The Native FEWS Alliance is one of the largest partnerships within the Development Engineering program dedicated to advancing leadership in Indigenous Food, Energy, and Water Systems (FEWS). Launched in 2021 with support from an NSF INCLUDES grant, the Alliance grew from a collaboration between two NSF Research Traineeships focused on Food, Energy, and Water Systems (FEWS) on Indigenous lands: UC Berkeley’s InFEWS Program in Development Engineering and University of Arizona’s Indige-FEWSS. The partnership was shaped through a series of Co-InFEWS workshops in 2020 and 2021, fostering collaboration and designing initiatives that strengthen education, research, and community impact in FEWS across Indigenous communities.
NSF INCLUDES NATIONAL NETWORK
Broadening Participation, Expanding Opportunities in STEM
The Native FEWS Alliance (the Alliance) has a dual vision: to build a highly skilled STEM workforce at the intersection of Food, Energy, and Water, and to co-create Indigenous, place-based FEWS education and community partnerships. The Alliance’s interconnected goals are to:
Recruit, retain, and graduate students who pursue higher education and careers in Native FEWS, empowering them to bring knowledge and solutions back to their communities.
Transform institutional STEM fields to be relevant, inclusive, and accessible to Native American nations and communities.
Address urgent FEWS challenges in Indigenous communities.
Co-develop integrated, Indigenous, place-based curricula, mentoring programs, and hands-on practice experiences.
