{"id":77523,"date":"2026-04-01T14:22:55","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T21:22:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=77523"},"modified":"2026-04-15T10:01:02","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T17:01:02","slug":"seafha-ramos-nafws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/seafha-ramos-nafws\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacks in a Flash: Seafha Ramos"},"content":{"rendered":"

Principal investigator of NAU\u2019s Wildlife, Environmental Stewardship and Indigenous Peoples (WESIP) Lab\u00a0<\/span>Seafha\u00a0Ramos\u2019\u00a0<\/span><\/b>recently received the Native American Fish and Wildlife Society\u2019s 2026 Biologist of the Year award in recognition of her unique interdisciplinary work. The assistant professor answered a few quick Qs about what the award means to her and how\u00a0she\u2019s\u00a0using it to raise awareness of her lab\u2019s important, specialized work.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tell us a little bit about your work\u00a0in\u00a0the WESIP Lab.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

WESIP works with Indigenous communities and management agencies to support effective, collaborative wildlife research and conservation. We use field,\u00a0laboratory\u00a0and molecular ecology approaches across a wide range of partnerships\u2014and when working with Indigenous communities, we weave science with community-driven engagement that honors Tribal sovereignty.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

WESIP students are doing remarkable work. Master\u2019s student\u00a0<\/span>Salix Scoresby<\/span><\/b>\u00a0is studying the diet of the rare Sierra Nevada red fox in Oregon, and Ph.D. student\u00a0<\/span>Destiny Sanderson<\/span><\/b>\u00a0is working with\u00a0Kwaahu\u00a0(golden eagles in Hopi) in partnership with the Hopi Tribe Wildlife and Ecosystems Management Program.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What does it mean to you to receive the Biologist of the Year award?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

This honor recognizes not just my work, but the students, community partners, professional networks, my family and\u00a0community\u00a0and the institutional support at NAU that made it possible. I was drawn to NAU because of the deep alignment between my work and the university’s mission\u2014particularly its\u00a0commitment\u00a0to Indigenous Peoples, student\u00a0success\u00a0and broad social impact. Receiving this national level award from peers across Tribal fish and wildlife programs means the world to me.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The award letter noted that my work “represents the strength, leadership, and dedication that continue to advance Tribal fish and wildlife stewardship across Indian Country.\u201d I carry these words with great\u00a0humility, and\u00a0see that this recognition also\u00a0demonstrates\u00a0something larger: that rigorous, transdisciplinary, community-accountable Indigenous environmental science is legitimate and important.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How will you\u00a0leverage\u00a0this recognition to raise awareness for the importance of Indigenous environmental stewardship?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

This recognition shines a light on a field that demands a rare and specialized skill set\u2014my work weaves together wildlife ecology, molecular ecology, Indigenous research\u00a0methodologies\u00a0and federal Indian law, among other disciplines. Very few researchers are trained to work at this intersection, and it is important to create a pipeline of students prepared to enter conservation careers with Tribes or that\u00a0engage\u00a0Tribes. NAU’s location and mission give me a unique platform to contribute to these efforts.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Doing this work with integrity takes\u00a0significant time\u00a0and intention. The NAFWS Biologist of the Year award creates visibility for that reality, and I hope it will help attract the external funding and partnerships needed to sustain and expand our work in both conventional and Indigenous\u00a0conservation science. I look forward to seeing what we\u00a0accomplish\u00a0together with our partners and communities!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>
\n\"Northern<\/span><\/p>\n


\nJill Kimball | NAU Communications
\n(928) 523-2282 | jill.kimball@nau.edu<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Principal investigator of NAU\u2019s Wildlife, Environmental Stewardship and Indigenous Peoples (WESIP) Lab\u00a0Seafha\u00a0Ramos\u2019\u00a0recently received the Native American Fish and Wildlife Society\u2019s 2026 Biologist of the Year award in recognition of her unique interdisciplinary work. The assistant professor answered a few quick Qs about what the award means to her and how\u00a0she\u2019s\u00a0using it to raise awareness of…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":77524,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1830],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jacks-in-a-flash"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}