Los Alamos Native American Student Support
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Land Acknowledgement
Land Acknowledgement
Land Acknowledgement.mov"We acknowledge and recognize these unceded ancestral lands situated between the San Antonio, Chicoma, Sandia, and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains as the ancestral lands of the Tewa speaking people"
November Native American Heritage Month
Floy Agnes “Aggie” (Naranjo Stroud) Lee
Floy Agnes “Aggie” (Naranjo Stroud) Lee was a biologist who worked on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos as a technician.
Lee’s mother was German-American and her father was a member of the Santa Clara Pueblo. She grew up in Albuquerque and graduated from Albuquerque High School. In 1945, Lee graduated from the University of New Mexico with a degree in biology. During her college years, she also learned to fly planes, with the goal of joining the Women’s Air Force.
Her research in the biology lab at UNM led her to be recruited to work in the hematology lab at Los Alamos. She collected and examined blood samples from Manhattan Project scientists, including Louis Slotin and Alvin Graves after the criticality accident that exposed Slotin to a fatal dose of radiation. She played tennis with Enrico Fermi and interacted with other Manhattan Project scientists including Louis Hempelmann.
After the war ended, Fermi encouraged Lee to to continue her studies at the University of Chicago. She moved to Chicago, began her doctorate in biology, and worked at Argonne National Laboratory. After her husband died from cancer, Lee balanced her studies, working at the lab, and raising her young daughter. After 14 years, she received her PhD. She later worked at the Jet Propulsion Lab in California and returned to work at Los Alamos National Laboratory before she retired. Over the course of her long career, she conducted research on the impact of radiation on chromosomes.
Lee died in 2018 at the age of 95.
Resource: https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/ahf/profile/floy-agnes-lee/
Dr. Fred Begay
Dr. Fred Begay
Fred Begay was born in Towaoc, Colorado, on the Ute Mountain Indian reservation, on July 2, 1932. Fred attended the Bureau of Indian Affairs Boarding Schools at Ignacio, Colo. (1942-1946) and Albuquerque, New Mexico (1947-1951), where his training was in farming. Fred spoke little to no English and had to learn the language.
After graduation, Fred joined the U.S. Air Force in 1951 and was stationed in Korea in an air-rescue unit. He participated in the closing stages of the Korean War and served until 1955. In 1952, he married Helen Smith from Shiprock, Navajo Nation, and they had seven children. After military service, Fred returned to Ute Mountain to work as a farmer. Shortly after, the Navajo nation recruited him to attend college. Fred was accepted to the University of New Mexico.
Still, given his lack of college-preparatory education, he took remedial classes to “catch up” while completing his college curriculum. A successful and determined student, Fred received his Bachelor of Science degree (B.S.) in math and science in 1961, his Master of Science degree (M.S.) in physics in 1963, and his doctorate (Ph.D.) in nuclear physics in 1971.
Fred joined the physics staff at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1971, where he worked until his retirement. At Los Alamos, Fred’s research focused on thermonuclear fusion, including the use of lasers, electrons, and high-energy ion beams to heat plasmas for alternative sources of energy.
Fred was described by colleagues as a deep thinker and enjoyed discussing how his research aligned with Native-American teachings. His research did not lead to any patents, but physics researchers still cite his writings today. Fred also spent significant time volunteering within the Navajo community and provided science and technology expertise.
His life has been documented in the following films:
Nation within a Nation (Hearst Metrotone News, 1972)
In Our Native Land (Sandia Laboratory 1973)
Dancing with Photons (KNME-TV, 1997)
Upon his retirement, one of his main goals as president of the Seaborg Hall of Science was to continue to provide public services to the Native American communities for science and technology. The Seaborg Hall of Science named after the late Nobel chemistry laureate Glenn T. Seaborg is an independent non-profit education and research institution. His family continues to support his commitment to this institution.
Dr. Begay died at age 80 in New Mexico in 2013.
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