The summer 2016 ASIANetwork Freeman Student-Faculty Fellows Program (SFF) is the eighteenth funded by the Freeman Foundation to support undergraduate projects in East and Southeast Asia. Over $283,000 will be allocated to fourteen faculty mentors and forty-five students in four teams led by a single mentor and five teams led by two mentors. They will conduct projects in Japan (two teams), the People’s Republic of China (four teams), the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore. If one counts the 2016 recipients, the SFF program has awarded 210 grants to 998 faculty members and students at 106 AN member institutions.

ASIANetwork is grateful to the Freeman Foundation for its extraordinary commitment to fostering undergraduate research and engagement in Asia, and providing the opportunity for college students to have a mentored, in-depth experience in Asia. We also express our appreciation to the faculty mentors, supported by their campus administrators, who lead their students to Asia each summer for these transformative experiences.

Those who have worked with this program from its inception have evidenced the growing strength of Asian Studies programs among participant colleges. Proposals are becoming more sophisticated, the credentials of students and faculty are stronger, and the range and depth of research is impressive. We are especially pleased that students and faculty at AN member institutions have responded positively to the SFF program’s new theme of “Engaging Asia” this year. We wish to thank all applicants this year and in the past for their interest and support for the SFF program.