Welcome to the Fall 2019 issue of Winds of Change! Whether you’re reading the print edition delivered to your door or the one tucked into the bag you received at the AISES National Conference — or the digital edition you accessed on your laptop or mobile device — we’re happy to be reaching so many of our members in the medium that works best for you.
But communicating with the audience that embraces and supports the AISES mission is just the first step. Besides letting Indigenous scientists and aspiring scientists know about the latest AISES news and the expanding benefits AISES offers, a principal goal of our publications is providing support and encouragement. You will see that the AISES family is there for you as you read through these pages, spotlighting successful Indigenous role models in AISES People, offering guidance on your STEM path in Career Builder and Paths in Education, and spreading good news of members in AISES Notebook. We know that community support can make a real difference, and that’s what you’ll find in every edition of Winds of Change and our bimonthly e-newsletters.
Each year at this time we publish a story of 25 Native STEM Enterprises to Watch. These organizations will inspire you with the creativity of Indigenous entrepreneurs and the growing reach of their businesses in so many fields of endeavor. Also inspiring is the story of what tribal communities are doing to prepare for the potentially disastrous effects of climate change. As Bill Tripp, eco-cultural restoration specialist with the Karuk Tribe Department of Natural Resources, sees it, “Our big plan is to use traditional ecological knowledge to build ecological resilience.” Combining that knowledge with 21st-century technology, as these tribes are doing, should leave them well positioned to cope with climate change and sustain the vital signs of Mother Earth.
This year’s AISES Professional Awards are especially rich in examples of Natives in STEM who are not only achieving success in their own right, they are living the AISES mission.
With the profiles of this year’s winners of the AISES Professional Awards, this edition is especially rich in examples of Natives in STEM who are not only achieving success in their own right, they are living the AISES mission. Take the 2019 winner of the Most Promising Engineer or Scientist, Dylan Moriarty, Navajo. As he tells it, he’s “blown away” by both the promise of young Indigenous scientists and their underrepresentation. “Between excitement at their passion for engineering and this frustrating gap, I dedicated myself to helping as best I can,” he explains. And that’s exactly where AISES stands.
We hope you will join Dylan and the rest of us as we work to close that “frustrating gap.”
Ta’Tura Tsiksu (With Much Respect),
Sarah EchoHawkPawnee Nation of OklahomaAISES Chief Executive Officer