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

新北极航行（NNA）是NSF的十大创意之一。NNA项目解决快速变化的北极地区的趋同科学挑战。北极研究需要为国家、更大地区和地球仪的经济、安全和复原力提供信息。NNA授权从地方到国际规模的新的研究伙伴关系，使下一代北极研究人员多样化，加强正规和非正规教育的努力，并在适当的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。阿拉斯加原住民社区的福祉取决于获得安全饮用水。然而，由于自然发生的和人为的污染物，水污染仍然是许多这些社区的现实。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。虽然阿拉斯加社区非常容易受到这种变化的影响，但他们也拥有关于水资源的宝贵土著知识。该项目旨在将西方科学知识与土著水知识相结合，以更好地了解水质随时间的变化。此外，该项目将导致制定一个框架，使土著知识和西方科学真正融合，可应用于其他社区正在进行的类似环境和文化变革。该项目将收集和汇总西方科学数据和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）的水质知识。具体的项目目标是：（一）评估冰川和永久冻土中冻结储存的水的物理、化学和微生物质量;（二）分析背景水化学（例如，溶解的有机碳，金属，营养物）和微生物生态学在目前的时间，（iii）描绘土著水质知识使用人种学的方法，包括照片，声音和半结构化的采访，和（iv）沟通与阿拉斯加社区成员通过咨询委员会和公开的社区会议在Selawik和安克雷奇。西方科学数据和本土知识之间的真正融合将通过目的驱动的方法（即，社区福祉）到共享学习。该项目更广泛的影响包括：（i）与STEM中代表性不足的社区接触，（ii）在项目目标中纳入和培训多样化的学生，及（iii）新颖的“庆祝水”活动，其中照片-阿拉斯加社区成员讲述的声音活动和故事将广泛传播项目知识。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过以下方式获得支持：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。

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.