NNA Track 1: Collaborative Research: A Purpose-Driven Merger of Western Science and Indigenous Knowledge of Water Quality in Alaskan Communities

导航新北极（NNA）是美国国家科学基金会的十大构想之一。NNA项目解决快速变化的北极地区的融合科学挑战。北极研究需要为国家、更大地区和全球的经济、安全和复原力提供信息。NNA支持从地方到国际规模的新研究伙伴关系，使下一代北极研究人员多样化，加强正式和非正式教育的努力，并在适当情况下整合知识的共同生产。该奖项通过解决以下NNA重点领域的社会系统、自然环境和建筑环境之间的相互作用，实现了这一目标的一部分：北极居民、预测和弹性基础设施。阿拉斯加土著社区的福祉取决于能否获得安全的饮用水。然而，由于自然发生和人为污染物，许多这些社区的水污染仍然是一个现实。随着气候变暖，环境变化可能会通过永久冻土融化和冰川融化释放出埋藏的微生物、古老的有机碳、营养物质和金属，从而加剧水污染问题。虽然阿拉斯加社区极易受到这种变化的影响，但他们也拥有宝贵的水资源土著知识。该项目旨在将西方的科学知识与本土的水知识结合起来，以便更好地了解这些随时间变化的水质。此外，这个项目将导致发展一个真正融合土著知识和西方科学的框架，可以应用于其他社区正在进行的类似的环境和文化变化。该项目将收集和汇总北极特有的三个环境系统（冰川、永久冻土和受冰川影响的河流系统）中有关水质的西方科学数据和土著知识。具体的项目目标是(i)评估冰川和永久冻土中冻结的水的物理、化学和微生物质量，（ii）分析当前背景水化学（例如，溶解的有机碳、金属、营养物质）与微生物生态学之间的相互作用，（iii）使用人种学方法（包括照片语音和半结构化访谈）描述土著水质知识。（iv）通过在塞拉维克和安克雷奇举行的咨询委员会和公开社区会议，与阿拉斯加社区成员进行沟通。西方科学数据和土著知识之间的真正融合将通过一种目的驱动的方法（即社区福祉）来实现。该项目更广泛的影响包括(i)与STEM中代表性不足的社区的接触，（ii）在项目目标中纳入和培训多样化的学生群体，以及（iii）新颖的“水的庆祝”活动，其中阿拉斯加社区成员的照片语音活动和故事将广泛传播项目知识。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Navigating the New Arctic (NNA) is one of NSF's 10 Big Ideas. NNA projects address convergence scientific challenges in the rapidly changing Arctic. The Arctic research is needed to inform the economy, security and resilience of the Nation, the larger region and the globe. NNA empowers new research partnerships from local to international scales, diversifies the next generation of Arctic researchers, enhances efforts in formal and informal education, and integrates the co-production of knowledge where appropriate. This award fulfills part of that aim by addressing interactions among social systems, natural environment, and built environment in the following NNA focus areas: Arctic Residents, Forecasting, and Resilient Infrastructure.The well-being of Alaskan Indigenous communities depends on access to safe drinking water. However, water pollution has remained a reality for many of these communities due to naturally occurring and anthropogenic pollutants. As the climate warms, environmental changes will likely exacerbate water contamination problems by releasing entombed microorganisms, ancient organic carbon, nutrients, and metals through thawing of permafrost and melting of glaciers. While Alaskan communities are highly vulnerable to such changes, they also hold valuable Indigenous Knowledge about their water resources. This project aims to merge Western scientific knowledge with Indigenous Knowledge of water to better understand these changes in water quality over time. Additionally, this project will lead to the development of a framework for true convergence of Indigenous Knowledge and Western science that can be applied to similar environmental and cultural changes ongoing in other communities. The project will collect and aggregate Western scientific data and Indigenous Knowledge of water quality in three environmental systems that are unique to the Arctic (glaciers, permafrost, and a glacier-impacted river system). Specific project objectives are to (i) assess the physical, chemical, and microbial quality of water stored frozen in glaciers and permafrost, (ii) analyze the interaction between background water chemistry (e.g., dissolved organic carbon, metals, nutrients) and microbial ecology at the present time, (iii) delineate Indigenous water quality knowledge using ethnographic approaches, including photo-voice and semi-structured interviews, and (iv) communicate with Alaskan community members through advisory boards and open community meetings at Selawik and Anchorage. A true convergence between Western scientific data and Indigenous Knowledge will be forged by a purpose-driven approach (i.e., community well-being) to shared learning. The broader impacts of this project include (i) engagement with underrepresented communities in STEM, (ii) inclusion and training of a diverse pool of students in project goals, and (iii) the novel “celebration of water” event in which photo-voice activities and stories told by Alaskan community members will broadly disseminate project knowledge.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.