Laurel James, a ChemE staff member with background in Forest Resources, received a state-wide award for her work as tribal partnership projects liaison in the Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance (NARA), a US Department of Agriculture Comprehensive Agriculture Project.  NARA is a multi university grant with heavy participation by industry, landowners, and communities. The $40MM project seeks to lay the groundwork for an aviation biofuels industry in the Pacific Northwest.

Laurel, an enrolled member of the Yakama Nation, began working at the interface of university research and tribes while funded as a graduate student on an NSF Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training grant.  The E3 (Education-Environment-Economy) Award for Diversity in Action recognizes her role helping to explore and develop new modes for university-based research interactions with Northwest Tribes on renewable energy issues.

She also has helped the University of Washington significantly enhance the participation of Native Americans in graduate school, in part, by building a durable relationship with students and faculty at Salish and Kootenai College in Western Montana.  Daniel Schwartz, Professor of Chemical Engineering, describes Laurel as “a key person supporting the retention of indigenous students once they get to UW. She has no official "responsibility" to do this, it is just the right thing to do, so she does it. She is inspiring, engaging, and supporting individuals and groups in Washington State so they can make a sustainable difference in their communities.”

The webpage for 2013 Recipients of Statewide Awards for Excellence in Environmental & Sustainability Education contains full information about E3 Washington.