A special NDSU summer camp, “Nurturing American Tribal Undergraduate Research and Education, ” commonly known as NATURE, is scheduled to hold its opening events Monday, June 3. A blessing is set for 11:20 a.m. in the Grandmother Earth Gifts of Life Garden, west of Memorial Union. A lunch and ceremony will follow in the Memorial Union Plains Ballroom.
Now in its 14th year, NATURE’s goal is to improve science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education among North Dakota tribal college and high school students, while building pathways to pursue careers in those disciplines. Eakalak Khan, professor of civil engineering at NDSU, is the director of the program.
The summer camp is one phase of a three-part effort. The program began in 1998 when engineering faculty from the NDSU College of Engineering and Architecture and instructors from Turtle Mountain Community College came together to consider ways to improve the options for Native American students. The parts that evolved from those discussions include the two-week summer camp, now involving faculty members from both NDSU and the University of North Dakota; monthly activities at tribal sites during the school year called Sunday Academies; and a yearlong research collaboration among tribal students and instructors from NDSU and UND faculty called Research.
The summer camp will have approximately 20 Native American students and approximately 15 faculty members from tribal high schools and community colleges doing different sets of activities. The students will visit laboratories at both campuses and then during the second week be engaged in small, focused research projects with faculty and graduate students. Before the closing ceremonies on June 14, the students will present the findings and describe their experiences at a session to be held in the CME Auditorium in the NDSU engineering complex.
Students will have a daily academic session to review and explore some topics in mathematics, the sciences and engineering. In addition, students will visit some local institutions to see how engineers and scientists work. The camp also allows students to experience college life and enjoy the surrounding communities.
“This is an opportunity for the students to see careers that they may never of thought possible and it helps everyone in the state,” said Bob Pieri, professor of mechanical engineering and NATURE summer camp coordinator. "The engineering profession will improve the quality of its solutions for society by having a more diverse population contributing their thoughts to that solution process.”
Instructors from tribal schools and colleges work with professors on both campuses for one week to develop topics for their own summer camp activities at their home institutions. The one-day activities at the tribal camps cover environmental or sustainable STEM topics and are performed during a two-week period by day campers that are middle and high school students. Both the faculty and the students at the NDSU summer camp work with the local tribal campers.
During the second week of the NDSU summer camp, tribal school instructors develop topics for the Sunday Academy program under the guidance of Chad Ulven, associate professor of mechanical engineering. This program usually has seven STEM sessions distributed on particular Sundays from September to March.
Over the years, NATURE as impacted more than 400 Native American students and several dozens of tribal high school and college instructors and faculty and state university faculty. Several former summer camp participants are pursing master’s degrees and doctorates across the country. “One just doesn't know where the seeds we sow today may end up," Pieri said.
NATURE is sponsored by North Dakota Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (ND EPSCoR). For more information on the summer camp, visit www.ndsu.edu/epscor/NATURE/about.html or contact Pieri at robert.pieri@ndsu.edu.
NDSU is recognized as one of the nation’s top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.
