HERS at NSF NCAR

Haskell-NSF NCAR Environmental Assessment Training

The Haskell-NSF NCAR Environmental Assessment Training is a one-week summer program created through a partnership among Haskell Indian Nations University, the University of Kansas, and NSF NCAR, and is dedicated to engaging Native American students in Earth system science.  

The training is hosted at NSF NCAR in Boulder, Colorado, and functions as a capstone for the HERS Institute, which is an 8-week summer science research internship program at Haskell Indian Nations University for Native American and Native Hawaiian students from around the country. 

By bringing Indigenous and scientific communities closer together, the program aims to advance student understanding in Earth system science in an effort to increase the number of Native students continuing to graduate study in STEM fields. 

Topics addressed during the week-long training include the impacts of severe weather and climate change on communities, data collection and analysis, and data sovereignty. Students begin the week by presenting the summer research they completed prior to arriving in Boulder, which allows the students the opportunity to showcase their work while also networking with NSF NCAR scientists and summer interns.

The students conduct a case study of a meteorological event by collecting and analyzing archived surface observation data. To help in understanding this data collection process, the students build a meteorological tower at NSF NCAR’s Marshall Field site and learn how to collect data from the tower’s instruments. The students also participate in a day of hydrological fieldwork, in which they explore the impacts of mining on runoff water along the Rocky Mountain Front Range. At the end of the week, the students present the results of their case study to their mentors and peers.

Learn more about the HERS program at Haskell Indian Nations University.

For more information, please contact Jerry Cyccone at NSF NCAR.