
Melinda Adams
Melinda Adams is an enrolled member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe and is from Albuquerque, New Mexico. She is a PhD candidate in the Native American Studies Department at UC Davis.
Her doctoral research focuses on the revitalization of cultural fire with California Indian Tribes at the intersection of ecology and environmental science, environmental policy, and Native American Studies methodology. She currently examines plant and soil bio-chemical responses to cultural fire including carbon storage, nutrient cycling, and water holding capacity. This work is rooted in the Traditional Ecological Knowledge and cultural stories of her Indigenous cultural fire practitioner-partners.
Melinda’s work has garnered several national fellowships including: The Johns Hopkins Health Policy Research Fellowship, the Mellon Dissertation Research Fellowship, and the Ford Foundation Doctoral Fellowship.