Brook is a Yurok and Karuk Native American from Northern California.
Brook's goal is to bring together water rights and Indigenous knowledge through engineering, public policy, and social action. Current fights for her include education around impacts of hydropower dams, supporting Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), and encouraging women and Indigenous Peoples in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and mathematics (STEAM) fields.
Education Brook is currently a 3rd year PhD student at UC Santa Cruz in Environmental Studies with a designated emphasis in Coastal Science and Policy. She studies the differences between spring and fall chinook salmon in the Klamath River basin with an interdisciplinary approach based in natural science, social science, and public policy. In 2022, Brook received her Master's in Environmental Engineering from Stanford University, focusing on water resources and hydrology. In 2020, she graduated from Portland State University's Honors College with a degree in Civil Engineering and a minor in Political Science. To see a list of all universities attended and classes taken click here.
Work Currently, Brook works part-time as a Restoration Engineer for the Yurok Tribe. Previously, she has interned for the City of Portland Bureau of Environmental Services (BES), The U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, West Yost Associates Engineering, The California Water Resource Control Board, and Save California Salmon. For a more detailed work history click here.
Author Brook is the author of 2025 Book "I Love Salmon and Lampreys". A non-fiction story about her experience growing up on the Klamath River as a Native American and the impact of witnessing the 2002 fish kill. This is a book targeted to ages 4 to 8 (1st grade to 4th grade). A hopeful story of resistance in face of a disaster Covering topics of why salmon and lamprey are culturally important, cool scientific facts of each fish, how the largest dam removal in world history happened, and how going to college is can help our communities. The book is also written in a dyslexia friendly font to aid those with learning disabilities enjoy the story. To find out where you can order click here.
Honors Brook is a 2024 NDN Collective Changemaker, won a 2022 Native Journalism Award Winner, UNITY 2020 25 Under 25 Recipient, a 2017 Undergraduate AIGC Student of the Year Awardee, and Gates Millennium Scholar, among other honors. Find more honors and awards by clicking here.
