Alexio Lira

Alexio Lira (he/him) is a member of the Dry Creek Pomo tribe from Sonoma County, CA. His work centers on Tribal sovereignty, with a focus on data, policy and Indigenous rights. He is pursuing a Master of Information and Data Science at the University of California, Berkeley, where his capstone research seeks to establish empirically derived thresholds for the Cultural Connectedness Scale-California to predict positive health outcomes in Native American communities. He holds a B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in Computer Information Systems from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and currently works at the Native American Health Center in Oakland, CA.

Alexio currently serves as an Indigenous Climate Leaders Fellow with the Ban Ki-moon Foundation and mentored high school delegates as a 2025 Rising Generations Summit Ambassador with the Center for Rising Generations at the Aspen Institute.

About Alexio’s Brave Heart Project

Native American households face a 35% higher energy burden than the national average, with more than 14% having no access to electricity on reservations. During his time as a 2025 Brave Heart Fellow, Alexio reconnected with his Tribal community – the Dry Creek Ranchería Band of Pomo Indians in Northern California – to conduct research on this energy disparity in Indigenous communities.

Alexio is focused on helping to bring about energy justice by overcoming potential barriers to implementing floating solar, also known as floating photovoltaics (FPV). Financing, bureaucratic obstacles and cultural values are three such variables identified in his research. His ultimate goal is to bring more awareness to this issue and help outline new pathways for Tribes interested in starting renewable energy projects.