Research Projects
RII Track-1: Haskell Project-Johnon-Microbiomes of Aquatic, Plant and Soil Systems (MAPS) mediating sustainability: An observation and experimental network across Kansas Principal Investigator: Jay T. Johnson Funding Agency: National Science Foundation Period: 2017 - 2022 Status: Active Project Summary: Jay T. Johnson, Associate Professor of Geography & Atmospheric Science and Director of the Center for Indigenous Research, Science, and Technology (C-FIRST), received an award from Kansas NSF EPSCoR to fund the Haskell Environmental Research Studies (HERS) Institute. This project will prepare future Native American STEM professionals to understand the impacts of environmental change and develop strategies for sustainable responses that combine Indigenous ecological knowledge with scientific approaches. Dr. Johnson along with his co-PI Dr. Joseph Brewer will oversee the program at KU. During an eight-week summer internship, students will have professional development and mentoring to help them pursue graduate educational opportunities. Students of the program will experience field research in the wetland, prairie, and mountain ecosystems. The curriculum will use research methods that integrate Indigenous knowledge and scientific data to study food, energy, and water systems. Native American graduate students at KU will serve as mentors. https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1656006 ![]() |
RII Track-1: MAPS-KS NSF EPSCoR: HERS Principal Investigator: Jay T. Johnson Funding Agency: National Science Foundation Period: 2017 - 2022 Status: Active Project Summary: Jay T. Johnson, Associate Professor of Geography & Atmospheric Science and Director of the Center for Indigenous Research, Science, and Technology (C-FIRST), received an award from Kansas NSF EPSCoR to fund the Haskell Environmental Research Studies (HERS) Institute. This project will prepare future Native American STEM professionals to understand the impacts of environmental change and develop strategies for sustainable responses that combine Indigenous ecological knowledge with scientific approaches. Dr. Johnson along with his co-PI Dr. Joseph Brewer will oversee the program at KU. During an eight-week summer internship, students will have professional development and mentoring to help them pursue graduate educational opportunities. Students of the program will experience field research in the wetland, prairie, and mountain ecosystems. The curriculum will use research methods that integrate Indigenous knowledge and scientific data to study food, energy, and water systems. Native American graduate students at KU will serve as mentors. https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1656006 ![]() |
Doctoral Dissertation Research: Bridging Knowledge Systems to Improve Ecosystem Management along the Yukon River, Alaska Principal Investigator: Jay T. Johnson Funding Agency: National Science Foundation Period: 2015 - 2017 Status: Completed Project Summary: Victoria Walsey has received a dissertation improvement grant from the Arctic Social Sciences Program at the National Science Foundation. Victoria Walsey, a doctoral student in Geography, will explore and document knowledge held by Indigenous fishers along the Yukon River in Alaska. Victoria's advisor is Jay T. Johnson, director of the Center for Indigenous Research, Science and Technology (C-FIRST) at IPSR. https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1504203&HistoricalAwards=false ![]() |
RCN: Facilitating Indigenous Research, Science and Technology (FIRST) Principal Investigator: Jay T. Johnson Funding Agency: National Science Foundation Period: 2015 - 20222 Status: Active Project Summary: FIRST represents an interdisciplinary network of Native scholars all working at the intersection of Indigenous and Western scientific traditions to explore how Indigenous communities are utilizing both traditions to meet their research needs. The network's Steering Committee members represent Indigenous communities from across the United States, including Alaska and Hawai'i, and are employed at tribal colleges, Indigenous non-profit organizations, and research universities. https://nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1417767&HistoricalAwards=false ![]() |
Collaboratively Harnessing Indigenous Research Principles, Protocols, and Practices (CHIRP3) Principal Investigator: Renee Pualani Louis Funding Agency: National Science Foundation Period: 2014 - 2017 Status: Completed Project Summary: Renee Louis, Research Associate at the University of Kansas Institute for Policy & Social Research, was awarded $299,920 from the Arctic Social Sciences Program at the National Science Foundation for her project, "Collaboratively Harnessing Indigenous Research Principles, Protocols and Practices (CHIRP3)." Her two-year project will examine and reimagine how scientists engage with Indigenous people in the United States. For this project, she is partnering with Elizabeth Medicine Crow and Kyle Wark at the First Alaskans Institute in Anchorage, Alaska and collaborating with Haskell Indian Nations University and the Edith Kanaka'ole Foundation. The KU Co-Investigator on the project is Jay Johnson, director of the Indigenous Geographies Research Center at KU. She and her team will evaluate current Native scientific practices and provide Native communities with information so they can take define their own scientific paradigms. She also plans to provide guidance to federal research funding agencies on how they incorporate Native science principles, protocols and practices, advancing both Native and Western science by bridging gaps in understanding. https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1436506&HistoricalAwards=false ![]() |