Kapemni

Kapemni program is an NSF-funded partnership between the University of Minnesota (UMN) campuses at Morris and at the Twin Cities, created with the goal of fostering participation of Native American students in STEM, and particularly in astrophysics. 

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, Native Americans are severely underrepresented in the field of astrophysics. Between 2012-2019 only thirteen undergraduate degrees, three M.S. degrees, and four Ph.D. degrees were conferred to Native American students, well below 1% of total conferred degrees in the United States. Kapemni aims to make a change by providing a nurturing and engaging environment to support involvement of Native American students in astrophysics at all levels. This includes lectures, workshops, telescope open nights, and other outreach activities geared to younger students (and the general public), undergraduate and graduate astrophysics courses, and research projects at the frontier of modern astrophysics and data science. Kapemni also promotes the knowledge of Indigenous Astronomy and its relations to other aspects of the Indigenous cultures. 

Kapemni leverages the significant resources and opportunities available at the two University of Minnesota campuses. UMN Morris is the only four-year college in the upper Midwest qualifying for federal designation as a Native American Serving Non-Tribal Institution, with about 25% of the students identifying as Native American (about 300 students). On average, 30 students are involved in the physics program at any given time at the UMN Morris, a third of whom are Native American, and many of whom have interest in astrophysics. At the same time, UMN Twin Cities features the School of Physics and Astronomy and the Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics, which offer bachelor’s, Master’s, and Ph.D. degrees in Physics and Astrophysics, including minor M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Data Science in Astrophysics. The School’s faculty pursue a broad astrophysics research portfolio spanning early universe observations, structure formation, nuclear astrophysics, particle astrophysics, solar/space physics, gravitational wave and multimessenger astrophysics, and others. They also offer a broad range of astrophysics courses at both graduate and undergraduate levels. 

The Kapemni team brings together faculty and students from both UMN campuses to build a supportive environment for Native American students with opportunities to excel in the astrophysics curriculum and pursue frontier research projects. UMN Morris students receive stipends and/or support for living costs while they pursue astrophysics research projects, take astrophysics course electives on the Twin Cities campus, and develop mentorship relations with graduate students at the Twin Cities campus. Kapemni also supports Indigenous Astronomy workshops, faculty development, open nights at the UMN Morris telescope and other outreach activities. The approach and the infrastructure created by Kapemni will inform and inspire other programs to create similar opportunities for Native American students as well as for other underrepresented groups.