Companies included in the Winds of Change list of the Top 50 Workplaces for Indigenous STEM Professionals meet certain criteria established solely by Winds of Change editorial staff. Selected companies completed surveys designed to demonstrate their overall diversity recruitment efforts and/or were included in at least one published list from two different sources that recognize top firms dedicated to diversity recruiting within the past year.

As a young girl, Kate Rahbari wasn’t sure she was smart enough to pursue an education in the sciences, let alone in medicine. “I was my own obstacle,” she says, explaining the “imposter syndrome” that gave rise to years of self-doubt. But today Rahbari has proven to herself — and the world — that she can reach ambitious goals. She now is well on her way to completing a joint MD/PhD program at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC).

Calvin Foster took the Second Fleet to “war” a few months ago. As deputy battle director, this U.S. Navy captain supported his admiral in the command of warships, submarines, aircraft, and unmanned systems. But the war game wasn’t staged in the Atlantic — it took place in cyberspace at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla. “We simulated operating several hundred assets. Getting to see that big picture and applying it across the whole naval spectrum was pretty exciting,” says Foster, a member of the Muscogee Nation who graduated from the U.S.

When she was young, Connor Keane’s mother moved more than 2,000 miles from her home community of Corner Brook, Newfoundland, to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, to find work that would support her family. Through perseverance and determination, Keane’s mother overcame the challenges of being uprooted from her home and opened a store in Yellowknife to sell a variety of goods to the local community. 

When Victor “SALSA” Lopez was a high school junior in Houston, he had two competing summer internships to consider. One was a NASA Pathways Internship at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. The other was helping to produce a video for an emerging local rapper. At age 16, Lopez was all about the video shoot. But the project fell apart, and fortunately, NASA was still an option. At Goddard he worked on research trying to predict landslides and earthquakes — an experience that fundamentally shifted his future path.

The AISES National Conference is almost here, and it’s time to get ready. More than 2,000 Indigenous STEM participants will gather in person and virtually for the premier annual event. Its three-day agenda will be action-packed with opportunities designed to help you develop as a professional and broaden your network of Native peers, professionals, and allies.

Devon Parfait is grounded. Not in a bad way. As the future chief of the Grand Caillou/Dulac Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw, he wants to protect his people’s land. His tribes live among the bayous of southern Louisiana. Each year 30 square miles of their fragile ecosystem wash away due to habitat destruction caused by hurricanes and other forces. 

Worse, his Native communities lose land at twice the rate of other low-lying areas. 

It’s almost time. Everyone in the AISES orbit is counting the days to the National Conference slated for September 23–25. The premier event for Indigenous STEM students and professionals in North America and the Pacific Islands will again be action-packed with STEM career and academic activities. For 43 years, this one-of-a-kind forum has provided mentorship pathways, skill-building workshops, interactive education, and opportunities to network with Native peers, professionals, and elders. 

Being a young professional in today’s workplace isn’t easy. Being a young Native professional can be even harder, and that’s why mentorship so important for people in the early stages of their careers. Here are a few ways mentors can be effective guides.

Being a college student is hard. You have to worry about classes, your living situation, whether you need to work, making friends, and so much more. It’s a lot, and it can be overwhelming. Luckily there are a number of different tools to help you successfully navigate your college career. Here are a few apps to keep you on top of everything from class to cash.