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

航行新北极(NNA)是NSF的十大想法之一。NNA项目解决了快速变化的北极地区汇聚的科学挑战。北极研究需要为国家、更大区域和全球的经济、安全和韧性提供信息。NNA增强了从地方到国际的新的研究伙伴关系，使下一代北极研究人员多样化，加强正式和非正式教育的努力，并在适当的情况下整合共同创造知识。该奖项通过在以下NNA重点领域解决社会系统、自然环境和建筑环境之间的相互作用来实现这一目标的一部分：北极居民、预报和有弹性的基础设施。阿拉斯加土著社区的福祉取决于获得安全饮用水。然而，由于自然产生的和人为的污染物，水污染仍然是这些社区中的许多社区的现实。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、古代有机碳、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，但他们也掌握着关于其水资源的宝贵土著知识。该项目旨在将西方的科学知识与本土的水知识相结合，以更好地了解这些水质随时间的变化。此外，该项目还将为土著知识和西方科学的真正融合制定一个框架，该框架可应用于其他社区正在进行的类似的环境和文化变革。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)的水质本土知识。具体的项目目标是：(I)评估储存在冰川和永久冻土中的水的物理、化学和微生物质量，(Ii)分析当前背景水化学(如溶解有机碳、金属、营养物质)与微生物生态之间的相互作用，(Iii)利用人种学方法，包括照片-声音和半结构化访谈，描述土著水质知识，以及(Iv)通过咨询委员会和塞拉维克和安克雷奇的公开社区会议与阿拉斯加社区成员进行交流。西方科学数据和土著知识之间的真正融合将通过以目的为导向的共享学习方法(即社区福祉)来实现。该项目的广泛影响包括(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不同的学生群体，以及(Iii)新颖的“庆祝水”活动，在该活动中，阿拉斯加社区成员讲述的照片和故事将广泛传播项目知识。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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.