Last week, civil engineering professor David Mays and students Cynthia Rice (political science) and Jessie Romero (integrative biology) logged 880 miles on a road trip to Wyoming’s Wind River Reservation to recruit students for the Environmental Stewardship of Indigenous Lands program. This program, which Mays co-directs with biology professor Timberley Roane, is a first-of-its-kind effort to train STEM majors to liaison on environmental issues between tribal and non-tribal organizations.

“Denver is in the heart of Indian Country. In fact, our campus is on the traditional homeland of the Arapaho and Cheyenne nations, and was frequented by citizens of 40-50 other first nations,” Mays says. “So it makes sense for CU Denver to establish this new effort, in partnership with tribes and government agencies, to expand our training of engineers and scientists to include non-technical but critically-important ideas like tribal sovereignty and Indigenous ways of knowing. At the same time, the ESIL program seeks to establish a place on campus where the background, perspectives, and traditions of Indigenous STEM students are welcomed.”