Then in 1966, the Bennet Freeze threw up another significant roadblock to electrification. To force negotiation between the Navajo and Hopi Tribes over a land-ownership dispute, the then commissioner of Indian affairs, Robert Bennet, imposed a development ban on 1.6 million acres of Navajo Nation land claimed by both tribes. The Bennet Freeze prevented development of homes, schools, businesses, roads, and utility infrastructure (water wells excepted). It even disallowed maintenance of structures and infrastructure on contested lands.

Many Navajo Tribal members, some 13,000 households, living on the Nation’s reservation still lack access to electricity services.

It’s common for people to begin a project with one research question in mind only to abandon it once they learn that question has been asked countless times or is too broad to be meaningfully pursued.

Researchers are driven by a desire to solve personal, professional, and societal problems.

outright fabricating is not.