The I-STEAM Pathways Environmental Education Program for Indigenous Youth provides opportunities for Indigenous youth to participate in experiential post-secondary environmental education at the University of Alberta. The goal is to enable First Nations, Métis or Inuit youth to gain research experience in environmental fields including science, environmental engineering, environmental law and policy.

Successful applicants become part of a paid Summer Internship cohort that works closely with leading environmental experts and researchers from the University of Alberta. Every student participates in non-credit interdisciplinary seminars and completes a hands-on research project.

Key Program Objectives:

• to provide Indigenous youth with opportunities to become involved in environmental research and to provide a pathway to advanced degrees
• to provide mentors for Indigenous youth as they undertake this journey
• to increase the capacity of Indigenous communities to address environmental challenges
• to interweave Indigenous knowledge throughout the program and where possible, into the research.

Three I-STEAM Program Components:

1. A paid, full-time summer research internship (8-16 weeks in duration), supervised by a University of Alberta faculty member and experienced researcher. Full funding for intern salaries ($3000/month gross) is provided by I-STEAM.
2. A series of one-day seminars on environmental-related research topics.
3. An end-of-summer celebration of achievements in which students will present the research they engaged in during their internship and receive certificates.

Up to 20 Indigenous students will be enrolled into the Summer 2021 Internship program. Participating researcher applications for the 2021 program open on November 5th  2020. Student/interns applications open on December 23, 2020.

In Summer 2020, 13 Indigenous interns comprised the inaugural I-STEAM Pathways cohort. A 7-minute video with short samples of some of the interns’ research is available here. The full video of the summer 2020 closing event featuring our wonderful interns and their supervisors as well as some of the interns online poster presentations are featured below.

Inaugural I-STEAM 2020 Cohort

See posters from participants in the Summer 2020 program