Thank you very much, Kate! 

Thank you very much Eileen. Perhaps since you are with Arizona State University we could discuss more detail and get into contact.

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. 

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.

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. 

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? 

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! 

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. 

Hello Kelly, I found your program really interesting as well. As a graduate student I am doing some research on Indigenous STEM.

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?

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.

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.

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.

Thank you Torran and Alex for this exchange!  Both of your videos are a terrific contribution, as is your work.

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.

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. 

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. 

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.

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. 

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!

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! 

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? 

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/

This is wonderful. Thank you!

Thank you very much, DeeDee! It was inspiring to see your video and work with STEM.

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  

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.  

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. 

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!

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.

Thank you for visiting and viewing our video. We are always learning and promoting respect and listening.

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.