Meet 8 Indigenous Scientists whose work centers Indigenous knowledge and pedagogy in the field of STEM

Follow and learn from them this Indigenous Heritage Month. ✨

Charitie Ropati

is a Yup’ik and Samoan Indigenous scientist, scholar, climate activist, and advocate for education equality. Ropati developed an inclusive and historically accurate sub-curriculum on Indigenous peoples for the Anchorage School District, highlighting the traumatic history of colonization and its impacts on today’s Native communities. She was also key in the passing of a policy to allow students of color in the district to wear cultural regalia at graduation and is the co-founder of lilnativegirlinSTEM. Ropati’s research examines the ways that the climate crisis affects plant ecology in Alaska and how this relates to cultural resilience at Columbia University.

What does being a feminist mean to you?

It means uplifting other Indigenous women, girls and femmes in every space. It is widely known that Indigenous peoples internationally protect up to 80% of the Earth's biodiversity but only make up less than 5% of the world's population. Yet conservation and STEM spaces don’t reflect this at all. I firmly believe that if these spaces had more Indigenous women in leadership roles and stem roles, our world would be a much better place.

@charitieropati

Danielle Boyer

is a 22-year-old Indigenous (Ojibwe) robotics inventor and advocate for youth who has been teaching kids since she was ten. Driven by her families own inability to afford science and technology education, she is passionate about making education accessible and representative for her community so that no child is left behind. Danielle creates equitable and innovative learning solutions for Indigenous youths with robots that she designs, manufactures, and gives away for free.

@danielleboyer



Anpotowin Jensen

is from Kiyuksa Tiospaye of the Oglala Lakota Oyate and was born and raised on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. An accomplished individual, she earned her Master's degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Stanford University, making history as the first Native woman to serve on Stanford's Student Global Health Board. She ia also a writer, author, and poet who skillfully weaves her unique life experiences as an Oglala woman, engineer, and advocate for Indigenous solutions in global health and climate change into her creative works.

@anpo12

Dr. Danielle Ignace

is an enrolled member of the Coeur d’Alene tribe and a broadly trained ecophysiologist with a passion for science communication. From desert systems to temperate forests, she studies how global change (climate change, landscape disturbance, and non-native species invasions) impacts ecosystem function and Indigenous communities. Dr. Ignace is also a Research Associate at Harvard Forest and an Associate Editor for the journal, Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene.

@ddignace

Dr. Haliehana Alaĝum Ayagaa Stepetin

is a Unangax̂ scientist, artist, and scholar who’s research theorizes Unangax̂ subsistence cosmologies rooted and routed from their upbringing immersed in processes and Protocols that govern life in my Unangam Tanangin home. Their pedagogy connects environmental justice, Indigenous food sovereignty, and climate change research from a hyper-local Unangax̂ context with, by, and for Unangax̂ and Arctic Indigenous communities. They also perform, choreograph, and compose Unangax̂ dance, especially with Tanam Anĝii Collective.

@indigenous_agent



Dr. Lydia Jennings

is an Indigenous environmental soil scientist. Dr. Jennings, citizen of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe (Yoeme) and Huichol (Wixáritari), earned her Bachelors of Science from California State University, Monterey Bay in Environmental Science, Technology and Policy and completed her Ph.D. at the University of Arizona in the Department of Environmental Sciences, with a minor in American Indian Policy. She is passionate about connecting her scholarship to outdoor spaces, through running and increasing representation in outdoor recreation.

@llcooljennings


Dominique Pablito

is an Indigenous scientist and scholar currently pursuing a doctorate in molecular and cell biology and biochemistry at Brown University. Dominique aspires to establish a research lab on the Zuni Pueblo to introduce students to the world of research. She is from Aneth, Utah, on the Navajo Nation, and the Zuni Reservation in New Mexico. Her desire to ignite interest in STEM among future generations of Indigenous scholars stems from her experiences with the Indian Health Service and the need for greater diversity in healthcare.

@dominiquepablito



Dr. Ariel Richer

is an Afro-Indigenous and white decolonial and community based researcher, the 
Co-Founder and Co-Director at Urban Indigenous Collective, and an Assistant Professor at the University of Utah. As 
an interventionist, she engages in community-driven research to co-create culturally-tailored interventions and services that address the substance use, intimate partner violence, and HIV/STI risk (SAVA) syndemic. Dr. Richer is descendant from Carib Indians, the Indigenous people of Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela.

@arielbarb

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