American Indian Science and Engineering Society

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2007 National Conference

2007 AISES National Conference was held in Phoenix, Arizona, November 1-3 at the Phoenix Convention Center.

2007 NATIONAL CONFERENCE GEMSTONE SPONSORS

Turquoise Sponsor
Lockheed Martin

Coral Sponsors
3M
General Dynamics
Northrop Grumman

Lapis Sponsors
Chevron
IBM
National Aeronautics & Space Administration
Raytheon
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
U.S. Navy
U.S.D.A. Natural Resources Conservation Service

Onyx Sponsors
Bonneville Power Administration
Boeing Company
Central Intelligence Agency
Chrysler
General Motors
Hewlett-Packard
Intel Corporation
Native American Outreach Center
University of New Mexico, School of Engineering

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2007 NATIONAL CONFERENCE

MISSION: Success
The 29th Annual National AISES Conference was held in Phoenix, Arizona, November 1-3, 2007. The Opening Ceremony featured a keynote address by Brian Patterson (Oneida Indian Nation), President of the United South and Eastern Tribes (USET). AISES was also honored to have Vice President Ben Shelly of the Navajo Nation and Hopi Chairman Nuvamsa welcome to the Conference participants and offer insights into the scientific and engineering needs of their communities. The Opening Ceremony also featured the recognition and honoring of AISES students —scholars, interns, and NAISEF Grand Award winners. AISES presented its 4th Annual Professional of the Year awards on Saturday evening at the Traditional Honors Banquet. Lorena Hegdal (Inupiaq Eskimo) was the 2007 recipient of the Professional of the Award and presented a heartfelt speech reflecting on the importance of maintaining cultural and familial ties as creating new pathways and opportunities in STEM careers. Attendees enjoyed the Friday morning plenary session, The Gathering Storm: STEM Trends & Perspectives from the Field with Drs. Jan Cuny (University of Oregon) and Gavin Clarkson (University of Michigan) which examined the underrepresentation of American Indian and Alaska Native in STEM fields.

Over 30 concurrent sessions were offered for the 1,785 conference participants in attendance. The Career Fair was a great success with 247 booths sold, a 15% increase in booth sales. New exhibiting organizations included Nike and Microsoft. AISES, in partnership with UNITY, Inc., was able to offer two concurrent sessions via webcast. In 2007, AISES enjoyed record high school student attendance, double the year prior. High school attendees were able to participate in a tour of the Arizona State University campus. AISES also expanded its research presentations to include high school students-- as well as undergraduate and graduate students—with the goal of fostering the bridge between science fairs and undergraduate and graduate poster presentations. Suzanne Singer (Dine) was the recipient of the Best Doctoral Student Poster award for her research, Improving Efficiency of Thermal to Electrical Energy (University of California Berkeley).

The 2007 National Conference truly achieved its mission, offering a wide array of opportunities to all of its members.

WHO WAS THERE?

There were 1785 conference attendees at the 1007 National Conference, including:
• College Students 457
• Professional 395
• HS students & chaperones 261
• Exhibitors and Sponsors 672

Thank you
AISES sincerely thanks all those who attended and participated in the 28th Annual National Conference in Phoenix, Arizona.