1. ND EPSCoR
  2. Programs
  3. Nurturing American Tribal Undergraduate Research and Education (NATURE)

Nurturing American Tribal Undergraduate Research and Education (NATURE)

The Nurturing American Tribal Undergraduate Research and Education (NATURE) program is a North Dakota EPSCoR sponsored education outreach project. NATURE aims to improve science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education among middle school, high school, and tribal college students, and to build a pathway for American Indians living in North Dakota who are interested in pursuing careers in STEM disciplines. NATURE builds on activities of a long-term collaboration between tribal colleges in North Dakota, North Dakota State University, and the University of North Dakota. NATURE programs are currently funded by the State of North Dakota and the National Science Foundation EPSCoR Track-1 Cooperative Agreement OIA #1946202.

If you are a student, teacher, or college/university faculty and want to participate in a NATURE activity, please contact Scott Hanson, ND EPSCoR Tribal Colleges Liaison and NATURE Manager, at scott.martin.hanson@ndsu.edu.

NATURE programming includes the Tribal College Summer Camps, Sunday Academy, Bridge Camp, and University Summer Camps.

  • The Tribal College Summer Camp is a two-week camp held at the five tribal colleges in North Dakota where each tribal college hosts their local middle-high school students.
  • Sunday Academy
    Sunday Academy is typically held throughout the academic year at the five tribal colleges in North Dakota. Each tribal college hosts their local middle-high school students. The 2020-21 Sunday Academy sessions will be virtual due to COVID-19.
  • Bridge Camp
    The Bridge Camp, which had its first pilot in Summer 2019, is designed to be a bridge between high school graduation and entrance into college. A page will be added for this program as more information becomes available.
  • NATURE University Summer Camp
    The University Summer Camp is a two-week camp held at both North Dakota State University and University of North Dakota that hosts tribal college students who are 18 years of age or older.

 

  • A NATURE Bridge Camp student works on the smart car module.
  • A student participant works on a 3D-printed catapult.

 

The History of NATURE

The origin of the program Nurturing American Tribal Undergraduate Research and Education (NATURE) can be traced to an informal collaboration between the North Dakota State University Colleges of Engineering and Architecture and Turtle Mountain Community College, Belcourt, North Dakota in 1998. A team of North Dakota State University (NDSU) science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) faculty worked with the five ND tribal colleges to develop a proposal to increase STEM educational opportunities for American Indian students. The effort paid off when Turtle Mountain Community College (TMCC), in partnership with NDSU, was awarded a five year grant from the Office of Naval Research (An Adaptive Systemic Initiative of Tribal Collaboration for Increasing Native American Participation in Mathematics, Science and Engineering, 1999-2004), to support activities designed to stimulate the interest of Indian youth from North Dakota reservations in careers such as engineering and those involving higher level mathematics, science and technology skills. This project allowed the team to develop and implement activities such as summer camps, Sunday Academy, workshop for tribal college faculty, and a scholarship program to create new, and strengthen existing, pathways for American Indian students to pursue STEM education successfully and to seek careers in those fields. This project also received support from NASA PACE program (TMCC), 2002-2005, ND EPSCoR FLITE equipment funding, 2001-2004, and NSF BRIDGES program planning grant, 2004. Though it had provided partial support initially, ND EPSCoR took the program completely under its wing in 2006 after the funding from ONR had ended. At that time, the program assumed the new title NATURE. Since then,

  • ND EPSCoR has a Tribal Colleges Liaison and NATURE Manager who works to improve the effectiveness of the university-tribal college communication and collaboration,
  • the University of North Dakota joined the collaboration, and
  • the quality of activities previously developed has improved and participants numbers have increased.

    NATURE Institutions and Contacts

    Five Tribal colleges in North Dakota                                                                                                        
     
    		Two research institutions in North Dakota
     
                   
                  		                 



    		   
    Cankdeska Cikana
    Community College     		       Nueta Hidatsa
        Sahnish College    		  Sitting Bull
        College    		  Turtle Mountain
    Community College    		   United Tribes
    Technical College    		    North Dakota State
              University    		 University of
     North Dakota

     
    NATURE Coordinator: Scott Hanson, ND EPSCoR Tribal Colleges Liaison and NATURE Manager.

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