About the Program

Image of students in the field Native Hawaiians have an unparalleled investment in caring for Hawai‘i’s land and oceans. Yet, they are severely underrepresented throughout all fields of ocean, earth and environmental science.

The mission of the SOEST Maile Mentoring Bridge program is to attract kama‘aina undergraduates into SOEST degree programs and help them thrive through individualized mentoring and peer support.

Maile mentees are Native Hawaiian undergraduates in the UH system who are either current or prospective SOEST students. Each mentee is paired with a mentor who is an underrepresented SOEST graduate student, post-doctoral research associate or recent graduate. Mentor-mentee pairs meet regularly (~1–2x/month) over paid lunch, and all participants attend group meetings (~1–2x/semester) to share experiences, provide a sense of community, and strategize solutions to any problems that they may be experiencing.

Undergraduate student mentees participating in the SOEST Maile Mentoring Bridge receive the following benefits:

Graduate student mentors participating in the SOEST Maile Mentoring Bridge receive the following benefits:

[ Top of page ]