Meg Kabotie, STEM VISTA Member Highlight

"My name is Meg Kabotie and I am the VISTA for the Museum of Northern Arizona. I am looking forward to connecting youth in Flagstaff and the surrounding areas with all the STEM opportunities the museum has to offer!

I am a Flagstaff native and spent years during my childhood running around MNA. I lived there when I was a teenager while my dad painted a mural in the kiva gallery, and I have worked and volunteered there off and on for most of my adult life. I am a graduate of Northern Arizona University with dual majors in biomedical science and psychology with a minor in chemistry. While at NAU, I worked in a stream ecology lab assisting in entomology and symbiotic relationship research on Fossil Creek and Beaver Creek. I also worked in a cellular and molecular biology lab doing research funded by The Partnership for Native American Cancer Prevention studying possible molecular mechanisms of cancer. I love science in all its beautiful shapes and forms! I am especially passionate about conservation and appreciating the beauty and wonder of nature.

Because of my long history with the museum, as well as my love of natural spaces especially around northern Arizona, I truly believe in the mission of the museum, which is to inspire a sense of love and responsibility for the beauty and diversity of the Colorado Plateau through collecting, studying, interpreting, and preserving the region's natural and cultural heritage. I believe the museum has unique opportunities to spread STEM education through projects learning about Environmental Science, Forestry, Hydrology, Ecology, Biology and all sub fields, Geology, Paleontology, Archeology, Anthropology, Reclamation and Clean Energy Technology, Pollution Control, Water Conservation and Treatment Technology, Environmental Engineering, LEED Building Engineering, and math as it is applied in all these fields. I also think that framing STEM education in this way may draw interest from historically underrepresented groups such as many of the Native American tribes around the Colorado Plateau, whose lives and history are deeply connected to the land. I would like to get more youth from these tribes involved with STEM education at MNA in addition to the youth living in Flagstaff and surrounding rural areas."