This portfolio is a demonstration of my qualifications as a researcher in

Computational Science & Engineering. I have included documents that share

evidence of my scholarly efforts and abilities as a leader and contributor to the

academic community. To the best of my knowledge, I feel that this is evidence of

skills in my specialty area of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion as well as data

analytics.

As a contributing member of the academic community, I feel that my official

specialization is in the area of bridging STEM equity for black and indigenous

people of color (BIPOC). In 2014, I began this journey as the program coordinator

for the Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College (KBOCC) STEM Outreach

program. Under the supervision of Treneice Marshall and Keweenaw Bay Indian

Community (KBIC) tribal elders, I reimagined what STEM engagement looked

like for underrepresented youth and community college students. Through outreach

programs such as Archery, Medicinal Plants, and Robotics, I developed course

materials that make STEM learning relevant from an Indigenous perspective.

In the five years of the program, we had tremendous success at engaging students

as well as collaborating with a network of stakeholders. KBIC Natural Resources

Department, Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission (GLIFWIC) ,

Michigan Technological University (MTU) Summer outreach programs, MTU

Center for Science and Environmental outreach, and Army Education Outreach

Program (AEOP) provided assistance in securing funding and research

opportunities for our students.

In addition to the research and outreach component of my work, I was also tasked

with teaching college level math courses to our community college students. This

was the beginning of my journey to seek out the best way to engage in the tribal

college community. Our student demographic was very different than any group I

had ever worked with before. Each semester, I would engage with students from

nontraditional backgrounds. It was not uncommon to have students who were in

drug rehabilitation programs, students who were on parole, single parents, as well

as students who lived in multigenerational households. It was clear, that in order to

meet their needs as an educator, I needed to understand how to engage in a

meaningful way.

After KBOCC received official accreditation from the Higher Learning

Commission (HLC), I joined an initiative through Project Success, that would

provide mentorship and training to help our college students succeed and train our

faculty. In the first year, I was able to join the Carnegie Math Pathways faculty

network, and begin to learn how to use productive persistence and growth mindset

in the classroom.
After the first semester, we saw tremendous success with students engaging and

passing math courses. Prior to the implementation of Carnegie, KBOCC had a

history of students repeating math courses at least twice before passing or leaving

college completely. I honestly believe that the success of the implementation was

due to the alignment of the Native teachings of the seven grandfathers. This

teaching is a way that the Ojibwa culture embeds practices of how and why we

share information. Growth mindset and the seven grandfathers gave our students

purpose for something greater than just passing the course. Our students were able

to identify as “math people” which helped them persist.

In addition to Carnegie Math , my scholarly network has grown to include

stakeholders in the data science community with diversity initiatives specific to

serving Tribal College and University (TCU) students and faculty. This year alone,

I was awarded the Rstudio Global Diversity Scholar and membership in the

American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) Data Science

Community of Practice. We are currently researching topics regarding data ethics

and data sovereignty for TCUs and their surrounding communities.

I believe that my experience has empowered me to address STEM from an

indigenous perspective. I have learned how to teach STEM workshops and relate

the content in a way that aligns with the core values of the Ojibwa culture. In

diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work, often BIPOC are invited into
predominantly white spaces, as an olive branch, but unconsciously it comes as an

invitation to be included in the space, but with the caveat that BIPOC must learn to

think like the predominant culture. I have been privileged with the opportunity to

reimagine what STEM engagement looks like for the TCU community through the

indigenous lens.

In seeking out evidence from prior data about Indigenous experiences in higher

education, it’s important to look at reports that do not lump BIPOC into the same

group. The definition of intersectionality teaches that nonwhite ethnic groups do

not experience the world the same. There are similar defining characteristics, but

ultimately, each ethnic group has very specific needs that make the understanding

of the historical culture important. This is especially true with Indigenous people,

because the foundation of history and how the experiences are presented from

different predominant perspectives. Native American populations remain largely

underresearched in studies regarding DEI.

In preparation to conduct ethical human subjects research, I have completed CITI

training and increased my network of mentors in DEI and social science scholars. I

have also completed graduate level courses in Race, Ethnicity, and Quantitative

Methodology at the University of Michigan Inter-university Consortium for

Political and Social Research (ICPSR) Summer Institute. I am excited to announce

that I have been asked to return this summer as a teaching assistant to share more

about Indigenous data!

My dissertation will be research that helps bridge the equity gap for indigenous

communities in higher education. There so many avenues that my research can add

value to the academy. One idea is to publish and educate the world about the

intersectionality of the Native faculty perspective in a global context using social

networks. I have also desired to develop assessment tools that help TCUs align

with the requirements of the HLC in an Indigenous way. This is especially

important when applying and retaining accreditation.

HLC and traditional assessment success require data such as graduation rates,

standardized test scores, and course completion rates. KBOCC, for example, has

small enrollments (less than 10 students) in courses. It is not uncommon for a class

size to drop to 3 before end of semester. The decrease, if reported as a relative

measure, does not reflect what is actually happening in the classroom. Many of our

students live in non-traditional situations, and cannot complete their coursework,

but the impact KBOCC has by provided through other resources is tremendous.

Much of that story is lost in a relative change measure.TCUs need a metric that

defines success in a more comprehensive way. TCUs are safe havens for many

non-traditional students. When TCUs address and meet the needs of the students,

that measurement should define success.

KBOCC has a mission to serve lifelong learners. Many of our students are elders in

the community who are lifelong learners. However, if HLC is looking for

graduation and persistence rates, it may appear that KBOCC is not serving our

students. The value of an education at KBOCC far exceeds graduation rates, we

help students impact the community through committee service projects,

conference attendance, research internships, and community activism. These

metrics should be embedded in reports that ask about TCU success.

My vision for the tribal college is to create a sustainable change that will improve

the TCU experience for students, faculty, and the tribe, not just in academia. In the

very near future, I plan to apply for the National Science Foundation (NSF)

Launching Early-Career Academic Pathways (LEAP) grant. This grant will help

me establish a strategic plan to develop assessments with Indigenous values,

complete a self assessment of current programs for students and faculty support

systems, as well as study ways to embed data science into every aspect of the tribal

college experience.

In alignment with the initiative from AIHEC, TCUs want to establish data science

scholars on every reservation. Students, faculty, and tribal stakeholders should see

where data science can be helpful in preserving history, language, and improving

quality of life.
I plan to present several ideas that would interest different academic and tribal

units. KBOCC could develop a database for tribal researchers to engage in

business analytics from the local casino. Students could conduct capstone projects

that center on Ojibwa language revitalization research and natural language

processing studies from tribal elder interviews.

In my short time in the Rstudio Diversity scholar workshops, I learned about

current global initiatives to create language equity for people who speak more

diverse languages. What about Indigenous languages? Embedding Indigenous

languages in coding would be another opportunity for tribal scholars to make their

language part of everyday norms. Similar to any other language (spanish-cartoons,

children’s books, radio stations), there should be accessible opportunities to

practice the language, especially if you don’t have a native speaker around. In

order for Indigenous languages to survive, scholars must gain fluency. I believe

developing tools to make the language accessible could be an important study.

These are just a few ideas of how computational science and engineering can be

embedded to improve the life and longevity of Indigenous people and culture. Of

course, I understand that “you cannot boil the ocean all at once”. Issues that impact

the TCU community go farther than my understanding, so in this short

introduction, I wanted to express a few of the opportunities that could intersect

with my research.
Miigwech Minosen (Thank you)