I ka wa ma mua ka wa ma hope: our future is in the past
Applying paleoecology and Indigenous Science to link ecological processes across scales and inform the long-term, holistic management of marine ecosystems
I am an Assistant Researcher and Early Career Research Fellow with the School of Ocean and Earth Sciences and Technology at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, housed in the Hawaiʻi Sea Grant College Program. I hold a cooperating graduate faculty appointment in the Department of Earth Sciences.
I use paleoecology to study how systems changes—including extreme environmental change and novel socio-environmental regimes—affect marine ecosystems over decades to millennia. I apply microfossils as a system in which to bridge micro and macro timescales across levels of biological organization, from individuals to populations to communities.
I am committed to developing purpose-driven research that supports marginalized communities, including by characterizing historical inequities in STEM and applying this knowledge towards developing justice-oriented solutions.
My goal in this work is to develop insights from multiple knowledge systems that can be applied towards solutions that adapt ocean ecosystems for long-term resilience.
About Sara
Sara Kahanamoku-Meyer, PhD (they/them) is a Kanaka ʻŌiwi (Native Hawaiian), Maʻohi (Indigenous Tahitian), and Catalan (white) scientist and scholar. Raised in Haleʻiwa, Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi, Dr. Kahanamoku’s family connections to the ocean drive their scholarship and activism. They are currently an Early Career Research Fellow in the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, where they work closely with with the Hawaiʻi Sea Grant Ulana ʻIke Center of Excellence.
Education
Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley (2022)
Dissertation: “Common Era records of Santa Barbara Basin benthic foraminifera reveal nineteenth and twentieth century shifts in reproductive life history, body size, and community structure”
PhD
Major Advisor: Seth Finnegan
Geology & Geophysics, Yale University (2016)
BS
Thesis: “Exploring latitudinal gradients of Northeastern Pacific Patellogastropoda body size with high-throughput morphometric imaging”
Major Advisor: Pincelli Hull
Project Areas
Paleo and historical ecology; conservation paleobiology
Place-based reciprocal research practice in Hawaiʻi
Advancing equity in STEM funding
Collecting morphometric image data
Checking out “We Are the Ocean,” a mural in Emeryville, CA about Sara’s work
Visiting Maunakea after writing for the National Academies’ Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics
