Sandra Begay-Campbell, newly elected Chair of the Board of Directors for the American Indian Science and Engineering Society discusses difficulties she has faced, including almost failing college, struggling to find her place in a male-dominated field, and dealing with leadership issues as an American Indian woman. Begay-Campbell stresses the…

The Navajo Nation has eliminated jail time for 79 offenses and required traditional peacemaking in criminal cases, primarily involving family violence. Peacemaking entails examination of the criminal act by all involved, family responsibility for its members, and symbolic restitution. The change promotes prevention and child protection by breaking…

Prior to any development on the Navajo Reservation, cultural resource inventories must be completed by archaeologists. Navajo and other Native students are trained to become archaeologists through employment at the Navajo Nation Archaeology Department at Northern Arizona University. Many program graduates have returned to their tribes to work in…

A nuclear physicist feels that his Navajo upbringing, with its emphasis on the structure of nature and abstract reasoning, prepared him well for the world of physics. Traditional Navajo sandpaintings helped him understand physics concepts. Native American students show strengths in learning visual, perceptual, or spatial information, and they…

Describes the 1995-97 student exchange program between the Navajo Nation in San Juan School District, Utah, and the Khanty-Mansisk region of Siberia. Similarities were found in language, string games, folk tales, sweat lodges, clan traditions, traditional arts and crafts, and stories of ancient meetings between the two peoples and use of the…

For 14 years, Mountain Outreach, a program at Cumberland College (Williamsburg, Kentucky), has enabled college students to participate in community service projects. Recently, 35 students traveled to New Mexico to build a house for a Navajo elder who was unable to obtain adequate housing. Participants discuss their learning experiences and their…

The Family Spirit Project provides health and parenting education and in-home support to Navajo and Apache teen parents. The public-health careers of Native professionals allied with the project are described, including a public health administrator, a trainer of field workers, and a medical researcher specializing in communicable diseases that…

The Navajo supervisor in the Office of Environmental Health in New Mexico identifies diseases and their risk factors, administers an injury prevention program, and ensures compliance with various health-related codes. She assists in the planning and direction of environmental health programs and public health education for local Navajo…

Two Navajo men reflect on their quest for literacy and their struggle with cultural maintenance and acculturation. Jimmy Eltsosie, who has lived on the Navajo Reservation all of his life, realized he had to learn English to survive in both worlds. Phil Hale, who grew up in California, learned Navajo in order to live and work on the reservation.…

Electrical engineer Robert Whitman and microbiologist Gilbert John have pursued academic careers in order to advance their own research and serve as role models for Native American students. After receiving Ph.D.s, Whitman and John were appointed assistant professors at research-oriented universities. Sidebar addresses the role Native American…

A summer program at Monument Valley High School (Utah) combines teaching by elders of Navajo craft and design with computer programming and geometry. The program encourages students to learn traditions of their culture and how new technologies relate to these customs. Students use LOGO, an educational graphics software to design patterns for rug…

Utah State University and a rural elementary school attended by Navajos cooperated on a science education program for grades 4-6. The program used take-home science kits; field trips; parental input; and Navajo staff, language, and culture to make the program culturally relevant. University students in science teacher education programs helped…