NSF Awards: 1735173
Indigenous Food, Energy and Water Security and Sovereignty, or "Indige-FEWSS," combines research, cultural immersion and hands-on problem solving to address food, energy and water quality and access challenges in rural and tribal communities. Nikki Tulley, a UArizona doctoral student in environmental science shares her connection to Navajo Nation and the work of Indige-FEWSS. Dr. Karletta Chief (PI), associate professor of environmental science in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences explains, "We want to enable these trainees to tackle critical, real-world food, energy and water problems with an understanding of culture and sovereignty of indigenous people." The NSF NRT undertook a cultural immersion trip to learn about Navajo governance and culture, to experience the food, energy, water challenges facing Navajo Nation, and to pilot an off-grid solar-powered nano-filtration unit.
Kate Goss
The concept of cultural immersion in combination with sustainability and sovereignty is extraordinarily compelling.
Erica Fields
Janelle Johnson
Jessica Kaelblein
Abolhassan Mohammadi Fathabad
Torran Anderson
Nikki Tulley
Torran Anderson
Community Engagement Coordinator
Thank you very much, Kate!
Karletta Chief
Abolhassan Mohammadi Fathabad
Torran Anderson
Torran Anderson
Community Engagement Coordinator
Thank you for visiting our NSF NRT project, Indigenous Food, Energy, and Water Security and Sovereignty (Indige-FEWSS). We are based out of the University of Arizona and are partnering with Diné College and other community groups on Navajo Nation. Our goal is to develop a diverse workforce with intercultural awareness and FEWS expertise to address FEWS challenges in indigenous communities. We'd love to learn more about other projects working with indigenous communities and tribal colleges, particularly in addressing real world solutions in the areas of food, energy and water. More information about Indige-FEWSS can be found at: https://energy.arizona.edu/indigefewss
Janelle Johnson
Holly Morin
Karletta Chief
Abolhassan Mohammadi Fathabad
Eileen Merrit
MARK CLYTUS
PhD Student/ UA Early Academic Outreach Coordinator, Statewide Strategic Outreach
Hello Everyone
Thank you all for viewing our project. I am Indige-FEWSS cohort participant, Mark Clytus, PhD student University of Arizona. My graduate research studies are in Indigenous FEWSS Nexus. I am in the start doing a 3 tier research process intersecting interdisciplinary sectors of engineering, law, and education. My focus investigating on energy and water infrastructure development discrepancies by analyzing and engineering energy modeling systems for indigenous communities’; legal analysis research of tribal energy policies and energy security of Indigenous lands; and an analysis of Indigenous STEM Education outreach of cultivating intellectual STEM capital of students in native communities.
Karletta Chief
Abolhassan Mohammadi Fathabad
Eileen Merrit
I enjoyed hearing about the Navajo philosophy that you described. The work that you are doing is inspiring!
Karletta Chief
Abolhassan Mohammadi Fathabad
Torran Anderson
Nikki Tulley
MARK CLYTUS
PhD Student/ UA Early Academic Outreach Coordinator, Statewide Strategic Outreach
Thank you very much Eileen. Perhaps since you are with Arizona State University we could discuss more detail and get into contact.
Abolhassan Mohammadi Fathabad
Eileen Merrit
Eileen Merrit
Hi Mark,
That would be great. I teach a course on Sustainability Science for Educators, and our pre-service teachers are very interested in energy equity in Arizona. Many live in rural areas in Arizona and would be inspired by the work that you are doing.
Karletta Chief
Abolhassan Mohammadi Fathabad
MARK CLYTUS
PhD Student/ UA Early Academic Outreach Coordinator, Statewide Strategic Outreach
Thank you Eileen Merrit I would like to discuss further about your class and see how I could perhaps discuss our research and my part in helping indigenous communities. We would also in the future perhaps have you come speak to our program as well either in person or virtual.
Liz Santiago Martoral
Excellent project, respecting, and employing cultural significance to address the food- water and energy nexus to promote community and scientific development is important. At our university UPR we have a program called CIREN that works together with the Yaguazo community to educate in nanotechnology and nanosciences and promote sustainability, public education, mixed with research and outreach. Great to see that there are others interested in preserving!
Karletta Chief
Abolhassan Mohammadi Fathabad
Torran Anderson
Nikki Tulley
Nikki Tulley
Graduate Student
Thank you for your feedback. All the work your group is doing seems really interesting and inspiring as well. The CIREN program at UPR and the work with the Yaguazo community sounds like efforts our team is making as well. Thanks for mentioning the CIREN program. I will search for more information about it. STEM and community education/outreach is an area of interest that is import for continued diversity.
Karletta Chief
Abolhassan Mohammadi Fathabad
Mercy Mugo
Senior Research Analyst and Grants Specialist
This is an interesting and holistic approach to food, water, and energy security at the Navajo Nation. I'm curious as to how you are evaluating the success of the project given the many intersecting elements/factors.
Karletta Chief
Abolhassan Mohammadi Fathabad
Torran Anderson
Cara Shopa
Indige-FEWSS Program Coordinator
Thank you , Mercy, we collaborated with Navajo partners to create the program and its education and outreach efforts.
We are partnering with Dine' College, the oldest and largest TCU (Tribal College & University) in the United States, and with community groups. Due to the rigorous IRB process of the Navajo Nation, we are not yet collecting data from community members or Dine' College students to evaluate the program elements as experienced by Navajo participants. However, we are seeing increased attendance/participation in our "Native Voices in STEM" seminar presentations (https://energy.arizona.edu/indige-fewss-library) and other public-facing program elements (such as interest in our solar nano-filtration unit for remote use on Navajo Nation).
Additionally, we have educational content and immersive learning experiences for the graduate student "Trainees" at UArizona, and formal evaluation (pre-/post- surveys) of that programming suggests our University of Arizona students have an improved understanding of Native American sovereignty and improved skill set in working collaboratively with tribes to address a challenge.
Would you have ideas to contribute on the evaluation front?
Abolhassan Mohammadi Fathabad
Mercy Mugo
Senior Research Analyst and Grants Specialist
Thank you Cara, this is very helpful. Unfortunately I don't have specific suggestions for evaluating your project, however, I think your multi-level/multi institutional approach to measuring impact is commendable. Very inspiring work!
Mercy Mugo
Senior Research Analyst and Grants Specialist
I love that you are involving the local community. Can you briefly describe how the project gained the trust of the locals and in what ways they are involved in the project?
Karletta Chief
Abolhassan Mohammadi Fathabad
Torran Anderson
Nikki Tulley
Graduate Student
Hi Mercy, I am a PhD student that is part of the Indige-FEWSS program and also a member of the Navajo Nation. I feel that the work that I have done with the project was able to build trusting relationships by going to the community. Last year I participated in planning a trip for other members of the Indige-FEWSS cohort to come to the Navajo Nation and be immersed. The cohort was able to see tribal colleges/universities, our central tribal government, and visit/stay with family in rural areas of the reservation. The outcome of this I feel was that by having people see who Indige-FEWSS is in person opened up other opportunities to feel accepted by the community. One way that the community is involved with the project is through the Tribal Colleges and University Program (TCUP) training.
Mercy Mugo
Karletta Chief
Abolhassan Mohammadi Fathabad
Kellie Fry
Hi, I'm very excited to see another Indigenous project here! I love that you are working with your local communities and teaching the tools needed to ensure tribal communities have access to food energy and clean water. I'm currently working on a NSF funded project writing a Culturally Responsive Indigenous Science curriculum for grades 5-8. One of our modules focuses on clean and healthy water habitat and providing our students with the knowledge of why this is important not only from a western scientific standpoint, but more importantly from a tribally indigenous standpoint. Great work!
Francene Watson
Karletta Chief
Abolhassan Mohammadi Fathabad
Torran Anderson
MARK CLYTUS
PhD Student/ UA Early Academic Outreach Coordinator, Statewide Strategic Outreach
Hello Kelly, I found your program really interesting as well. As a graduate student I am doing some research on Indigenous STEM.
Abolhassan Mohammadi Fathabad
Kellie Fry
Alex DeCiccio
I enjoyed watching your beautiful video and learning about the project specific approach to build sustainable technologies with a foundation in reaching balance and harmony in one's life, especially as it ties with the environment. I think that is a message that resonates strongly today and one that is also quite complex when involving food sovereignty.
What are some of the ways you are engaging in outreach activities related to your project and some of the example audiences who are listening to your story?
Holly Morin
Karletta Chief
Abolhassan Mohammadi Fathabad
Torran Anderson
Community Engagement Coordinator
Thank you for your thoughtful question, Alex. Our outreach has involved regular trips up to Navajo Nation to meet with community members, participate in training at Tribal Colleges and collaborating on projects like an off-grid water purification unit. Some of the Indige-FEWS Fellows are also doing projects on Navajo Nation and working closely with the community. Our focus right now is listening to the community and building relationships that will continue after the end of our NSF NRT grant. With this mind, a key audience is the community on Navajo Nation. Other audiences include tribal colleges, students/faculty working on the food, energy, water nexus, and media that are working on indigenous issues including online, newspapers and radio. Also our "Native Voices in STEM" seminar presentations (https://energy.arizona.edu/indige-fewss-library) is outreach into the community. We are always open to learning other ways to use media to enhance outreach activities.
Your video was stunning and I’m curious how you use different media for outreach activities?
Holly Morin
Abolhassan Mohammadi Fathabad
Alex DeCiccio
Alex DeCiccio
Thank you and please know the thoughtfulness was purely prompted by the project you’ve shared here.
When it comes to media, we can probably agree in the effectiveness of the moving and still image in creating emotional resonance with a particular audience. Of course there are other forms that use similar foundational elements of story, specifically oral tradition comes to mind. However, when it comes to communicating science and using story techniques to embed and deliver complex and abstract concepts, these two ideas often find themselves competing in unnecessary ways. Which is wild when considering that storytelling evolved with us as a tool for exploration and disseminating important information.
How story and imagery work into our brains and bodies and how we store that information embedded in story is incredibly effective.
I’ve found comfort in listening to some of your methods that building authentic trust in the community is utmost. This comes from an investment of much more than money or evaluation.
One way I’ve seen and experienced trust being built shines through one’s invested time and one’s ability to listen. Then the conversation can feel empowering to tell that story with the most effective medium possible.
Often, for better or for worse. superficial multimedia approaches work out to a satisfactory result. And that is fine.
However, we can always go deeper with story. These techniques, if one allows, do not need to be limited by knowledge or even reality e.g fiction and non-fiction, oral tradition changing over time but retaining the teaching, etc.
Different methods I’ve personally used in various outreach activities: still photography, documentary films, live-interactive-programs using out of the box tech like Skype or Zoom that connects audiences, immersive exhibitory, experimental media (NOAA’s Science on a Sphere), immersive media (360,VR) and partnerships with larger media brands to name a few e.g broadcast companies like National Geographic and the BBC.
Lastly, audience should influence many creative outreach decisions. I say this because it is a chance to consider how we can “pay back the debt” of the publicly funded effort. We must realize that not all audiences are the same and “general” audience is too vague. We learn differently from person to person. Outreach activities and communications work should reflect that.
Karletta Chief
Holly Morin
Abolhassan Mohammadi Fathabad
Torran Anderson
Community Engagement Coordinator
Thank you, Alex. Great points! I've been thinking about this a lot lately as there's communities we work with who place a high value on in person meetings and that’s the foundation of our outreach. With COVID-19 there are folks who don't feel as comfortable connecting on tools like Zoom and we're trying to figure out how to connect with those audiences now that digital channels are currently our only option.
I agree that our outreach efforts need to reflect the different communities we work with. The question I've been wrestling with is how to make digital approaches work for groups that prefer in-person meetings. I’m looking forward to learning more in this area. We want to convey respect and listening through whatever channels we have available to us.
Lotus Norton-Wisla
Alex DeCiccio
Alex DeCiccio
Torran, I’ve worked with some of these concepts before but I think - sometimes - the answer or response necessary to progress forward together may be rather simple in the approach.
In my very limited experience the capacity building could go nowhere without a sincere listening to the needs of all involved. Which is no simple task in itself but the process of listening to each other - although challenging and uncomfortable - can be the most effective tool for western science approaches and traditional knowledge.
I would be interested in discussing this more with you as it relates to a recent film I worked on for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and University of Rhode Island. It was focused around identifying ancient and submerged “paleo landscapes” off shore on the NE side of the US. However, even the term “paleolandscape” is non native and presents a barrier.
Thanks again for the back and forth and let me know if you’d like to connect or I could put you in touch with a project participant who specializes in collaborative projects with indigenous nations and groups.
Torran Anderson
Barbara Rogoff
Thank you Torran and Alex for this exchange! Both of your videos are a terrific contribution, as is your work.
Torran Anderson
Alex DeCiccio
Torran Anderson
Community Engagement Coordinator
Thank you, Barbara! It's very interesting to see the work that you are doing as well as Alex DeCiccio. I'd be interested in connecting after the conference with individuals who are working on projects related to Indigenous communities. Yes, Alex I'd be very interested in learning about your film for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. There's more information about our projects at the Institute for Energy Solutions website and my email is listed there as well.
Jeremy Roschelle
Director
I love how inclusive your approach is. One connection I see is to RARE, a conversation group that partners with local communities to protect fish and other habits, and also takes a very community-centric approach. RARE talks about "empowering communities through clear rights, strong governance, local leadership, and participatory management." Do these dimensions come up in your project? Also, finding ways to help people change behavior often comes up in their approach; in yours, too?
Nikki Tulley
Abolhassan Mohammadi Fathabad
Nikki Tulley
Graduate Student
Hi Jeremy, a way that I feel Indige-FEWSS has included the dimensions you speak of is through the training this program offers to graduate students at the University of Arizona as well as the students at the tribal colleges/universities. The empowering of communities comes from teaching/mentoring to create that ownership and continued developing knowledge from what is introduced. In working with the tribal communities, culture and sovereignty remains an objective that is honored in moving the project forward.
Gerhard Salinger
Retired Program Officer
Your project has involved the Navajo community on issues to help improve food, energy and water use in the community. Is it helping in working with the community on issues to stop the spread of Covid-19?
Karletta Chief
Torran Anderson
Karletta Chief
Associate Professor & Extension Specialist
Thank you for your questions Gerhard. I am the PI of the NSF Indige-FEWSS Training Program. We had planned to do FEWS training with Dine' College students this summer but with the pandemic, we are not able to be there in person. However, we plan to teach remotely and to provide some Do it yourself home projects focused on Food, Energy and Water since many Navajos are isolated and access to food and water is even more amplified during this time.
Francene Watson
Aramati Casper
I really appreciate how your project is integrating community collaboration to address food, energy, and water use needs. We definitely need many more projects that center communities at their core.
Karletta Chief
Torran Anderson
Abolhassan Mohammadi Fathabad
Abolhassan Mohammadi Fathabad
PhD Candidate
Thank you Aramati, Definitely agree with you, and as a PhD student working on clean water and sustainable energy research, I feel blessed to be able to maintain a strong connection with local communities while developing my tech-science ideas.
Karletta Chief
Sallie Marston
This is a really wonderful project, Torran, and the video is not only informative, it's quite moving. I'm curious whether you are trying to measure outcomes from the training and what those might be. I am asking in the hope that you have insights you could pass along.
Torran Anderson
Abolhassan Mohammadi Fathabad
Kate Goss
Karletta Chief
Associate Professor & Extension Specialist
Thank you for your question Sallie. We are evaluating the effectiveness of our training with the NRT trainees. The first cohort is about to graduate this May and we will be doing our exit surveys. This will provide insight how how well our training is going. For now, we don't have any preliminary data.
Torran Anderson
Community Engagement Coordinator
Thank you, Sallie! Just want to echo Karletta's comments. It was great to see your informative video as well and I look forward to when we can meet again in person to explore these topics!
Zoe Higheagle Strong
Beautiful, and much-needed work!
Francene Watson
Torran Anderson
Nikki Tulley
Karletta Chief
Associate Professor & Extension Specialist
Dear Zoe, hello! I love your video! I like how your team incorporated language and culture into the water science. I commend the work you are doing!
Catherine Stimac
Really appreciate the thoughtful approach of this project and the work you are all doing. As others have said before me, it's inspiring on many levels. I look forward to hearing more about it as it continues.
Torran Anderson
Nikki Tulley
Karletta Chief
Associate Professor & Extension Specialist
Thank you Catherine! I just saw your video! I like how your learning app was interactive and visual. We are finding ways to develop learning modules for tribal college students. It makes me think how we can make our learning modules more interactive. It seems like you have to have a large technology team to help you do this, right?
Catherine Stimac
Not necessarily. It depends on the goals and intended outcomes. We have a very small team. My colleague, Heather Young, is our interactive developer. She works with the science writing team and together we develop the learning modules. I'd be happy to talk with you further. Feel free to reach out any time. Here are some links to other projects we've partnered on:
https://www.pbs.org/time-team/field-school/
https://www.opb.org/about/services/edmedia/
Karletta Chief
Torran Anderson
Karletta Chief
Associate Professor & Extension Specialist
This is wonderful. Thank you!
DeeDee Wright
Beautiful work! I like your approach to start with community input rather than your own research goals.
Torran Anderson
Torran Anderson
Community Engagement Coordinator
Thank you very much, DeeDee! It was inspiring to see your video and work with STEM.
Karletta Chief
Associate Professor & Extension Specialist
Thank you for seeing our video. Please check out this special issue:
"Water in the Native World," a special issue I was the guest editor for. Papers are about water challenges facing tribes where Indigenous scientists and community members, and students lead and are involved in addressing the challenges Download at:
https://ucowr.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/JCWRE_169_Full_Issue.pdf
Holly Morin
This is a beautiful video and amazing project- really compelling messaging and intentions!
My colleague, Alex DeCiccio provided great feedback above, but one thing I also wanted to point to was the Ikaarvik Project, which we learned about through our Northwest Passage Project. Ikaarvik works with indigenous youth in Nunavut, Canada, to effectively bridge the gap between Arctic research and traditional knowledge. "Youth identify and explore the strengths of Inuit knowledge and the strengths of science, and how the two ways of knowing can work together to address issues of local concern". Significant research is happening in the Canadian Arctic, however, many times, local communities are not directly engaged in the planning, development, and implementation of these projects. As a result, important Arctic research is unfortunately not viewed in a relevant context by local community members.
Our team was pleased to welcome Ikaarvik members onboard the Swedish icebreaker, Oden, while we were in Pond Inlet, and shared the goals of our science plan with them, but also learned about their science intentions/questions and what was important to their community. A memorable moment occurred when we were talking about seabird and marine mammal surveys, and our resident seabird expert mentioned seeing a species of shearwater that usually is not found in the area. Members of the Ikaarvik group then told him no, that species of seabird had been in the area for at least 5-10 years now. This only highlights the importance of traditional knowledge and how it truly can inform research efforts.
Torran Anderson
Community Engagement Coordinator
Thank you, Holly! Very important point. Traditional knowledge is crucial for our project as well. Indige-FEWSS had Perry Charley come and do a workshop on traditional ecological knowledge for the NRT fellows and faculty which was very helpful. The Indige-FEWSS fellows also participated in a cultural immersion trip to Navajo Nation where they got to experience the food, energy, water issues first hand and meet with the community.
It's great to learn about the Ikaarvik Project and your and Alex's comments touch on a lot of the common ground we are exploring. Let's keep in touch about the development of our respective projects.
Holly Morin
Gerhard Salinger
Retired Program Officer
It has been great to see how the VideoShow case has brought together several projects with similar foci. I hope the
interaction can continue. What would you consider success to be in this project?
Torran Anderson
Karletta Chief
Associate Professor & Extension Specialist
This is very true. There are some projects that appear to have similar goals. I think a success would be the students learning how to work with Indigenous communities in a respectful way that allows them to appreciate other ways of knowing, learning and problem solving that western science is not always the answer to every problem. They would go into their careers with a wider perspective of developing and Indigenous communities.
Meena Balgopal
What a wonderful project - thanks for sharing! How do you prepare graduate students for learning how to partner with community members? Students in the sciences may not have had experience or training in ethnographic methods or how to build trust with community stakeholders.
Torran Anderson
Karletta Chief
Associate Professor & Extension Specialist
Hello Meena! There may be a few STEM students that may have a social science component such as interviewing community members on what they think about FEWS challenges. We have a PhD Minor in INDIGE-FEWSS where students could get training in ethnographic methods and learn Indigenous history and community partnership building. The PhD minor is STEM interdisciplinary with a social science component. We also have workshops and seminars focused on Indigenous partnership building. Thank you for your question!
Kyle Boyer
PhD Student
Thank you Meena! As one of the STEM graduate students in question, I will try to speak to this from the student perspective.
To start with, all of the graduate students in the Indige-FEWSS program participate in a seminar series, where we have guest speakers come in and share their perspectives and advice.
In addition, those of us working on technical aspects of the project work closely with the students and faculty who focus primarily on community and policy aspects to ensure that we are being sensitive to and respectful of our community partners.
We have also asked our community partners themselves to give us feedback, and are continually learning from them and incorporating their feedback into our project going forward.
Erica Fields
I love the connection between local community and institutions of higher learning, with a focus on how the institutions can help with real, organic community needs, rather than imposing their own sense of what is needed. I especially appreciate your comment about what success would look like - that students would learn to work with indigenous communities in a respectful way that allows them to appreciate other ways of knowing. Thank you for sharing your project!
Torran Anderson
Karletta Chief
Associate Professor & Extension Specialist
Thank you for visiting and viewing our video. We are always learning and promoting respect and listening.
Lotus Norton-Wisla
Thank you all for sharing your work on this amazing collaboration through the video and replies in the comments. I admire all the thought that went into working together for community goals, especially the example Nikki Tulley mentions about planning immersive in person trips to the Navajo Nation for the Indige-FEWSS cohort to develop connections and get to know the land and community members.
Hopefully the foundation of these relationships in-person will make virtual meetings and communication easier. Our project with three Tribes in the Northwest has relied on phone calls and virtual meetings in these unexpected times, but we are always considering the importance of where team and individual meetings are located throughout our project years.
Karletta Chief
Torran Anderson
Cara Shopa
Indige-FEWSS Program Coordinator
Hello Lotus! We have benefitted from the longstanding relationships between UArizona faculty and the Navajo Nation and the existing trust and goodwill created by those relationships. Like you, we are keeping in contact with our Navajo partners via virtual meetings and 'check ins' during COVID-19 mitigation. We do travel to meet with Navajo partners on the reservation as much as possible, which is an enriching experience for our students and team and respectful of the time and resources of our partners.
Hiller Spires
Thank you for sharing your important and thought-provoking work. Our team of researchers and educators at NC State have been engaging in inquiry with K-12 teachers and students using the UN Sustainable Development Goals as the touchpoint. With each project, we try to include voices and narratives from communities across the United States and the world and look to share your work and project with our next cohort.
At the beginning of our most recent inquiry project on SDG 6 (ensure access to clean water and adequate sanitation), we observed that many students viewed enduring challenges, like water and sanitation issues, as something that is experienced outside the U.S. or the "developed world." It has been an essential part of our work to support students in investigating the water and sanitation landscape in their local communities, as well as around the globe. Comparing their local investigations with water challenges facing other communities has fostered a solutions- and action-oriented stance to their inquiries, which in turn has encouraged student empowerment.
Within your work with the Navajo Nation, are you involving K-12 students and educators?
Torran Anderson
Cara Shopa
Indige-FEWSS Program Coordinator
Hello Hiller! The pandemic has certainly highlighted the challenges faced by Navajo Nation and other tribal communities in the U.S. regarding water quality, water access and sanitation. It is surprising to people of all ages that such a challenge exists in this country. I love that your approach to investigation has led to student empowerment - that's so encouraging for our next generation of problem solvers! Our effort in curriculum development is undergraduate STEM (mostly engineering), with a focus on place-based and culturally relevant material. One of our faculty, Dr. Valerie Shirley in the College of Education, is also co-PI for ITEP (Indigenous Teacher Education Program -- http://itep.coe.arizona.edu/content/about-itep) at the University of Arizona, and she has been instrumental in supporting our graduate students and faculty in "indigenizing" the STEM curriculum. ITEP teachers do work in K-12 classrooms; however, the Indige-FEWSS involvement with K-12 students has been limited to mentoring on science fair projects.
Torran Anderson
Community Engagement Coordinator
Thank you for everyone's thoughtful comments! It's been great meeting you all and seeing your amazing videos. We'd love to keep in touch throughout the year. Please check out our website: https://energy.arizona.edu/indigefewss