When Brendan Kinkade was a young kid growing up in Oklahoma and Texas, he wanted to know how things work — a concept he now refers to as “practical physics.” At the time, though, the pursuit of practical physics translated into completely taking apart and then reassembling motorbike engines on his back patio. “Every screw and washer had a place, and if you deconstruct things, you have to know how they go back into place,” says Kinkade. “It taught me to be systematic and process-oriented. And to understand that there are many pieces that make up the whole.”

As a high school or college student, you may have been connected to AISES in any number of ways. Now, as a working professional, you may find it harder to keep those ties with the organization. One simple way to make sure you stay connected and involved — and support the AISES mission — is volunteering. There are many great ways to volunteer with AISES as a working professional. Here are just a few.

Protecting the animals that support the life of a community has always been a focus for Indigenous people. In some places that mission became a bit easier during the pandemic lockdown, as the human retreat gave animals space to flourish. But the mission goes on and its importance transcends nutrition because the species that sustain a community inevitably become an inextricable part of its culture.  

Enlisting her decades-long research skills, Dr. Mary Jo Ondrechen is all in for the fight to understand — and ultimately defeat — the coronavirus. Dr. Ondrechen and her team are researching the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, at her laboratory at Northeastern University in Boston, where she is a professor of chemistry and chemical biology and principal investigator of the Computational Biology Research Group.

For the past three years Liam Puls was part of a small STEM school: the Oklahoma School of Innovation and Experiential Learning, in Bixby. He was in the school’s first class, with a cohort of only 15. Now, it has students from seventh to 11th grade. “We were able to do things that regular students don’t get to do, like travel to Peru and Boston, and visit companies like SpaceX and Boston Dynamics,” he says. “Amazing field trips!”

When JohnDavid Lancaster was in fifth grade, his mother was laid off because she didn’t have a college degree. But she unmistakably modeled the value of education when she went back to school full time to earn her degree in nursing while working a full-time job and a part-time job and taking care of Lancaster and his sister. By the time he was in ninth grade, his mom had completed her degree and taught her children a powerful lesson about tenacity. Her experience also showed Lancaster how important a degree would be to get the kind of job he wanted. 

These days the lab where Kristina Gonzales-Wartz works is a very busy place. A biomedical scientist with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Dr. Gonzales-Wartz has joined the Laboratory of Immunogenetics in Rockville, Md., on an urgent mission to develop monoclonal antibodies against COVID-19. 

Olivia Baptiste has been drawn to science since elementary school. “I loved presenting at the science fairs,” she says. That interest has blossomed into focused studies in biology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. While the field has always been a favorite of hers, the biology course she took in her first year cemented her interest. Now in her third year at UBC, she is preparing for the MCAT and pursuing her goal of becoming a physician someday.

You did it! You made it to college and are ready to start making the most of everything your campus has to offer. As a Native student, your identity is part of who you are, and something you want to celebrate and explore with other likeminded students. One way to do that is to join or start an AISES College Chapter. Here’s how to start a chapter at your school.

The countdown is on. It’s almost time for the AISES National Conference, an annual highlight for thousands of Indigenous professionals throughout North America and beyond. The conference will be making its virtual debut on a 100 percent online platform, giving participants new ways to make the most of three action-packed days. This year’s all-virtual format will include opening and closing ceremonies, a keynote address, a talking circle, expert-led topical sessions, research presentations, mixers, and Indian Country’s largest College and Career Fair.