THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA MORRIS WIND-STEP PROGRAM: PART OF A "PIPELINE" TO ENCOURAGE NATIVE AMERICAN PARTICIPATION

The University of Minnesota, Morris (UMM) Wind-STEP program is a 2 week residential program for rising Native America high school juniors and seniors who are interested in STEM careers. Run in both 2010 and 2011, the focus of Wind-STEP is wind energy and its application to the needs and wants of reservation communities. Participants learn about opportunities for careers in the sciences, discuss science ethics and interact with Native American college STEM majors. For the capstone project, Wind-STEP participants complete research using GIS to identify a potential site for a wind turbine on a nearby reservation: the Upper Sioux Agency in 2010 and the White Earth Nation in 2011. Analysis included researching zoning regulations to determine appropriate setbacks for structures, roads, and wetlands; FAA and FCC regulations related to runway glide path for the local municipal airports and communication infrastructure; historical severe weather and tornado risk using historical tornado tracks from the National Weather Service.

Seventeen students from five reservations (Upper Sioux, White Earth, Rosebud, Pine Ridge and Sisseton) have participated in the Wind STEP program and each student is required to complete a program survey. Of the 17 participants, all said they would “recommend the program to a friend” and over half choose “enthusiastic” as their “overall reaction to the program” (none selected a value lower then neutral). Four of the 17 Wind-STEP participants have now graduated high school and one of these four will begin college (UMM) in the fall.

The UMM Wind-STEP program is part of a “pipeline”, established as part of an institutional effort to encourage Native American students to participate in the sciences. The program is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation STEP program (DUE-0653063).