THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR EARTH-SURFACE DYNAMICS AND ITS PARTNERSHIPS WITH NATIVE AMERICAN COMMUNITIES--DISCOVERING THE POTENTIAL FOR PROMOTING BROADENED PARTICIPATION IN THE GEOSCIENCES THROUGH PLACE-BASED GEOSCIENCE EDUCATION AND RESEARCH

The National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics (NCED), an NSF-funded Science and Technology Center (NSF OIA-0120914) has worked in partnership with the Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College, Cloquet, MN, since its inception in 2003. Over the past decade, we have expanded our partnerships with Native American communities to include close collaboration with the Salish Kootenai College in Pablo, Montana. The Diversity and Education programs of NCED have been informed by this close collaboration with educators and elders from Native American communities such that it has impacted every effort made towards broadening participation in STEM by underrepresented groups. From a broad focus on the interdisciplinary research of NCED, which involves scientists from ecology, biology, geology, engineering, hydrology and other fields, the Center has moved towards a specific focus on local landscapes and sustainable resources for all of NCED's education and diversity programs. These include gidakiimanaaniwigamig (Our Earth Lodge, in Ojibwe), our K-12 science immersion program for Native American youths; the manoomin (Wild Rice) project, a K-12 education partnership with the National Lacustrine Core Facility (LacCore), University of Minnesota and Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa; the CYCLES program, a professional development program for teachers focused on climate change impacts in Native American communities; the Research Experience for Undergraduates on Sustainable Land and Water Resources, run in partnership with Fond du Lac and Salish Kootenai College; our Faculty-to-Faculty partnership with Salish Kootenai College to develop the first Hydrology degree programs at a tribal college or university; and the Geoscience Alliance, a national alliance focused on broadening participation of Native Americans in the geosciences. Each of these programs has been informed and designed in partnership with the Native communities allied institutionally with NCED and has gained greater strength and focus through efforts to design place-based education and research programs. In the process, NCED has gained from a greater understanding of the ways in which Geoheritage affects geoscience education and research.