Show your support for AISES students by sponsoring Dr. Lydia Jennings on March 20, 2021. An avid runner, Dr. Jennings is lacing up her running shoes and dedicating a one-day, 50-mile run to benefit the AISES Together Towards Tomorrow (T3) emergency scholarship fund.

Dr. Jennings, who has been a part of AISES since 2014, joined the 2015 cohort of emerging PhD candidates as a “Lighting the Pathway to Faculty Careers for Natives in STEM" program scholar. In fall 2020, she completed her doctorate at the University of Arizona, defending a dissertation titled “Reclaiming Mining in Southern Arizona: Considering Science and Policy Aspects that Build Resiliency.”

“I brainstormed this fundraiser because running catalyzed my dissertation and I wanted to celebrate my graduation despite the barriers COVID-19 caused,” says Dr. Jennings. “The pandemic got me to thinking about the thousands of Native American students who were also affected by the pandemic. As a student who supported herself through undergrad as a waitress, I can only imagine how challenging it can be for so many students right now. AISES was so important in my own educational journey - I see the community and support from the organization as key to my personal success. AISES can do the same for others.”

Dr. Jennings will be joined by a small group of friends and a small crew of filmmakers who will be filming her 50-mile run. Each mile marker on the run will be dedicated to an Indigenous scientist – past and present – who Dr. Jennings sees as a role model. The mile markers will show the range of inspiring Indigenous scientists and traditional ecological knowledge holders who many today will recognize and value.