Climate Resiliency in the Salish Sea: Mentoring the Future Climate Workforce at Northwest Indian College
Abstract
The Earth System Education for Climate Resiliency in the Salish Sea Program is a NASA Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP) funded effort for students at Northwest Indian College (NWIC), a tribal college in Bellingham, WA, USA that grants B.S. degrees in Native Environmental Science (NES). The objectives are to (1) incorporate Geographic Information System (GIS) tools, such as remote sensing training, into an interdisciplinary program and increase students' understanding and awareness of climate resiliency, while (2) inserting remote sensing applications into course curricula to address culturally relevant topics related to climate resiliency, and (3) to advance the opportunities of students to enter the job force with remote sensing skills, or entrance into a STEM graduate program in a culturally relevant manner, focused on community goals and needs. The program is implemented through a rigorous series of GIS and remote sensing courses offered at NWIC, and an 8-week NASA internship that focuses on climate resiliency and uses NASA Earth observations and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK). Mentoring is a primary component of the program and crosses disciplines, organizations, and experience levels. Inclusion of diverse perspectives produces innovative problem solving through different modes of critical thinking, cultural sensitivity, and ways of knowing. The internship is a partnership, including the Director of the Salish Sea Research Center, the GIS instructor at NWIC, a mentor who was a former intern from a prior year, the research mentor affiliated with NASA Ames Research Center, and by partners at local Tribal Natural Resources Departments. Projects are place-based and focus on community needs including food sovereignty, preservation of knowledge of medicinal plant locations and ancestral sweat lodges and baths, and on natural resource management, all of which are highly affected by climate change. Research projects are guided by topics that are identified by our tribal partners, and students and faculty mentors work closely within the community and facilitate opportunities to share results with our tribal partners, practicing data sovereignty in a respectful manner. We report on student projects, successes, and lessons learned from the second cohort of NWIC interns.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2020
- Bibcode:
- 2020AGUFMED0500002P
- Keywords:
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- 0810 Post-secondary education;
- EDUCATION;
- 0825 Teaching methods;
- EDUCATION;
- 1630 Impacts of global change;
- GLOBAL CHANGE;
- 1637 Regional climate change;
- GLOBAL CHANGE