Ciarra Greene
Nez Perce
Northwest Indian College
Ciarra Greene is a citizen of the Nez Perce Tribe. Nimiipuu (Nez Perce) culture and traditions emphasize environmental stewardship and drives Ciarra’s academic, professional, and personal endeavors. She has her BS in Chemistry from Northern Arizona University (2012), where she researched environmental transport and stabilization of uranium on the Navajo Reservation, and completed internships with the Nez Perce Tribe, Dept. of Energy (Hanford), EPA, and Institute of Tribal Environmental Professionals. Ciarra earned her MS degree in Science Teaching at Portland State University (2019), and currently serves on the Nez Perce Tribe General Council Resolutions Committee, is a contractor for curriculum and program development focusing on culture in the STEM fields, and is Native Environmental Science Faculty at Northwest Indian College – Nez Perce. Most recently, Ciarra was elected to the American Geophysical Union Council as the Early Career Scientist Representative (2021 – 2022).
Robert Blake
Red Lake Nation
Native Sun Community Power Development
Robert is the Executive Director of Native Sun Community Power Development. Robert is also the owner of Solar Bear, pronounced Gizis-o-mawka in Ojibwe, a solar installation company also located in Minneapolis, MN. Robert is a tribal citizen of the Red Lake Nation. His passion is spreading the word about renewable energy through communication, cooperation, and collaboration.
Native Sun is a native-led nonprofit, and our mission is to promote energy efficiency, renewable energy, and an equitable energy transition through education, workforce training, and demonstration.
Ann Marie Chischilly, Esq.
Vice President, Office of Native American Initiatives
Northern Arizona University
Ms. Chischilly serves in a dual capacity at Northern Arizona University (NAU) in Flagstaff, Arizona. In February 2022, she was appointed Vice President for the Office of Native American Initiatives (ONAI). ONAI is tasked with advancing NAU’s strategic goal, ‘to become the nation’s leading university serving Native Americans,’ with initiatives focusing on Native American student retention, tribal leadership, environmental stewardship in Native communities, culturally responsive K-12 pedagogy and Native mentorship.
Ms. Chischilly also continues to serve the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP). For the last 10 years, she has been responsible for managing ITEP’s work with Northern Arizona University, state and federal agencies, Tribes and Alaska Native villages. In 2022, ITEP celebrates 30 years serving over 95% of all the 574 Tribes and Alaskan Native Villages nationwide.
Before coming to ITEP, she served for over ten years as a water rights litigator and environmental attorney to the Gila River Indian Community (Community), where she assisted the Community in implementing the historic “Arizona Water Settlement Act” and founded the Community’s Renewable Energy Team. Ms. Chischilly is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation (Diné). She earned her Juris Doctorate (J.D.) degree from St. Mary’s University School of Law and a Masters in Environmental Law (LL.M.) from Vermont Law School. She is licensed in Arizona and has practiced in state, district, and federal courts. She is also a member of the International Bar Association.
Joseph Brewer II
Tsalagi/Oglala Lakota
Indigenous Studies Program, University of Kansas
Joseph Brewer (Tsalagi/Oglala Lakota) received his Ph.D in Arid Lands Resources from the University of Arizona. He is the director of Indigenous Studies and Environmental Studies faculty at the University of Kansas. Prior to these roles, Dr. Brewer served as an assistant professor and acting dean in the School of Natural and Social Sciences at Haskell Indian Nations University. His research interests include natural resource management, energy sovereignty, and land tenure for American Indian and Alaskan Natives; as well as how local/regional Indigenous knowledge informs state and federal natural resource management offices.