11 Chelsea Benally
Chelsea Benally |
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Time period:2011- present Subject:Environmental Engineering |
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Biography:Chelsea Benally is Diné Navajo, from the One Who Walks Around Clan in Northern Arizona. She was inspired by her grade 7 environmental science class to pursue science. While studying science in high school she realized there were very few Indigenous women in STEM. She did an undergraduate degree at the University of Arizona. She found her work as a junior level engineer for an oil company unfulfilling. She decided to move to Alberta to unite her son with his father and applied to the University of Alberta’s, who was a member of the Sucker Creek First Nation. Drawing on her knowledge of First Nations communities’ issues with oilsands tailings ponds, she applied to the University of Alberta’s doctoral program focusing on oil sand remediation. In 2018 she became the first Indigenous woman to graduate with a PhD in engineering from the University of Alberta.
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Summary of their contributions:Dr. Benally’s research is focused on oil sand remediation and filtering harmful toxins by creating membranes and other adsorption materials. She uses her background in engineering to find solutions for human created issues and to help improve the environment. She has recently published a paper on how treatment wetlands could provide a nature-based solution to filter water for Indigenous communities, as many do not have little or no access to filtered water.
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Integration with the BC Secondary Science Curriculum:Dr. Benally’s research integrates in the grade 11 environmental science of the BC Science curriculum. Particularly in the context of First Peoples knowledge and other traditional ecological knowledge, sustaining biodiversity, and how humans can play a role in stewardship and restoration of ecosystems. For grade 12 environmental science, Dr. Benally’s work relates to the big ideas of how Human actions affect the quality of water and its ability to sustain life, Human activities cause changes in the global climate system, and how living sustainably supports the well-being of self, community, and Earth.
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References:Arslan, M., Benally, C., Müller, J. A., Usman, M., Hanna, J., & Gamal El-Din, M. (2024). Empowering indigenous resilience with treatment wetlands. Cell Reports Sustainability, 1(8), 100149. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crsus.2024.100149 https://www.sfu.ca/wwest/WWEST_blog/7-indigenous-people-in-stem-you-should-know.html https://www.stemminds.com/indigenous-voices-in-stem/ https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/chelsea-benally-alberta-oilsands-indigenous-1.4920703 https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/curriculum/science/12/environmental-science https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/curriculum/science/11/environmental-science
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