Leann Dick spent a summer internship in Costa Rica studying lizards and the variety of habitats of the South American rain forest. Next she had set her sights on the North Pole, where she wanted to study polar bears and their changing environment. Eventually she hoped to write for National Geographic magazine, said her mother, Carol White of Onigum, Minn.

Dick already had presented some of her findings in places such as Bismarck, N.D.; Washington, D.C., and Washington state. She was looking forward to finishing her undergraduate education at the University of Minnesota Morris, where she was a junior studying biology and American Indian studies, then heading to the University of Montana to earn a master's degree.

"She always liked doing research and collecting data," her mother said. "The whole biology field interested her. Her passion was the environment, and global warming and how that had an impact on it."

Dick, who graduated last spring as valedictorian at Leech Lake Tribal College in Cass Lake, Minn., was off campus Dec. 2 when she fell down some stairs and hit her head on concrete. She was taken to a hospital in Morris and later flown to Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, where she died of a brain injury.

Police are investigating what led to the 24-year-old's fall, but it appears as if "no criminal issue was involved," said Morris Police Chief Jim Beauregard.

Born in Bemidji, Dick was a 2003 graduate of Walker Hackensack Akeley High School, where she took lots of math courses and was on the yearbook staff and tutored elementary school-age children. After taking a couple of years off, she enrolled at Leech Lake Tribal College, where she was known as a warm and extremely bright student, those who knew her said.

At Leech Lake, she was a member of a science, technology, engineering and math team, tutored other students who needed help with math or science, and because of her high grade-point average and leadership skills was one of five students selected to lead campus tours for prospective students, said President Ginny Carney.

Dick won several scholarships and landed internships that took her all over the world. She was one of only 12 American Indian students nationwide selected to participate in the Organization for Tropical Studies NAPIRE program last summer in Las Cruses, Costa Rica.

"Her influence has reached beyond the north woods of Minnesota," Carney said. "This young woman has already touched lives from America to Costa Rica."

In her free time, Dick enjoyed the outdoors, hiking, walking and biking, her mother said. She also liked hanging out with friends and working at her job as a server at the Northern Lights Casino buffet.

In her honor, Leech Lake Tribal College has created the Leann Dick Memorial Scholarship, to be awarded to students who study in science, technology, engineering or math disciplines, said Kyle Erickson, a school spokesman.

In addition to her mother, Dick is survived by her brother, Preston, of Onigum. Services have been held.