A plaster bust of Franz Boas—commonly known as the “father of American anthropology”—sits in Columbia’s anthropology graduate student lounge, with a pronounced forehead, bushy mustache, and one eyebrow just barely raised.

On the evening of Indigenous Peoples’ Day in 2016, Columbia unveiled a land acknowledgement to the Lenape people—the first of its kind since the University’s founding 268 years ago in 1754.

“Watching a rocket launch and just feeling the boom in your chest … just feeling that roar while it's up in the sky—I think this is what I want to do.”