NSF CBIKS brings together multiple knowledge systems to solve our most urgent challenges and focuses on innovation and workforce development to create a path forward for adaptation to environmental variability, food security, and the preservation of cultural heritage and places for our partner communities.
- Sonya Atalay, NSF CBIKS Director and UMass Amherst Provost Professor, MIT Professor of Anthropology
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Resource Library
Learn more about NSF CBIKS work through the Resource Library, a collection of videos, publications, tools, and guidance materials that support learning about braiding methods and case studies. We invite you to explore!
Established in 2023, NSF CBIKS is centered at UMass Amherst with university and Indigenous community partners across the United States and the globe.
CBIKS' research is fully community-driven, often conducted in rural areas located throughout the United States and globally, and carried out in full collaboration with our community partners. CBIKS education components involve students at the pre-K–12, undergraduate, and graduate levels, training a skilled workforce to lead in the ethical braiding of knowledge systems, particularly Indigenous and Western knowledge. CBIKS knowledge exchange activities provide workshops, training, and internships for policymakers and Tribal, state, and federal government agencies who manage and care for our nation's lands, waters, and cultural places. CBIKS brings together arts and storytelling as a means to make scientific research accessible for students, community partners, and diverse public and professional audiences.
CBIKS is changing the practice of science and creating a welcoming and supportive space regardless of identity, discipline, career stage, or training. CBIKS' legacy is connecting people, connecting possibilities, and connecting science.
- Ora Marek-Martinez, CBIKS PI, Southwest Hub Co-Lead, Higher Ed Policy Co-Lab Lead, Broadening Participation Coordinator
