M.E.S. (Ojibwe, Inupiaq)
PhD Candidate, WSU
Stephanie Blair
Passion, Expertise and Contribution
Support the development of curriculum pathways for indigenous science.
Help recruit and mentor indigneous youth in joining the Sustainability Ambassadors Youth Leadership Development Program.
Design formal and informal pathways for native youth to share cultural knowledge.
Coach Interns working on stormwater science and solutions at multiple scales: home, school, city, and watershed.
Identify site-specific projects to format and post as cases studies on www.mywater.world
Help develop a video series to bring expert voices on indigenous science and stormwater into the classroom.
Participate in one or more PBL Curriculum Design Labs to support both teachers and students in applied problem solving.
Support Green Job profiles and diversity workforce development strategies.
Design ways to integrate SA Impact Storytelling into personal and professional communications channels and platforms.
Support Ambassadors in building positive scenarios for the year 2050 through the Summer Series of 2050 WORKOUTS.
Attend the annual 2050 Update (August) and help promote it as widely as possible.
About Stephanie
Stephanie is Ojibwe from the Sault Sainte Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians in MI and Inupiaq from the Nome Eskimo Community in AK. Stephanie grew up in Tacoma, WA, and was raised by her parents to value building relationships with the land through hunting, gathering, fishing, backpacking and hiking.
She received her Bachelor of Science degree from Evergreen State College with an emphasis in chemistry in 2008 and lived at the Skokomish Indian Reservation following graduation. Her household was supported in large part by treaty fishing and she became more aware of the importance of salmon protection in tribal treaty fishing rights, tribal sovereignty and cultural revitalization. To give back to the urban and native communities that had supported her throughout her life, she decided to pursue a Master of Environmental Studies (MES) degree at Evergreen.
After reading an article about the problem of urban stormwater causing recurrent die-off events of coho salmon, she reached out to Dr. Jenifer McIntyre at Washington State University to support the research effort. Stephanie graduated with her MES degree in 2017 and continued her toxicology research in Dr. McIntyre’s lab as a PhD student. In collaboration with Dr. Clyde Barlow at Evergreen State College, Stephanie discovered that the toxic mode of action in coho urban runoff mortality syndrome involves blood-brain barrier disruption and published an article on her work in 2021, which was featured as an Editor’s Choice in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences.
Stephanie’s passion is to help create a more sustainable Pacific Northwest through her novel scientific research, the practice of her traditional lifeways and engagement with youth as emerging community leaders. She enjoys creating art, traditional crafts, speaking her native language, spending time outdoors and with her family.