Progress 09/01/24 to 08/31/25
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience includes the Oglala Lakota College students and community members including members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. Informal meetings with middle school administrators were conducted as we prepare for our STEM middle school program, informal classroom instruction with robotics at local elementary and middle schools, reservation-wide science fair for local elementary and middle school students, a Lakota Leadership Camp for High school students and their family members during June, and the research and development of the degree plan for the Master of Science Environmental Science program for OLC alumni. Changes/Problems:Our timeline for submitting the MS Environmental Science program in the Higher Learning Commission has changed. We hoped to submit in fall of 2025 which will affect the results of goal 2 as we will not be able to enroll student until hopefully fall of 2026. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Foster and Dana as well as 3 center staff and 14 students attended the annual FALCON conference in Minneapolis, MN in October, 2024.It was a great experience for interacting and talking with other tribal colleges by seeing what is working and not working for them. 2students presented posters, 1 student team presented their poster,and 3 student teams did oral presentations. Dana led a panel consisting of OLC faculty Ale, Nick, Cami at the SD Research Symposium about working with Tribal College on Research in July of 2024. Dana, Cami, and Ale attended the Wild12 conference in Rapid City, SD August 2024. Summer Dupree presented her poster on a habitat prediction model for timpsula (prairie turnip) and Summer Afraid of Hawk presented on the Treaty Lands Story. 7 students presented posters and completed oral presentations at the 2025 AIHEC conference. Lashell Poor Bear won the poster symposium with her project on a Seed Bank and Jordan Little Whiteman placed 3rd with her project on coyotes. 1 student presented their poster at the Tribal College Research Symposium in April 2025. Dana and Jason also presented posters during that conference. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?In September 2024, students shared their research with the community during the annual Wazi Paha Festival. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?• Plan additional Lakota Leadership camps • Integrate lakota language learning into the lakota leadership camp. • Submit the MS environmental science curriculum tothe Higher Learning Commission. • Consult with Lakota Studies to decide which courses to develop modules and curriculum. • Continue to recruit freshmen and sophomore-level students to start working on a research project early in their college careers. • Continue to work with local teachers to plan middle school program • continue to develop relationships with additional schools to implement the robotics program more fully, • Undergraduates and HS students present at OLC research symposium • Undergraduates and faculty present at FALCON, NSF TCUP Symposium, AISES, and AIHEC • publication about the Lakota Leadership camps
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objective 1: Incorporate Lakota Ways of Knowing and Learning into 1-2 courses each year in the Natural Science and Life Science degrees, by developing modules that connect western science with LWKL. Here are some examples of how lakota culture has been incorporated into courses: Advanced Ecology (Spring 2025) LakotaPerspectives in Habitat Management Plans: The students integrated traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) andLakotavalues, such as woiwanke (spiritual connection to place), into their habitat management plans. For example, they reflected on how the presence of beaver dams near their communities affects not only biodiversity but also mitákuye oyás'i? (interconnectedness). To support these reflections, the students conducted a group ecological assessment including water depth and flow, bird and animal diversity, the condition of traditionalLakotaplants, vegetation cover, and tree use. They then assessed the habitat as a whole in a final management plan that included both ecological data and their personal and community relationships with the land. Integrative Environmental Science (Fall 2024) Case Studies on Tribal Environmental Stewardship: The students analyzedLakota-led environmental initiatives in modules throughout thecourse. Such as buffalo restoration programs, water protection campaigns, or the use of hemp material as a moreenvironmentally conscious alternative. Additionally, they compared frameworks for integrating Western science andLakotascience, and proposed a project that integrates the two perspectives. For example, one student proposed a project researching traditional fire practices and how it can be included in mainstream forestmanagment. Another student, Application of GIS (Fall 2024) Lakotamapping projects: The students used GIS tools to create maps restoring theLakotanames of culturally significant sites, emphasizing pre-colonial land knowledge and learning how they can useGIS as a tool inculturalrestoration. Additionally, each student developed a map based on a topic relevant to their own community and gave a five-minute lightning talk summarizing their project. For example, one student analyzed historical and current land use on the Pine Ridge Reservation, while another created a story map combining GIS data with oral histories andLakotanarratives to evaluate the effects of colonization and environmental degradation on their homelands. Phys 113 Survey of Physics (SP2025): explores core physics concepts through real-world and culturally relevant applications. Students analyze buffalo movement on a Montana prairie preserve using motion diagrams and vectors to understand how animals influence landscapes. They investigate traditional Lakota toys to identify physics laws and equations that describe object motion in Indigenous games. The course also examines Indigenous engineering, focusing on the design and function of snowshoes to explore the physics principles that enable mobility on snow. BIO 113 People and the Environment (FA2024): introduces students to environmental issues through Indigenous perspectives and place-based case studies. Students examine topics such as uranium mining on the Navajo Reservation, cultural water restoration on the Yakama Reservation, and the ecological impacts of rodenticides on prairie ecosystems using materials from the Native Case Studies collection at The Evergreen State College. The course also explores food sovereignty, buffalo ecology, and the integration of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) with Western science. Students will analyze Indigenous-led restoration projects--including a black-footed ferret recovery video by Dr. Shawn Grassel--study regenerative agriculture, and investigate local and global environmental health issues. Climate change is examined through local data and case studies of Tribal communities affected by sea level rise and relocation. Objective 2: Partner with the Lakota Studies department and Graduate Studies departments to design an MS program in Environmental Sustainability. Enroll five students by year three and graduate one student by year 4. Curriculum has been developed, but we have been at a standstill this past year, waiting on survey results that are needed by the OLC Board of Trustees before we can submit to the Higher Learning Commission. We are hoping to submit to HLC in September and begin the program in fall of 2026 so unfortunately this goal will not be met. Objective 3: Provide opportunities for two undergraduate students each year and 1-2 graduate students in years 3-4 to participate in an experiential learning opportunity under the direction of a faculty mentor and cultural mentor. Undergraduate Shikayla Faubion is a prevet student working with Camille Griffith on a project looking at the abundance of reservation dogs.Shikayla presented her poster at the FALCON conference in Minneapolis, MN in October 2024. Undergraduate student Jordan Little Whiteman presenteda poster highlighting her research working with scent detection dogs in Yellowstone at the FALCOn conference in Minneapolis, MN, in October 2024.4 undergraduate students were funded to do an 8-week research experience by NSF. Funding from SD EPSCoR is leveraged to fund these undergraduate students and the summer research experience. Throughout this experience, they not only had the chance to do research but also to mentor high school students during the STEM Bridge program and the Lakota Leadership Camp. Students during summer research include Shikayla Faubion, Summer Dupree, Theodora Charging Crow, and Kai Eisenbraun.3 of the 4 students presented posters of their summer projects at the SD Research Symposium in Sioux Falls, SD in July 2024and at the FALCON conference in October 2024. These students presented their posters to share what they have learned with the community during the annual Wazi Paha festival in September 2024. Collaborating with the Environmental Data Science Innovation and Inclusion lab, 4 undergraduate students and 2 alumni completed a hands-on data science research project starting during the spring of 2024 through the summer of 2024. They presented their research in August 2024 at the virtual ESIIL stars presentation. Objective 4: Partner with K-12 schools to provide multiple opportunities for experiences to enhance recruitment to the OLC MST department over the long-term. Recruit six students into the STEM programs during the life of the grant. We successfully held our first Lakota Leadership Camp during summer of 2024. We had a total of 45 attending camp. 32 high school students, 6 community members, and 7 speakers and presenters (funding was leveraged with the extension grant). Students learned and practiced cultural activities throughout the week. We have reached out to Crazy Horse School and set up a meeting with them to start the middle school outreach program. Due to the uncertainty of funding we decided not to hold a 2025 Lakota Leadership camp and hope to plan some activities for fall. We just recently completed our 2025 reservation-wide science fair with 6 schools participating. We have been working with local schools sharing our robotics programs with them. Jesse has been able to get the robotics program into 2 schools on the reservation. Excellent feedback from the schools and classroom teachers about how much they enjoy working with our robotics program. During the spring of 2025, we had the opportunity to visit 3 different schools to set up the star lab and present Lakota star knowledge to the students. We also set up the star lab during the wazi paha festival in September 2024. During the fall and spring of 2024-25, we set up our Little Shop of Physics experiments at severalschools. We also did outreach and recruitment for OLC at those events.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
Little Whiteman, J. (2024, October). Field lessons: My internship experience and its impact [Poster presentation]. FALCON Conference, Minneapolis, MN.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
Faubion, S., & Griffith, C. (2024, October). Dog abundance in Kyle, SD on the Pine Ridge Reservation [Poster presentation]. FALCON Conference, Minneapolis, MN.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
Gehring, D., Higa, A., Griffith, C., & Klein, N. (2024, August). Reciprocal research with TCUs [Conference presentation]. SD Research Symposium, SD EPSCoR, Sioux Falls, SD.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2025
Citation:
Gehring, D., Griffith, C., Afraid of Hawk, S., Eagle Staff, D., Wade, A., Dupree, S., & Weddell, E. (2025, April). Where the buffalo once roamed: Treaty lands and the Oceti Sakowin story [Poster presentation]. UTTC Annual Research Symposium, Bismarck, ND.
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Progress 09/01/23 to 08/31/24
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience includes the Oglala Lakota College students and community members including members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. Informal meetings with middle school administrators were conducted as we prepare for our STEM middle school program, informal classroom instruction with robotics at local elementary and middle schools, reservation-wide science fair for local elementary and middle school students, a Lakota Leadership Camp for High school students and their family members during June, and the research and development of the degree plan for the Master of Science Environmental Science program for OLC alumni. Changes/Problems:In September 2023, we hired a new admin assistant to help plan outreach events. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Dana, Foster, Nick, VP Karla, and President Frank as well as 5 students attended the FALCON conference in Denver, CO October 2023. It was a great experience for interacting and talking with other tribal colleges by seeing what is working and not working for them. 4 students presented posters and 3 students did oral presentations. Cami, Foster, and Jason attended the ESIIL Innovation Summit workshop in Boulder, CO. Dana lead a panel consisting of OLC faculty Ale, Nick, Cami at the SD Research Symposium about working with Tribal College on Research in July of 2023. 4 students presented at the NSF Research symposium in Virginia during winter 2024. Misty and students attended the 2024 AIHEC conference as well. 3 students presented posters and completed oral presentations at AIHEC. 1 student presented their poster at the Tribal College Research Symposium in April 2024. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?In August of 2023, Dana presented to the OLC board of trustees about the Lakota Leadership Camp. In October 2023, we presented at the FALCON conference in Denver. In November 2023, Dana presented to the counsel of Elders about the Lakota Leadership Camp and other cultural activities we are doing. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?• Plan additional Lakota Leadership camps • Integrate lakota language learning into the lakota leadership camp. • Submit the MS environmental science curriculum to the OLC board of Trustees and the Higher Learning Commission • Consult with Lakota Studies to decide which courses todevelop modules and curriculum for • Continue to recruit freshmen and sophomore-level students to start working on a research project early in their college careers. • Continue to work with local teachers to plan middle school program • continue to develop relationships with additional schools to implement the robotics program more fully, • undergraduates present at SDresearch symposium and falcon. • Undergraduates and HS students present at OLC research symposium • Undergraduates and faculty present at FALCON, NSF TCUP Symposium, AISES, and AIHEC • publication about the Lakota Leadership camps
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objective 1: Incorporate Lakota Ways of Knowing and Learning into 1-2 courses each year in the Natural Science and Life Science degrees, by developing modules that connect western science with LWKL. We chose Bio 103 to work on to integrate lakota ways of knowing and learning during 2022-24. Currently, we are in the middle of the processand hope to be completed during summer 2024. Objective 2: Partner with the Lakota Studies department and Graduate Studies departments to design an MS program in Environmental Sustainability. Enroll five students by year three and graduate one student by year 4. We are currently planning the curriculum and will begin preparing the materials in the fall of 2023 that are needed by the various committees at OLC. In spring 2024, we presented to the OLC Elders Council, the Assessment Committee, the Instructional Affairs committee, and the Piya Wiconi Okolakiciye (https://www.olc.edu/about-olc/governance/).We have met with the chair of graduate studies to discuss collaboration. We have developed a draft degree plan, 8 graduate level classes, and assessment materials. We are preparing to submit to the Board of Trustees and the Higher Learning Commission. Objective 3: Provide opportunities for two undergraduate students each year and 1-2 graduate students in years 3-4 to participate in an experiential learning opportunity under the direction of a faculty mentor and cultural mentor. Undergraduate Shikayla Faubion is a prevet student working with Camille Griffith on a projectlooking at the abundance of reservation dogs. Undergraduate freshman student Kai Eisenbraun, with mentor Nick Klein, is working on a project studying bacteria nearlegumes roots (specifically relatives of the prairie turnip (timpsula). Undergraduate Summer Afraid of Hawk, with mentor Foster Sawyer, is working on a project study the water quality of artesian wells on the cheyenne river reservation. Summer presented her poster and oral presentation at the FALCON conference in Denver, CO in October 2023. During the summer of 2023, 4 undergraduate students were funded to do an8-week research experience by NSF.Funding from SD EPSCoR is leveraged to fund these undergraduate students and the summer research experience.Throughout this experience, they not only had the chance to do research but also to mentor high school students during the STEM Bridge program and the Lakota Leadership Camp. Students during summer research include Shikayla Faubion, Kai Eisenbraun, Eva Weddell, and Alaina Torres. 3 of the 4 students presented posters of their summer projects at the SD Research Symposium in Sioux Falls, SD in July 2023 and at the FALCON conference in Denver, CO in October 2023. Collaborating with the Environmental Data Science Innovation and Inclusion lab, 7 undergraduate students and 2 alumni completed a hands-on data scienceresearch project starting during the spring of 2023 through the summer of 2023. They presented their research in August 2023 at the virtual ESIIL stars presentationhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4R3H_Ump0ag and the FALCON Conference in Denver, CO in October 2023. Objective 4: Partner with K-12 schools to provide multiple opportunities for experiences to enhance recruitment to the OLC MST department over the long-term. Recruit six students into the STEM programs during the life of the grant. We successfully held our first Lakota Leadership Camp during summer of 2023. We had a total of 31 attending camp. 11 high school students, 9 community members, and 11 speakers and presenters. Students learned and practiced cultural activities throughout the week. We have reached out to Crazy Horse School and set up a meeting with them to start the middle school outreach program. We held the first of we hope many lakota leadership camps in June 2023 (funding was leveraged with the extension grant). We are currently preparing for 2024 lakota leadership camp. We just recently completed our 2024 reservation-wide science fair with 6 schools participating.We have been working with local schools sharing our robotics programs with them. Jesse has been able to get the robotics program into 2 schools on the reservation. Excellent feedback from the schools and classroom teachers about how much they enjoy working with our robotics program. During the spring of 2024, we had the opportunity to visit 5 different schools to set up the star lab and present Lakota star knowledge to the students. We also set up the star lab on campus for students, faculty, staff, and community members. During the fall and spring of 2023-24, we set up our Little Shop of Physics experiments at 16 schools. We also did outreach and recruitment for OLC at those events.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Gehring, D. & K. Witt. (2023, Oct 15). Empowering Lakota Youth: The Lakota Leadership Camp [PowerPoint slides]. Math Science and Technology, Oglala Lakota College.
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Progress 09/01/22 to 08/31/23
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience includes the Oglala Lakota College students and community members including members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. Informal meetings with middle school administrators were conducted as we prepare for our STEM middle school program, informal classroom instruction with robotics at local elementary and middle schools, reservation-wide science fair for local elementary and middle school students, a Lakota Leadership Camp for High school students and their family members during June, and the research and development of thedegree plan for the Master of Science Environmental Science program for OLC alumni. Changes/Problems:In July of 2022, Karla Witt began the position as VP of Instruction. We also lost our admin assistant in July of 2022. This position is still open. With this, we have lacked the personnel to work on this program. November 1, 2022, Dr. Camille Griffth, an OLC MST alumni, was hired to fill the open position and is working on this grant with the outreach and helping to develop the MS program. January 3, 2023, Dr. Nick Klein was hired to fill an open position and is working on this grant by mentoring undergraduate students and helping develop the MS program. Through the first part of 2022-23, we facedcovid restrictions of getting out into the local schools for outreach. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Dana attended the FALCON conference in Albuquerque, NM. It was a great experience for interacting and talking with other tribal colleges by seeing what is working and not working for them. Dana and Cami attended an AIHEC/ESIIL Data science workshop at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, KS. Cami and Nick attended an NSF proposal writing workshop in Minneapolis, MN the first week of February. Dana, Cami, Foster, and Jason attended the ESIIL Innovation Summit workshop in Boulder, CO. Misty attended the AIHEC conference.3 students participated in the science bowl and earned 3rd place. 2 students presented posters and oral presentations. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?
Nothing Reported
What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Plan additional Lakota Leadership camps Continue meetings with OLC graduate studies as we move forward with the MS program Consult with Lakota Studies to decide which courses develop modules and curriculum Continue to recruit freshmen and sophomore-level students to start working on a research project early in their college careers. Continue to work with local teachers to plan middle school program continue to develop relationships with additional schools to implement therobotics program more fully, undergraduates present at SD undergraduate research symposium; Undergraduates and HS students present at OLC research symposium Undergraduates and faculty present at FALCON, NSF TCUP Symposium, AISES, and AIHEC Presentation and publication about the 1st lakota leadership camp.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objective 1: Incorporate Lakota Ways of Knowing and Learning into 1-2 courses each year in the Natural Science and Life Science degrees, by developing modules that connect western science with LWKL. We chose Bio 103 to work on to integrate lakota ways of knowing and learning during 2022-23. Currently, we are in the middle of the process of during this and hope to be completed by fall 2023. Objective 2: Partner with the Lakota Studies department and Graduate Studies departments to design an MS program in Environmental Sustainability. Enroll five students by year three and graduate one student by year 4. We are currently planning the curriculum and will begin preparing the materials in the fall of2023 that are needed by the various committees at OLC. Beginning with the assessment committee. We met with the new chair of graduate studies to begin the conversation. We have developed a draft degree plan. Objective 3: Provide opportunities for two undergraduate students each year and 1-2 graduate students in years 3-4 to participate in an experiential learning opportunity under the direction of a faculty mentor and cultural mentor. Undergraduate Shikayla Faubion is a prevet student working with Camille Griffith on a project that will be looking at the abundance of reservation dogs. She began her working on this project during the fall 2022 semester. Undergraduate freshman student Kai Eisenbraun wasrecruitedto work with our new hire during spring of 2023, Nick Klein, on a project studying legumes like the prairie turnip (timpsula). During the summer of 2023, 4 undergraduate students are doing an 8-week research experience. Throughout this experience, they not only had the chance to do research, but also to mentor high school students during the STEM Bridge program and the Lakota Leadership Camp. Students during summer research include Shikayla Faubion, Kai Eisenbraun, Eva Weddell, and Alaina Torres. Funding from SD EPSCoR is leveraged to fund theseundergraduate students and the summer research experience.. Collaborating with the Environmental Data Science Innovation and Inclusion lab, 7 undergraduate students and 2 alumni are doing research starting during the spring of 2023 through the summer of 2023. Objective 4: Partner with K-12 schools to provide multiple opportunities for experiences to enhance recruitment to the OLC MST department over the long-term. Recruit six students into the STEM programs during the life of the grant. We have reached out to Crazy Horse School and set up a meeting with them to start the middle school outreach program. We held the first of we hope many lakota leadership camps in June 2023 (funding was leveraged with the extension grant). We have been working with local schools sharing our robotics programs with them. Coming out of covid we were able to have a reservation wide science fair for local k-12 schools.
Publications
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