Graduate Directory

Research Interests

• Civil/ Environmental/ Water Resource Engineering
• Traditional Ecological Knowledge
• Restoration Ecology
• Environmental Justice
• Pacific Chinook Salmon

Biography, Education and Training

Brook Thompson (She/Her/They) is a Yurok and Karuk Native from Northern California. Growing up, she lived and fished on the same land that her ancestors have been on since time immemorial. Brook fights for water and Native American rights through public speaking, academic research, and activism. She has been an intern for the City of Portland’s Bureau of Environmental Services, the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in D.C., the California State Water Resource Control Board Office of Information Management, Save California Salmon, and currently works as a Restoration Engineer for the Yurok Tribe’s fisheries Design and Construction Program. In 2017 Brook was awarded the American Indian Graduate Center’s Undergraduate Student of the Year, and in 2020, she won Unity’s 25 Under 25 award, and in 2022 was accepted into the Water Solution Network. Brook is a graduate of Portland State University with a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering with a minor in political science and a master’s in environmental engineering at Stanford University and is now attending UC Santa Cruz for a Ph.D. in environmental studies where she studies how Indigenous Knowledge can be better implemented to into California water policy. Thompson aims to unite water rights and Native American knowledge through engineering, public policy, and social action."

Honors, Awards and Grants

Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship Mar ‘23

American Fisheries Society (AFS) Small Project Grants Mar ‘23

Re-engineering Glen Canyon Dam White Paper Winner Jan ‘23

Wildlife Conservation Network scholarship Dec ‘22

2022 National Native Media Award Sept ‘22

Eugene Cota-Robles Fellowships Jun ‘22

Environment and Policy Internships in California (EPIC) Jun ‘21

Rising Environmental Leaders Program (RELP) Mar ‘21

ASU-Leonardo Imagination Fellowship Nov ‘20

United National Indian Tribal Youth (UNITY) 25 Under 25 Award May ‘20

Dennis Washington Leadership Graduate Scholarship Jan ‘20

American Indian Graduate Center (AIGC) Student of the Year 2017 Apr ‘18 

Richard M. Milanovich Fellowship Jan ‘18

AISES Sequoyah Fellowship Sept ‘17

NSF Green Building Scholars Jan ‘16

Eubanks Family Scholarship Sept ‘14

Laurel’s Honors Sept ‘14

Rose E. Tucker Honors Award Sept ‘14

Oregon Opportunity Grant Sept ‘14

Horatio Alger Association Scholarship Aug ‘14

Gates Millennium Scholars Apr ‘14

Nike Jim Thorpe Spirit Award Mar ‘14

Stand for Children Beat the Odds Scholarship Oct ‘14