University of North Dakota

1. University of North Dakota Ah’jo’gun Program Program Director: Harmon B. Abrahamson, Ph.D., Department of Chemistry

2. The Ah’jo’gun Program is: • a Bridges to the Baccalaureate Degree Program • (Ah’jo’gun is Ojibwe for Bridge) • in North Dakota • largely rural area of upper Midwest • principal minority: Native American • Partners • University of North Dakota • Five ND Tribal Community Colleges (TCCs)

3. Objectives: • Increase scientific career awareness, interest and motivation in TCC students • Strengthen science and math course offerings and faculty at the TCCs, • Increase cooperation among TCCs in offering shared courses, • Identify and recruit students into the science disciplines, • Produce young scientists serving as role models for future generations.

4. Additional objectives: • To provide academic enrichment and reinforcement • by providing supportive services to assist in attaining education goals, • To prepare students for completing a baccalaureate degree in the sciences • while maintaining cultural values and ties.

5. Structure • Coordination: University of North Dakota (UND) • Original Tribal College Partners (1993–): • Fort Berthold Community College, New Town, ND • Turtle Mountain Community College, Belcourt, ND • Cankdeska Cikana (Little Hoop) Community College, Fort Totten, ND • Additional Tribal College Partners (1995–): • Sitting Bull College, Fort Yates, ND • United Tribes Technical College, Bismarck, ND

6. ND

7. Coordination • UND’s Programs: • Native American Programs, MARC Program, Howard Hughes (Biology). • Communication and cooperation between UND and TCCs. • Transfer articulation already in place • Common course numbering (CCN) coming • Extension of CCN effort in State higher education system—harmonization of lower division courses

8. Site Coordinators • assist in motivating TCC students • gather information for their students regarding enrolling at the 4-year institution • are in close contact with students and research • are mostly science or math faculty (4 of the 5)

9. Challenges encountered: • Weakness in basic science and mathematics courses at TCCs • Lack of previous research experience • Independence of TCCs • Distance between institutions • TCCs are 90–300 miles from UND • Makes routine travel for research or coursework difficult

10. Instructional improvement effort • IVN (interactive video network) • 11 state higher education institutions • Other funding (including HHMI) allowed TCCs to join • Some courses from UND (biology) • Transition to TCC course sharing • More local control • Spirit of cooperation

11. Keeping In Touch • Annual Retreats (summer) • Program staff, site coordinators, interested faculty and administrators • Teleconferencing (Meeting by IVN) • Personal visits to the TCCs by program staff • TCC faculty and students visit UND science departments and Medical School

12. Research at the TCCs • Interest heightens when research has a positive effect on community • Mix of approaches: • FBCC has used research sites other than the college itself. • IHS, Diabetes Project, Dialysis Unit, Natural Resource Dept, and Circle of Life. • TMCC focuses on mosquitoes. • SBCC and CCCC do environmental assessments.

13. Mosquito Research at Turtle Mountain Community College • <-- Collecting mosquitoes on a golf course and in a wheat field • Identifying them and analyzing the data -->

14. Mosquito Abstracts Habitat Preference of Adult Mosquitoes in the Turtle MountainsPATRICIA M. HENRY We wanted to compare relative adult mosquito population densities in different habitats. We used nets for five minutes in each habitat in each experiment. We first compared adult numbers on a golf course, in a wooded area, and in a field of mustard approximately 1.5 m tall. We found that there were significantly (P < 0.05 by Student's t-test) more adult mosquitoes in the wooded habitat than in the other two habitats. Predation of Mosquito Larvae by Cybister (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae) LarvaeJADE C. HANSENWe collected Cybister larvae from a slough and transported them to the laboratory. When we tested prey preference and capture success, Cybister attempted to catch larvae more often than pupae. The Cybister were more successful in capturing larvae than pupae. We also tested whether Cybister shows differential preference and/or capturing success with different mosquito prey species. Vertical Distribution of Mosquito Larvae in Discarded Tires in the Turtle MountainsKURT S. LILLEYLarvae of three mosquito species, Aedes triseriatus, Culex restuans and Culiseta inornata, inhabit discarded, rimless tires in North Dakota. We want to determine whether the distribution of mosquito larvae is vertically stratified in a pile of scrap tires. We collected mosquito larvae from a pile of scrap tires, keeping samples from individual tires separate and recording the vertical position of each tire sampled. We counted the larvae from each tire and identified them to species.

15. Water Quality Research at Cankdeska Cikana Community College Establishing a Water Quality Baseline for the Spirit Lake NationMelvine Merrick and Mary ThompsonTwo students in the Ah’jo’gun program from CCCC (Melvine Merrick and Mary Thompson), under the supervision of Gary Sundberg (Former Ah’jo’gun coordinator at CCCC), participated in water quality research with the Water Quality Division of the Spirit Lake Nation in Fort Totten, ND. Under a grant from the EPA, the Water Quality Division is currently collecting data for the purposes of establishing a baseline water quality monitoring program for surface and groundwater within the reservation. This research will aid the Spirit Lake Nation in the development of tribal rules and regulations with respect to water quality standards, gaining an overview of the current quality of reservation waters, the implementation of an antidegradation policy, and remediation design. The students from CCCC worked with the Water Quality Division for a period of ten weeks during the summer of 2000. They received training using the instrumentation and collection devices for gathering data for the EPA project, participating in such activities as setting and monitoring the collection devices and obtaining samples for data collection. They monitored lake levels and temperatures at numerous sites and were involved in the collection of data such as bacterial counts, alkalinity levels, and the presence of substances such as phosphorus, nitrates, etc..

16. Research Presentations • Students present their research results • ND EPSCoR poster session at UND or NDSU (end of summer) • AIHEC conference • AISES conference • Gives exposure to wider research community

17. Results: • Increased student research at TCCs. • TCC’s have appointed a total of over 85 students at their colleges: • (zero research before Ah’jo’gun) • Communications between TCCs and UND have increased • Increased cooperation among TCCs • Faculty workshop on use of Native medicinals in Intro Chem lab • Sharing IVN courses

18. Advantages • Decreased travel time and expenses • Increased accessibility to students • Increased involvement of TCC faculty • Increased relevance of research • Student personal support network (family) still available

19. Challenges • Highly dependent on personnel • Need for “research champion” at TCC • Personal involvement critical • Finding “doable” research topics • Consider infrastructure available • Maximize relevance to students • Setting appropriate level of research • Consider background of students • Limited number of science courses taken

20. More Results • More Assoc. Sci. degrees • 5 per year before Ah’jo’gun • 13 per year after Ah’jo’gun • More than 1/2 of A.S. students transfer to baccalaureate • Rate steady • Science courses at TCC have seen enrollment increase

21. Summary • Doing research at TCCs works • Need faculty commitment • Need student interest • Need “doable” projects • Distance becomes an annoyance instead of a major hindrance