Adriana Martinez-Smiley
Environment & Indigenous Affairs ReporterExpertise: Environment, energy, climate change, Indigenous affairs, PFAS, water management and conservation
Email: amartinez-smiley@wyso.org
Cell phone: 937-342-2905
Adriana Martinez-Smiley (she/they) is the Environment and Indigenous Affairs Reporter for WYSO.
Adriana's in-depth reporting at WYSO ranges from an investigation into battery burning in Piqua, to an exploration of the hydrogen economy, to a deep dive into the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.
She also coordinates with The Ohio Newsroom and other environment reporters around Ohio to expand the impact of their reporting.
They grew up in Hamilton, Ohio, and graduated from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism in June 2023.
Before joining WYSO, her work has been featured in New Hampshire Public Radio, WBEZ Chicago and Chicago PBS (WTTW).
Why trust us
WYSO's independent, nonprofit news team has decades of experience writing and reporting. Our first responsibility is to be a trusted source of news for the Miami Valley and southwest Ohio. There is no connection between our funding and editorial decisions.
Our mission is to produce trustworthy journalism that is fact-based, researched, transparent, intellectually curious, pushes beyond the obvious answers, local, fair, and, when it’s called for, embraces the search for solutions. We believe an educated citizenry is essential to the functioning of our democracy.
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Once at risk of development years ago, the property is now managed by Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park. Now, they’re opening the site up to the public for limited tours. -
Preparation has begun for Miami University’s two ground mount solar photovoltaic installations. -
The plaque was dedicated on Monday for the contributions Ohio’s First Lady Fran DeWine made to Great Council State Park, the Ohio's newest state park. -
The series is titled "Neepwaantiinki." That translates to learning from each other in the Miami language. Each episode seeks to describe the history and contemporary life of the tribe today. -
To be called “Sloopy Solar,” Clark County's first utility-scale solar project is slated for development in Harmony Township. It’ll span 1,600 acres. -
Cicadas from Brood XIV will soon become abundant in Southern Ohio, with smaller populations to be present in the Southern Miami Valley. The next time this specific brood will be observed is 2042. -
As the Trump administration continues to cut federal spending, the Shawnee Tribe fears a grant to preserve the Shawnee language could be cancelled. That’s because a delay in the money left the tribe expecting it not to come through at all. -
With more recent regulatory scrutiny to PFAS chemicals, the Dayton region’s Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is trying to mitigate community exposure from its historic use of these compounds. -
Culture Works is a Dayton organization that supports the region's arts communities. It recently lost an NEA grant amid sweeping Trump administration cost cutting. -
Dayton completed an archaeological survey of a site known as Lichliter Village, formerly settled by Native Americans over 1,000 years ago. The artifacts found are now in the care of the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery.
