ELOKA Advisory Committee
Clint Carroll is an associate professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. A citizen of the Cherokee Nation, he works closely with Cherokee people in Oklahoma on issues of land conservation and the perpetuation of land-based knowledge and ways of life. Clint’s current projects include co-directing (with a group of elders and wisdom-keepers) a land education program for five Cherokee students and serving as principal investigator on a related study about Cherokee plant gathering access in rural northeastern Oklahoma.
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Born on Kamchatka land, Russia, Tatiana Degai was raised on the traditional grounds with the Itelmen people. Her life, work, and research are inspired by a rich heritage, worldviews, and wisdom of her people and Indigenous communities, whose traditional lands she had the honor to visit and live on. Her formal education is in Anthropology from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, and a doctorate of American Indian Studies at University of Arizona. She is currently an assistant professor at the department of Anthropology, University of Victoria, British Columbia, and an affiliate assistant professor of the Arctic Indigenous Studies at the Arctic, Remote, and Cold Territories, Interdisciplinary Center (ARCTICenter), at the University of Northern Iowa.
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Kaare Sikuaq Erickson leads Ikaaġun Engagement, which provides education and orientation services to Arctic scientists and rural educators. Ikaaġun is based in Unalakleet and Anchorage, Alaska. Sikuaq was raised on the Bering Sea coast and has family scattered across northern Alaska from Unalakleet to Shishmaref to Utqiaġvik. Sikuaq was taught to provide for his communities through subsistence and leadership. His upbringing taught him to be aware of problems facing Arctic communities and to find creative, realistic, and effective ways to alleviate or solve these issues.
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Mellisa Maktuayaq Johnson is Iñupiaq born and raised from Nome, Alaska. As a tribal member of Nome Eskimo Community, Mellisa has a strong passion for protecting, respecting, advocating and maintaining traditional Indigenous ways of life. Inspired by Elders, community members, and her family, Mellisa works to share with others the importance of maintaining culture and heritage in language revitalization efforts, climate advocacy, and incorporation of Indigenous knowledge into different systems. She previously worked as Executive Director with Bering Sea Elders Group (2018 to 2022), has sixteen years experience with tribal health, and currently works with the Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim Tribal Consortium (AYK TC) as a Government Affairs and Policy Director.
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Margaret Anamaq H.C. Rudolf is a postdoctoral researcher with the International Arctic Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She is Iñupiaq with her family originally coming from King Island, but she grew up in Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska. Grounded in her Iñupiaq values and the practicality of her engineering background, her work centers around making research actionable and useful for Alaska Native communities on the frontlines of climate change. Her research interests are in co-production of knowledge, research evaluative metrics, funding structures, and research prioritization all in the context of Arctic research and observing.
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