Aloha, my name is Stephanie Mladinich and I am from Albuquerque, New Mexico. I graduated from the University of New Mexico in 2015 with a dual degree in Biology and Latin American Studies, and have since worked in Mozambique, Panama and Brazil focused on forest and watershed ecology, restoration of degraded lands, and community-led conservation. It is an honor to work alongside so many passionate and inspiring individuals within the LOHE lab, UH Hilo and the greater Hawai'i community, and I am expanding my scope every day as I continue to learn from my peers and mentors. My current research is supported by the Pacific Island Climate Adaptation Science Center (PICASC) and is focused on mosquito surveillance in the mid to high elevation forests of Hawai'i Island, and the ecological drivers of mosquito distribution and abundance across the landscape. By increasing our understanding of this dynamic system, we hope to inform an early warning system of mosquito invasion at high elevations to implement actions that can safeguard Native Hawaiian forest birds from disease transmission.

Aloha, my name is Erika Kekiwi and grew up in Kula, Maui. I've been interested in conservation in Hawai'i for years, first interning with Pu'u Kukui Watershed through the PIPES program on Maui while I was in college. I graduated from Willamette University with a degree in Environmental Science and until recently had been working with endangered wildlife at Haleakalā National Park, first as a Kupu Conservation Leadership Development Program member, and then as an RCUH field assistant. I joined the LOHE lab in 2020 and will be working on creating automatic detection algorithms to easily identify Maui's native forest birds.

My name is Robbie Justice I joined the LOHE lab in March 2019, and I am currently working on my thesis which will be looking at the vocal repertoire and how it relates to the re-introduced ʻAlalā's reproductive success. I have done a decent amount of field work after my undergrad including Acoustic Spotted Owl work, Wood duck banding, monitoring Caspian Terns, and was a research fellow in Bahia de Kino, Mexico. All of this work has taken me around the West Coast of the U.S. and Mexico and am excited to work on Hawaii island with this very unique bird.

Aloha! My name is Lisa Mason and I am from Koʻolaupoko, Oʻahu, Hilo Palikū, and currently reside in Waikahekahe, Puna. My connections to honua have always been strongly influenced by my family and the places we have shared. Being from these islands I am continuously growing in my sense of place and curiosity about our world, and my understanding of responsibility to do pono science here in Hawaiʻi. My interests broadly encompass ʻāina and community-based STEM education, conservation of Hawaiian ecosystems, avian ecology, and bioacoustic research. From 2011-2019 I worked as a science teacher and environmental educator for both public and private K-12 schools in East Hawaiʻi. This year with TCBES, I am developing my thesis project, which builds on a recent Kauaʻi study of cultural evolution in the last 50 years in several native Hawaiian bird populations (Paxton et al. 2019). My study will take place on Hawaiʻi island using song recordings, from as early as the 1970s, to detect possible changes in comparative characteristics of birdsongs from diminishing populations of endemic birds. Few studies have been done in Hawaiʻi based on such long temporal scales. Hopefully, my project will better inform our understanding of the current state of these endemic birds and reinforce more comprehensive management strategies for conservation. Additionally, I love to travel and see new places and visit old friends. I also enjoy hula, forest hikes, playing board games, fresh squeezed lime margaritas, watching painting tutorials on YouTube, and ocean-ing with my husband Josh and dog nūnū.

Growing up in rural Wisconsin I always had a deep connection to nature and wanted to participate in conservation. While working toward my B.S. in Biology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison I enrolled in 'Birds of Southern Wisconsin. This class taught me all the birds of Wisconsin, by sight and sound, and I was impassioned to direct my efforts into avian conservation biology. After my graduation from UW in 2016 I participated in the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology Noel Cutright Breeding Bird Internship. The aim of this program was to expand our knowledge on the reproductive trends of native and non-native bird species. I also worked in a virology lab on the UW campus during this time. I built up and honed my research skills by using biochemical assays and super-resolution fluorescence microscopy to refine our understanding of self-interactions formed by a RNA virus protein. Currently, I am working in the LOHE lab to understand the effects of Rapid `Ōhi`a Death (ROD) on the forest bird species of Hawai`i. We are using song recorders to collect vocalizations of forest dwelling species (both native and non-native) in areas of high and low `Ōhi`a mortality to document how species composition may be changing as ROD progresses. I am also beginning my Master's program in Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science at UH Hilo.

Aloha, my name is Petrisha Alvarez. I grew up on Molokai, always exploring the environment around me from Mauka to Makai. Observing the diverse species of Hawaiʻi sparked my interest to further my education within the field of science. I obtained a bachelors in Microbiology from the University of Hawai`i at Mānoa and gained some research experience at the Center for Microbial Oceanography; Research and Experience (C-MORE) Hale. After graduating, I joined Kupu’s Hawaiʻi Youth Conservation Corps to understand better processes of conserving Hawaii’s diverse ecosystems. My experience with Kupu amplified my reasoning for studying higher education in Tropical Conservation Biology, as there are so many unanswered questions of how to save these native species from extinction. I was a part of many beach clean-ups which opened my eyes to the broader impact nets and plastics have on our native ecosystems. During the 2018 winter season, I found a juvenile humpback whale entangled in a fishing net with two buoys tightly wrapped around its left peck. It saddens me to see the young whale in distress, approaching my family’s boat many times as if asking for help to be set free. We stayed with the whale for hours until assistance from NOAA arrived. I hope to use all my knowledge and experiences to make an impact to protect these native species. My research at LOHE will consist of better understanding the habitat distribution of Hawaiian Spinner Dolphins along the East Coast of Hawai`i Island. Hawaiian Spinner Dolphins are frequently sighted along the Leeward coast of Kona, where human disturbances threaten their rest. Not many studies have ventured to the Windward Coastlines where weather conditions are harsher for marine research. I will be using various hydrophones to map out locations where Hawaiian spinner dolphins are present along the East Coast of Hawai`i Island, such as Hilo Bay.

Aloha! I am a first-generation, Vietnamese-American college student. During my first semester of college, I decided to go against my parents' wishes and switch my major from Marketing to Animal Behavior. Fast forward some years and I have traveled to Wyoming x2, Panama, and Louisiana for avian research. I am incredibly fortunate for these experiences because they opened my eyes to the world of avian conservation and ecology. And where else would I go to continue following this dream of mine other than Hawaiʻi? My current research will determine the feasibility in using AudioMoths (low-cost, customizable acoustic device) and vocal activity rate for population density estimates of the iconic ‘i‘iwi. In addition, we want to look at potential abiotic impacts on vocal activity rates, and consequently examine how these components may influence density estimations. We hope to refine this particular methodology so that it can be applied to avian monitoring efforts across the Hawaiian Islands and beyond

Aloha, my name is David Arakawa and I grew up in Mānoa Valley on Oāhu. I graduated with a B.S. in Cellular & Molecular Biology and a minor in Chemistry from the University of Hawai'i at Hilo. After completing a REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates, NSF) at the American Museum of Natural History in New York studying Tinamou (Tinamidae) and an Ike Wai Scholar Internship (NSF) genomic study on beak diversity of Hawaiian Honeycreepers at UH Hilo, it was an easy decision to remain in the research domain as a graduate student. I’ve also been fortunate to be a part of LOHE Lab since 2016. I am humbled and honored to have the support of the Hau’oli Mau Loa Foundation as I do my research on the comparison of the vocal repertoire and behavior of the ʻAlalā between captivity and wild.

Chris Kluzak is working on Palila foraging behaviors in captivity at the Keauhou Bird Conservation Center.

Kelly Goodale is a wildlife biologist with the US Fish and Wildlife Service stationed at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. Working with seabirds within the Hawaiian archipelago since 2013, her work is focused on monitoring seabird nesting colonies, removing non-native invasive predators, and improving their nesting habitat through native plant restoration. Her research is focused on determining habitat suitability of microclimates at Midway Atoll to determine priority areas of habitat improvement to increase reproductive success of the Laysan albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis). Kelly received her B.S. in Wildlife Sciences from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry in 2009.