| NSF Org: |
RISE Integrative and Collaborative Education and Research (ICER) |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | September 12, 2016 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | September 12, 2016 |
| Award Number: | 1649186 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Brandon Jones
mbjones@nsf.gov (703)292-4713 RISE Integrative and Collaborative Education and Research (ICER) GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
| Start Date: | October 1, 2016 |
| End Date: | September 30, 2019 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $26,478.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $26,478.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
426 AUDITORIUM RD RM 2 EAST LANSING MI US 48824-2600 (517)355-5040 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
MI US 48824-2600 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | Eddie Bernice Johnson INCLUDES |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.050 |
ABSTRACT
Finding inclusive approaches to broaden the participation of underrepresented communities in the sciences is the focus of this project. The team will create pathways for Native American students from the development of new partnerships between tribal communities and STEM institutions that promote the participation and inclusion of Native American scientists in the geosciences. Each partner brings a successful program, based on good practices from the research literature in improving outcomes for underrepresented students and scientists. Together, the researchers will create scientific collaborations that support a pipeline for Native American students from middle school through to graduate school and beyond. In addition, the project will work on building welcoming workplace climates for indigenous researchers within ?traditional Western? organizations. The approach will integrate indigenous and Western knowledge in research collaborations to create more creative, innovative, and culturally relevant science research programs.
This project, Integrating Indigenous and Western Knowledge to Transform Learning and Discovery in the Geosciences, uses the principles of collective impact to create new partnerships between tribal communities and STEM institutions that promote the participation and inclusion of Native American scientists in the geosciences. The project collaborators will more strongly integrate indigenous and Western knowledge into collectively-developed research projects. The project partners the Rising Voices: Collaborative Science for Climate Solutions (Rising Voices) and member tribal colleges and communities with Haskell Indian Nations University, the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), the University of Arizona?s Biosphere 2, and National Center for Atmospheric Research?s Significant Opportunities in Atmospheric Research and Science (SOARS) internship and Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) citizen science programs. Together, they will build research partnerships between Native American and traditional Western scientists, provide professional development for NCAR and Biosphere 2 scientists on how to engage appropriately with tribal communities, and provide pathways for NA students from middle school through college, to grad school and beyond. The project will connect community-based citizen science programs for middle- and high school youth with undergraduate programs at Haskell Indian Nations University and University of Arizona, and with summer research internship experiences for undergraduates and graduate students that address topics of interest across tribal communities, tribal college faculty, traditional science institutions, and community-based citizen science. This project also enhances the research capacity of all partners, and brings together diverse perspectives, which have been shown to lead to greater innovation, creativity, and higher impact research. The project has the potential to provide a tried and tested model for building similar partnerships at other institutions, including content and methods for professional development for mainstream scientists, ways to create more welcoming spaces for Native American students and scientists, promising practices for improving how research in the geosciences carried out, and an increase in the representation of Native American students and scientists in that vital research enterprise.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
In this award, I developed a training for environmental change scientists about how best to work with Indigenous peoples. I also implemented an overall evaluation of the project. The goal of the project that I developed the training and evaluation for was to empower Indigenous students, at the college level, to be part of scientific projects that would provide key information for Tribes to use in their preparation for environmental change. The training involved a curriculum that can educate scientists in how to imagine their work as having both research impacts and community-well being impacts for the Tribes they work for. A huge part of the training was educating scientists about how to mentor Tribal students who have particular relationships to the Native American communities they come from. In the evaluation of the project, we found that the Native American students involved were excited about the opportunity to do research in Tribal communities. A lesson learned was that projects seeking to empower Native Americans should consider how well the project work is tailored to the life situations of Native students. The intellectual merits of the project involve a new curriculum that can better train scientists for how to work with Tribes and Native American students. The broader impact was to have ensured the project was accountable in its implementation, ensuring that successes and lessons were documented.
Last Modified: 02/10/2020
Modified by: Kyle Whyte
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