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their community’s problems and to the surrounding
universe. Competency is tested in a real-world context.
5.
For effective collaboration between tribal and non-tribal
organizations, tribal peoples’ ancestral knowledge and
understanding of nature must be respected as equal in
value to western knowledge. Tribal communities must
be full partners in the design, implementation and
evaluation of programs and projects, including training
curriculum.
6.
Over 40 years of research on best practices has been
published on ways that tribal and western science-based
educators, researchers, academics, and government
agencies can work together. Successes and failures have
been documented; successful models have been created.
It is important to build on this work.
7.
Building trusting relationships is fundamental to
federal work in tribal capacity building and education.
This takes long periods of time, particularly given the
tumultuous history of the U.S. federal government and
tribal governments. Successful programs to build tribal
capacity and education should be of sufficient duration
to allow the building of relationships and establishment
of trust.
8.
The ultimate measure of success for any capacity build-
ing or education program with tribal nations should be
the sustainability of the tribal nation or tribal college to
acquire and use the tools, data and technology them-
selves.
Success Stories
The NASA CBP has worked with tribal nations in two dif-
ferent ways. It has worked with the Bureau of Indian Affairs
(BIA) Office of Geospatial Services (BOGS) to develop remote
sensing workshops and trainings. Currently, BOGS provides
GIS training to any federally recognized tribe on a request
basis. The NASA CBP recently designed and conducted two
introductory remote sensing trainings for BOGS training
staff. This train-the-trainer approach enables the BIA to offer
remote sensing trainings to tribal nations on a regular ba-
sis. The CBP has also worked with tribes directly, developing
and providing remote sensing trainings to tribes in the Pacif-
ic Northwest and Southwest. These trainings were co-creat-
ed with tribal members, focusing on topics of interest to the
tribes. For example, the tribes in the Pacific Northwest mon-
itor kelp beds because they provide habitat for critical fish
species. Long term goals include developing internships for
tribal students to use remote sensing technology and geospa-
tial tools to address natural management and cultural issues
of importance to tribal nations.
NASA’s program, MUREP for American Indian and Alaskan
Native STEM Engagement (MAIANSE) works both direct-
ly with TCUs and in partnership with other NASA activities
such as the CPB and NASA’s initiative for interns, fellows
and scholars
MAIANSE’s success stories include support for geospatial
technology and culturally relevant climate change education at
Turtle Mountain Community College in North Dakota, where
faculty, pre-service teachers and other students, and high
school and elementary teachers participate in workshops that
strengthen laboratory skills and STEM knowledge; support for
STEM camps with Fond du Lac Tribal and Community Col-
lege in Minnesota, where Ojibwe youth build self-confidence,
community, understanding, and skills in both tribal lifeways
and science
); and for robotics engineer-
ing at Southwest Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) in New
Mexico, where students have designed and built a “Mars yard”
with which they test robots for adaptability to our sister plan-
et. In all cases, programs were designed by the tribal leaders
involved with the program. To learn more about MAIANSE,
please visit:
and
or contact Torry Johnson, MAIANSE’s
Program Manager, at:
.
To conclude, NASA’s CBP and MAIANSE build the capacity of
tribal nations and TCUs to utilize NASA’s tools, data and tech-
nology. Building long-term trusting relationships and under-
standing that tribal knowledge and approaches to science and
education are worthy of respect are key to achieving this goal.
Remote sensing data and technology provide a unique and im-
portant means of monitoring tribal lands. CBP and MAIANSE
work with tribal nations and tribal colleges to develop these
capabilities through a variety of activities.
Authors
Cindy Schmidt
is the lead for Indigenous Peoples
engagement for NASA’s Capacity Building Program, works
for Bay Area Environmental Research Institute (BAERI),
and is located at NASA Ames Research Center, California.
.
Jeannie Allen
is an outreach and education specialist for
SSAI at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and is located
in New Mexico.
.
Caroline Montgomery
is the communication strategist for
MAIANSE and works for Langley Administrative, Media and
Professional Services (LAMPS) at NASA Langley Research
Center, Virginia
.
