Read.Watch.Listen. Native American Heritage Month
- SE3 Committee
- Nov 1
- 3 min read
Updated: Nov 2
October 2025 Issue
A monthly forum to share diversity, equity, and inclusion resources.
Welcome to the next installment of Read.Watch.Listen. This month, we are celebrating Native American Heritage Month. The traditions, languages, and stories of Native American communities are highlighted throughout the month of November each year. In 2021, Read.Watch.Listen first featured Native American Heritage Month. You can access that installment here: Read.Watch.Listen. National Native American Heritage Month
Native Americans connect with their environments and create an understanding of how things work that closely mirrors our modern STEM ideas. In this news feature, several Native Americans talk about how STEM is deeply rooted in Native American Culture. There is also a long history of Native American Bridge Building and how they created engineering feats early on. In their cultures, bridges connect their communities through functional as well as symbolic ways. The aptitude with building bridges served to benefit the New York City skyline, where Native American riveting gangs adapted to help build modern bridges and then skyscrapers. You can read more about How Mohawk "Skywalkers" Helped Build New York City's Tallest Skyscrapers including the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, and Rockefeller Plaza. The resources below continue the discussion of how Native Americans connect with STEM fields, but face challenges along the way.
Image by Dallas Culture
Native American Representation in STEM: Indigenous Innovation - The Smithsonian Institution
In this article from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, educators explore how Indigenous peoples have long been innovators in science, engineering, and technology, from developing advanced agricultural systems and road networks to creating medicines and astronomical tools rooted in environmental knowledge. The piece challenges stereotypes by highlighting how these traditions continue to influence modern STEM fields and inspire future Native scientists. Tune into this quick read to see how centuries of Indigenous innovation are shaping today’s understanding of science and sustainability.
Published 2020; Estimated Read Time - 5 minutes
Finding Success in Keeping Indigenous Students in School - CIRCLES Alliance
The Cultivating Indigenous Research Communities for Leadership in Education and STEM (CIRCLES) Alliance aims to address the reasons for native underrepresentation in STEM fields and discusses programs undertaken to attempt to correct the issues discovered. In 2006, only 353 out of 68,000 engineering degrees issued in the US were conferred to Native students (approximately 0.005%, as compared to the 1.5% of the US population comprised of Native citizens at that time). Two partner organizations funded by the National Science Foundation explored the reasons for the dearth of Native participation in STEM education. They organized pairing programs between Tribal colleges and universities and local four-year universities to provide resources, representation, and opportunities for Native students and created a roadmap program to allow other organizations to pursue similar partnerships in their area to engage their local Native communities and increase enrollment in STEM programs. By emphasizing opportunities as well as maintaining cultural sensitivity and connection, the program successfully led to marked increases in enrollment and degrees issued, changing lives and inspiring future generations of potential STEM students. This watch overviews one of the results of these efforts, where the University of Montana is finding success in keeping Indigenous students in school.
Originally aired August 22, 2025; 00:01:07
Paving a Way for Indigenous People in STEM – AISES and SWE
In this episode, host Karen Horting talks with Sarah EchoHawk (Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma), CEO of American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES), about the barriers Indigenous students and professionals face entering STEM fields. AISES helps address these challenges by building community through K-12 outreach, scholarship programs, internships, and professional networks tailored to Indigenous students and STEM professionals. We encourage our readers to check out the AISES magazine, Winds of Change, to learn more about their efforts. EchoHawk also discusses how non-Indigenous allies and institutions can support meaningful inclusion: by building genuine partnerships with Indigenous communities, supporting culturally responsive STEM education, investing in long-term pathways (not one-time initiatives), creating inclusive professional environments, and recognizing and elevating Indigenous expertise.
Originally published November 30, 2021; 00:28:50
This article was originally published in the NCSEA's Structural Connection newsletter.
Read.Watch.Listen is a monthly forum hosted by the NCSEA SE3 Committee to share and promote conversations on diversity, equity and inclusion within the structural engineering profession. Each month, we will curate a series of articles, audio-visual and digital media to facilitate self-education in matters that affect our professional practice as structural engineers. Whether you choose to read, watch, or listen (or all three!), we hope you will join us in this important conversation. Missed the previous issue? Check out the NCSEA SE3 Committee News and Publication page.
Share your thoughts and/or recommended resources for the next issue at ncsea@ncsea.com.
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