Megan McElligot – 2026 PhD
Dissertation: Investigating spinner dolphin occurrence and human activity in Hawaiʻi using passive acoustic monitoring and shore-based observations to assess spatial and temporal patterns and the effects of COVID-19-related boating restrictions.
Dorian Brunzelle – 2026 MS
Thesis: Comparing the microbiomes of healthy and diseased Porites lobata corals to determine whether microbial communities play a role in skeletal growth anomalies (SGAs)
Seaenna Correa-Garcia – 2026 MS
Thesis: Determine optimal growth conditions for Native limu, Limu Manauea Loloa for restoration efforts: Guided by purpose, place, & partnerships
Mollie Asbury – 2026 PhD
Dissertation: The architecture of Hawaiian reefs: Environmental drivers of structural complexity and its role in coral and fish communities
Amy Knowles – 2026 MS
Thesis: The effects of decreased pH and increased temperature on larval development of the endemic oyster Dendostrea sandvicensis
Paolo Marra Biggs – 2026 PhD
Dissertation: Genetic assessment of giant clam stocks in American Samoa
James Fumo – 2025 PhD
Dissertation: Phylogeography, dispersal, and invasion pathways of marine Rhodophyta in Hawaiʻi and the Pacific
Brijonnay Madrigal – 2025 PhD
Dissertation: Underwater soundscapes and false killer whale acoustic ecology across the Hawaiian Archipelago
Jonathan Rosen – 2025 MS
Thesis: Comparing the metabolic and behavioral resilience of a native mullet (Mugil cephalus) and invasive mullet (Osteomugil engeli) to marine heat waves
Callie Stephenson – 2025 MS
Thesis: The role of submarine groundwater in shaping nearshore coral physiology
Keiko Wilkins – 2025 PhD
Dissertation: Tiny particles, big problems: Microplastic lessons from coral reproduction to reef conservation
Ji Hoon Han – 2025 PhD
Dissertation: The effects of dissolved inorganic nutrients on thermal responses and recovery of Hawaiian corals
Sophia Hanscom – 2025 MS
Thesis: Who are you calling a shrimp? Evaluating aggression, boldness, and behavioral strategies in invasive stomatopods
Ethan Nash – 2025 MS
Thesis: Investigating forms of plasticity in three echinoid species from the tropical North Pacific
Retno Ningrum – 2025 MS
Thesis: Nesting ecology of leatherback turtles on Buru Island, Maluku, Indonesia
Martin van Aswagen – 2025 PhD
Dissertation: The energetic cost of reproduction and growth in humpback whales
Erika Cabell – 2025 PhD
Dissertation: Morphophysiology and resistance to stress in endemic Hawaiian octocoral Sarcothelia edmondsoni
Kyleigh Fertitta – 2025 MS
Dissertation: Estimating the abundance of short-finned pilot whales near Kauaʻi Island
Anne Innes-Gold – 2025 PhD
Dissertation: Where people meet the sea: Climate change, resource management, and biocultural restoration drive fish population and fisheries dynamics in the Indo-Pacific
Dylan A’Ali’i Kelling – 2025 MS
Thesis: Kaʻapuni ka imu: Traditional Hawaiian fish houses as Indigenous managed underwater structures for nearshore fisheries enhancement
Kirby Parnell – 2025 PhD
Dissertation: Hawaiian monk seal underwater acoustic communication and conservation
Phil Patton – 2025 PhD
Dissertation: Monitoring cetaceans with computer vision and hierarchical models
Syrena Whitner – 2025 PhD
Dissertation: Shedding light on biological dark matter: Ecological interactions among marine fungi, protists, and viruses in Hawaiian waters
Edward Cardona
2024 MS
Thesis: Testing of magnetic and electrical stimuli on captive juvenile tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier)
Daniela Escontrella Diegues – 2024 PhD
Dissertation: Corallivory on Hawaiian reefs
Isabella Gaw – 2024 MS
Thesis: The effects of microplastic ingestion on the female reproductive system of the cryptobenthic gobiid fish, Eviota epiphanes, using artificial trophic transfer
Katherine Grellman – 2024 MS
Thesis: The effects of sediment runoff on the foraging behavior of herbivorous coral reef fishes
Fabien Vivier – 2024 PhD
Dissertation: Implementing a novel approach to quantify the age structure of free-ranging delphinid populations using unoccupied aerial system photogrammetry
Julie Zill – 2024 PhD
Dissertation: Moray eels inconspicuously predominate heavily fished reefs
Scott Chulakote – 2024 MS
Thesis: Low herbivore abundance facilitates invasive macroalgae in coastal nearshore habitats in Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi
Evan Freel – 2024 PhD
Dissertation: Population genomic tools and applications of pooled sequencing data
Andrew Graham – 2024 MS
Thesis: The effects of human presence on fish behavior at the Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve, Hawaiʻi, during and immediately following the COVID-19 pandemic closure
Becca Lensing – 2024 PhD
Dissertation: Microbial assemblage dynamics of disturbed tropical high-island estuarine systems
Samantha Thomas – 2024 MS
Thesis: Effects of dredging-related sedimentation on larval settlement in harbor Porites coral
Aimee Cook McNab – 2024 MS
Thesis: Fear and flattening: Reef habitat complexity alters reef fish foraging behaviors
Carla Gimpel – 2024 PhD
Dissertation: Winter picoplankton distributions and diversity over a three-year study off the Northwestern Antarctic Peninsula (NAP)
Kuball Kyleigh – 2024 MS
Thesis: Microbial community heritability in larvae of the Hawaiian coral Montipora capitata
Gabrielle Martineau – 2024 MS
Thesis: A novel 28S rRNA metabarcoding primer pair for improved assessment of sponge communities and coral reef biodiversity
Toby Matthews – 2024 PhD
Dissertation: Data-limited approaches to coral reef fishery management
Kanoe’ulalani (Kim) Morishige – 2024 PhD
Dissertation: Reproductive ecology of Hawaiian intertidal invertebrates, hāʻukeʻuke and ʻopihi: Drivers, seasonal patterns, and the impacts of temperature, wave energy, limu, and habitat structure
Corey Nevels – 2024 MS
Thesis: Uncovering the long-term dynamics of reef manta ray (Mobula alfredi) aggregations in Kona, Hawaiʻi using community-sourced data
Rachel Nunley – 2024 MS
Thesis: Bridging the gap between morphology and phylogenetics to describe the hidden sponge diversity of Hawaiian coral reefs
Liah McPherson – 2023 MS
Thesis: Abundance and demographic parameters of spinner dolphins (Stenella longirostris) off Waiʻanae, Oʻahu
Eric Dilley – 2023 MS
Thesis: Coral restoration: Roles of shelter for herbivores and reef health in early recruitment success
Michael Hoban – 2023 PhD
Dissertation: Dimensions in marine biodiversity: Traditional and molecular approaches to unraveling the mysteries of the deep
Keith Kamikawa – 2023 PhD
Dissertation: Following bonefishes in Hawaiʻi: Connecting the dots from ocean to table
Keena Leon Guerrero – 2023 MS
Thesis: Age, growth, reproduction and mortality of the lined surgeonfish
Wesley Sparagon – 2023 PhD
Dissertation: Prokaryotes and partners: Exploring how microbe organic matter interactions inform carbon cycling in healthy and degraded coral reefs
Carlo Caruso – 2023 PhD
Dissertation: Selecting heat tolerant corals for resilient reef restoration
William Hoaka Thomas – 2023 MS
Thesis: Heterotrophic plankton community diversity in an Indigenous Hawaiian mariculture system
Melanie Kekuʻiapōiula Keliipuleole – 2022 MS
Thesis: Aia ke kumu waiwai ma Makalawena: Analysis of the natural resources within the Makalawena loko waiʻōpae complex
Anke Kuegler – 2022 PhD
Dissertation: Male humpback whale chorusing and what it reveals about the species’ ecology in Hawaiʻi
Shreya Yadav – 2022 PhD
Dissertation: Investigating historical, social, and ecological dimensions of coral reef resilience
Marisa McDonald – 2022 PhD
Dissertation: UV vision in larval stomatopod crustaceans
Mariana Rocha de Souza – 2022 PhD
Dissertation: Coral environmental history is primary driver of algal symbiont composition, despite a mass bleaching event
Alexandria Barkman – 2022 PhD
Dissertation: The effects of the pesticides atrazine and brodifacoum on two Hawaiian corals
Sitara Palecanda – 2022 PhD
Dissertation: Visual pigment diversity and function in larval stomatopods and other malacostracan crustaceans
Sarah Tucker – 2022 PhD
Dissertation: Phylogenetic and functional characteristics that underlie the spatiotemporal distributions of marine bacteria and phytoplankton across a coastal to open-ocean model system
Nicole Yamase – 2022 PhD
Dissertation: Understanding the ecophysiology of native macroalgae in a changing world
Erika Alvarado – 2021 MS
Thesis: Uncovering diversity in the mesophotic zone of Hawaiʻi: Species new to science in the genera Halopeltis and Leptofauchea (Rhodymeniales, Rhodophyta)
Chloe Alexandria Blandino – 2021 MS
Thesis: Habitat partitioning in sympatric sharks at French Frigate Shoals Atoll
Brittany Nicole Evans – 2021 MS
Thesis: Movement patterns and space usage of giant trevally, Caranx ignobilis, in Hawaiian waters
Emmett Henley – 2021 PhD
Dissertation: Coral persistence in the Anthropocene: Impacts to reproduction, implications for restoration
Kaitlyn Jacobs – 2021 MS
Thesis: A phylogenomic examination of Palmyra Atoll’s corallimorpharian invader
Derek Kraft – 2021 PhD
Dissertation: Conservation genetics of sharks
Abby Lapointe – 2021 PhD
Dissertation: Investigations into the biogeography of the bathyal deep sea
Anthony Montgomery – 2021 PhD
Dissertation: Diversity and habitat of American Sāmoa’s mesophotic coral ecosystems: Implications to the deep refuge hypothesis
Shayle Matsuda – 2021 PhD
Dissertation: The effects of ocean warming on coral symbioses: Algal symbiosis establishment, bleaching and recovery
Kirsten Poff – 2021 PhD
Dissertation: Dynamics of planktonic and sinking particle-associated microbes in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre
Ron Vave – 2021 PhD
Dissertation: Indigenous Fijian funerals in Fiji and its influence and effects on social and ecological resilience
Lev Gerstle – 2020 MS
Thesis: Growth and transgenerational acclimatization of juvenile Pocillopora damicornis
Elaine Yiling Luo – 2020 PhD
Dissertation: Viral diversity and dynamics in the open ocean
Emily Sesno – 2020 MS
Thesis: Growth and calcification response of the common collector urchin, Tripneustes gratilla, to projected climate change: Effects of warming and acidification
Bethany Coffey – 2020 MS
Thesis: Context-specific sound production responses to environmental manipulation in the vocal reef fish Rhinecanthus rectangulus
Laura Damiani – 2020 MS
Thesis: The effects of the herbicide atrazine on Hawaiian corals
Scott Goldberg – 2020 MS
Thesis: Investigating the impact of corallivorous fishes on bleached corals
Ariana Huffmyer Meltvedt – 2020 PhD
Dissertation: Getting a head start: Influential early experiences for juvenile corals and community college science students
Elizabeth Lenz – 2020 PhD
Dissertation: Identifying opportunities for resilience in reef-building corals as ocean warming continues
Eileen Nalley – 2020 PhD
Dissertation: Picky eater or generalist feeder? Diet diversity and functional homogenization in herbivorous reef fishes
Yvonne Barkley – 2020 PhD
Dissertation: Characterizing patterns in endangered cetacean populations of the Hawaiian Archipelago using passive acoustic data
Elizabeth Monaghan – 2020 MS
Thesis: Isolation of SAR11 marine bacteria from cryopreserved seawater
Kira Jean Monell – 2020 MS
Thesis: Characterization of cell division in the tissues of the calanoid copepod, Neocalanus flemingeri, from diapause through early oogenesis
Daniel Coffey – 2019 PhD
Dissertation: Under pressure: Physiological constraints of a deepwater shark in a changing ocean climate
Christopher Wall – 2019 PhD
Dissertation: Environmental and biological effects on nutritional mode and resource partitioning in scleractinian corals
Trevor Johannsen – 2019 MS
Thesis: Dramatic increases in the mushroom coral Lobactis scutaria population in Kāneʻohe Bay, Hawaiʻi over the last 18 years
Erika Johnston – 2019 PhD
Dissertation: Morphological and reproductive plasticity in Pocillopora corals
Patrick Nichols – 2019 MS
Thesis: Rapid assessment of coral cover from environmental DNA in Hawaiʻi
Ryan Nichols – 2019 MS
Thesis: Sex-specific growth, longevity, and dimorphism of the deepwater snapper ʻehu, Etelis carbunculus (family Lutjanidae), within the Hawaiian Archipelago
Natalie Summers – 2019 MS
Thesis: Biogeography of the upper bathyal of the Pacific Ocean
Phoebe Woodworth-Jefcoats – 2019 PhD
Dissertation: Climate and fishing impacts on North Pacific fisheries: Insights and projections from contrasting approaches to ecosystem modeling
Noam Altman-Kurosaki – 2019 MS
Thesis: Oʻahu’s marine protected areas have limited success in protecting coral reef herbivore functional assemblages
Zack Oyafuso – 2019 PhD
Dissertation: A diet analysis of wahoo (Acanthocybium solandri) from the central North Pacific using visual and DNA barcoding techniques
Angela Richards Dona – 2019 PhD
Dissertation: Investigation into the functional role of chromoproteins in the physiology and ecology of the Hawaiian stony coral Montipora flabellata in Kāneʻohe Bay, Oʻahu
Stephen Scherrer – 2019 PhD
Dissertation: Going off the deep end: Restricted fishing areas and considerations for the management of tropical deep-water demersal fishes
Anela Akiona – 2018 MS
Thesis: Predatory fish population dynamics and diet in a traditional Hawaiian fishpond
Charley Westbrook – 2018 MS
Thesis: Consideration of the Hawaiian collector urchin, Tripneustes gratilla, as a biocontrol agent
Tayler Massey – 2018 PhD
Dissertation: The effect of ocean warming on the coral communities of Hawaii
Megan McElligott – 2018 MS
Thesis: Behavioral and habitat-use patterns of spinner dolphins in the Maui Nui region
Victoria Sindorf – 2018 MS
Thesis: Patterns and effects of direct coral-algal interactions on shallow reefs around Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi
Chelsie Counsell – 2018 PhD
Dissertation: Assembly dynamics for a coral-associated reef community: Spatial and temporal patterns, and a test of priority effects
Florybeth La Valle – 2018 PhD
Dissertation: The effects of submarine groundwater discharge on tropical reef benthic community composition, structure, and primary productivity
Anne Rosinski (nee Chung) – 2018 PhD
Dissertation: Translating resilience-based management from theory to practice in Hawaiʻi
Megan Onuma – 2017 MS
Thesis: Temperature and pCO₂ affect metabolic rate of Gracilaria salicornia (Rhodophyta)
Mackenzier Gerringer – 2017 PhD
Dissertation: On the success of the hadal snailfish: The influence of trophic ecology, life history, and pressure adaptation on depth zonation in the planet’s deepest-living fishes
Tayler Massey – 2017 MS
Thesis: The effect of ocean warming on the coral communities of Hawaii
Kaho Tisthammer – 2017 PhD
Dissertation: Understanding the adaptive ability of corals to changing environments
Katie Lubarsky – 2016 MS
Thesis: Effects of submarine groundwater discharge on coral accretion and bioerosion on two shallow reef flats
Morgan (Winston) Pomeroy – 2016 MS
Thesis: Genome-wide divergence among populations in distinct ocean habitats of the mesopelagic copepod Pleuromamma xiphias
Lauren Van Woudenberg Baena – 2016 MS
Thesis: Intraspecific variability in the life history of endemic coral reef fishes between photic and mesophotic populations in the North Central Pacific Ocean
Siobhan Burns – 2016 MS
Thesis: Cultivation-based description of microbial diversity in sediment samples after a molasses spill in Honolulu Harbor, Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi (USA)
Garrett Johnson – 2016 MS
Thesis: An examination of parrotfish assemblage structure on the northern Great Barrier Reef
Keith Kamikawa – 2016 MS
Thesis: Following bonefishes in Hawaiʻi: Connecting the dots from ocean to table
Maia Kapur – 2016 MS
Thesis: Testing spatial management strategies for Hawaii’s future reefs: A biophysical, metacommunity approach
Claire Lager – 2016 MS
Thesis: Sex and the sea: Impacts of nearshore stressors on the early life stages of coral
Emilie Richards – 2016 MS
Thesis: Phylogeographic insights into the Indo-Pacific parrotfish Scarus rubroviolaceus
Mireille Steck – 2016 MS
Thesis: New eye-deas: Molecular evolution of unusual eye types in the stomatopod Alima pacifica and the copepods Labidocera madurae and Neocalanus flemingeri
Lauren Van Heukelem – 2016 MS
Thesis: Does the initial diet of hatchery-reared Tripneustes gratilla impact their effectiveness as a biocontrol for invasive algae?
Howe Marian – 2016 MS
Thesis: Investigating odontocete occurrence around Maui Nui and Oʻahu using a multi-method approach
Joshua Levy – 2016 MS
Thesis: Utilization of low-altitude remote sensing techniques for coral bleaching assessments
Eileen Nalley – 2016 MS
Thesis: Specialization in herbivorous reef fishes
Whitney Goodell – 2015 MS
Thesis: Juvenile fish habitat associations: The integration of ecological surveys, remote sensing technology, and local knowledge to inform community-based fisheries management in Hā‘ena, Kauaʻi
Nin Gan – 2015 MS
Thesis: Cryptofauna as indicators of benthic community health at the Waiʻanae Ocean Outfall