Pōsōh
Welcome back! This week I wanted to introduce you to a little bit of what I have been learning over the past two months. In January, I met with my mentor twice a week to perfect our summer research grant proposal. We have yet to hear back from the granting office, but we look forward to continuing our research until then. For now, I wanted to give you a little bit of background information on what my research will exactly entail, and what it could mean for indigenous communities around the world.
My Math Question: How can decoding methods be used for community detection?
Community detection methods exist in a variety of algorithms, but the accuracy of each is undefined. To understand community detection you can think of an empty piece of paper. Imagine each dot on that paper represents an aspect of a specific community. As the researcher you can define the community, and the paramters that allows them to be connected. For this example our community will be trees in a field. Each tree will be a dot on our paper. We can measure each of the trees recording their measurements for 2 randomly selected days in a year. The trees will share a line between them if they have the same height on 1 of the 2 measuring days. Now, imagine that all of the adult trees of the same type grow to the same height. The baby trees of the tallest type of tree could match with any other group. The goal of our algorithm is to correct the lines that connect the baby trees with others that do not share their other characteristics. The algorithm can delete lines where there shouldn't be lines, and add lines where there should be. My goal is to compare the algorithms that already exist and see where their flaws could be improved with decoding methods.
Integrating Culture into Math
As an indigenous women, it can be easy to feel alone in higher education, but it can be especially lonely to be doing research. One idea I had to prevent the imposter syndrome I knew I would eventually feel, was to incorporate aspects of my community into my research. My little sister is one of my greatest inspirations. During covid she began her own mini business selling hand beaded earrings on instagram. She was able to find a community that supported her during isolating times. When she found her community online, she felt empowered and she passed the empowerment onto me. So, when I was asked to think of an example of a community to use for network decoding, my answer was simple. My research question changed to: How can decoding methods be used for community detection among Indigenous Beaders on Instagram?
Why Representation Matters
Positive representation matters specifically in Indigenous communities, because it allows indigenous children to see themselves represented in higher education. Last year, 38,000 people graduated with doctorates in the United States, 98 of them were Native. By incorporating indigenous women into math research, I am showing that indigenous people deserve to be a part of math at all levels. Often, indigenous people are solely represented in history classes or health classes, and it gives Native students the idea that their peers view them negatively. However, by showing indigenous communities as strong networks, and involved in life changing research, the narrative of indigenous people can change.
Wāewāenan
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