The School of Life Sciences at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa holds regular seminar series that are open to students, faculty, and the public. The featured guest speakers come from local, national, and international institutes. Please see our seminar information from the School of Life Sciences and check this page regularly to see any updates on seminars. If you would like to share a special seminar announcement with our group please email us at lifesci@hawaii.edu

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Ongoing Seminar Series

Date and Time	Seminar Series		Location
Fridays 11:30 am – 12:30 pm	EECB Evoluncheon		GIL 306
Fridays 3:30 pm – 4:20 pm	School of Life Sciences Seminar		BIL 150

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Upcoming Events

Date and Time

Event

Information

Location

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School of Life Sciences Friday Seminar Series

Fall 2025
Fridays 3:30 pm – 4:20 pm BIL 150

Join via Zoom
Passcode: sols

Date	Title	Speaker	Affiliation
8/29/25				(In Person Only)
9/5/25
9/12/25
9/19/25
9/26/25
10/3/25
10/10/25
10/17/25
10/24/25
10/31/25
11/7/25
11/14/25
11/21/25
11/28/25
12/5/25
12/12/25

School of Life Sciences Spring 2025
Fridays 3:30 pm – 4:20 pm BIL 150

https://hawaii.zoom.us/j/94431784293
Passcode: sols

Date	Title	Speaker	Affiliation
01/17/2025	Morphometrics: Some Background, Theory and Applications	Dr. Jim Rohlf	Professor, Stony Brook University	(In Person Only)
01/24/2025	Nanuk’s Light & The Path of Antibody Discovery	Dr. Brien Haun	INBRE Post-Doctoral Researcher, UH Kapiʻolani Community College	(In person only)
01/31/2025	Community-based ocean exploration: overview of the 2025 E/V Nautilus field season	Dr. Daniel Wagner	Chief Scientist, Nautilus Live Ocean Exploration Trust; MBGP Affiliate Graduate Faculty	(In person only)
02/07/2025	No Seminar
02/14/2025	Biodiversity And Conservation in Hawaii: Moving Beyond Species Driven Conservation of the Neglected Majority	Dr. Ken Hayes	Director, Biodiversity and Conservation Researcher and Curator of Marine Molluscs, Bishop Museum	(In person only)
02/21/2025	MUC1-mediated Cancer Immunotherapy	Dr. Benoit Smagghe	Scientist, Minerva Biotechnologies/UHM SoLS	(In person only)
02/28/2025	Probing the Engines of the Reef. Developing an experimental framework to test boundaries for photosynthesis among reef organisms.	Dr. Angela Richards Dona	Postdoctoral Fellow, UHM SoLS	(In person only)
03/07/2025	Expansion of avian malaria in Hawaiian rainforests and pending extinctions	Dr. Jeff Foster	Professor, Northern Arizona University	(In person only)
03/14/2025	Insights into Local Fisheries Using Oceanographic Modeling, Experiments, and Sociological Investigations	Gabi Mukai	PhD Candidate, UHM SoLS	(In person only)
03/21/2025	Spring Break! No Seminar
3/28/25	Biocultural Stewardship at Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology and the Heʻeia Reserve	Aimee Sato	Assistant Specialist	UHM HIMB
4/4/25	No Friday Seminar
4/11/25	Tester Symposium! No Seminar
4/18/25	Good Friday! No Seminar
4/25/25	No Friday Seminar
5/02/25	PhD Defense: Effects of Temperature on Embryonic Cleavage Rates and Larval Metabolism of Antarctic Invertebrates	Graham Lobert	PhD Candidate, UHM SoLS

School of Life Sciences Fall 2024
Fridays 2:30-3:20 ART 132 

https://hawaii.zoom.us/j/94431784293
Passcode: sols

Date	Title	Speaker	Affiliation	Host
10/04/2024	Hawaiian Plant Conservation and the Vital Role of Taxonomy	Cliff Morden	Professor, School of Life Sciences, UH Manoa	Morden
09/27/2024	Shedding light on symbiosis: lessons from a bioluminescent coral reef fish (Remote Seminar, Zoom Only)	Alison Gould	Assistant Professor, Temple University	Cole
09/20/2024	Insights from Indonesia on sustainable futures for coral reef fisheries	Austin Humphries	Associate Professor, University of Rhode Island	Toonen
09/13/2024	Questionable research practices: why you might be doing them already and how to avoid them in a thesis	Mark Burgman	UH Manoa	Burgman
09/06/2024	Deep-sea corals in the age of the Anthropocene: resilience to human activities and climate change	Fanny Girard	UH Manoa	Moran
08/30/2024	ZGP Fall Faculty/Student Orientation	Amber Wright	UH Manoa

School of Life Sciences Spring 2024
Fridays 2:30-3:20 Bilger 150

https://hawaii.zoom.us/j/94623222156
Seminar recordings Spring 2024

Please use University of Hawaiʻi email for access to seminar recordings.

Date	Title	Speaker	Affiliation	Host
1/12	Understanding Plant Collections: Data, Sharing, and potential to provide resilience to Climate Change	Dr. Mikey Kantar	Associate Professor, TPSS, UHM	Bob Thomson
1/19	UH Land and Ocean Conservation Futures	Suzanne Case	Director of UH Office of Land and Ocean Conservation Futures, UHM	Tamara Ticktin
1/26	Exploitation of Burkholderia pseudomallei attachment factors for the development of vaccines and therapeutics	Dr. Ian McMillan	UHM SoLS	Mike Norris
2/2	Loving Limu (or not): Microbes, Mesograzers, and Mammals	Dr. Kathy Van Alstyne	Marine Scientist, Shannon Point Marine Center, Western Washington University	Cindy Hunter
2/9	Preliminary studies of microbiome stability in Hawaiian Drosophila	Dr. Andrea Jani	Assistant Researcher, PBRC, UHM	Amber Wright
2/16	Microbial modulation of an aquatic food web	Dr. Matt Medeiros	Associate Professor, PBRC, UHM	Becky Chong
2/23		Dr. Kirsten Oleson	Professor, NREM, UHM	Peter Marko
3/1	To Stick, or Not to Stick: A Bacterial Adherence Factor Targets Host Cell Extracellular Actin for Infection	Dr. Yun Heacock-Kang	Assistant Researcher SoLS, UH Mānoa	Yun Kang
3/8	Amending the Late Flowering Photoperiod Response in Tropical Maize with Gene Editing	Dr. Michael Muszynski	Associate Professor, TPSS, UHM	Howard Shen
3/15	Novel geochemical strategies recreate paleoenvironments and distinguish abiotic and biotic carbonaceous materials in terrestrial sedimentary analogs: preparing for biosignature work on Mars.	Vanessa Zepeda	Queensland University of Technology	Stuart Donachie
3/22	Holiday: Spring Break
3/29	Holiday: Good Friday
4/5	Guns, Germs & Alleles	Dr. Keolu Fox	Assistant Professor, University of California San Diego	Andy Rominger
4/12	Tester Symposium
4/19	Moray eels inconspicuously predominate heavily fished reefs	Julie Zill	Marine Bio PhD Candidate, UH Manoa, HIMB	Megan Donahue
4/26	Zinc limitation: the missing link in tuberculosis pathogenesis?	Endrei Marcantonio	Microbiology PhD Candidate, UH Manoa, SoLS	Sladjana Prisic
5/3	Zoology PhD Defense	Val Alvarez	Zoology PhD Candidate, UH Manoa, SoLS	Bob Thomson

School of Life Sciences Seminar Fall 2022

Please use University of Hawaiʻi email for access to seminar recordings.

Date	Title	Speaker	Affiliation	Host
12/2	TBA	Mykle Hoban	Marine Biology PhD candidate, UHM	Toonen
11/25	HOLIDAY: Thanksgiving	–	–	–
11/18	From Bad to Worse: Zinc Limitation and Tuberculosis	Sladjana Prišić	Associate Prof, SoLS, UHM	Prišić
11/11	HOLIDAY: Veterans’ Day	–	–	–
11/4	Dynamic Human-Environment Interactions in Island Ecosystems: The Contribution of Archaeology	Patrick Kirch Luminary Speaker	Professor, Anthropology, UHM	Donald Drake
10/28	From the Landscape to the Lab: Investigations of Anthrax	Michael H. Norris	Assistant Prof, University of Florida	Hoang
10/21	Came for the capitulum, stayed for the pappus: flower development, diversity and evolution in the Asteraceae	Daniel Jones	Assistant Prof, Auburn University	Muir
10/14	Understanding reciprocal relationships between people and place for resilient social-ecological systems	Rachel Dacks	Researcher, HIMB	Smith
10/7	Biological invasions in coral reef connected insular estuaries	Kimberly A. Peyton	Research Scientist, Hawai‘i DNLR & DAR	Daehler
9/30	Foodscapes, Well-being, and Resilience in Solomon Islands	Eleanor Sterling	Director, HIMB	Ticktin
9/23	Phytotelmata and phylloplane: Leaf traits mediate biotic interactions	Kadeem Gilbert	Assistant Prof, Michigan State University	Heyduk
9/16	Identifying and evaluating threats to Pacific Island Cetaceans	Kristi West	Associate Researcher, HIMB	Hunter
9/9	Public Health and Epidemics (TB and COVID)	Edward Desmond	Hawai‘i Department of Health	Douglas
9/2	The Power of Poop: Insights into Hawaiian Honeycreeper Conservation through DNA Metabarcoding	Maria Costantini	Zoology PhD candidate, SoLS UHM	Reed
8/26	Linking traits and resource use to understand species interactions in a novel lizard community in Hawai’i	Amber Wright	Associate Prof, SoLS, UHM	Chong

School of Life Sciences Spring 2022

Date	Title	Speaker	Affiliation	Host
1/27	Environmental Drivers of Species Distribution and Abundance: Case Studies on Various Marine Taxa	Justin Suca	Quantitative Fish Ecologist (CIMAR/PIFSC)	Morden
1/20	From seabirds to snails and ecology to taxonomy: An unpredictable path to conservation research	Norine Yeung	Malacology Curator, Bishop Museum	Moran
1/13	A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush: discovery and outreach through microbial diversity in Hawai‘i	Stuart Donachie	Professor, SoLS, UHM	Donachie