➜ Desert Horse-Grant was profiled in the April issue of American Healthcare Leader. She serves as chief of innovation at UCLA Health and is a partner in UCLA Biodesign, which brings together medicine, business, and technology to create breakthroughs in health care.
IMAGE VIA AMERICAN HEALTH CARE LEADER.COM
IndigiData, a four-day remote workshop centering on data sovereignty, was held in June to enhance data science skills among Indigenous college and graduate students. The event’s organizers and presenters included Krystal Tsosie, genetics researcher at Vanderbilt University; Joseph M. Yracheta, managing director of the Native BioData Consortium; Dr. Matt Anderson, microbiologist at Ohio State; Dr. Keolu Fox, geneticist at UC San Diego and keynote speaker at the 2021 AISES Leadership Summit; Dr. Joslynn Lee, biochemist at Fort Lewis College; Dr. Rebecca Pollet, biochemist at Vassar College; Lakota elder Les Ducheneaux; and data scientist Mason Grimshaw. IndigiData, which has funding for the next four years from the NSF and Amgen Foundation, anticipates an in-person conference in 2022.
IMAGES VIA INDIGIDATA EXCEPT COURTESY IMAGE (GRIMSHAW)
Sequoyah Fellow Beth Morris coached the Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School Academic Pentathlon team to its first-ever Madera County, Calif., win. Her students also placed first overall in the essay, science, social science, and literature competition along with second place in the essay and third place in the literature competition. Morris was also selected by the California Teachers Association to be a Region 2 participant for the 2021–2022 Ethnic Minority Early Identification and Development Program.
COURTESY OF BMM TESTLABS
Jeffrey Begaye, a senior at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, and Rachel Wilson, a senior at the University of Arkansas, participated in the summer 2021 internship program at BMM Testlabs. The program is part of the company’s strategic partnership with AISES.
Nikki Cooley presented “Tribal/Indigenous Knowledge & Actions to Address the Climate Crisis,” a webinar hosted by Keep Sedona Beautiful. Cooley is the co-manager of the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals’ Tribes and Climate Change Program.
Sequoyah Fellow and former member of the AISES Board of Directors Dr. John Herrington was the master of ceremonies at the Tulsa Air and Space Museum and Planetarium’s 2021 Aviator Ball. The first tribally enrolled astronaut, Dr. Herrington helped the museum celebrate the 50th anniversary of Apollo 14.
Montoya Whiteman has joined the Leadership Council of the Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance, which works to restore Indigenous food systems and support food security. Whiteman is the AISES senior director of marketing.
A special June Circle of Connection networking chat, chaired by AISES Senior Director of Engagement and Advocacy Lisa Paz, was held to inform students about opportunities in military and civilian Air Force roles. Talking Circle panel members were Master Sergeant Miramanee M. Perez, Captain Haida J. StarEagle, and Jacqueline I. Melcher, EI, DAFC. Watch this panel and others at aises.org/resource-center/webinars.