NATURE Home

Nurturing American Tribal Undergraduate Research and Education (NATURE) is an educational outreach program sponsored by the North Dakota Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (ND EPSCoR). NATURE is designed to build new and strengthen existing pathways for Native American students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. Participants of the program include students and faculty from all five tribal colleges in North Dakota, high schools students and teachers from the four North Dakota Indian reservations, and faculty from research universities of North Dakota, North Dakota State University (NDSU) and University of North Dakota (UND).

The NATURE program is a culturally relevant program. The philosophy of the program focuses on American Indian heritage and how science and technology have evolved from such practices. The program encourages respect for American Indian practices within the context of scientific methods and theories. This focus offers an even greater relevancy to students and faculty who participate.

Attracting North Dakota Native American high school students into STEM disciplines
Increasing retention rate of ND Native American students in STEM programs at high school and college levels by incorporating culture into STEM
Building research capacity in tribal colleges that will benefit students, faculty, programs, and community
Building a STEM pathway for American Indian students that incorporates Native Knowledge.

COMPONENT ACTIVITIES:

University Summer Camp
Tribal College Summer Camps
Sunday Academy
Tribal College Undergraduate Research Mentoring

Building a pathway for American Indian students in the pursuit of careers related to STEM.