Hawaiian Plant Evolution Lab Statement in Support of All People and Constitutional Protections
We condemn all forms of racism and discrimination of any kind. We firmly believe that the sciences require major structural changes and we stand in strong support of all current and future black, indigenous, and people of color in the sciences and in the world at large. We also stand in strong support of all people regardless of sex, gender, sexual orientation, age, physical ability, nationality, immigration status, and/or religious beliefs. We recognize that we all benefit immensely from working with a wide-diversity of people both in Hawaiʻi and around the world. We firmly believe that diversity and representation matter; and we also firmly believe in the Constitutional protections of free speech provided by the 1st Amendment and stand strong against any form of censorship.
If you are interested in joining the lab as a post-doc, graduate student, or undergraduate researcher please email me (knope@hawaii.edu) your CV and a brief statement of interests. If you are considering working on a master's or PhD with me, please also see the UH Mānoa Botany Graduate Program website for details.
Lab photos and lab members (current and former):
Members of the Knope Lab 2018 (From L to R): Kamamaluwaiwai (Wai) Wichimai, Lavin Uehara, Melia Takakusagi, Maya Munstermann, Heaven Tharp, Matt Knope, Erin Datlof, and Jeff Stallman
Lab photo 2019. Left to right: Rebecca Webster, Ashley Romero, Trevor Bak, Maya Munstermann, Matt Knope, Erin Datlof, Cassie McTighe, Jeff Regalario
Markie Okomoto is a senior majoring in Biology and working on developing a database on the genetics and evolutionary history of Hawaiian plant lineages.
Noelle Hadad, Marine Biology B.S. from San Francisco State University, has interests in wildlife conservation focusing on the major threats facing our oceans such as plastic, climate change, over-fishing. She is currently working with Becca and Megan on how global warming may be effecting Hawaiian intertidal ecological communities.
Kyra Robinson is Biology major, with concentration in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology. She is working with Jeff Stallman on developing a large database on the natural history of the Hawaiian fungi.
Trevor Bak is a Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Sciences master’s student. His thesis topic is still forming but he is possibly interested in studying extinction risk in marine animals.
Megan Nakamoto is a senior at Waiākea High School and is in her third year working in the lab. She worked for her first two years and on the ecology of extinction risk in terrestrial mammals and is now working on how climate change may be effecting intertidal algal and invertebrate communities in Hawaiʻi.
Nikola Rodriguez, formerly a B.S. student in Marine Science and now a master’s student in TCBES, is primarily interested in community ecology and is working with Dr. Timothy Grabowski’s lab studying community shifts on coral reefs.
Erin Datlof, M.S. Botany, University of Hawaiʽi at Mānoa. Erin is a CREST molecular lab technician working with Jolene Sutton and myself. Erin is interested in Hawaiian community ecology, coevolution, and adaptive radiations. She is currently working in our lab on the phylogenomics of native Hawaii Bidens and Tetramolopium.
Maya Munstermann, Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science M.S. Maya did her master's thesis in the lab on the global ecological signature of extinction risk in terrestrial vertebrates. She is currently working as an entomologist at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
Rebecca Webster is a master’s student in the Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Sciences program and is studying the possible effects of climate change on intertidal communities in Hawaii.
Angela Colon, Biology B.S. student, is working on the ecology of extinction risk in living marine animals
Mishell Vasquez Morales is a TCBES masterʻs thesis student working on comparative genomics and climate adaptation in native Hawaiian Bidens (koʻokoʻokau)
Jeff Regalario, Biology B.S. student, working on the ecological covariates of extinction risk in marine animals.
Ashley Romero, Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology B.S. student now working with Dr. Pat Hart in the LOHE Lab at UH Hilo on native Hawaiian birds
Heaven Tharp, Biology B.S., worked on the ecological predictors of extinction risk in global terrestrial vertebrates and is now a master’s student at Arkansas State University working on conservation biology of reptiles. Congratulations, Heaven!
Malia Takakusagi, Biology B.S., worked with us on the ecology of extinction risk in terrestrial vertebrates and is now in medical school at UH Manoa. Congratulations, Melia! Here is a link to the press release on her acceptance:
https://hilo.hawaii.edu/chancellor/stories/2020/07/01/uh-hilo-alumna-school-of-medicine/
Jeff Stallman, M.S. in Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science. Jeff worked on his master's thesis on Hawaiian fungi with Don Hemmes and Mike Shintaku and with us on native Hawaiian plant conservation genetics and DNA barcoding. Jeff is now a PhD student in the Dept. of Botany and Plant Pathology at Purdue University. Congratulations, Jeff!
Lavin Uehara, Biology B.S., worked with us on the ecology of extinction risk in terrestrial vertebrates.
Kamamaluwaiwai "Wai" Wichimai, Biology B.S. student, worked with us on the ecological predictors of extinction risk in global terrestrial vertebrates.
Matthew Knope, Lab Principal Investigator
Catherine “Cassie” McTighe is a B.S. student in the Biology program studying the population dynamics of invasive algal and invertebrate species in the Hawaiian intertidal.