A burning passion for diversity

Diné woman wins first Blazing Flame Award from AISES

By Rebecca Anne Brock
Sandia National Labs

ALBUQUERQUE

The first recipient of the Blazing Flame Award from the American Indian Science and Engineering Society requires a customary introduction.

Translated from Navajo: “They call me Marie Capitan. I am Navajo and Alaskan. I am born to the Water’s Edge People clan and born for the Alaskan People.”

Capitan, a diversity workforce specialist at Sandia National Laboratories, is one of five professionals honored this past weekend at the 2016 AISES National Conference in Minneapolis. The new Blazing Flame Award honors an outstanding professional who has blazed a path for Native Americans in science, technology, engineering, and math education and careers.

Connecting people from wide-ranging backgrounds is Capitan’s passion. She said the programs she has developed at Sandia foster trust, teamwork and productivity.

Capitan is the eighth person from Sandia to be honored by AISES, a national non-profit dedicated to increasing the representation of American Indians in STEM.

Capitan said she is humbled to be the first person to receive this honor and she never thinks about winning awards. She said what speaks to her is the name of the new award.

“The symbol of the blazing flame is powerful,” Capitan said. “When I think of the mistreatment that happens in families, or when relationships become unproductive at work, people may feel like they are living in a dark shadow. The flame lights a path for us to move forward. For me, it’s the idea of reconciliation and healing.”

Capitan’s father, an Alaska Native, was killed in a motorcycle accident before her second birthday. Capitan was shuttled back and forth from Aneth, Utah, to Albuquerque. She settled in Albuquerque when her mother got a job as a labor and delivery nurse.

Capitan said her mother was part of a generation that was told to reject her Native teachings, and was forced to assimilate.

Her grandmother, Frances Capitan, was her role model, she said.

Her grandmother taught her Navajo traditions, over her mother’s objections. She tutored her in language, storytelling, making frybread and tortillas, hospitality, the roles of men and women and the importance of honoring elders.

“I am very grateful for her teachings because they have helped me throughout my life. I learned about leadership, compassion, generosity toward others, and courage to stand by your core,” said Capitan.

Capitan graduated from Eldorado High School in Albuquerque, where she excelled in the sciences. She saved up enough money to pay for her first year of college, but when the money ran out, she seized an opportunity in Washington D.C. to work for American Indian National Bank. A few months later she accepted a position with the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

---