Introducing 8 Indigenous scientists you should know about!

List curated by @charitieropati. ✨

About the curator

Charitie Ropati (Yup'ik & Samoan) is an education and climate justice advocate, scientist, and water engineer. Originally from the Native Village of Kongiganak, a small coastal community in the Southwest region of Alaska, and Anchorage, Alaska, she is a recent graduate from the School of Engineering at Columbia University, holding a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering on the water resources track. She has worked on building pipe and water infrastructure for rural Alaska Native communities. 

Charitie was recognized as a Champion for Change by the Center for Native American Youth for her work in education and climate and was honored with the World Wildlife Fund’s Conservation Leadership Award. She has also keynoted at the UN ECOSOC Partnership Forum at the United Nations Headquarters on behalf of her Arctic community. In Alaska, she implemented a culturally relevant curriculum in her school district and passed a policy allowing students to wear their cultural regalia at high school graduation, positively impacting over 40,000 students.

@charitieropati

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.”

Dr. Haliehana Alaĝum Ayagaa Stepetin

is a Unangax̂ scientist, artist, and scholar whose research theorizes Unangax̂ subsistence cosmologies, rooted in and routed from their upbringing, immersed in the processes and protocols that govern life in their Unangam Tanangin home. She is currently an Assistant Professor at the Ted Stevens Center for Arctic Security Studies.

They spend their summers practicing the subsistence processes and protocols learned from their dad, their first formative theorist and scientist.

@indigenous_agent

Dr. Ariel Richer,

is an Afro-Indigenous and white decolonial and community-based researcher. She is a descendant of the Carib Indians, the Indigenous people of Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela. She is the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Urban Indigenous Collective and an Assistant Professor at the University of Utah. All of her work is founded on the principles of community-based participatory research, as she collaborates with Indigenous and Native communities.

@arielbarb



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.

@ddignace



Dr. Lydia Jennings

is an Indigenous environmental soil scientist. Lydia, citizen of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe (Yoeme) and Huichol (Wixáritari), She completed her Ph.D. at the University of Arizona in the Department of Environmental Sciences, with a minor in American Indian Policy. Her research interests are in soil health, environmental data stewardship and science communication. Lydia is passionate about connecting her scholarship to outdoor spaces, through running and increasing representation in outdoor recreation.

@llcooljennings



Danielle Boyer

is a 23-year-old Indigenous (Ojibwe) robotics inventor and advocate for youth who has been teaching kids since she was ten. Driven by her family's 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 through her non-profit STEAM Connection.

@danielleboyer



Anpotowin Jensen

hailing from the Kiyuksa Tiospaye of the Oglala Lakota Oyate, 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. As a writer, author, and poet, she 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

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

---

Follow along with us at @Feminist and celebrate Herstory-makers who shaped and are continuing to shape the world we live in today @feminist.herstory.

---