The Tribal College and University (TCU) Building Bridges Grant Program awarded over $500,000 in its first cycle of selections. Through a cooperative agreement with the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC), the NASA Minority University Research and Education Project for American Indian Alaska Native STEM Engagement (MAIANSE) created the grant program to broaden TCU student participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs through projects that enrich and support course and curriculum development, expand research activities, and increase student engagement.

“AIHEC is proud to be in this partnership with NASA to increase STEM participation at our TCUs,” said Ahniwake Rose, AIHEC’s president and CEO. “In addition to the educational opportunities these grants will provide, we also look to the potential future outcomes including better career opportunities for our students, job growth through economic development, and overall, strong sovereign nations.”

In response to a request for proposals released in June of 2024, AIHEC selected eight TCU projects centered around STEM enrichment. Haskell Indian Nations University’s project, Creating an Engagement with STEM, provides students with the opportunity to participate in activities to gain knowledge of STEM field careers, such as the NASA internship program, First Nations Launch, and the NASA RockOn!™ workshop.

Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College’s Enhancing Experiential Based Learning within Engineering at Tribal Community Colleges project increases exposure to additive manufacturing courses in an applied setting, with a secondary goal of ensuring that students investigate and pursue career pathways in STEM fields by having internship-based exposures.

Northwest Indian College’s Attracting STEM Students Through Extracurricular Science/Club Activities will engage students in activities that increase the likelihood they will enroll in STEM classes and pursue additional knowledge in rocketry and remote-control technologies.

At Red Lake Nation College (RLNC), the Natural Resources Research Internships program will collaborate with the Red Lake Department of Natural Resources to provide natural resources research internships for RLNC students. Students will work with Red Lake Department of Natural Resource staff on local projects in natural resource fields such as forestry, water resources, fisheries, and wildlife management.

Stone Child College’s Indigenizing App Development program will teach students how to create culturally relevant, interactive experiences with real-time 3D software and workflow that professionals use in industries such as gaming, architecture, engineering, automotive technology, and entertainment.

At Turtle Mountain College, the Analyzing Ecological Trends on Turtle Mountain program will empower students to investigate climate change impacts on the Turtle Mountain reservation using real-world data from USGS Earth Explorer and NASA Resources. Through the analyzation of satellite imagery and diverse datasets, students will gain hands-on experience with GIS software and remote sensing techniques to uncover trends in land use, vegetation health, and temperature variations.

United Tribes Technical College’s (UTTC’s) Enhancing STEM Education through Structural and Electrochemical Material Characterization Research project enhances STEM education through student-led, hands-on research with an integrated approach to material characterization using x-ray diffraction and a potentiostat. “This award will be transformative for UTTC’s STEM program, providing our students with hands-on experience in cutting-edge research,” said Dr. Ram Hona, chemistry instructor and researcher. “It’s a significant step in our mission to empower Native scholars and prepare them for future careers in science and technology.”

White Earth Tribal and Community College’s (WETCC’s) Breaking Barriers to STEM Careers program will create an active learning summer bridge program for high school (juniors and seniors) or new admittance WETCC students to prepare them for college-level coursework in STEM and enhance student interest in pursuing further studies and careers in STEM by supporting a trip for a group of WETCC students to attend a NASA training experience at the Kennedy Space Center.

“The TCU Building Bridges Grant Program is a great example of how collaborating on common interests and goals can contribute to providing more opportunities in STEM. AIHEC and NASA will work together to support and facilitate TCU faculty and students engaging in research that addresses tribal and local priorities while encouraging students to pursue a career pathway in STEM,” stated Keya T. Briscoe, Minority University Research and Education Project manager with NASA.

NASA MAIANSE and AIHEC are encouraged by TCU participation in this program and plans are underway for the next TCU Building Bridges Grant Program release in the fall of 2024.