Award Abstract #0203404
UMEB: Recruiting Native Americans into Environmental Science

NSF Org:	DBI Division of Biological Infrastructure
Initial Amendment Date:	August 6, 2002
Latest Amendment Date:	June 14, 2007
Award Number:	0203404
Award Instrument:	Continuing grant
Program Manager:	Sally E. O'Connor DBI Division of Biological Infrastructure BIO Directorate for Biological Sciences
Start Date:	September 1, 2002
Expires:	August 31, 2008 (Estimated)
Awarded Amount to Date:	$464000
Investigator(s):	Raymond Pierotti pierotti@ku.edu (Principal Investigator) Larry Erickson (Co-Principal Investigator)
Sponsor:	University of Kansas Center for Research Inc 2385 IRVING HILL RD LAWRENCE, KS 66045 785/864-3441
NSF Program(s):	CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE PROGR, UNGRAD MENTORING IN ENVIR BIOL, RESEARCH RESOURCES
Field Application(s):	0312000 Population
Program Reference Code(s):	EGCH, 9178, 9169, 9150, 5973, 1228, 1135
Program Element Code(s):	5979, 1135, 1101

ABSTRACT

0203404

Pierotti

This project involves collaboration between three universities in Kansas

and will train a number of Native American undergraduates in research

techniques related to ecology and environmental science. Unlike many

programs that offer only a brief research experience, this program will work

with students over a 2-4 year period and mentor them through to graduation

with a bachelor's degree. The PIs on this program have graduated more than

25 Native Americans over the last 7 years, and most of these graduates have

gone on to attend graduate school.

This award includes a supplement from the Central and Eastern Europe Program

of NSF's Office of International Science and Engineering to fund student and mentor

travel to Siberia for research on indigenous knowledge as part of a collaboration

with scientists and students at Gorno-Altaisk State University.

The significance of this program lies in recent discoveries that Indigenous

communities represent stores of knowledge that both add to and compliment

scientific knowledge obtained through the methods of the Western scientific

tradition, e.g. indigenous knowledge 1) reveals connections between

ecological communities that are studied separately and remain unlinked

under Western scientific paradigms, and 2) give insight into the role of

high quality individuals within population dynamics that are obscured by

Western traditions of population level thinking. Students completing this

program will be better prepared to conduct scientific research within the

context of indigenous knowledge than any other group. Such approaches can

simultaneously increase scientific awareness without losing sight of

spiritual dimensions of human experience.

PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH

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Calhoon, J. A., Wildcat, D. R., Annett, C., Pierotti, R., & Griswold, W..  "Creating Meaningful Study Abroad Programs for American Indian Post-Secondary Students.,"  Journal of American Indian Education,  v.42,  2003,  p. 46.

Pierotti, R..  "Communities as both ecological and social entities in Native American thought.,"  Native Being: Being Native. Proceedings of 5th Native American Symposium.,  v.5,  2005,  p. 35.


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