As the 2026 AISES Professional Award recipients, these exemplars represent AISES’ dual ideals of excellence at both the individual and community levels. They are extraordinary leaders, scientists, engineers, and technologists, while also creating STEM pathways for younger practitioners and giving back to Indigenous communities in multiple ways.
Their examples and stories demonstrate how science can incorporate Tribal perspectives and values of respect and responsiveness–resulting in innovation and significant impact. These AISES awardees are not only talented thinkers but also good relatives, who bring cultural grounding to the workplace as well as community.
AISES will formally recognize the honorees at the 2026 AISES National Conference October 15-17, 2026, in Portland, Oregon.
Professional of the Year
Katrina Claw, PhD, is a Diné geneticist who researches how medicines can more effectively respond to differences in how people metabolize nicotine. In 2024, the National Science Foundation gave its highest honor for early-career scientists, the Waterman Award, to Dr. Claw. She is a key architect of frameworks for ethical genomic research with Indigenous communities, including widely cited models that emphasize sovereignty, trust-building, and culturally appropriate data stewardship. With various partners, she has done significant work in defining Diné cultural dimensions of health research–including creating a Diné glossary of 200+ genetics and genomics terms. A 2025 summit on genetics research was held relative to a 20-year ban on such research on the Navajo Nation. Dr. Claw credits her participation in the AISES Lighting the Pathway initiative in solidifying her faculty career path as an associate professor of biomedical informatics and personalized medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.
Technical Excellence
Nathaniel Todea is a Diné engineer integrating technical expertise with a deep commitment to responsible water stewardship across the Southwest. With academic training in anthropology and civil engineering, he serves as a hydraulic engineer for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, where he supports the design, operation, and management of critical water infrastructure. Spanning watershed analysis, river and stream restoration, fire hydrology, and dam rehabilitation, his work blends technical expertise with cultural knowledge that regards water as a sacred, living entity. He operates key facilities within the Colorado River Storage Project—critical facilities that provide water and hydropower to millions of people. After being named AISES Most Promising Engineer in 2008, Todea volunteers as a mentor and teacher with multiple STEM programs promoting Indigenous participation and success.
Most Promising Engineer
The research of Kyle Yoshida, PhD (Kanaka ʻŌiwi, Native Hawaiian), focuses on designing soft robots and haptic technologies that serve agriculture, education, and healthcare while supporting cultural stewardship. As assistant professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles, he leads the Mohala Lab, which is developing pneumatic, fabric-based robots for agriculture (e.g., fruit picking and pest management) using human-centered designs. Haptic devices simulate touch to display connections with robots, virtual agents, and other humans; and Dr. Yoshida advances the design of human-robot interfaces, including methods using body movements to intuitively control robotic systems and wearable devices that facilitate communication with robots. Other work focuses on smartphone-based systems for in-home health monitoring, such as using human responses to smartphone vibrations that can monitor physical symptoms linked to onset of diabetes. A member of the AISES Lighting the Pathway initiative, he founded and led Honua Scholars, a STEM mentorship program that has become a key hub for Native Hawaiian career development.
Blazing Flame
Josh Hammonds is a multi-dimensional leader at Cisco Systems across technical, organizational, and volunteer areas. Leading nearly 200 co-workers, Hammonds oversees the Cisco TAC (CX Centers) organization, based in the Research Triangle Park North Carolina office. Joining the company in 2007, the Lumbee Tribal member is global co-lead for the Native American Network, Cisco’s Native employee resource group. Hammonds created an apprentice program that intentionally recruited from Tribal Colleges and Native-serving institutions, including Turtle Mountain College within North Dakota and his alma mater, University of North Carolina at Pembroke, where he is an active supporter. He is a recognized subject matter expert within Cisco, where he has sought to make Native people visible, credentialed, and supported in rigorous STEM fields so that such careers feel reachable and not exceptional.
Executive Excellence
Commander Juliane Junes-Harvey of the Indian Health Service (IHS) provides executive leadership in the planning, design, and delivery of essential infrastructure to improve public health and strengthen Tribal self-determination. She currently serves as Deputy Director for Project Support and Phoenix Area National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Coordinator for the IHS Division of Sanitation Facilities Construction. Over 15 years at IHS, she has held multiple leadership positions and overseen 250+ sanitation infrastructure projects involving drinking water delivery, wastewater systems, and solid waste facilities to 77,800 households across 46 Tribal communities. She is part of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, one of the nation’s uniformed services committed to health. The Navajo-Hopi engineer’s leadership in environmental compliance has supported the protection of cultural and natural resources for more than 200 infrastructure projects.
Indigenous Excellence
Called Doctor Irvine or Kumu Irvine, Lelemia Irvine, PhD, was the first appointed physics faculty at the University of Hawaiʻi-West Oʻahu. In Hawaiian culture, Kumu is more than just a teacher; Kumu is a guide, a mentor, and a holder of wisdom, entrusted with nurturing the next generation in both knowledge and spirit. Unlike conventional educators who focus solely on academic knowledge, Kumu Irvine integrates cultural values and ancestral teachings into their work. A dedicated cultural practitioner-scholar, he co-founded the forum @AwaAndTalanoa, focusing on embodied research and Indigenous approaches to transforming scholarly spaces. At the center are embodied practices that bring ceremony, protocol, and dialogue into STEM and academic spaces. Kumu Irvine was the first Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander male to earn a PhD in any discipline of engineering from University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
Learn more about the awards at aises.org/professional-awards.