Kimberlynn Cameron, Office of Indian Energy intern, grew up in Wakpala, South Dakota, on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, and is an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Geological Engineering from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SDSM&T), and is pursuing a Master of Science degree in Civil & Environmental Engineering.
She is currently a year-round environmental engineering intern at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and her primary work pertains to the Office of Indian Energy. Prior to her NREL internship, she interned for two summers with Sandia National Laboratories in the Tribal Energy Internship Program funded by the Office of Indian Energy.
During her time at SDSM&T, she was a member of the American Indian Science & Engineering Society (AISES) and the SDSM&T Leadership Development Team, held the position of Public Relations Chair for the Student Association Senate, and was nominated for the Student Leadership Hall of Fame. She is an SDSM&T Tiospaye in Engineering scholarship recipient, which is a National Science Foundation-funded scholarship program designed to accelerate the academic and professional growth of its Native American student recipients, and was a semifinalist for the 2015 Bush Foundation Fellowship.
As a graduate student, she mentored Native American high school students from Central High School in the National Science Foundation-funded program “From Field to Fair.” The program assists students in learning the methodology behind conducting projects to be presented at the regional science fair. This past summer, she presented at the 2016 International Indoor Air Conference in Ghent, Belgium, on her results for indoor quality studies under the project title “Net-Zero Energy Housing Research on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.” In November 2016, Kimberlynn received first prize for her oral presentation on this topic in the engineering and physical science research division at the AISES National Conference.
Her intent is to establish a sustainable housing initiative on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation to assist in providing adequate housing throughout the tribal communities in order to give back to her tribe and express her gratitude to those who have helped her in her endeavors.