NationofChange
How an Indigenous scientist studies global change
Dr. Danielle Ignace has found a way to unify her Native American and Western science identities to better understand big ecosystem changes.
All it took was one college research trip to Colorado’s Rocky Mountains for Danielle Ignace to know her intended career path in medicine was the wrong fit. After spending a month in the mountains, she quickly learned she wanted to study ecology.
“I was just kind of hooked,” she told
The Revelator. “I really wanted to work on these big questions about how climate change and environmental issues impact our ecosystems.”
All it took was one college research trip to Colorado’s Rocky Mountains for Danielle Ignace to know her intended career path in medicine was the wrong fit. After spending a month in the mountains, she quickly learned she wanted to study ecology.
“I was just kind of hooked,” she told
The Revelator. “I really wanted to work on these big questions about how climate change and environmental issues impact our ecosystems.”
And she has. Trained as a plant physiologist, ecologist and ecosystem scientist, she’s been teaching at Smith College in Massachusetts and is also a research associate at Harvard Forest.