Brook M. Thompson

Brook Thompson is from the Yurok and Karuk Tribes of Northern California. Brook is a Ph.D. student, scientist, engineer, author, activist, and artist. Growing up Brook spent her time fishing for salmon on the Klamath River like her ancestors before her when she witnessing the heart-breaking 2002 fish kill, the largest fish kill in West Coast history. The death of tens of thousand salmon is what has motivated her career in water engineering and activism. In 2020 Brook graduated Portland State University's Honors College with a bachelor of science in civil engineering with a minor in political science, in 2022 she received a master’s in environmental engineering from Stanford University with a focus in water resources and hydrology. Brook now attends UC Santa Cruz working on her Ph.D. in environmental studies with a designated emphasis in Coastal Science and Policy where she researches Spring Chinook Salmon and Restoration in the Klamath River with interdisciplinary social science, natural science, and policy methodology. In 2025 her first published children's book about her life titled, "I Love Salmon and Lampreys" was published. ​Thompson’s goal is to uplift the nexus of Native American knowledge, engineering, public policy, and social action to transform how water rights, restoration, education, and climate change are approached at the local and international levels.