American Indian Agricultural Practices and Partnering with Native Communities to Conduct Research
Dr. McDaniel is an Assistant Professor in Agronomy. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Oklahoma, M.S. from the University of Illinois in Natural Resources and Environmental Science, and Ph.D. from Penn State University in Soil Science and Biogeochemistry. Dr. McDaniel's research centers on the interactions between soils and plants. Soils and plants are in a give-and-take relationship. Plants combine carbon from the atmosphere with nutrients TAKEN from soils. Then dead plants GIVE carbon and nutrients back to the soil, which new plants can then TAKE these nutrients from the soil once again. His research explores both sides of this relationship, the soil biota involved, and how humans can either interfere or enhance soil-plant interactions.
Dr. Hill is an Assistant Professor in Anthropology. She received her PhD from the University of Minnesota in American Studies. Her research combines the ethnographic methodology and theory of Anthropology and the archival research methods of history to study socio-political organization and the expression of sovereignty in American Indian communities. She has worked with the Northern Cheyenne in Montana, gathering oral histories and learning about kinship practices.