Maddy Nyblade is completing her PhD in the Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences at University of Minnesota Twin Cities. Maddy has distinguished herself by pushing the boundaries of hydrology to tackle critical challenges faced by Minnesota tribes, whose priorities and perspectives have long been marginalized. As a settler scientist, she plays a key role in a collaborative between University researchers and tribal partners around the Upper Great Lakes (including Fond du Lac, Mille Lacs, St. Croix, and Lac du Flambeau Bands and the 1854 Treaty Authority and Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission). Her work focuses on protecting Manoomin (Ojibwe)/Psiη (Dakota), or wild rice, an aquatic plant that holds profound significance to Indigenous peoples throughout the region. Her recent book chapter presents innovative approaches that address the challenge of respectfully interfacing hydrological science and Indigenous knowledge. She has implemented these approaches to generate the first quantitative evidence of hydroclimatic change negatively impacting wild rice. Through this research and beyond, Maddy is committed to advancing justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion, particularly to stop and reverse harms inflicted by settler academic institutions on Indigenous peoples. Her article in the widely read Eos newsletter about the consequences of geological mapping for Minnesota tribes helped prompt a new, more ethical mapping policy on tribal lands in Minnesota.
Madeline Nyblade is the recipient of the 2023 Deborah L. Swackhamer Award at the Minnesota Water Resources Conference.