Dr. Eleanor J. Sterling, HIMB Director

Aloha, and welina [welcome] to the Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology, a globally recognized center of  innovation for science and technology, place-based education, and Indigenous community engagement. Our scientists are passionate researchers, teachers, and community collaborators all working together to advance understanding and stewardship of oceans and coasts locally and globally. 

As a Native Hawaiian Place of Learning, we value and engage with multiple ways of knowing. HIMB is a place for creative interchange, for artists to work in concert with scientists, for transdisciplinary thought, to break down confining assumptions and re-envision how we think, know, and act. 

We are always striving to make better connections across our work to increase the potential for positive impacts; to better understand and meet the needs of local communities in the context of circular economies and in the face of global economic and climate change pressures and biodiversity loss; and to make HIMB a place where people of diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and ways of knowing can come together and feel welcome to work together. 

Explore our website and you will discover we excel in: coral reef biophysical and biogeographical research; coral reef physiology, ecology, evolution, and biodiversity; fisheries research; population-, spatial- and behavioral ecology of marine megafauna; Indigenous marine resource management approaches; and K-20 marine education and outreach. HIMB is deeply committed to our local community, and we are proud to work with neighborhood partners such as Windward Community College, the Koʻolaupoko Hawaiian Civic Club, Koʻolau Foundation, Paepae O Heʻeia, Kākoʻo ʻŌiwi, and the Kāneʻohe and Kahaluʻu Neighborhood Boards. 

Whether you are a practitioner of science, Indigenous knowledge, education, or community engagement, we are interested in working with you to improve our local and global ecosystems.