Alycia de Mesa

I serve as Co-PI supporting interdisciplinary research in Tribal community memory keeping, digital archiving, Indigenous intellectual property, Indigenous data sovereignty & governance, and Tribal Knowledge sovereignty. 

Firekeepers: Building Archival Data Sovereignty through Indigenous Memory Keeping Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Public Knowledge Program, 01.01.2023 - 12.31.2026 $1,000,000 to Labriola National American Indian Data Center, Hayden Library 
PI: Alexander Soto Co-PI: Lorrie McAllister; Trevor Reed, PhD, JD; Alycia de Mesa, PhD 

INVITED TALKS
Lectures and seminars by direct invitation. Talks that are the result of a conference abstract that I authored or co-authored are in the section “Conference Presentations.” 

Academia 

2026 Invited Workshop, “Indigenous Research in Practice & Tribal Knowledge Sovereignty” for 2026 Decolonial Research Methods Summer Institute, California State University 
Northridge, Ethnic Studies Center for Research, Activism & Community Empowerment, 
Northridge, CA

2026 Invited Talk, “Collaborating with Care: Digital Language Preservation, Informed 
Partnerships, and Tribal Knowledge Sovereignty,” co-presenter with Lorrie McCallister, 
Library Dean, Hofstra University; Trevor Reed, Professor of Law, UC Irvine for American 
Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) Native Languages Summit, Omaha, NE

2025 Plenary Panel, “Resisting Retaliation: MACLSISTAS en Comunidad,” for Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social (MALCS) Summer Plenary, Virtual

2025 Invited Talk, “Nourishing Native Communities: Addressing Food Deserts and 
Sustainable Solutions,” for ASU Spirit of Service Scholars, Phoenix, AZ 

2025 Invited Talk, “The Critical Nature of Indigenous Pre-Research,” for Society for 
Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics & Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) National 
Conference, Tempe, AZ

2025 Panel, “Now You’re in Graduate School, What’s Next,” for American Indian Studies 
Association (AISA)

2024 Invited Talk, “Indigenous Knowledge Sovereignty through Digital Storytelling and 
Counter Mapping Practices,” for IndigiData, Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community, 
AZ

2024 Invited Session Talk, “Indigenous Digital Countermapping for STEM,” for Collaborative Leading in Indigenous Communities (CLIC) Conference, ASU Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Tempe, AZ 

2023 Invited Talk, “The Critical Nature of Indigenous Pre-Research,” for ASU Earth Systems 
Science for the Anthropocene (ESSA), Symposium, Tempe, AZ

2023 Panel, “Effects of Climate Change on Indigenous Cultures and Ways,” moderated by Dr. Geraldine Richmond, Under Secretary for Science & Innovation at the U.S. Department 
of Energy (DOE), for American Indian Science & Engineering Society (AISES) National 
Conference, Spokane, Washington

2023 Keynote, “Cultivating Intergenerational Resilience in Urban Communities,” 
for International Association for Relationship Research (IARR) Mini Conference at ASU, 
Tempe, AZ

2022 Invited Talk, “Chi’chil Countermapping Project” for ASU Humanities Lab Earth Week, 
Tempe, AZ

2022 Guest Lecture, “Enhancing Inclusive Knowledge & Participatory Design Approaches,” 
For ASU Public Interest Technologies (PIT) Colloquium, Tempe, AZ

Conference Presentations Based on Peer-Reviewed Abstracts
* Indicates international conference  

2026 Invited Session Talk, “Cloud Technology, AI, and Risks to Tribal Knowledge Sovereignty co-presenter with Alex Soto, Asst. Librarian & Labriola Director for Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries & Museums (ATALM) 2026 International Conference of Indigenous 
Archives, Libraries, and Museums, Spokane, WA

2026 Invited Session Talk, “The Firekeepers Initiative: Highlighting Governance within Tribal Community Memory Keeping” co-presenter with Alex Soto, Asst. Librarian & Labriola 
Director for Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries & Museums (ATALM) 2026 
International Conference of Indigenous Archives, Libraries, and Museums, Spokane, WA

2026  *Invited Session Talk, “Firekeepers Initiative: Archival Data Sovereignty for Indigenous Memory Keeping,” co-presenter with Alex Soto, Assoc. Librarian & Labriola Director for Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA), Mapuche, Chile

2026 Invited Session Talk, “Protecting Tribal Knowledge in a Digital Age” for US 
Indigenous Data Sovereignty and Governance Summit, Tucson, AZ

2026 Invited Session Talk, “Firekeepers Initiative: Building Archival Data 
Sovereignty through Indigenous Memory Keeping,” co-presenter with Alex Soto, Asst. 
Librarian & Labriola Director for US Indigenous Data Sovereignty and Governance 
Summit, Tucson, AZ

2025 Invited Session Talk, “Firekeepers Initiative: Building Archival Data Sovereignty through Indigenous Memory Keeping,” co-presenter with Alex Soto, Asst. Librarian & Labriola 
Director for Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries & Museums (ATALM) 2025 
International Conference of Indigenous Archives, Libraries, and Museums Cherokee, 
North Carolina 

2025 Invited Session Talk, “Ethical Approaches to Digital Archiving for Indigenous 
Communities, co-presenter with Alex Soto, Asst. Librarian & Labriola Director for 
Arizona Library Association (AZLA), Tucson, AZ 

2025 Invited Session Talk, “Firekeepers Initiative: Building Archival Data Sovereignty through Indigenous Memory Keeping,” co-presenter with Alex Soto, Asst. Librarian & Labriola 
Director, Trevor Reed, Professor of Law ASU for Native American Archives Section, 
Society of American Archivists (SAA), Virtual

2022 *Invited Talk, “Chi’chil Countermapping Project,” for Indigenous Mapping Collective 
Conference, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

2022 *Invited Session Talk, “From Responsible Innovation to Interrelational Technology 
Development,” IEEE International Symposium on Technology & Society (ISTAS) 2022, 
Hong Kong, Virtual

2022 *Invited Roundtable Panel, “A Roundtable on the Politics and Relationality of Knowledge Integration,” for Toronto Conference on Earth Systems Governance, University of 
Toronto, CA

Invited Tribal & Community Outreach Talks
*Indicates Tribal-only audience
2026 Panel, “The Librarians,” ASU Project Humanities, Hayden Library, Tempe, AZ

2026 Panel, “Our Radioactive Neighbors,” ASU Center for Science and the Imagination, 
Scottsdale, AZ

2025 Featured Talk, “Place Based Indigenous Knowledge: Sustainability from Indigenous 
Perspectives,” Sustainability Celebration, Arizona Sustainability Alliance, Phoenix, AZ

2025 *Keynote, “Education through Storytelling,” for Miss Indian Arizona Farewell 
Celebration, San Carlos Apache Reservation, AZ

2024 *Invited Talk, “Journey Through Higher Education,” Apache Matriarch Ways Conference, San Carlos Apache Reservation, AZ

2024 *Invited Talk, Chi’chil Countermapping Project,” Journey to Shił Gozhoo Conference, San Carlos Apache Unified School District, San Carlos Apache Reservation, AZ

2023 *Featured Talk, “Chi’chil Countermapping Project,” series of 3 Fall talks for San Carlos 
Unified School District, San Carlos Apache Reservation, AZ 

2023 Invited Talk & Facilitation, “An Introduction to Indigenous Environmental Justice: As Long As Grass Grows by Dina Gilio-Whitaker,” for CleanAIRE NC Book Club, Virtual

2022 Invited Talk, “Cultivating a Deeper Relationship with Arizona Landscapes: Stories of Food Resilience and What We Can Learn from Them” for Desert Mountain Club, Scottsdale, AZ

2022 Panel Moderation, “MMIWG2S: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, Two 
Spirit,” for ASU Project Humanities, Tempe, AZ

2022 Panel Moderation, “Black & Indigenous Food Sovereignty and Farming as Resistance,” for ASU Project Humanities, Tempe, AZ

2022 Panel Moderation, “Rights of Nature,” for ASU Project Humanities, Tempe, AZ

2021 Guest Lecture, “Storytelling for 3D Digital Applications,” for StrongTIES: STEAM & Global Citizenship Mentoring Program, Phoenix, AZ

2021 Panel Moderation “Coded Bias: Film Discussion,” Mar 2021, for ASU Project Humanities,Tempe, AZ

2021 *Guest Lecture, “Indigenous Storytelling for Social Change in the Technological Age,”
for EYDI/Indigenous Pedagogy Virtual Academy, Minnesota, Virtual

2020 Panel, “Environmental Justice: Indigenous Communities,” for ASU Project Humanities, 
Tempe, AZ

2019 *Invited Talk, “Social Impact, A Tale of What Could Be,” for Navajo Sustainability 
Symposium, Flagstaff, AZ