Tester Memorial Symposium

47th Annual Albert L. Tester Memorial Symposium

April 12-14, 2023

The 47th Annual Albert L. Tester Memorial Symposium will be held April 12-14, 2023 in the Campus Center Ballroom. The three-day event will include student presentations, a poster session, and a subsequent soirée. Oral presentations will consist of either 5-minute rapid-fire talks or full-length 12-minute presentations. There will also be a poster session held in the afternoon of Thursday, April 13. 

This year’s theme, Broadening Horizons, recognizes the multitude of perspectives engaged in scientific research at the University of Hawaiʻi. This theme encourages participants to consider the different scales, methodologies, disciplines, and knowledge systems that contribute to productive research in Hawaiʻi and around the world.

We are very excited to announce Dr. Kawika Winter as our keynote speaker for the 47th annual Albert L. Tester Memorial Symposium. Dr. Winter is a multidisciplinary ecologist who is part of our UH ‘ohana and currently directs the He‘eia National Estuarine Research Reserve (https://heeianerr.org/). To learn more about his research, please visit: https://manoa.hawaii.edu/biocultural/kawika-winter/ 


Contributions to the Albert L. Tester Memorial Fund of the University of Hawaii Foundation will be used to provide prizes for the three papers (15-minute talks), judged on quality, originality, and importance of research reported, as well as the quality of the public presentation. Judges include faculty members and the previous year’s student award winners. Make your donations to Tester Memorial Fund by following this link.

Commitment to a Safe, Inclusive, and Accessible Event 

The 47th Annual Albert L. Tester Memorial Symposium is committed to organizing and hosting a safe, inclusive, and accessible research symposium on the UH Manoa Campus. It is our goal that every person who participates in the symposium and related events feels supported and free from any harassment or discrimination. To that end, everyone who participates in the Tester Symposium, in person and virtually, is expected to conform to the Code of Conduct included below. The link below also has instructions for reporting an incident if needed. 

Additionally, we are committed to making this event as accessible as possible. The symposium will be held in-person in the Campus Center Ballroom 1, which is wheelchair/scooter accessible with accessible restrooms, and virtually via Zoom.

Code of Conduct

Registered attendees: You are subjected to our Code of Conduct if you are participating in person or in zoom. Read our Code of Conduct before joining the symposium.

Want to submit a concern pertaining to the Code of Conduct?  

You can submit a concern to the School of Life Sciences using this reporting form.

Other important resources:

Full Program and Schedule

Schedule with all the details with virtual attendance link, Abstracts, Sponsors, all the information.

2023 Awards Banquet

This year’s banquet will be held in the recently renovated Campus Center Ballroom (2 & 3) on Friday, April 14, 5 PM – 7:30 PM. The event will be catered by Manoa Dining Services by Sodexo, and will include a hosted bar for drinks (non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks). Join us for this laid back catered dinner with friends and colleagues from the School of Life Sciences and the broader UH STEM community to celebrate another year of great student research. Please RSVP here. Purchase your tickets by Wednesday April 12th. 

Thank you to our donors

Thank you to our generous donors this year. We appreciate all your support in making this 47th Tester Memorial Symposium successful

It is also not too late to give a donation to support the event and the students who are presenting this year.  If you haven’t yet had the chance please use this UH Foundation website to donate whatever you can spare.

2023 Tester Memorial Symposium Logo

Designed by Elle Wibisono, a fishery researcher and artist, our logo for this year’s symposium shows our theme of ‘Broadening Horizons’ beautifully. In vibrant colors and bold lines, we can see the unique diversity and interconnectedness of Hawaiʻiʻs natural history across the landscape, from people to wildlife and plants, from the skies to the deep sea.

Central to broadening our horizons is the exploration of different places, ideas, and ways of thinking. Our logo depicts a voyaging canoe carrying people across the seas, honoring Polynesian voyages that led to much of the discovery in the Pacific. Here, we pay tribute to the double-hulled canoe known as Hōkūleʻa, and embrace Hawaiʻi’s tradition of voyaging and navigation. 

The skies, land, and sea are all represented by charismatic native species. Mōlī soars in the sky near the shores, while uhu graze rich coral reefs, and opihi and wana lay on the seafloor. The colorful flowers of dry forest trees like hau and wiliwili can be seen together with Hawaiʻiʻs iconic ‘ōhi’a tree, while naupaka represents the coastal plant communities that connect land and sea, which is vibrant with native red and green limu. 

To see more of Elleʻs work, you can find her on Instagram @fishstory.co or visit her website https://fishtory.co/, and see below for a list of all the species featured in this yearʻs logo. To learn about the history and current status of Hōkūleʻa, you can visit: https://www.hokulea.com/vessels/hokulea/. 

  • Mōlī (Phoebastria immutabilis) 
  • Uhu (Parrotfishes) 
  • Antler coral (Pocillopora grandis)
  • Opihi (Black-foot limpet) 
  • Wana (Tripneustes gratilla) 
  • Hau (Hibiscus tiliaceus)
  • Wiliwili (Erythrina sandwicensis) 
  • ʻŌhiʻa (Metrosideros polymorpha) 
  • Naupaka (Scaevola taccata) 
  • Limu (green, red, brown algae) 

History of Tester Memorial Symposium

The Albert L. Tester Memorial Symposium is held in honor of Professor Albert Tester who, at the time of his death in 1974, was Senior Professor of Zoology at the University of Hawaii. The faculty and students of the Department of Zoology proposed an annual symposium of student research papers as a means of honoring and continuing Dr. Tester’s lively encouragement of student research in a broad range of fields within biology. Today the Tester Memorial Symposium welcomes research from any scientific field.

Oral presentations and posters reporting original research on any aspect of science are solicited from students at the University to be presented at the Symposium each spring semester. Income from contributions to the Albert L. Tester Memorial Fund of the University of Hawaii Foundation is used to provide prizes for the three papers (15-minute talks), judged on quality, originality, and importance of research reported, as well as the quality of the public presentation. Judges include faculty members and the previous year’s student award winners. In addition, distinguished scholars are invited to participate in the Symposium and to present keynote addresses.

Past events here.