SEEDS: Newsletter > Volume 4, Issue 10 - December 2006 / January 2007

SEEDS Highlight: Ku'ulei Vickery, 2006-07 Undergraduate Research Fellow

Aloha, I’m Ku`ulei and a senior at the University of Hawai`i at Manoa, majoring in environmental studies with an emphasis in marine ecology. I am a waterwoman. I’ve played, worked, and lived on the ocean. As an ocean enthusiast, I’m a long-distance sailor, surfer, swimmer, open-water diver, oceanographer, and budding ecologist. My love for the ocean has blossomed into a lifestyle and worthwhile academic endeavor. I’m interested in endangered marine species, indigenous knowledge, endemic Hawaiian marine animals, island ecosystems, and migratory routes of sea turtles. Being a native Hawaiian, I have struggled for years to coexist in a dual relationship of western science and Hawaiian culture. Throughout this journey I’ve continued to follow the path of my ancestors, and in turn, pave the way for the future. Through SEEDS, I have the opportunity to live in Shark Bay, Western Australia for 6 months and study the food web ecology of stingrays. I’m very excited and thankful for this awesome chance to conduct my own research. I’ve also participated in two field trips and an ESA Annual Meeting. Thanks to SEEDS, I view the world through the eyes of an ecologist.

My advice to other students is to figure out what is important to you, personalize it, and run with it. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do it, especially if it's yourself.

A’ohe pau ka ‘ike i ka halau ho’okahi. One can learn from many sources.
– Mary Kawena Pukui 1983
Olelo No’eau, Hawaiian Proverbs and Poetical Sayings

For more information on the SEEDS Undergraduate Research Fellowship, visit http://www.esa.org/seeds/activities/FellowshipsInfo.php