So much has been extraordinary in this year of sudden changes that it’s heartening to know there are things we can count on. This year — and every year — it is not surprising that AISES members have stepped up to meet the moment. At the 2020 National Conference we paused to recognize the achievements and contributions of some of these outstanding individuals.
The highest professional honor bestowed by AISES is the Ely S. Parker Award, named for a 19th-century Seneca tribal leader who broke multiple barriers as a lawyer, engineer, and U.S. Army officer serving as an adjutant to General U.S. Grant. The award is given to an educator, scientist, or engineer who has made a difference for Indigenous people, especially in the area of STEM education. This year Dr. Cara Cowan Watts was selected by the AISES Board of Directors from an impressive group of nominees to receive the 37th annual Ely S. Parker Award.
Dr. Cowan Watts is the CEO and principal owner of Tulsa Pier Drilling, a flourishing 100 percent Native American– owned business with operations in Oklahoma and Arkansas. She is also a co-owner of the Sideways Cattle Company and owner of the facilitation and project management consultancy Cherokee Star, where she is a contract consultant.
Her Oklahoma roots in Rogers County go back nine generations, and she is a direct descendant of Old Settler Cherokee Chief John Rogers. Dr. Cowan Watts has served her tribe as a councilwoman and helped start the Cherokee Nation Science and Engineering Fair, the annual Cherokee Nation STEM Summer Camp, and the Native Explorers Program at Oklahoma State University. To further boost interest in STEM among Indigenous young people, she and her family created the annual Excellence in Engineering Award for students in grades five–12.
Her involvement with AISES goes back to her student days at Oklahoma State University, where she earned a doctorate in biosystems engineering. She wrote her dissertation on quality standards for water sources significant to the Cherokee Nation, and she has made significant contributions to the tribe in the areas of water quality and water rights, as well as health care, sustainability, economic development, tribal sovereignty, and education. Dr. Cowan Watts also holds a BS in mechanical engineering and an MS in telecommunications management from Oklahoma State. Her academic distinctions include being selected from a national pool of applicants for the first Oklahoma cohort of the National Science Foundation Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Bridge to the Doctorate program.
Dr. Cowan Watts is a lifetime AISES Sequoyah Fellow who has contributed significantly to the AISES mission, including serving two terms on the Board of Directors, serving as president of the Oklahoma Professional Chapter, and helping to bring the AISES National American Indian Science and Engineering Fair to Oklahoma State University. In addition to AISES, she is active in numerous professional and service organizations, and named one of the Fifty Making a Difference in Oklahoma by the Journal Record in Oklahoma City.
Significant contributions to the STEM workplace are recognized by the AISES Professional Awards, given in several categories. Many amazing people are nominated by our members, and the individuals on the selection committee represent corporate, academic, government, foundation, and tribal AISES partners. To learn more about this year’s Professional Award winners, see the Fall 2020 issue of Winds of Change.
PROFESSIONAL OF THE YEAR
Kathleen Jolivette, The Boeing Company
MOST PROMISING ENGINEER OR SCIENTIST
Dr. Serra Hoagland, U.S. Forest Service
TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE
Laura Smith-Velazquez, Senior Systems Engineer, Cognitive Scientist
BLAZING FLAME
Frances Dupris, U.S. Air Force
INDIGENOUS EXCELLENCE
Sandra Begay, Sandia National Laboratories
EXECUTIVE EXCELLENCE
Brendan Kinkade, IBM
The AISES staff selects the Partner Service Award winners to honor those who have been exceptionally supportive of the organization. Strategic partners are enormously important to the AISES mission because they enhance and promote STEM education and careers, and foster the continued growth of the organization at a pace that would be impossible to achieve without them. Here are the 2020 recipients of the Partner Service Awards.
Foundation Partner Service Award
Johnson Scholarship Fund
Tribal Partner Service Award
Shakopee Mdewakanton Business Council
Educator Partner Service Award
Scott Freeman, Cherokee Central Schools
Corporate Partner Service Award
Tracy Monteith, Microsoft
Government Partner Service Award
Rita Sampson, Office of the Director of National Intelligence
Nonprofit Partner Service Award
NDN Collective
Community Service Awards
Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians
Don Motanic, Intertribal Timber Council
Terry Dayish, Arizona Public Service
▸ HEARD AT THE CONFERENCE
Congrats to all the award recipients and yakoke AISES for another rad conference!
— Jackson Osborn, CIRES engineer
The pandemic did not stop AISES chapters from creating a strong sense of community among their members and offering a way to learn, grow, and support the AISES mission. Here are the winners of the 2020 Chapter Awards.
Professional Chapter of the Year
Four Corners AISES Professional Chapter
COLLEGE CHAPTER AWARD WINNERS
Fundraising and Marketing
College of the Muscogee Nation
Outreach and Community Service
United Tribes Technical College
Professional and Chapter Development
McGill University
Recruitment and Retention
University of Oklahoma
Stelvio J. Zanin Distinguished Chapter of the Year
University of Winnipeg
CHAPTER ADVISOR WINNER
Cynthia Sanders, College of the Muscogee Nation