Engineering Connections in a Native American Community and Culture

Abstract

is Naakétł'áhí (Tohono O'odham), born for Tł'ááshchí'í. Her cheii is Naakétł'áhí and her nálí is Tódích'íi'nii. Ieshya graduated from Arizona State University, Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering, emphasis in electrical systems. She is pursuing her PhD in Engineering Education Systems and Design at Arizona State University. Ieshya also continues to work with Dr. Shawn Jordan to develop engineering design curricula for middle school students on the Navajo reservation and facilitates Dr. Jordan's STEAM Machines TM outreach camps across the Navajo Nation with the ambition to expand to Tohono O'odham Nation.

“We’ve Always Been Engineers:” Indigenous Student Voices on Engineering and Leadership Identities

“…One might describe this vision as Indigenizing engineering itself through a reclamation of the ways Indigenous people traditionally engaged in practices that might be called engineering, as well as integrating Indigenous knowledges into science and engineering. These discussions mirrored literature that looks to reorient engineering practice toward a holistic betterment of society [31] and points reflected in Cech et al's [17] study on epistemological dominance in science, engineering, and health fields: I mean, Native Americans were great engineers prior to 1492... They had built their waterways and trade routes and stuff, and many of the current highways and waterways today are built over those.…”

“…Follow-up questions prompted participants to contextualize their experiences in their Native culture and upbringing. The protocol then covered areas such as engineering identity, leadership identity, and engineering leadership, with questions that overlapped with those of Anderson and Jordan [31]. Interviews were professionally transcribed and imported into NVivo qualitative analysis software for analysis.…”

Indigenizing the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Programmed Engineering Education Curriculum, Challenges and Future Potentials

“…The "Indigenization of the curriculum" has been explored through various positionalities in the literature [2], [3], [12], [13], [4]- [11]. Both Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars have examined the requirements and initiatives to achieve equity, diversity, inclusion, and decolonization in the curriculum [2], [3].…”

“…Work has also been done to inspect the integrations of learning modules and technical courses that are woven with Indigenous topics [8], [9]. In the United States and the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE), discussions have been done to compare engineering and Native American philosophies of learning [10], increase recruitment of underrepresented and minority groups [11], explore how to engage with Native American communities and culture [12], and conduct participatory research with the communities [13].…”