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Using place-based, community-inspired research
to broaden participation in the geosciences

Emily Geraghty Ward, Geology Program, Rocky Mountain College, 1511 Poly Drive, Billings, Montana 59102, USA; Diana Dalbotten,
National Center for Earth-Surface Dynamics, St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, University of Minnesota, 2 Third Ave. SE, Minneapolis,
Minnesota 55414, USA; Nievita Bueno Watts, Indian Natural Resources Science & Engineering Program, Humboldt State University,
Walter Warren House #38, 1 Harpst Street, Arcata, California 95521, USA; Antony Berthelote, Hydrology, Salish Kootenai College,
P.O. Box 70, Pablo, Montana 59855, USA.

INTRODUCTION THE RESEARCH MODEL mammals including bears and bats, water
quality, invasive species, and other land and
There is no question that the geoscience The REU-SLAWR research sites are water resource issues. Team Stream has
community needs to be more diverse. The located on tribal lands and in urban environ- focused on issues of sediment transport
National Center for Science and ments where underrepresented students live related to stream restoration and debris flow
Engineering Statistics (NCSES, 2017) and work. Students are advised by a team of prediction using state of the art facilities at
reports over 80% of college and graduate researchers from the Confederated Salish UMN’s St. Anthony Falls Laboratory
degrees earned by U.S. citizens in the geo- and Kootenai Tribes, the Fond du Lac Band (SAFL) for computational modeling devel-
sciences are awarded to Caucasians. The of Lake Superior Chippewa (FDL), Salish opment. In 2017, Team Stream partnered
geoscience community has recognized this Kootenai College (SKC), the National with FDL to develop a project focused on
discrepancy. The National Science Center for Earth-Surface Dynamics Spirit Island, an island in Spirit Lake, which
Foundation Directorate for Geosciences (NCED), and the University of Minnesota is an estuary of the St. Louis River that
continues to make diversity a top priority Twin Cities and Duluth (UMN/UMD). drains into Lake Superior, newly acquired
and emphasizes broadening participation Projects are developed in collaboration with by FDL in 2016. It is one of the most cultur-
efforts through funding curriculum, tribes’ resource management divisions. ally significant sacred sites for the Ojibwe
instruction, and research opportunities people. The tribe is concerned about the
designed to engage students from under- The REU is rooted in an interdisciplinary continued existence of the island because of
represented populations. team-oriented approach that emphasizes shoreline erosion and changes to current
quantitative and predictive methods, indig- patterns in the Lake Superior Estuary.
Much research has been done on geosci- enous research methodologies, and tradi- Researchers at SAFL have been working on
ence curricula and instruction that engage tional ecological knowledge. Leaders incor- a computer model of the problem. A new
a broader audience (e.g., Kober, 2015; porate a full-day seminar on indigenous project using complementary physical mod-
Singer et al., 2012). Others describe research and community-based participatory eling was developed in conjunction with this
research experiences that have success- research (CBPR) for students and mentors research.
fully engaged underrepresented students during orientation to help the students make
(e.g., Dalbotten et al., 2014; Haacker, 2015; connections between their research and local Teams in Montana and at FDL who
Huntoon et al., 2015). These publications communities’ needs and interests. Projects work directly on projects of cultural sig-
describe elements of Research Experience typically focus on native species and habitat nificance present their research to govern-
for Undergraduates (REU) models that restoration to enhance biodiversity and sup- ing boards of the tribes. For example, in
prove successful in engaging and retaining port cultural values. Student projects at Fond 2017 both our wild rice team (Team
students from underrepresented groups. du Lac have focused on wild rice, a plant Zaaga’igan) (whose research outcome
We present another model for engaging that is culturally significant to the Ojibwe. showed that sulfates do impact wild rice
underrepresented students—the REU site Research projects have examined the impact growth) and the Spirit Island team (Team
on Sustainable Land and Water Resources of sulfides and sulfates on plant health. Data Spirit) worked on projects that were devel-
(SLAWR)—that is unique for its emphasis about these relationships provide tribal and oped with FDL Resource Management.
on recruiting Native American students non-tribal officials with information about The students presented their results to
and for its emphasis on place and commu- mining impacts in Minnesota. Team SPAW resource managers from Minnesota and
nity. For our model, “place” encompasses (Salish and Pend D’Oreille Aboriginal Wisconsin at the Great Lakes Indian Fish
both the physical landscape related to the Watershed) projects include habitat charac- and Wildlife Commission Voigt Taskforce
research sites and the human connections terization of culturally significant blue meeting. Furthermore, nine of 14 students
to those places. Under our approach, camas and wild huckleberries. These char- from the 2017 REU went on to present at
research topics are identified through sys- acterizations include study of soils, plant national conferences in the months follow-
tematic collaboration with communities communities, pollinators, macro-inverte- ing the REU. Dissemination of research
tied to these places. brates, reptiles, amphibians, birds, and

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