AISES

There's something for everyone at !

Explore this year's sessions, agenda, and register at conference.aises.org.

What are you most excited for?

We are excited to be exhibiting at the 2026

Philanthropy has an important role to play in shaping the future of STEM, and that future must include Indigenous students, educators, professionals, and communities. Together, we can expand access, invest in opportunity, and help ensure Indigenous people are part of the innovations shaping our world.

Be sure to stop by our booth or learn more and support our work at https://give.aises.org/campaign/718766/donate

✨Save the Date!✨

The 2027 AISES Canada National Gathering is coming to Winnipeg! Join Indigenous STEM students, professionals, educators, and leaders for three days of connection, culture, career-building, and big ideas.

🌿 Sacred Knowledge: Where Indigenous Wisdom Meets Innovation

📅 February 25–27, 2027
📍 RBC Convention Centre | Winnipeg, MB

And we want your knowledge in the room! Session proposals are now open! Share your expertise, stories, research, and ideas with the Indigenous STEM community.

🔗 Learn more and submit your session proposal https://aises.ca

📚 Educators, this one’s for you!

Join us Saturday, October 17, in Portland, OR for a full day of learning, collaboration, and connection focused on supporting Indigenous students and strengthening PK–12 STEM education.

✨ What’s new this year:
• Two concurrent presentations each session
• Keynote from Dezi Lynn (Diné), National Indian Education Association
• 1 CEU opportunity through Fort Lewis College for educators who complete the full program
• Complimentary boxed lunches for the first 100 participants, thanks to The Lemelson Foundation

Educator Day is included with conference registration, and all educators are welcome!

Register for the AISES National Conference at conference.aises.org/attendees/registration

For more than 13 years, Sarah EchoHawk has led AISES with resilience, vision, and care, and is now preparing to step down as President to begin her next chapter.

During her time at AISES, she helped build a stronger, more resilient organization and expand pathways for Indigenous students and professionals in STEM.

She will continue to lead AISES through the 2026 AISES National Conference in Portland before concluding her tenure in November.

As we look toward AISES’ next chapter—and our 50th year—we invite the AISES Family to join us in thanking Sarah for all she has given to our community.

Read the full announcement → https://www.aises.org/til-we-meet-again-a-leadership-transition-within-our-aises-family

Sarah, ‘til we meet again. 🧡

It's the first-ever Wild Rice Week! Here's how one of our Indigenous scientists is using STEM to care for the rice 🌱

This week, Wisconsin is recognizing its first Wild Rice Week, highlighting the importance of protecting manoomin and the Indigenous communities who have stewarded it for generations.

Manoomin — one of the few grains indigenous to North America — is sacred to the Ojibwe. Yet in recent decades, wild rice beds across Ojibwe homelands have faced growing challenges, from changing water levels and climate patterns to pollution and habitat degradation.

STEM can play an important role in understanding and responding to those changes.

That’s where Josiah Hester, PhD, a Native Hawaiian scientist and AISES 2021 Most Promising Scientist, comes in. Through his Ka Moamoa Lab, Hester and his collaborators are using accessible, low-cost sensor technology to collect data on conditions affecting wild rice beds — including water temperature and depth, air temperature and humidity.

The goal isn’t to replace Indigenous knowledge with technology. It’s to bring knowledge systems together.

As Hester explains, the data can complement Indigenous knowledge and Western science, providing information that communities can use to make decisions and inform policy.

From harvesting traditions to sensors in the water, this work demonstrates what’s possible when Indigenous knowledge and STEM work together to care for the future.

Learn more about Dr. Hester’s work and discover how Indigenous innovation is helping address challenges facing communities and ecosystems at https://aises.org/profile/josiah-hester/

Dr. Josiah Hester - Re-imagining Technology for a Sustainable World - AISES AISES Member Dr. Josiah Hester (Native Hawaiian) shows how low-cost tech combined with Indigenous innovation yields climate solutions.

The first-ever medical school branch offering a Doctor of Medicine MD degree on the land of the Gila River Indian Community 👏🏾

"For too long, many of our young people who dreamed of becoming doctors had to leave home to pursue that goal. This partnership with the University of Arizona changes that. It gives them the opportunity to learn, train and build their careers right here in the Community, where they can make a real difference for the people they serve." -Stephen Roe Lewis, Governor of the Gila River Indian Community

Learn more:

U of A and Gila River Health Care (an entity of the Gila River Indian Community) launch nation's first MD-granting medical school branch within a Tribal Nation A landmark partnership reflects a new approach to preparing physicians for Tribal, rural and medically underserved communities.

Are Indigenous Peoples users of AI or is AI using Indigenous Peoples?
How can we protect our culture, our land, and our water in a world with AI?
How do we protect youth from potential AI harm while empowering them to shape AI?

Join us and Teach For America for this important multigenerational conversation at First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City on Tuesday, September 8th from 6-9 PM.

Come listen. Come question. Come shape the conversation. Sign up here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdrdvp7PsM09mXN1sEAU78LIeeUQy08cz80od6ct2IT5YGgpA/viewform

The first 100 to register will receive a free dinner catered by an Indigenous chef!