Jasmine Lamb – 2023 Award for Contributions to Sustainability Research
I see my work and the work of many colleagues making a difference for Wabanaki people in Maine. The Sipayik Resilience Committee which I founded in 2022 has taken on various projects relating to weatherization, energy efficiency, renewable energy, and climate change adaptation. In 2022, we led a window insert build for the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point and the City of Eastport where we built 266 window inserts as a team, which has helped people stay warm this winter. We have been involved with intertribal grant efforts such as a residential heat pumps for tribal members, an intertribal cooperative solar initiative, a grid resilience formula grant, a workforce development initiative, and we have plans to continue to expand this work this year. I have been changed by the experience of doing this work since I started working with Dr. Sharon Klein in 2021, when I was an undergraduate research assistant while studying Communication Sciences and Disorders. I started out measuring windows before becoming a service provider assistant after graduating college. I completed half of a Masters program to become a speech pathologist, running the Sipayik Resilience Committee simultaneously, before withdrawing from the program to apply as a PhD student in Environmental and Ecology Sciences. Others can join me in this important work by reaching out to join us in our various efforts around community resilience. Wabanaki tribal members can reach out to find a place in one of the various citizen committees being established in Maine. Anyone can join us at our window insert build in 2024 in Princeton, Maine, to help out. I welcome any collaborations or opportunities to work with students and faculty at the University and beyond to help us with our mission.