Margaret Hiza Redsteer

Margaret Hiza Redsteer is a geomorphologist and professor at the University of Washington Bothell.

Early life and education Redsteer was raised in Story, Wyoming. Redsteer is of Crow Nation descent on her father's side and has a white mother. In Colorado, Redsteer met and married Robert Redsteer, a Navajo man with the dream of moving south to Robert's home in the Navajo Reservation. With only a high school diploma, job opportunities were limited in Flagstaff for Redsteer. By the time Redsteer finished her degree at Northern Arizona University, she and her husband separated. Redsteer's master's research in Yellowstone National Park was inspired by David Love, a Wyoming geologist who spent much of his career studying volcanic rocks in the area. Redsteer's graduate advisor, Anita Grunder, was an inspiration for her due to providing an example of a good work-like balance for Redsteer.

Career Redsteer became a member of the U.S Geological Survey in the early 2000s. She studied volcanic deposits, but soon switched to studying climate change. Redsteer's research includes addressing water scarcity through different scientific methods. Her work as a research scientist faced the gender norm expectations of men and women of her time. Although academia remains a male-dominated profession, female scientists like Redsteer inspired girls to pursue science.

Redsteer studies the influence climate change has on water access and environmental degradation on tribal lands. Specifically, she examines Navajo and Hopi land as well as the Crow reservation where she was born. Redsteer uses her life experiences from living on a reservation and her scientific training to develop solutions for tribal communities with poor water access.

While collaborating with scientists, anthropologists, and translators, Redsteer and her team worked with Navajo tribal elders to document environmental changes happening on tribal lands. A documentary by the U.S. Geological Survey entitled "A Record of Change-Science and Elder Observations on the Navajo Nation" shows how Redsteer and her team used local and historical Navajo knowledge and scientific research to find solutions for communities with water shortages.

On April 12–13, 2023, Redsteer delivered the Tanner Lectures on Human Values at Harvard University. In these lectures, she addressed the need for greater focus on how climate change affects marginalized communities.