TCBES Faculty

Norman Q. Arancon

Associate Professor, Horticulture; Chair, Performing Arts

Contact: Tel: (808) 932-7030, Email, Website

Specialization: Crop and environmental science.

Jonathan “Jon” Awaya

Chair & Professor, Biology

Contact: Tel: (808) 932-7180, Email

Research: Elemental cycling and secondary metabolite biosynthesis in environmental microbes.
Courses: Fundamentals of Microbiology, Biology of Microorganisms, Intro to Cell & Molecular
Office Hours: F19 M/W 2-3pm or by appt.

Celia T. Bardwell-Jones

Associate Professor, Philosophy; Gender and Women's Studies Program

Contact: Tel: (808) 932-7230, Email

Research interests: Feminist Philosophy, American Philosophy, Philosophy of Race and Cultural Diversity

Teaching: Metaphysics, Theories of Knowledge, Philosophy of Nature, Science, Technology and Society, Ethics

Office Hours: Tuesdays, Thursdays - 8:50am-9:50am in K229. I am also available for appointment.

James “Jim” P. Beets

Interim Dean, College of Natural & Health Sciences

Contact: Tel: (808) 932-7506 / (808) 932-7507, Email

John H. R. Burns

Assistant Professor, Marine Science

Contact: Tel: (808) 932-7595, Email, Website

Research: coral biology, coral reef ecology, coral epizootiology, quantitative ecology, 3D modeling, data visualization

Courses: Oceanography, TCBES Core Courses, Data Visualization

Lisa Canale

TCBES Internship Coordinator

Contact: Tel: (808) 932-7571, Email, Website

Kathryn J. Besio

Professor, Geography and Environmental Sciences

Contact: Tel: (808) 932-7253, Email

Courses: Geography and Contemporary Society; Cultural Geography; Food and Societies; Gender, Place and Environment.
Research: Tourism geography, qualitative research methods, research ethics, home gardens and local foods.

Leng Chee Chang

Associate Professor

Contact: Tel: (808) 981-8018, Email, Website

Steven “Steve” Colbert

Chair & Associate Professor, Marine Science

Contact: Tel: (808) 932-7596, Email

Marta deMaintenon

Professor, Marine Science

Contact: Tel: (808) 932-7591, Email

I am a marine invertebrate zoologist. My research is mostly on marine snails, with an interest in anatomy, ecology, systematics and taxonomy.

Armando García-Ortega

Associate Professor, Aquaculture

Contact: Tel: (808) 932-7031, Email, Website

Specialization: Aquaculture, Fish Nutrition & Feeding, Land-based Production of Marine Fish and Seaweeds

Joseph H. Genz

Associate Professor, Anthropology; Coordinator, Pacific Island Studies Certificate, PISC

Contact: Tel: (808) 932-7267, Email, Website

Courses: Cultural Anthropology, Cultures of Oceania, Change in The Pacific

Research: Understanding and helping to ease tensions that have arisen between recent Micronesian migrants and other communities in Hawaiʻi. Cultural revival of voyaging and navigation in the Marshall Islands.

Timothy B. Grabowski

Unit Leader, U.S. Geological Survey-Hawaii Cooperative Fishery Research Unit; Adjunct Associate Professor

Contact: Tel: (808) 932-7575, Email, Website

Research: fish behaviorial and physiological ecology, fish reproduction and early life history, aquatic landscape ecology, fisheries management and conservation.
Courses: Fisheries Ecology, TCBES Core Courses

Mazen L. Hamad

Professor, Chemistry

Contact: Tel: (808) 932-7198, Email

Primary Discipline: Analytical Chemistry.
Research: Pharmaceutical systems.
Education: Ph.D. in Chemistry, University of Washington.

Patrick J. Hart

Professor, Biology

Contact: Tel: (808) 932-7182, Email, Website

Research: Ecology and conservation of Hawaiian forests and forest birds.
Courses: Biostatistics, General Ecology, Avian Biology, Field Ornithology.

Maria C. Haws

Professor, Aquaculture

Contact: Tel: (808) 933-3289, Email

Specialization: Aquaculture, coastal management, climate change adaptation.

Kevin D. Hopkins

Professor, Aquaculture

Contact: Tel: (808) 932-7033, Email, Website

Specialization: General agriculture.

Susan “Sue” Jarvi

Professor

Contact: Tel: (808) 932-7701, Email, Website

Marina Karides

Chair & Professor, Sociology

Contact: Tel: (808) 932-7120, Email

Courses: Island Feminism; Globalization, Fashion, and Gender; Social Stratification; Japan and Global Social Movements; Queer Studies

Research: Island societies and economic development; post-colonialism; race, class, gender, and sexualities; and global justice movements

Matthew “Matt” Knope

Assistant Professor

Contact: Tel: (808) 932-7715, Email, Website

Research: Evolutionary ecology of marine and terrestrial organisms.
Courses: Biostatistics, Natural History of the Hawaiian Islands, Advanced Tropical Island Ecology and Evolution.

Christopher Knudson

Assistant Professor

Contact: Tel: (808) 932-7823, Email

Yiqing Li

Associate Professor, Tropical Forest Ecology & Management

Contact: Tel: (808) 932-7156, Email, Website

Specialization: Tropical forests.

Steven “Steve” P. Lundblad

Professor of Geology

Contact: Tel: (808) 932-7548, Email

Disciplines: Sedimentary Geology, Geochemistry, Geoarchaeology.
Education: A.B, Geological Sciences, Harvard University 1985; M.S., Geological Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1988; Ph.D., Geological Sciences, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, 1994.

Bruce W. Mathews

Dean, College of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resource Management; Professor, Soil Science

Contact: Tel: (808) 932-7036, Email, Website

Specialization: Environmental agronomy.

Sarah Marusek

Professor, Political Science

Contact: Tel: (808) 932-7129, Email, Website

aloha, I am the Public Law specialist for the Department and teach the following courses: Intro to Law and Legality (220); Legal Geography (325/GEOG 325 Legal Geography (3) ); Law and Identity (327/WS 327 Law and Identity (3) ); Rights (328/PHIL 328 Rights (3) ); Constitutional Law (321), and Law, Property & Nature (444/CBES 644). I am the Advisor/Coordinator for the Pre-Law Certificate. My research publications examine how law works in the everyday through the jurisprudential frameworks of spatiality, semiotics, and the visual.

William J. Mautz

Professor Emeritus, Biology

Contact: Tel: (808) 932-7511, Email, Website

Research: Environmental physiology, biology of reptiles and amphibians.
Courses: Ecological Physiology, Human Anatomy & Physiology, Intermediate Cell and Molecular Biology.

Karla J. McDermid Smith

Professor, Marine Science

Contact: Tel: (808) 932-7599, Email

Jon-Pierre “JP” Michaud

Associate Professor, Chemistry

Contact: Tel: (808) 932-7201, Email

Primary Discipline: Toxicology.
Research: Environmental chemistry.
Education: Ph.D. in Pharmacology, University of Arizona.

Jené Michaud

Chair & Professor, Geology

Contact: Tel: (808) 932-7552, Email, Website

Disciplines: Hydrology, geomorphology, geology.
Education: B.S., Geoscience, University of Washington; M.S., Hydrology, University of Arizona; Ph.D., Hydrology, University of Arizona.

Peter R. Mills

Professor, Anthropology; Director Heritage Management MA Program

Contact: Tel: (808) 932-7268, Email, Website

Courses: Archaeology, Archaeometry, Internship

Research: Non-destructive sourcing of Polynesian stone tools.

Cedric “Cam” C. Muir

Associate Professor, Biology

Contact: Tel: (808) 932-7500, Email, Website

Research: Agro-ecology, ecological genetics of crop species, food security.
Courses: Introductory Biology, Evolution, Intro to Cell and Molecular Biology, Genetics.

Stan T. Nakanishi

Assistant Professor, Biology

Contact: Tel: (808) 932-7193, Email

Research: Investigating the neuromodulatory effects of compounds derived from Native Hawaiian plants.
Courses: Genetics, Intermediate Cell and Molecular Biology.

Rebecca “Becky” Ostertag

Professor, Biology; Associate Program Chair, M.S. in Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science

Contact: Tel: (808) 932-7573, Email, Website

Research: Long-term forest dynamics in relation to climate change, nutrient cycling, invasive species, and restoration ecology.
Courses: General Ecology, Conservation Biology, TCBES Core Courses.

Adam A. Pack

Chair & Professor, Psychology

Contact: Tel: (808) 932-7082, Email

Research: Marine mammal behavior and mating systems, humpback whales, spinner dolphins, animal cognition.
Courses: Marine Mammal Behavior, Animal Cognition.

Ryan Perroy

Associate Professor, Geography

Contact: Tel: (808) 932-7259, Email, Website

Courses: Remote Sensing, Advanced Geo-Spatial Techniques, Climate Change, Introduction to Geostatistics, Field Methods.
Research: Exploring land degradation and recovery processes, such as erosion and invasive species, using sUAS and remote sensing, X-ray fluorescence, and traditional field methods.

Michael “Mike” Peterson

Associate Professor, Computer Science

Contact: Tel: (808) 932-7525, Email, Website

Research: Image Processing, Data Science, Visualization, Bioinformatics, and Evolutionary Computation.
Courses: Fundamentals of Data Science in R, Data Structures, Discrete Mathematics, Introduction to Computer Science I & II, Database Internals, Database Management Systems Design, Database Analytics (Data Mining), Artificial Intelligence, Organization of Programming Languages, Theory of Computing, Introduction to Bioinformatics, Introduction to Image Processing, Board Game Analysis and Design.

Matthew Platz

Professor, Chemistry

Contact: Tel: (808) 932-7968, Email, Website

Jonathan Price

Chair & Professor, Geography

Contact: Tel: (808) 932-7241, Email

Courses: Biogeography, Principles of Landscape Ecology, Senior Thesis.
Research: Utilizing GIS to identify biodiversity hotspots for native bird and plant species, search for rare species, and locate appropriate areas for the restoration of threatened and endangered species.

Michael H. Shintaku

Professor, Plant Pathology

Contact: Tel: (808) 932-7154, Email, Website

Specialization: Plant virology.

Shihwu Sung

Professor, Applied Engineering

Contact: Tel: (808) 932-7155, Email

Specialization: Environmental Engineering.

Jolene T. Sutton

Assistant Professor, Biology

Contact: Tel: (808) 932-7183, Email, Website

Research: Conservation genetics and genomics; Immunogenetics; Genetic pest management
Courses: Genetics; Principles of Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science

Li Tao

Associate Professor, Biology

Contact: Tel: (808) 932-7179, Email, Website

Research: Regulation of cell division, with a focus on the use of in vitro biochemistry and in vivo cell biology to understand the mitotic spindle.
Courses: Biochemistry, Cell Biology and Fundamental Microbiology.