In her lab at the University of Connecticut, Kat Milligan-McClellan ’99, PhD’09 peers deep into the gut microbiomes of fish, looking for clues that could lead to advancements in medicine and environmental engineering – advancements that could benefit native communities like her hometown of Kotzebue. But for much of her time as a UW–Madison student, Dr. Kat looked away from her Inupiat heritage, subverting her Indigenous identity and focusing on the norms of white academia. Through a community of Indigenous students on campus, she found a path out of cultural isolation and a connection with 10,000 years of ancestral knowledge that joins her identities as a Native Alaskan and a microbiologist.
Read the full article at: https://onwisconsin.uwalumni.com/features/gut-feelings/