OSU highlights Native American STEM fair during American Indian Awareness Week

Apr. 8—The Center for Sovereign Nations at Oklahoma State University highlighted American Indian Awareness Week with a regional conference and science and engineering fair from April 4-6.

The event drew hundreds of Native American students, educators and families participating in science, technology, engineering and mathematics education to the Stillwater campus.

The Center for Sovereign Nations celebrated First Nations Day on Thursday, where high school students connected with OSU students, visited the Center for Sovereign Nations, toured campus and learned more about admission and scholarship opportunities unique to them.

The American Indian in Science and Engineering Society held its Region 4 conference, hosted by the OSU-AISES college chapter on Friday and Saturday.

The science and engineering society is a national organization for native representation in STEM with members from pre-college, college and professional STEM fields. Its vision is for "the next seven generations of Native people to be successful, respected, influential, and contributing members of our vast and ever-changing global community."

Regional chapters of AISES, including the student chapter at OSU, take the lead in planning programs such as the science and engineering fair. OSU students set up workshops, invited keynote speakers for the convention and even set up an e-sports tournament. Their intent was to offer helpful and relevant opportunities for students and educators.

One of the society's focuses was the National American Indian Science and Engineering Fair today, hosted by AISES, the Oklahoma Water Resources Center and the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology K-12 programs at OSU.

NAISEF is a competitive science and engineering fair for indigenous youth (middle school and high school students) from across the nation. Students can attend in-person or show their exhibits virtually.

OSU has hosted the Native American science and engineering fair since 2018, but the event has been around since 1988 in some iteration, said AISES Senior Director of Programs Tesia Zientek.

There were 25 schools from across the nation with students in fifth-12th grade participating in the event, Zientek said, including 16 partner schools from Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Hawaii and South Dakota.

There were 75 Native American student projects at the science fair, with 35 students presenting projects virtually.

More than 100 Native American students participated, and 277 sponsors, families, educators and volunteers attended.

Students who participate in the fair are either Native American themselves, or part of a team that includes at least one Native American student, Zientek said.

Because of their sovereign nation status, the students don't have to participate in regionals fairs — they can move immediately into the international science and engineering fair if they win awards at the national level.

"It's sort of a more direct pathway," Zientek said.

Many of the students pick projects that align with their cultural values or their tribal traditions, Zientek said.

"That's not a requirement necessarily for participating in the events, but a lot of the students are making that connection and making science and STEM relevant to their communities," she said.

The science and engineering fair not only highlights the OSU campus, but it also gives students the chance to meet and network with other students who are interested in STEM, Zientek said. A college and career fair was also held on campus at the same time.

Zientek said past STEM student projects included testing waterways culturally significant to their tribal nation or water in their schools. Other students' projects included testing air, poultry hatching or ceremonial or cultural medicines.

One award-winning student completed a project on walnuts, something culturally significant to her tribe, by testing various properties the walnut contained.