Crossing rivers and climbing mountains: Academic and professional experiences of an American Indian/Chicano ecologist

I will share how ancestry, culture and family influenced my academic and professional choices to pursue a career as an ecologist. Seeking alignment of cultural and academic interest lead me to professional opportunities in ecology. Since completing my PhD in Environmental Sciences, I have foraged a specialized research agenda that fulfills my tribal and professional responsibilities as an ecologist. The experiences of my career have had me cross different river systems (fisheries and academic work) and climb mountains (professional wildland fire assignments and field work), that have mutually strengthen cultural responsibilities in my tribal community and work with Indigenous peoples.