At AAAS, professor Krystal Tsosie argues the future of science must be Indigenous-led

(Press-News.org) Krystal Tsosie, an expert in Indigenous genomics, bioethics, and data governance, will deliver a talk titled The Future of Science Is Indigenous at the American Association for the Advancement of Science Annual Meeting. One of the world’s largest cross-disciplinary science gatherings, the AAAS meeting is a key venue for debate about how emerging technologies should be governed. Tsosie’s presentation examines how Indigenous science offers frameworks for equity, accountability, and stewardship as genomics, artificial intelligence, and precision health reshape research and society.

 

Her talk comes at a moment of rapid expansion in genomics, artificial intelligence, and high-energy data infrastructure, raising urgent questions about data governance, environmental responsibility, and scientific accountability. Tsosie argues that genomics is not only about generating genetic sequences, but about governance, consent, and long-term stewardship of both DNA and associated digital data. Decisions made now about data use and accountability, she emphasizes, will shape health outcomes far into the future.

 

Drawing on Indigenous science as a framework rather than a perspective, Tsosie highlights governance models that have guided decision-making for generations. These models, she argues, are increasingly vital for building trustworthy health and data systems that are accountable to communities and responsive to future needs. Centering Indigenous science offers both a correction to extractive power dynamics of the past and a blueprint for more just and sustainable scientific futures.

 

Tsosie grounds her talk in the legacy of uranium mining on Arizona tribal nations, including her own Navajo community. She discusses how harmful health outcomes linked to environmental exposure were historically interpreted primarily through genetic explanations, often sidelining environmental pathways and questions of accountability. This history, she notes, reflects failures of data governance, scientific responsibility and justice, with impacts that persist across generations.

 

She connects these lessons to current debates over renewed genetics research in Indigenous populations, expansion of data centers in water-scarce regions such as Arizona, and the growing energy demands of artificial intelligence systems. Her talk asks whether emerging science infrastructure will repeat extractive patterns or adopt more accountable and reciprocal models.

 

“Science has always claimed to study the future. Indigenous peoples have always planned for it,” Tsosie says. “We are at a turning point in genomics, AI and precision health. The question is not what we can build, but who science is built for.”

 

The AAAS Annual Meeting brings together scientists, policymakers and the public, making it a critical venue for conversations about how science infrastructure is designed and who benefits from it. Tsosie emphasizes that Indigenous science is not new. What is new is whether institutions are willing to recognize Indigenous ways of knowing and include them in advancing science responsibly.

 

Tsosie is an assistant professor in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University and an internationally recognized leader in ethical genomic data practice. Her work advances equity and accountability in genomics research involving Indigenous communities across health, biomedicine, conservation biology and ancient DNA, at the intersection of genomics, Indigenous data sovereignty, artificial intelligence governance and environmental justice."

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