Kelly Nalani Beym (Diné)

Kelly Nalani Beym (Diné) is a 2024-2028 Self Graduate Fellow pursuing a Ph.D. in Geography at The University of Kansas. She is an enrolled citizen of the Navajo Nation with family from Tuba City, and Rock Point, Arizona. She received her bachelor’s degree in individualized studies with a minor in Agricultural Business Management and Distinction in University Honors in 2022. Her research focuses on the expansion of tribal self-determination within the United States Department of Agriculture and commodity food programs serving Indian Country. Additionally, she is interested in pathways to self-governance that enhance traditional food systems within Indian Country to combat food insecurity and chronic health conditions. Her work focuses on the economic, environmental, and cultural impacts of tribal procurement within the self-determination demonstration project in the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR). She also seeks to identify the impact of tribal geopolitics within federal, state, and tribal relations regarding agriculture. Her career aspirations include working as a tribal policy researcher in either the government or tribal non-profit sector following graduate school. She also seeks to one day become a faculty member at a Tribal College and University (TCU) to support the mentorship of future Indigenous scholars in STEM.  Ultimately, she seeks to integrate Indigenous Knowledges into policy research to enforce tribal autonomy in Indian Country.