On February 7, 2023, we hosted an Environmental Data Science Lunch and Learn for UTTC students to learn about an internship opportunity. Since 2020 UTTC has teamed with University of Colorado-Boulder to bring advanced Earth Data Science training to students and communities through a training and collaborative project internship opportunity. 

In Summer 2022, three UTTC students from Computer Information Technology, Engineering, and Environmental Science programs worked together on an applied learning project looking at bird breeding behaviors in the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR). Each student chose a bird that interested them and/or is of cultural significance to focus their work. Each student found certain behaviors for their bird that were occurring in specific locations within the larger PPR during specific times of the year, which can be important knowledge for conservation of endangered species.

In Summer 2021, four UTTC students from Computer Information Technology, Engineering, and Environmental Science programs worked together on an applied learning project investigating Methane flux dynamics in the Prairie Pothole Region. The project looked at methane gas cycling over time in specific wetlands and differences between wetlands across the region. They found increased methane production in North Dakota wetlands in 2011, the year with substantial flooding across North Dakota.

In summer 2020, five UTTC students from the Computer Information Technology and Environmental Science programs collaborated with students from 3 other participating colleges on applied learning projects that included: flooding on tribal lands, building COVID-19 data infrastructure for tribal nations, using NEON data to assess forest cover in west coast forests, and Ptarmigan survivability in a changing climate.

In fall 2020, We are partnered with NASA’s Indigenous Peoples Capacity Building Initiative to offer an all-virtual Introduction to Remote Sensing on Indigenous Lands course with the option for Continuing Education units. The course consisted of four modules: (1) an introduction to remote sensing and NASA data, (2) land cover classification, (3) change detection and time series analysis, and (4) webtools for remote sensing. Each module had lectures and hands-on lab exercises for participants to analyze data using  Geographic Information System (GIS) software. 

Additional information archived at:

https://appliedsciences.nasa.gov/join-mission/training/english/introduction-remote-sensing-tribal-lands

In Summer 2020, we partnered with the North Dakota Space Grant Consortium to offer a hands-on professional development workshop with twenty K-12 educators across North Dakota.  Participants used Sphero robots to learn how to code and how to implement engaging STEM lessons in their classrooms.  Upon completion, participants could apply for a classroom set of Sphero robots through the ND Space Grant.

In summer 2019, the IRRC partnered with Doug Kluck, climatologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and James Rattling Leaf of Rapid City, SD to lead a Basics of Using Climate Data to Make Land Management Decisions workshop at Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College in New Town, ND. Participants learned the basics of climate change and then used tribal climate resources such as the National Climate Assessment and the US Climate Resilience Toolkit to discuss what their community can do to plan for and adapt to climate change.

Resources Archived under Educational Resources at:

https://uttc.edu/irrc/

In spring 2019, we partnered with the High Plains Regional Climate Center, James Rattling Leaf, and Cankdesa Cikana Community College to host a climate data workshop. The two-day workshop reviewed climate basics, taught how to access local climate databases and discussed how to make sense of and interpret that data.