Professor of Anthropology, UH Mānoa
kirch [at] hawaii [dot] edu

Born and raised in Hawai’i, Kirch received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and Ph.D. from Yale University. Before joining the University of Hawai’i faculty in 2019, Kirch held positions at the Bernice P. Bishop Museum, the University of Washington, and at the University of California, Berkeley, where he taught from 1989-2017. An anthropologist and archaeologist of Oceania, Kirch’s research interests include the evolution of complex societies, indigenous agricultural systems, and the dynamic interactions between human populations and their environments. Kirch uses islands as “model systems” for understanding both cultural evolution and the complex dynamics between humans and their island ecosystems. He has carried out archaeological fieldwork in the Mussau Islands, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Samoa, Futuna, the Cook Islands, Society Islands, Mangareva Islands, and Hawaiian Islands. Kirch has published some 25 books and monographs, and more than 300 articles and chapters on the results of his research in the Pacific. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society, and he currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Bishop Museum.

sgon [at] tnc [dot] org

• Senior Scientist & Cultural Advisor, The Nature Conservancy of Hawaiʻi
• Affiliate Faculty, Department of Urban and Regional Planning (UHM)
• Member, Hawaiʻi State Board of Land and Natural Resources
• Kumu Oli, Nā Waʻa Lālani Kāhuna o Puʻu Koholā, Bishop Museum

Dr. Sam ʻOhu Gon III was born and raised in Nuʻuanu, and over a 40+ year career in conservation in Hawaiʻi has advocated for integration of Hawaiian cultural values and knowledge in conservation efforts. He received his bachelors degree in Zoology from UH Mānoa (the first recipient to have Hawaiian accepted as fulfilling the language requirement for a life science degree). He went on to the University of California at Davis to earn his Masters degree in Zoology (Ecology, Evolution and Behavior) and his Ph.D. from the Animal Behavior Graduate Group there, conducting a comparative behavioral ecology study of the Hawaiian Happyface Spider (Theridion grallator). 

Department of Oceanography
rosie.alegado [at] hawaii [dot] edu

Rosie ʻAnolani Alegado was born and raised in Kaʻiwiʻula Oʻahu, and lives with her family in Āhuimanu, Kahaluʻu. She is an Assistant Professor of Oceanography and Sea Grant at UH Mānoawhere she is Director for the Center of Excellence in Integrated Knowledge Systems and a member of the Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education. Rosie completed her postdoctral work in evolutionary biology at UC Berkeley and holds a PhD in Microbiology and Immunology from Stanford and a BS in Biology with a minor in Environmental Health and Toxicology from MIT. Her work focuses oninvestigatinghow microbes shape the adaptive potential of their ecosystem across a broad range of biological and temporal scales. In partnership with Paepae o Heʻeia, her group has tracked the influence of restoration, storms and multi-annual climate patterns on the health of Heʻeia Fishpond since 2014. Together with the non-profit Kuaʻāina Ulu ʻAuamo and Hawai’i Sea Grant, she is involved in developing kūlana noiʻi, a process wherein researchers build and sustain equitable partnerships with community. She is deeply committed to increasing participation of underrepresented minorities in STEM and is the Director of the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology Maile Mentoring Bridge Program, providing individualized mentoring and peer support for undergraduates transitioning from community colleges to Mānoa. In 2018, she was confirmed to the City & County of Honolulu Climate Change Commission.

Website: alegadolab.org

Twitter: @algoriphagus

UH Economic Research Organization
kburnett [at] hawaii [dot] edu

Dr. Kimberly Burnett is a Specialist Faculty with the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization (within the Social Science Research Institute) in the College of Social Sciences at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Her primary research interests include environmental and natural resource economics, invasive species management, and watershed management, particularly for Hawaii and the Pacific. Kimberly’s publications and extramural grants have focused on invasive species and watershed management, groundwater management and the value of watershed conservation.