Welcome to the Spring 2023 issue of Winds of Change! Here at AISES we are busy expanding programs and extending our mission — a reach that’s now robustly international.
In March, some of you had the opportunity to participate in the fifth annual AISES in Canada National Gathering in Vancouver. This event brings together STEM students and professionals from across Canada, and it is gratifying to see the many ways AISES is able to foster professional and academic careers throughout that vast country. The annual Leadership Summit in Tulsa, Okla., is another opportunity for students and professionals to network, learn, and come away inspired.
One of the things I like most about AISES is seeing highly sophisticated STEM and traditional culture comfortably coexisting and reinforcing each other. You can see that synchronism reflected in this issue, where you’ll read about Indigenous students creating cutting-edge medical devices in “Engineering Medicine.” Then in “Last Word,” you’ll be inspired by the story of a 200-year first — a handcrafted, traditional Ojibwe canoe launched in Lake Michigan.
One of the things I like most about AISES is seeing highly sophisticated STEM and traditional culture comfortably coexisting.
This issue also has our annual look at the “Top 50 Workplaces for Indigenous STEM Professionals,” as well as news of members, chapters, and the organization in “AISES Notebook.” Students, especially, can find information on opportunities in “Paths in Education,” and “Career Builder.”
As always, in “AISES People,” you’ll find inspiring profiles of individual members, such as revered elder Dr. George Blue Spruce, the first Native American dentist, who has spent a long and distinguished career advancing dental health in Indian Country. And then there are young people, like Jordyn Cates, who inspire us with their enthusiasm. She says her first experience at an AISES in Canada National Gathering was “so mind-blowing” that she came away determined that “all Indigenous students need to see this — to have access to these resources.”
I hope you will join us in our mission of making Jordyn’s vision a reality — help us realize the goal of making the resources AISES offers accessible to all Indigenous students.
Ta’ Tura Tsiksu (With Much Respect),
Sarah EchoHawkPawnee Nation of OklahomaAISES Chief Executive Officer