Dr. Lambert is a passionate educator. She uses a more hands-on, demonstrative style of teaching. For instance, in teaching environmental and health sciences, she does not rely on lecturing to convey lessons; she often tells stories and makes analogies to culturally meaningful activities in students’ lives. Dr. Lambert began her teaching career in 1984 as Adjunct Faculty at Pennsylvania State University and Assistant Education Director at Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education. 

“I build a relationship to what is known and what is going to be known in the class,” she says. “Our people used the same tenets in pursuit of knowledge that scientists use when setting up a study. They began with careful observation and made hunches regarding probable outcomes,” says Dr. Lambert (Pember, 2005).

In 1995, Dr. Lambert moved to Montana for a position at Salish Kootenai College. Dr. Lambert was a professor and Director of the Native American Studies Department, teaching students to bead stethoscopes, medallions, dance dresses, and moccasins. In 2001, Dr. Lambert received the Sloan-C Excellence in Teaching Award, recognizing her work creating over 100 courses for Salish Kootenai College. In 2012, Dr. Lambert was named American Indican College Fund Faculty of the Year at Salish Kootenai College. She founded the American Indigenous Research Association in 2013.

She taught at Salish Kootenai College for 22 years, and in 2017, Dr. Lambert became a research associate at Montana State University. She is a Montana Community Research Navigator for the American Indian/Alaska Native Clinical & Translational Research, where she works on projects related to Indigenous research methodologies. Indigenous Methods of Research addresses the cultural aspects unique to Indigenous knowledge and Western science. This research approach considers the benefits of the research, who it belongs to, who controls the sharing of its findings, and what kind of relationship exists between the researcher and the study community.

Dr. Lori Lambert is a scriptwriter, photographer, writer, and researcher. She has written and published seven books, the latest of which is entitled Children of the Stars: Indigenous Science Education in a Reservation Classroom, published in 2022. She wrote the book in coordination with Ed Galindo and uses a conversation style to tell the story of the value of culturally relevant education in reservation schools.

Dr. Lambert’s husband is a filmmaker and broadcast engineer. The couple collaborated on several projects, winning awards from Best Documentary Short, to Aurora and Aurora Platinum.

She also works with Caribou Crossing Educational Research and author of Research for Indigenous Survival: Indigenous Research Methodologies in the Behavioral Sciences.

In her spare time, she follows her passion for beading. She has been beading for over 20 years. She learned the craft from the elders on the Flathead Indian Reservation, especially Rachel Bowers, Edna Finley, and the great-granddaughter of Wooden Legs, a Cheyenne Warrior.

She believes anyone can learn to bead, and anything can be beaded. It takes patience and a good sense of what the colors can express. She says, “It is important to have a peaceful heart and calm mind; otherwise, the work will have bad karma” (Vermont Abenaki Artists Association).

In addition to beading, Dr. Lambert loves researching, writing, traveling, and hosting television programs for KSKC-TV. She lives on the Flathead Indian Reservation in western Montana with her husband, Dr. Frank Tyro, and their band of sled dogs.