The Next Generation of Indigenous Scientists

Science Moab

For the past three years, the Nature Conservancy has hosted a small cohort of Indigenous college students at their Canyonlands Research Center in southeast Utah. The program, known as N.A.T.U.R.E. (Native American Tribes Upholding Restoration & Education), seeks to empower the next generation of science and conservation leaders on the Colorado Plateau. During those seven weeks, students work with Indigenous knowledge holders and scientists, Western scientists, and program mentors to learn and teach about the science, conservation, and knowledge of the region’s landscape and conduct their own original capstone research projects. In this episode, Science Moab talks with two students from the 2023 N.A.T.U.R.E. cohort, James Johanntoberns (Kiowa/Caddo/Pawnee) and Shundeen Smith (Diné). We talk about their experiences in the program and their capstone research projects focused on ant-biocrust interactions and the legacy of abandoned uranium mines on the Navajo Nation.