Kohala Center Senior Scientists are appointed from fields in mathematics or the natural and physical sciences. Kohala Center Senior Scholars are appointed from fields in the social and behavioral sciences or the humanities. Senior Scientists and Senior Scholars are active in the development and/or management of research and/or teaching programs that benefit both the academy and Hawai‘i Island communities. These programs are developed, managed, and/or offered in collaboration with The Kohala Center and its university, research agency, and/or community partners.

Kohala Center Senior Scientists and Scholars are recognized in their fields of expertise in the national and/or international arena through:
• publication in peer reviewed journals;
• publication with university presses;
• honorary lectureships at universities or scholarly associations;
• honorary appointments to scholarly societies;
• receipt of awards, prizes, and other forms of special recognition by scholarly or professional societies for outstanding work in research or education; and /or
• leadership positions in scholarly associations, research agencies, or universities.

Senior Scientists and Scholars have usually achieved the highest graduate degree possible in their fields of expertise. Senior Scientists and Scholars may assume the title of Visiting Senior Scientist or Visiting Senior Scholar should other academic or scholarly affiliations require such nomenclature.

Senior Scientists and Scholars are appointed to terms of four years by the Board of Directors of The Kohala Center and at the recommendation of The Kohala Center’s Senior Staff and The Kohala Center’s Advisory Board of Senior Scientists and Scholars. Senior Scientists and Scholars are given full access to The Kohala Center’s academic and program planning and design services, community relations and public relations services, logistics and accommodations services, as well as grants management and fiscal services, with the assent of Kohala Center Senior Staff, as appropriate.

Please click on the name below to find out more about each of our Senior Scientists:

Lois-ellin Datta, Ph.D., Comparative and Physiological Psychology

Louis A. Derry, Ph.D., Geochemistry

Charles H. Greene, Ph.D., Oceanography

C. Drew Harvell, Ph.D., Zoology

KekuhikuhipuuoneonaaliioKohala Kanae Kanahele Keali‘ikanaka‘oleoHaililani, Kumu Hula

Karen Kemp, Ph.D., Geography

Jed P. Sparks, Ph.D., Botany