Langston Hughes Assistant Professor
University of Kansas
Dr. Melinda M. Adams is an enrolled member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe and is from Albuquerque, New Mexico. She is currently a Langston Hughes Assistant Professor in Indigenous Studies and Geography & Atmospheric Science at Kansas University.
Her doctoral research focused on the revitalization of cultural fire with California Indian Tribes at the intersection of ecology and environmental science, environmental policy, and Native American Studies methodology. She currently examines plant and soil bio-chemical responses to cultural fire including carbon storage, nutrient cycling, and water holding capacity. This work is rooted in the Traditional Ecological Knowledge and cultural stories of her Indigenous cultural fire practitioner-partners.
Her work has garnered several national fellowships including: The Johns Hopkins Health Policy Research Fellowship, the Mellon Dissertation Research Fellowship, and the Ford Foundation Doctoral Fellowship.
Dr. Adams obtained her B.S. in environmental science from Haskell Indian Nations University, her M.S. in ecology and environmental science from Purdue University, and M.A. and Ph.D in Native American studies from the University of California, Davis.