Meet Our People - CIRCLES

Joseph Bonnell-Hall

Biography:
I graduated Valedictorian from Lakeside High School Plummer -Worley School District in 2010. My leadership abilities stood out, earning me acceptance into Dartmouth College. I graduated with a double major in Environmental Studies and Native American Studies in 2014. I served as a Wildland Firefighter for the USFS Santa Fe National Forest based out of Espanola, NM in 2015. My passion is working for the Coeur d'Alene Tribe and serving my community. Past jobs have included Environmental Programs Office, Fire and Fuels Management, temporary Fisheries and Wildlife Programs and Culture Department. I spent the summer of 2024 as an Idaho National Laboratories Graduate Intern developing STEM Education for the Coeur d'Alene Tribe in hydroelectric renewable energy and assisting students find their career path. I started my Masters Program for Fall term 2024 in Water Resources: Science and Management.

Advisor Dr. Gregory Moller. Co-advisor Dr. Dan Strawn.

Alex Gomez

Biography:
My parents are both immigrants from Mexico and through my dad, I am of Purépecha descent. My maternal grandparents are farm workers and when I reached high school I began working alongside them. Through that experience, I gained a deeper understanding of their sacrifice in leaving their home country and separating from their families. Additionally, I learned about hard work. This experience also opened doors for me in the College Assistance Migrant Program at the University of Idaho. I graduated in spring 24 with a B.S. in Anthropology. I am pursuing an M.A. in Anthropology, and I plan to continue work from an internship I did in CIRCLES for my thesis. I hope to garner a better understanding of a program that existed in the 1970s and the people who were participants at that time. In the future, I hope to pursue medical anthropology and work with Indigenous farmworkers.

Aldwin Keo

Biography:
Aldwin Keo is researching the migration behavior of lamprey after translocation on the Warm Springs River and Beaver Creek which are located on the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon. The two collection sites are Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River and Shears Falls located on the Deschutes River. To monitor the migration behaviors of the lamprey after translocation, radio telemetry will be used to track their movement throughout the Warm Springs River system.

Abigail MacKay

Biography:
Abigail Mackay is a student at the University of Idaho, McCall Field Campus studying Environmental Science with a focus on Environmental and Indigenous Education. She is Kanaka Maoli, or Native Hawaiian, and joined the CIRCLES Alliance to bring further recognition to the relationship Hawaiians have with the land. While she was born and raised far away from her homeland in Salt Lake City, Utah, she lives every day with a vow to mālama ka ʻāina, to take care of the places that she has relationships with.

Abigail graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.S. in Environmental Studies with minors in Natural Resources Economics and Nonprofit Organizations from Utah State University in 2023. In her free time, she enjoys being outside hiking, trail running, rock climbing, and all kinds of skiing and is currently striving to regain her native language, ʻolelo Hawaiʻi, through active study.

Adamarie Marquez

Biography:
Adamarie Marquez Acevedo is a 1st year doctoral student focusing on reproductive physiology scholar and passionate about reproductive justice. Her dissertation research focuses on re-centering Puerto Rican epistemology in agricultural and medical sciences. Under the mentorship of Dr. Amy Skibiel, Adamarie seeks to describe how stress can give rise to the dysfunction of the molecular pathways coordinating reproductive function. By incorporating her community’s knowledge of agriculture and medicine into reproductive science academic spaces, she aims to shift current academic narratives to highlight the immense contribution Puerto Rican scholars have made in both agriculture and medical sciences.

Alie Minium

Biography:
I enter the University of Idaho as a young Inupiaq, Alaskan Native woman who grew up on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. I spent my childhood in nature, on the Land, and letting those Relatives shape the bones of who I am today. I was filled in later, as I pursued education and academia, receiving my Bachelor of Environmental Science at California Baptist University, and growing into the person I am when writing this. I seek to examine my own relationships to the environment, and I dream of teaching either in a Land Based education program, or within the Academy and higher education. I love all things rocks and soil, and strive to bring a sense of connectedness into the research opportunities I pursue both now and in the future.

Marissa Spang

Biography:
Marissa Spang (Esevona’e, Buffalo Woman), M.Ed., descends from Chief Morning Star through her ke’eehe (Cheyenne grandmother) and of Pretty Shield through her kaa’laa (Crow grandmother). She obtained her B.A. degree in Native American Studies from Dartmouth College and her M.Ed. in Learning Sciences and Human Development from the University of Washington. She is currently an Indigenous Education Researcher at the American Institutes for Research, as well as a CIRCLES Ph.D. student. She has worked in K-12, higher education, community-based and tribal systems in rural and urban communities, including as a high school and land-based Science teacher on her ancestral territories. Her work actively attends to the storied and lived collective continuance of Indigenous peoples, by Indigenous peoples – particularly in the context of everyday, land-based STEM, Indigenous language, and computer science learning that employs Indigenous sciences and ontologies, while finding consensual ways to adapt/integrate Western science. Such an approach works and emerges directly with/in land – in so doing, a host of ecological relations are restored, as well as Indigenous peoples’ knowledges, their sense of self and active, self-determining presence on their territories as good relatives/scientists.

Kim Stewart

Biography:
I’m from the Yakama Nation in Washington state, I grew up on the reservation where I received my B.S. in Environmental Science at Heritage University. I’m currently a Ph.D. student in the CNR Forest, Rangeland and Fire Sciences department. I came to the U of I as an All-Nations LSAMP Bridge to Doctorate Scholar, and I’m excited to be joining the CIRCLES program! My focus is on restoration monitoring of Camas and Yampah which are some of the First Foods of my people. Often restoration projects are missing an important component for constructing functional ecosystems, which is traditional knowledge from Indigenous people. I plan on working with tribal members from my community throughout my research and following an Indigenous Research Methodology.

Fredi Tapaha

Biography:
Fredina “Fredi” Tapaha is a citizen of the Diné/Navajo tribe from northeastern Arizona. She comes from a small community called Round Rock. Her clans are Naakai Dinéʼé (the Mexican People Clan), born for Hónágháahnii (The-One-Who-Walks-Around Clan). Her maternal and paternal clans are Tódichʼiiʼinii (Bitter Water Clan) and Tsiʼnaajinii (Black Streak Wood People Clan).

Fredi earned a BIS degree in Health Promotion, Nutrition Education and Child and Family Studies from Weber State University. She is a graduate IKEEP (Indigenous Knowledge for Effective Education Program) scholar studying Secondary Education with endorsements in Health Education and English as a New Language. She is also a CIRCLES (Cultivating Indigenous Research Communities for Leadership in Education) scholar. Additionally, she is currently a practicing teacher at Moscow High School teaching Indigenous Knowledge Systems as an elective course with the IKEEP for Young People Program. Frediʼs research interests are Indigenous knowledge systems, Indigenous leadership, and Indigenous education sovereignty.

Angel Williams

Biography:
I am enrolled in the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Reservation. I received my B.S. in Criminology from the University of Idaho with a minor in Native American studies and an academic certificate in Equity and Justice. I’m currently attaining my master’s degree in criminology and plan to do research in the criminal justice system examining what can be done to reduce recidivism for Native Americans.

Heewekse Wisdom

Biography:
Heewekse Wisdom is a Nez Perce Tribal member who received her B.A. in Business Management & Human Resources from Boise State University and is currently obtaining her M.A. in the Adult, Organizational, Learning & Leadership Master’s program at the University of Idaho. She works full-time for her Tribe’s local nonprofit, Nimiipuu Fund, as their Programs Officer. As a CIRCLES scholar, Heewekse is focused on building capacity around culturally-responsive Indigenous evaluation processes and a broader community of practice that can better support community-centered programming. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family, friends, and dog Maxx!

Ezra Whitman

Biography:
Nimíipuu–is a Health and Language Arts educator with experience in alternative and public-school programs. He served as an academic coordinator for special programs related to mental and physical health absences, as well as a credit recovery instructional specialist following the pandemic. He is a student and family advocate working closely with school administration and served as co-advisor for Native and Two-Spirit Youth affinity groups. Ezra is a former healthcare worker who received his teaching credentials and administrator license from Portland State University, as well as an MFA from Pacific Lutheran University.

• Arlen Washines — Tribal Elder — Yakama Nation Tribe
• Caj Matheson — Natural Resources Director — Coeur d’Alene Tribe
• Wesley Edmo — Indigenous Peoples Advocacy Director — Shoshone-Bannock Tribe
• Marsha Wynecoop — Language Program Manager — Spokane Tribe
• Jade Roubideaux — Cultural Preservation Director — Shoshone-Paiute Tribe
• Silas Whitman — Chairman Circle of Elders — Nez Perce Tribe