Kelsey Leonard is a water governance researcher specializing in Indigenous water rights at the University of Waterloo. She was the first Native American woman to earn a science degree from the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, which she earned in 2012. She earned an MSc in water science, policy and management from

St. Cross College St Cross College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1965, St Cross is an all-graduate college with gothic and traditional-style buildings on a central site in St Giles', just south of Pusey Street. It a ...

, one of the thirty-eight colleges of the University of Oxford. Her master's thesis, “Water Quality For Native Nations: Achieving A Trust Responsibility”, discusses water quality regulation and how water resources on tribal land are not protected. Kelsey Leonard is an enrolled member of the

Shinnecock Indian Nation The Shinnecock Indian Nation is a federally recognized tribe of historically Algonquian-speaking Native Americans based at the eastern end of Long Island, New York. This tribe is headquartered in Suffolk County, on the southeastern shore. Sin ...

and is originally from the

Shinnecock Indian Reservation Shinnecock Reservation is a Native American reservation for members of the Shinnecock Indian Nation in the town of Southampton in Suffolk County, New York, United States. It is the furthermost east of the two Native American reservations in Suffo ...

on Long Island, New York. In 2010, she was the first member of the Shinnecock Nation to graduate from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. Her Harvard degree is a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology and anthropology with a secondary field in ethnic studies. Leonard earned a JD from

Duquesne University School of Law The Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University is a private Catholic university law school located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is approved by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools. ...

, and a PhD in political science from McMaster University. She is now an assistant professor at the University of Waterloo. Leonard's TED Talk, "Why lakes and rivers should have the same rights as humans", has had 3.5 million views as of October 2023.

References

Shinnecock people Living people Alumni of St Cross College, Oxford McMaster University alumni Duquesne University alumni Academic staff of the University of Waterloo Harvard University alumni Year of birth missing (living people) American women oceanographers Native American women scientists 21st-century Native American scientists 21st-century Native American women {{US-scientist-stub People from Southampton (town), New York 21st-century American earth scientists