interests include unmanned aerial vehicles, air traffic control and modeling of biological processes. Professor Tomlin holds a BASc from the University of Waterloo, an MSc from Imperial College, London, and a PhD in EECS from UC Berkeley.

This event will have a remote attendance option via Zoom. Please select the “virtual attendance” in the RSVP form to receive the link.

EXTERNAL EVENTS

National Women’s Soccer League Canadian Heritage Night: Bay FC vs. Ottawa Rapid FC

Fri., April 17 | 7:00 pm | San Jose | Tickets

Be a part of history at the first-ever match of a Canadian team playing in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL)! Home team Bay FC also has two players on the Canadian National Team: Sydney Collins and Lysianne Proulx. Join fellow soccer fans from around the Bay and friends from the Digital Moose Lounge and Consulate to cheer on these Canadian athletes!

This unique offer, customized for all Canadian communities in the Bay Area, grants you access to a select seating location at an exclusive group rate for Bay FC’s match against the Ottawa Rapids at PayPal Park on April 17th (7pm kickoff). Doors open at 5:00 pm to enjoy the family-friendly open space, food trucks, and fan experiences.

Canadian Studies Program

213 Philosophy Hall #2308

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Upcoming Event, Thursday 4/9

If you require an accommodation to participate fully in this event, please let us know with as much advance notice as possible by emailing canada@berkeley.edu.

Beautiful Destruction: The Tar Sands, the Post-Modern Sublime, and the Subsumption of the Earth

12:00 pm | 223 Philosophy Hall | RSVP

Artists, rather than scholars, were the first ones alive to the fact that something rather unusual was underway in the boreal landscape of northern Alberta. The photography of Louis Helbig and Edward Burtynsky captured the awesome destructive beauty wrought by the tar sands industry, a force capable of reshaping the Earth as if it were a canvas and the industry an abstract expressionist painter. Helbig and Burtynsky’s work evoke the sublime, but this aesthetic seems to bear little relation to the sublime described by Edmund Burke in the eighteenth century. It is not the vastness of nature that inspires the sublime, but rather its destruction.

The viewer of such artworks experienced an uncanny dread, without understanding why. Decades of research in ‘energy studies’ have done little to elucidate this problem. Scholars still seem to trail artists in grappling with the profound implications of the transition to non-conventional fossil fuels. This undesired Energiewende has proven much more significant than the shift to wind and solar, allowing the fossil fuel industry to tighten its grip on the planet. This talk will discuss the limits of previous approaches, such as ‘peak oil’ and ‘petro-states’, and instead will apply the Marxist categories of real and formal subsumption to understand the industry’s changing relationship to the Earth’s elementary systems.

About the Speaker

Dr. Troy Vettese is an environmental historian. He is a Ciriacy-Wantrup Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management at UC Berkeley, as well as a John A. Sproul Fellow with the Canadian Studies Program. He researches the transition from conventional to non-conventional fossil fuels, with a focus on the tar sands industry.

Dr. Vettese holds a PhD from New York University, and master’s degrees from the University of St Andrews and the University of Oxford. He completed his undergraduate education at McGill University. Dr. Vettese has held fellowships at Harvard University; the European University Institute; Copenhagen University; and the New Institute, Hamburg. His first book, Half-Earth Socialism (Verso, 2022), was co-authored with climate scientist Drew Pendergrass and has been translated into half a dozen languages.

This event will have a remote attendance option via Zoom. Please select the “virtual attendance” in the RSVP form to receive the link.

Canadian Studies Program

213 Philosophy Hall #2308

Website | LinkedIn | Email | Donate

Canadian Studies Announcements

In This Issue:

Program News

• Thank you for making Big Give a big success! 

• Friday is the Journée internationale de la Francophonie

Academic Opportunities

• Fulbright Canada-Maple Leaf Foundation Community Action Program (CAP)

• Call for papers: 24th Biennial Conference of the American Council for Québec Studies

Upcoming Events

• Thawing Ice, Rising Tensions: Canada’s Arctic Security Challenge

External Events

• On the Outside, Looking Out: Canada’s Rural Communities as Stewards of Landscapes and the Land

• Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki at SF Symphony

• Francophonie Month Opening Night Film Screening

PROGRAM NEWS

Thank You for Making Big Give a Big Success! 

Preliminary results are in, and we’re proud to say that the 2026 Big Give was another smashing success! Canadian Studies raised over $34,000 – $6,000 more than last year! That’s almost 15% of all money raised by University’s Research Division. We are beyond grateful to everyone who participated. Your support is the foundation of what we do. You show how a small but passionate community can make a difference. On behalf of our faculty, staff, and students, thank you so much for your generosity and faith in our mission!

Friday is the Journée Internationale de la Francophonie

This Friday, March 20, many Canadians will join people from French-speaking countries around the world to celebrate the Journée internationale de la Francophonie. This holiday, part of the monthlong Francophonie celebrations, is an opportunity to highlight the importance and continued vibrancy of Canada’s French-speaking communities, as well as the contributions of Francophones to Canada’s cultural heritage and collective identity.

The Canadian Studies Program is pleased to support projects that give us a deeper understanding of this rich and diverse heritage. This includes by supporting research by students like Erin Dunbar, who is investigating multilingualism and linguistic ideology in 19th-century Québécois literature; and Jennifer Kaplan, who is documenting the development and usage of non-binary French grammar in contemporary Montreal.

Visit Canadian Heritage to learn more about Canada’s Francophone communities and its participation in the International Organization of La Francophonie.

ACADEMIC OPPORTUNITIES

Deadline: March 31

The Fulbright Canada Community Action Program (CAP), supported by the Maple Leaf Foundation, is now accepting applications! This grant program provides a unique opportunity for Fulbright Canada and Killam Fellowship alums to collaborate with community partners and lead impactful initiatives in either Canada or the United States that strengthen their communities. Through this initiative, microgrants of up to $4,000 are awarded to support short-term community-based projects. Click here to learn more.

Deadline: April 1

The American Council for Québec Studies (ACQS) invites proposals for papers for its next biennial conference, to be held November 12–15, 2026, at the Omni Mont-Royal Hotel in Montréal.

The chosen theme, “Crossings, Crossroads, Intersections: Québec Studies Between Fracture and Connection,” welcomes a wide range of approaches in both the social sciences and the arts and humanities. It aims to highlight the significance of the exchanges made possible through the cultural and political intersections that enrich North American Francophone communities.

Conference presentations can be made in French or English. The deadline for the submission of abstracts is April 1st, 2026. Click here to read the full call for papers.

UPCOMING EVENTS

If you require an accommodation to participate fully in any event below, please let us know with as much advance notice as possible by emailing canada@berkeley.edu.

Thawing Ice, Rising Tensions: Canada’s Arctic Security Challenge

Mon., March 30 | 1:00 pm | 223 Philosophy Hall | RSVP

In recent years, climate change has opened up once-inaccessible Arctic regions, leading to a new era of great-power competition. Countries like China, Russia, and the United States are scrambling to claim new shipping routes and untapped natural resources that were once frozen under ice. How can Canada, which controls 1/4 of the global Arctic, secure its vast northern regions in the face of increasing pressures from not just longtime rivals, but also traditional allies like the United States? Can it pivot a defense strategy historically reliant on the US to new key allies like the European Union? And how can it most effectively bolster and protect Canadian sovereignty in an era of geopolitical confrontation?

About the Panelists

Alexander Dalziel is a Senior Fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. He has over 20 years of experience working in Canada’s national security, intelligence, and foreign policy communities. He specializes in Arctic geopolitics, including international security cooperation between North America, the Nordic countries, and NATO. He holds an MA in History from Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Dr. Christian Leuprecht is a Class of 1965 Professor at the Royal Military College of Canada and a professor in the Department of Political Studies and the School of Policy Studies at Queen’s University Canada. An expert in security and defense, he has held positions and advised governments in Canada and Europe. He received his PhD in political studies from Queen’s University.

This event is cosponsored by the Institute of European Studies and the Institute of International Studies and is made possible thanks to the generous support of the Bluma Appel Fund and the Consulate General of Canada in San Francisco.

This event will have a remote attendance option via Zoom. Please select the “virtual attendance” in the RSVP form to receive the link.

EXTERNAL EVENTS

On the Outside, Looking Out: Canada’s Rural Communities as Stewards of Landscapes and the Land

Wed., March 18 | 4:00 pm PT | Online | RSVP

The uniqueness of Canada’s rural communities is often overlooked, subsuming it under the perceived cultural hegemonies of their local urban centers. This presentation explores Canadian rural cultures to discuss ways that the identities they produce shape Canada’s cultural mosaic and in turn reshape our ongoing relationship with the land. Because the vast majority of Canada’s landscape is rural or remote, we will examine connections between place and culture to understand how this placeness is shaped by Canada’s geography. While most Canadians have at best an arm’s length relationship with the land, we will then address how rural and remote Canadians and their communities, especially those involved in primary industries such as agriculture and forestry, are instead deeply shaped by and in turn shape the land’s future.

Jeff Reichheld is a Doctoral Candidate at the University of Guelph’s School of Environmental Design and Rural Development, focusing on the relationship between Canada’s farming cultures and sustainability. Jeff has taught at Brock University since 2003 and serves on the Board for the Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation.

This event is brought to you by the Center for Canadian-American Studies at Western Washington University and the Foundation for WWU & Alumni.

Canadian Pianist Jan Lisiecki at SF Symphony

March 20-22 | San Francisco | Buy tickets

Internationally acclaimed Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki will join the San Francisco Symphony for a program that pairs Mozart’s exuberant and trailblazing Piano Concerto No. 9 – described by Alfred Brendel as “one of the greatest wonders of the world” – with Dvořák’s dramatic and emotionally-charged Symphony No. 7, led by conductor Andrés Orozco‑Estrada. Lisiecki’s refined artistry and expressive depth promise a performance of exceptional clarity and elegance, making these concerts an unforgettable highlight of the season.

Thursday, March 26 | 6:00 pm | San Francisco | RSVP

The Alliance Française of San Francisco invites you to the opening evening of La Fête de la Francophonie 2026, the first of three days dedicated to celebrating the richness and diversity of the French-speaking world. This special evening marks the beginning of the Alliance’s Francophonie festivities and invites you to gather for a warm reception starting at 6:00 pm, followed by a curated program of short films at 6:30.

The selection showcases voices and stories from across the Francophone world, including Quebec and other parts of Canada. It promises to be an evening of discovery, creativity, and cultural exchange kicking off three days of celebration.

Canadian Studies Program

213 Philosophy Hall #2308

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