ESIIL:

The Environmental Data Science Innovation & Inclusion Lab is a NSF-funded data synthesis center led by the University of Colorado Boulder in collaboration with NSF’s CyVerse at the University of Arizona and the University of Oslo. ESIIL enables a global community of environmental data scientists to leverage the wealth of environmental data and emerging analytics to develop science-based solutions to solve pressing challenges in biology and other environmental sciences. ESIIL holds inclusion as a core principle and method for diversifying environmental data science at a time when society needs all perspectives, and science needs to serve all.

ESIIL’s research community generates discoveries and novel approaches through: 1) cutting-edge team science, 2) innovative tools and collaborative cyberinfrastructure, 3) data science education and training, and 4) building inclusive participation and diverse groups. These activities advance the frontier of environmental data science, a rapidly evolving discipline bridging the computational, biological, environmental, and social sciences.

Elsa Culler:

Curriculum developer and instructor for ESIIL and Earth Lab, University of Colorado, Boulder. I am from Chicago, Illinois. I study water resources and cascading natural hazards, like the cascade of drought, wildfire, heavy rainfall, and mudslides that becomes a much larger problem than any of those separately. These days, I work on culturally relevant curriculum for our many awesome Indigenous students and faculty partners, professional students, and aspiring Environmental Data Science educators and community leaders. At home, I enjoy playing music and enacting grandiose plans for my future backyard food forest.

Nathan Quarderer:

Education Director for ESIIL and Earth Lab, University of Colorado, Boulder. Nathan is an educational researcher currently focused on the topics of data science education, and on how people come to know about climate change and why they hold a particular set of beliefs. At Earth Lab and ESIIL, Nathan helped organize and implement the Earth Data Science Corps and ESIIL Stars programs, leading assessment and evaluation efforts. He also helps oversee the Earth Data Analytics--Foundations Online Professional Graduate Certificate. When he’s not working with students, Nate likes to get outside with his dog, Bruce.

Jim Sanovia:

Háu Jim emačiyab. Hello, my name is Jim. Sičáŋǧu Lakóta etáŋhaŋ wauwé yeló.

I come from the Burnt Thigh or Rosebud people. One of the seven bands/tribes of the Lakóta Oyáte. I was raised in HeSapa or the Black Hills of South Dakota. I am ESIIL’s Tribal Resilience Data Scientist. My interests are remote sensing, geospatial applications, data sovereignty, and working with all Tribes and TCUs bringing EDS to their communities. In my spare time I enjoy collecting rocks/minerals and making leather regalia such as quivers, sheaths, backpacks, pouches, etc.

Elisha Yellow Thunder:

Oglala Lakota winyan hemaca na makoce wakan kin. He sapa heciyantanhan na Wakinyan Zi wicoti kinhan ka Wakpamni Lake SD Unci Amelia Yellow Thunder el kichi emacage.

What I said in Lakota is: I am an Oglala Lakota woman I come from a sacred land called the Black Hills, where Yellow Thunder camp used to be. I was raised by grandmother Amelia Yellow Thunder in Wakpamni Lake, SD. I am a proud graduate of Oglala Lakota College, receiving my bachelors in Natural Science May 2020, as the pandemic began. My graduation ceremony was via Zoom link. I am pursuing my PhD in Natural Resource Management at South Dakota State University, Assessing Agricultural Sustainability on BIA Leased Lands on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.