My Science Philosophy
I seek to apply my scientific training to address issues relevant to Indigenous people, with a focus on my home community in Hawaiʻi. I leverage my skillsets in research and writing to articulate the impacts of scientific research on Black, brown, and Indigenous communities and identifying pathways for improving equity in science.
Writing
“Decades of research show that not only is the quality and novelty of scientific outputs negatively impacted when minoritized researchers are systematically excluded, but so are the lives of these individuals and the research ecosystems and communities they support.”
— Dr. Kahanamoku, in an article about their research on racial disparities in NSF funding
“As ecologists and evolutionary biologists, it is important to recognize that issues surrounding AAPI do not exist in a vacuum and that these issues affect some of our students and colleagues in and outside of the classroom and lab.”
— Dr. Kahanamoku and colleagues, in a paper on Asian American and Pacific Islander experiences in ecology
Kahanamoku, S.S. “oceanus nullius” (Poem). Asian American Pacific Islander Poetry Anthology, edited by Terisa Siagatonu, Noʻu Revilla, Franny Choi, and Bao Phi, Haymarket Books (forthcoming 2024).
Kahanamoku, S.S. Grant decisions at the National Science foundation reflect systemic racism. UC Berkeley Integrative Biology DEI Newsletter.(2023).
Nguyen, K.H., Akiona, A.K., Chang, C.C., Chaudhary, V.B., Cheng, S.J., Johnson, S.M., Kahanamoku, S.S., Lee, A., deLeon Sanchez, E.E., Segui, L.M., and Tanner, R.L. Who are we? Highlighting nuances in Asian American experiences in ecology and evolutionary biology. Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America 103: 1-8. (2022).
Kahanamoku, S.S., Alegado, R.A., Kagawa-Viviani, A., Kamelamela, K.L., Kamai, B., Walkowicz, L.M., Prescod-Weinstein, C., de los Reyes, M.A., and Neilson, H. A Native Hawaiian-led summary of the impact of constructing the Thirty Meter Telescope on Maunakea (2020).
“Who gets to make decisions—for people, for land, for the future?”
“The choices made on Maunakea reflect who is granted authority to make decisions for Native Hawaiians, contested lands, and for the nature and terms of cultural practice on these lands.”