---

---

December 2020
Katie Ackerman
Master's Student
UH Mānoa, Department of Atmospheric Sciences

​Katie Ackerman is a Master’s student in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences under Dr. Alison Nugent. She actually got her B.S. here at UH in the ERTH department and did her senior thesis with Dr. Nugent. She ended up loving it so much that she switched departments and decided to stay at UH for her graduate studies.

Her research focuses on air-sea interactions; in particular, she studies the production and transport of sea salt aerosols in coastal environments. Sea salt aerosols (SSA) are the tiny salt water droplets that are ejected by ocean white caps and coastal waves and are one of the largest natural aerosols in the world by mass. They act as important cloud condensation nuclei in the marine boundary layer but quantifying their production, especially in coastal environments, has been difficult due to constraints on past sampling methods. Katie uses a 3-D printed instrument known as the mini-GNI to directly observe SSA concentrations using kites and drones across our eastern coastlines.

Katie’s ultimate goal is to be a professor at a university! She was grateful to receive a TA-ship through her department this year and despite the exceptional circumstances, it’s really solidified her goals of not only wanting to do research, but also wanting to partake in teaching and inspiring younger generations of scientists.

---

September 2020
Maria Constantini
PhD Candidate
UH Mānoa, Zoology

Hi everyone! My name is Maria and I’m a PhD candidate in the Zoology graduate program.

With my advisor, Dr. Floyd Reed, I use molecular techniques to answer questions about Hawaiian forest bird ecology and conservation. 12I use a tool called "DNA metabarcoding" to determine the diets and the microbial gut communities of these birds. Metabarcoding takes a sample that contains a bunch of mixed up DNA from different types of sources (in my case bird poop) and uses specific sequences of DNA (primers) to target complementary regions in the sample. These targeted regions eventually are sequenced, and I match them to a curated database to figure out what’s in the bird poop samples. I do this to determine what invertebrates my birds eat and what bacteria are present in their guts which informs management decisions. 

With GWISH's grant I was supposed to present my research as an invited speaker at a microbiome symposium at the North American Ornithological Conference in Puerto Rico. However, due to Covid, this symposium was rescheduled so I will be going to Canada next year where it will be held. This summer I finished my first manuscript and sent it out for review and I conducted fieldwork on Oahu and Big Island to collect more fecal samples. Perhaps the most exciting news is that I’m spending all of Fall semester in Washington, D.C. working with the Center for Conservation Genomics at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park! I was awarded a PreDoctoral Fellowship to collaborate with Smithsonian staff and utilize their facilities to advance my research!

---