It began as an Indian taco stand at the annual Gathering at the Falls Pow Wow at Riverfront Park in Spokane, Wash. Today that taco stand has grown into two locations of Indigenous Eats, a restaurant co-owned by Yakama Nation member Jenny Slagle. She and her husband and business partner, Andrew, operate the two Spokane eateries, where they offer a menu of “Native American comfort food.”

When James LeMoine became one of the inaugural recipients of the Indigenous and Black Engineering/Technology (IBET) Momentum Fellowships in 2021, it marked a turning point. The fellowship — currently available to PhD students in engineering and computer science at 16 Canadian universities — not only offers significant financial support and opportunities to meet other Indigenous engineering students, it can also be a wake-up call for the institution. 

Traditionally, members of the Karuk Tribe consumed about 450 pounds of salmon per person, per year. Brook Thompson may not have the privilege to eat that much because of environmental neglect and dams built on the Klamath River, but salmon is significant to her culturally, having grown up as a fisherwoman. The importance of salmon and fresh water to her people has always resonated with her. As a result, Thompson is intent on ensuring that both the salmon and fresh water sources are always protected.

The stories told to us by our elders can sow seeds that flower for later generations. For Sky Harper, Navajo (Diné), stories told by his mother, Cassandra Begay, ignited a passion for learning that can help his people. He is of the Towering House Clan, born for the Red Running Into Water Clan. His maternal grandfather is of the Big Water Clan, and his paternal grandfather is of the Towering House Clan. His mother’s tales sparked a fascination with the natural world and motivated him to understand it by pursuing a wide-ranging discipline that comes with an opportunity to give back.

Caydence Palmer has good reasons to be optimistic about her future. A senior at Mescalero Apache High School, she is applying to her dream college — the University of Arizona — and hoping to enter the field of mechanical engineering. Palmer, who’s had opportunities to travel the world, to be the youngest student in advanced engineering classes, and to be the only Indigenous participant in her highly competitive NASA internship cohort, is used to breaking barriers. 

Jordan Sahly has lost track of the number of baking soda volcanoes he made in his driveway as a child. But he hasn’t lost his passion for the sciences, chemistry in particular. After honing his interest in science, Sahly set his sights on chemical engineering and hasn’t looked back. Now a senior at Yale University, Sahly is well on his way to becoming a chemical engineer with the goal of helping Native communities combat energy and climate crises and limit harm to the land.

A profound connection to the beautiful boreal forests and freshwater lakes of her Lac La Ronge Woodland Cree homelands has guided Sarah Gauthier’s journey from microbiology studies to a successful career in water resources engineering, teaching, and mentoring.

Dr. Stan Atcitty, Diné, has a record of tremendous technical success and remarkable achievements as a leader. His ability to cultivate and maintain relationships is paramount to his success. Whether he is presenting to a packed gymnasium at his high school alma mater in Shiprock, N.M., or coaching junior staff members on his team, Dr. Atcitty is energized by finding ways to build people up.

As a young girl, Shanell Sinclair dreamed of becoming an aerospace engineer working for NASA. Then, as she was growing up in rural Montana, achieving that career seemed increasingly remote. But today Sinclair’s dream is no longer up in the clouds. Now a junior at Montana State University majoring in mechanical engineering and minoring in aerospace engineering/mechatronics, she is closer than ever to making her dream come true.

Tobias-Jesiah Keohokapu found himself getting lost in the stars from a young age. Everything he’s discovered about astronomy since then, from learning about Polynesian wayfinding to studying special relativity and chaotic dynamics at college, has only increased his fascination. When he learned about the world travels of the Hōkūle’a, a double-hulled sailing canoe built as a modern replica of the vessels that brought the first Polynesian seafarers to Hawaii, he knew he had to study astronomy.