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Entrepreneurship is the focus of a new AISES initiative, Growing Native STEM and Business. The objective of the project, fostering the establishment of Native-owned businesses in STEM fields, enlists AISES expertise in working with professionals and college students as they build the skills necessary to establish and manage a successful enterprise. Funded for one year by the Minority Business Development Agency and Comcast, the initiative will nurture STEM companies that will create jobs and benefit tribal economies in the western United States, specifically Arizona, Nevada, and Utah.
American Indigenous Business Leaders (AIBL) is partnering with AISES to deliver project content — a collaboration uniquely positioned to accomplish project goals. “Both organizations have extensive networks with tribal nations and tribal organizations within the target geography,” says AISES Program Officer Chelsea Chee. “Those connections will facilitate recruiting participants and presenters.” The two organizations will enlist their existing partnerships and expertise in supporting Native people in STEM and business, and put their backgrounds in successful and effective program management to good use.
The AISES and AIBL collaboration uses an innovative cohort model to engage participants, and integrates resources and information from business development support organizations in an easily accessible format. “This project is supporting a cohort of 24 Native professionals and college students interested in developing STEM-related businesses,” says Chee, who administers the initiative in consultation with AISES CEO Sarah EchoHawk and Directors Kellie Jewett-Fernandez and Kathy DeerInWater.
The AISES Leadership Summit does more than build the career development skills and confidence that position our young people to succeed. The sessions, networking opportunities, and social interactions make for a weekend of solid preparation for a future of living their potential, from the classroom to their eventual STEM workplace. Held March 14–16, the 2019 summit gathered undergraduate and graduate students and professional members in Cherokee, N.C., at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort. It was a remarkable weekend of learning, collaborating, and mentoring at a unique event that is as productive and inspiring as the AISES National Conference, but in a more intimate setting.
The entire AISES family was saddened to learn of the death last December of Council of Elders member Dr. James H. May, 81. Known to most people as Jim, he was a member of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians who served AISES in many ways over many years, including as treasurer of the Board of Directors. He received numerous awards and honors over his long career, but he was particularly proud of the AISES Ely S. Parker Award, the organization’s highest distinction. Raised in poverty and the first person in his family to graduate from high school, Dr. May went on to earn a BS in civil engineering from Stanford, an MBA from Harvard, and a PhD in information science from Columbia. Along the way he served as an officer in the Navy Civil Engineering Corps. He was the first community technology coordinator for the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, consulted with Congress and the George H.W. Bush administration on issues related to Native Americans and education, and served as chair of the Native American Public Television Board. His career involved several academic appointments, including first dean of instruction and founding dean of science, technology, and information resources at California State University at Monterey Bay. Unfailingly friendly, open, and unassuming, Dr. May was eager to know everyone he met. Our sincere condolences to his wife, Margit, and his entire family.
We are sorry to note the passing of former AISES executive director Everett Chavez, who died in December at age 66. A lifetime AISES member, Governor Chavez was also a recipient of the Ely S. Parker Award, the highest AISES honor. We remember him especially for his inspirational leadership of AISES through a challenging time of transition in the early 2000s, but his impact on opening opportunities for young people and entire communities was felt far beyond the organization. Governor Chavez was a national leader in education for Native students, and three-time governor of Kewa (formerly Santo Domingo) Pueblo. An electrical engineer by training, he developed his career at several organizations, including IBM, and was a member of the Phoenix Professional Chapter. He became a staunch and gifted advocate for students, especially in STEM, and was a former superintendent of the Santa Fe Indian School. He also worked hard at the local, state, and federal levels to open a wide range of opportunities to all people. Most recently, he was part of the New Mexico secretary of state’s Native American Voting Task Force and co-chair of the governor’s Committee on Education and Indian Affairs. At AISES, we remember his enduring contributions to the organization, and will work to make sure that future generations will continue to benefit from the foundation he strengthened.
An early member of AISES, Dr. Floy Agnes Lee died last year at age 95. During World War II she worked as a hematology technician on the top-secret Manhattan Project in Los Alamos, N.M., where she monitored the blood of staff members for radiation. Dr. Lee was inspired to go to graduate school by her tennis partner (whom she usually beat), Italian physicist Enrico Fermi, a key figure in nuclear fission. At the end of the war when she learned how important Fermi was to the project’s success in beating Nazi Germany in developing a nuclear weapon, she let him win a game. She went on to earn a PhD at the University of Chicago and became a pioneering researcher in the field of radiation biology. A member of Santa Clara Pueblo, Dr. Lee was a staunch advocate for the importance of science education throughout her long and productive lifetime.
Since 2009 the U.S. Mint has been issuing dollar coins honoring tribes and individual Native Americans. This year’s gold coin commemorates the pioneering work of Mary Golda Ross, a member of the Cherokee Nation considered to be the first Native engineer in the U.S. space program. Among other contributions, she helped develop rockets for the Gemini and Apollo programs. An Atlas-Agena rocket is depicted on the coin along with a spacewalking astronaut, emblematic of Native astronauts like AISES Board of Directors member Dr. John Herrington. Ross died in 2008 at the age of 99. For more on her story, see “Hidden Native Figures” in the Fall 2017 issue of Winds of Change.
Do you or a member you know have a new academic degree, promotion, or award? Newly published book or paper? Let us share the good news — just email Winds of Change editor kenglish@aises.org.
