This program is a two-year summer experience for undergraduate and graduate students in Indigenous knowledge, community, resilience, and climate change.
Students will learn about the basics of climate science and education, Indigenous planning and design, and climate adaptation through community-based research and mentorship over two consecutive summers. Projects are led by our Tribal partners. Learning activities are based on each student’s research interests and experiences.
Name: Melanie A. Frye, MA
Nation: Muscogee (Creek) Nation
Tribal Town: Yofaluce (Eufaula-Canadian)
Clan: Fuswvlke (Bird clan)
Program: 2nd Year PhD student in Anthropology (Sociocultural-Linguistics)
Project: I plan to work with my father’s home community of Yardeka (Yvtēkv), located in Southeastern Oklahoma. Their project focuses on restoring possum grapes into the community. It focuses on growing seedlings to distribute to community members, while also tracking and observing the natural relationship between possum grapes and their environment.
My name is Chaz Meadows. I am coming from the Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma. I am a second-year Graduate student in the Native American Studies program here at OU. My focus for my two-year summer project will be based around native plants and the persistence they have had around climate change. I believe native plants such as ‘dogwood’ and ‘Willow’ are very fundamental to Cheyenne ceremonies such as Sundance, arrow worship, and pipe fasting. I am also writing my master’s thesis around how food sovereignty is beneficial for tribal members located in urban areas such as Oklahoma City. Both projects intertwine with each other and build upon one another. Without discussing climate change, we cannot discuss the importance of growing food and revitalizing culture. hena’háanéhe
My name is Timberlee Castillo, I am a Junior in the Environmental Science program, while minoring in Sustainability studies at the University of New Mexico. What I hope to do for the project is bring attention to oil and gas drilling on the Eastern Navajo Nation and how it affects communities in the area. As well as give the community members perspectives of what is happening near their homes and how it has affected them. We want to show these representation through a storymap site and have credible sources to support perspectives.
This project is a partnership with The University of Oklahoma, The University of New Mexico, EPSCoR, and the U.S. National Science Foundation.