Yá’át’ééh (Hello). Nizhoni is a proud member of the Navajo Nation and grew up in Rough Rock, Arizona. After high school, she attended Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and graduated with her B.S. in natural resources with an emphasis on outdoor recreation management. She recently graduated with her master’s in natural resources. Her master’s work focused on understanding interpretative signage throughout the Southwest region's parks, national monuments, and recreational areas. She analyzed language usage in interpretive signage to see how various outdoor locations shared Indigenous histories and stories. 

She has worked on projects that span Indigenous food, water, climate, and energy systems. She is also passionate about increasing Native representation in outdoor recreation and STEM fields. She was a Udall, Gliman scholar and a Sequoyah Fellow of the American Indian Science Engineering Society (AISES). 

Nizhoni is excited to join the Climate Science Alliance team as an Indigenous Stewardship Fellow. She works with the Alliance’s Director of Community Resilience Althea Walker to support the Tribal Working Group and Stewardship Pathways programming.

Learn about Nizhoni's 2022 internship here.