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.

Carlie Domingues studies for her PhD in Native American Studies at UC Davis. Previously, she earned her M.A. in American Indian Studies at UCLA where she focused on Indigenous’s women’s epistemology, Indigenous Storywork and praxis. At UCD, she researches mechanisms to undergird Indigenous relationship making, which includes community, social and cultural natural resource management and food systems. Broadly, her interests include Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, Indigenous Environmental Studies, women’s storymaking, oral history and community self-determination Carlie is a three-sisters farmer and aims to improve her edible acorn preparation. She has recently become a mother and you will see her daughter, Sonora Victoria, participating and contributing to everything Carlie does.

Nina Fontana is a member of the inaugural 2021-2022 “Future of Fire” cohort in the CASC Network Climate Adaptation Postdoctoral Fellows Program. She is working with the Southwest CASC at the University of California Davis. Using mixed methodologies, Nina’s Ph.D. research centered on traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) in forest-dependent communities in the Carpathian Mountains of Ukraine, specifically how TEK nurtures cultural ties to landscape, maintains health of communities, and informs adaptive capacity in supporting regional food sovereignty. Her broader research interests include socio-ecological resilience, translational ecology, Indigenous analysis of climate change, and environmental justice.

Nina received her M.S. and Ph.D. in Ecology from UC Davis. Her current research explores: 1) strategies to address multi-scalar policy barriers and opportunities to implement Indigenous-led traditional burning across land jurisdictions and ecosystems, and 2) the various scales in which Indigenous cultural burning may be applied to address climate change in Southwest ecosystems. With 15 years of teaching in both secondary and postsecondary settings, international and nationally, Nina is also committed to fostering creativity, inquiry, and critical thinking, both in and out of the classroom.

Deniss Martinez is a PhD candidate in the Graduate Group in Ecology at UC Davis. The purpose of her dissertation is to find strategies for California Native communities and their collaborators to create governance and collaborative mechanisms that support Tribal self-determination and governance. Using qualitative methods and community-based research Deniss’ work centers the stories and narratives of cultural fire practitioners in California. Her vision is to work on creating a future that centers the wisdom of Indigenous people, not just as marginally relevant but as central to environmental decision making. She believes that just as people are an essential part of the environment; decolonization, reparations, and justice are essential to a just climate future. She aims to continue work that informs both settler governments and tribal governments on best strategies towards solving the climate crisis in a way that uplifts Tribal sovereignty, ensures justice for communities of color, and builds governance, culture and decision-making based on values of reciprocity, responsibility, and seven generation thinking.