At Navajo Technical University, a World-Class Laboratory Is Building Native American Manufacturing Capacity

It is on a vast reserve of desert and mountains, where 30 to 40 percent of its population lives It does not have running waterNavajo Technical University is home to the best advanced manufacturing laboratory in New Mexico, apart from the Los Alamos and Sandia National Defense Laboratory.

There, in a 5,500-square-foot steel building known as the Fabrication Lab, students learn how to work Advanced manufacturing and analysis equipment and conduct research together with faculty and staff Graduate students from the largest universities who are drawn to the manufacturing lab’s unique capabilities and the expertise of Navajo Tech’s staff and students. Through this lab and related degree programs, Navajo Tech is expanding access to engineering fields for Native Americans, building high-tech capabilities critical to the Navajo Nation, and changing the economic outlook for families of graduates working in the lab, allowing them to stay closer to home without compromising their ambition. .

While many tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) Offers associate degrees in engineeringSo far, only Navajo Tech offers bachelor’s degrees in engineering. But the university’s success illustrates one kind of pathway—among many in demand—to making scholarly careers accessible to more Native American students.

Nationally, a mere 360 ​​American Indian or Alaska Native students He holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering In 2018, a figure that barely budged from…