James Rattling Leaf, Sr. is the Tribal Engagement Specialist for the North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center (NC CASC). He is a member of South Dakota's Rosebud Sioux tribe. James has served as the following: Visiting Collaborator, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology; Director, Geo-Spatial Applications Center, Sinte Gleska University; Board Member, Education Committee, American Geophysical Union (AGU); Fellow, International Indigenous Resource Management Institute, Denver; Cultural Advisory Board Member, Deep Underground Science and Engineering Lab; Board of Directors, National Science Foundation South Dakota Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR); Member, NASA Space Grant Consortium EPSCoR Technical Advisory Committee; and Cultural Advisor, NOAA National Integrated Drought Information Systems (NIDIS). He is currently Chair of the Ecological Society of America (ESA) Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) Section. James received his B.A. in Lakota Studies from Sinte Gleska University (Rosebud Reservation, Mission, South Dakota).