Ranco and Daigle partner with UMass on $30 million NSF Science and Technology Center focused on braiding Indigenous knowledges and science
This week, the National Science Foundation announced that they would provide $30 million in funding to a collaborative center based at UMass Amherst. The new center, named the Center for Braiding Indigenous Knowledges and Science (CBIKS) aims to focus on issues currently facing indigenous populations in Maine. The Northeast hub of CBIKS will operate on the UMaine campus and collaborate with Wabanaki communities, including the Penobscot Nation, the Passamaquoddy Tribe, the Houlton Band of Maliseets, and the Mi’kmaq Nation. The hub will be led by John Daigle and Darren Ranco, both faculty fellows at the Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions, and professor of anthropology Bonnie Newsom. Taking a transdisciplinary approach, the center’s primary goal will be to combine western science with indigenous knowledge to tackle problems affecting Wabanaki people.
More information on the CBIKS can be found on the UMaine News website.