Dr. Robertson’s current research interests have been a culmination of carefully designed pedagogical foundations in higher education, citizen science, company entrepreneurship, business acumen, and community development.

The primers of his doctoral dissertation, The Impact of Data Sovereignty on American Indian Self-Determination: A Framework Proof of Concept Using Data Science was designed to function as a living document to continually assess and reassess the state of how data science, machine learning, and AI affect American Indian communities.

Dr. Robertson’s doctoral work primarily focused on designing the Data Sovereignty Initiative (DSI), which is a collection of ideas that were designed to create SMART solutions for tribal communities. This concept was to develop a horizontal governance framework to create a strategic act of sovereignty using data science. The core concept of this idea was to present data sovereignty as a way for tribal communities to take ownership of data in order to affect policy and strategic decisions that are data driven in nature.

The growing body of data sovereignty issues, data ethics principles, and applications of data science concepts exclusive to American Indian tribal communities are culturally unique in that American Indians are governed by over 200 years of Federal Indian Law and Policy and that today represents significant challenges to sovereignty and the right to self-determination.

The DSI’s data sovereignty framework seeks to democratize data for the communities’ benefit by responsibly bridging science and culture. Dr. Robertson’s work in the grass roots space and broader initiatives covers a wide range of data science topics such as water protection & water quality testing, Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women (MMIW) issues, Indigenous AI for language preservation, Geo-Artificial Intelligence for spatial intelligence outcomes, and data driven economic development strategies to name few.

Dr. Robertson will discuss how the DSI’s key indicators work in practice in designing SMART solutions that work to solve significant challenges American Indian communities face today and in the immediate future.