Celebrating Emerging Indigenous Research and Knowledge
Celebrating Emerging Indigenous Knowledge & Research
Saturday, Feb 21, 2026 | 9 am - 3 pm with breakfast served 8:30 am - 9 am
Presented to you by the RISE Center and CNAIR
TGS Commons (Room 140), Seabury Hall, Northwestern University
2122 Sheridan Road, Room 140, Evanston, IL 60201
Enter through the door marked "2122 Sheridan" on the North building door on Haven Street
Please join us for a day of community and presentations from our emerging scholars to celebrate the breadth of Indigenous research being conducted at Northwestern University. We will celebrate and learn from graduate students, undergraduate students, and postdoctoral scholars who are engaging with Indigenous research methods and Indigenous studies. We will also honor the mentorship provided to our emerging scholars. Faculty, students, community, family, & friends are invited to attend.
Breakfast & lunch will be provided! This celebration is free and open to all with an RSVP - RSVP REQUIRED BY 2/18.
Event Agenda
8:30 am - 9:00 am: Breakfast
9:00 am - 9:15 am: Welcome Remarks by Dr. Stephanie Fryberg (Director, CNAIR and Director, RISE Center)
9:15 am - 10:00 am: Systemic Injustices Facing Indigenous Communities
- Colonial Continuities in Discipline: The Disproportionate Impact of Youth Incarceration on Indigenous Youth across Minneapolis and Chicago | Dallas Downey, Undergraduate Student
- Weaving Wellness: Native American Genetic Health | Olivia Bailey, Undergraduate Student
- Blood Money: The Mortal Cost of Extraction in the Arctic | Mathilda Zeller, MFA Student
10:00 am - 11:00 am: Harnessing Indigenous Knowledge for Environmental and Scientific Advancement
- Holistic Methods for Monitoring Wild Rice Combining Ecological Knowledge to Capture Phenology and Disturbance | Jordan Gurneau, Graduate Student
- Navigating Indigeneity in Engineering Research: Sustainability and Polymers | Abigail Buell, Undergraduate Student
- Affectivity, Learning and Human Development - An Indigenous Ontological Horizon | Miguel Angel Garcia-Bocanegra, Graduate Student
- River as Relative: Making Relations with Water Through Indigenous Knowledge Systems | Forrest Bruce, Graduate Student
11:00 am - 11:45 am: Faculty Keynote with Brandi Berry Benson: Boundaries in Native American Music Research
11:45 am: Break
12:00 pm - 12:45 pm: Lunch
12:45 pm - 1:45 pm: Supporting Indigenous Sovereignty and Decolonization Efforts
- Dakota vs. Predator: Dakota Teachers of a Living Language in Settler-Published Texts | Heather Menefee, Graduate Student
- Enculturation, wellbeing, omissions and misrepresentations | Solo Miner , Graduate Student
- Inafa'maolek Archaeologies: CHamoru resurgence amidst militarization on Guam | Lula Fox, Undergraduate Student
- Sovereignty in discourse: indigenous foodways, decolonial perspectives | Ryann Monterio, Graduate Student
1:45 pm - 2:45 pm: Indigenous Storywork, Language, and Cultural Preservation
- Visual poetry, archives, Rotuman language | Mere Taito, Postdoctoral Scholar
- Family Oral History project | Meadow Neubauer-Keyes, Undergraduate Student
- Indigenous storywork for wellbeing | Cece Hoffman, Graduate Student
- Performing Preservation: Choreographing Resilience, Restoration, and Cultural Transformation | Marsae Mitchell, Graduate Student
2:50 pm - 3 pm: Closing Remarks
Updates to Agenda will be Made Here: