Aloha and welcome on behalf of the School’s leadership team, our dedicated faculty and staff, and our many graduate and undergraduate students who study and engage in research here at SOEST.
The School celebrates its 34th anniversary in 2022. We are proud of our past and we are excited about the future. SOEST has a tradition of innovation and excellence as an international leader in many diverse fields that are important not just here in Hawai‘i but throughout the entire world. These fields of endeavor include environmental science, marine biology, planetary exploration, geology and hydrology, oceanography, climate science and meteorology, ecology and conservation biology, alternative energy and natural resource sustainability, and many more. Major areas of all these disciplines overlap with Hawaiian culture and indigenous ways of knowing and doing. Exploring this connectivity between the richness of the Hawaiian Archipelago and the diversity of human communities, is a primary point of research and education throughout the School.
SOEST is home to a vibrant community of students, staff, faculty, and volunteers. We are a diverse, student-centered, research and education institution focused on advancing solutions to living on Planet Earth in ways that conserve natural ecosystems; promote just, healthy communities; and foster a high-tech economy in which future generations will thrive.
SOEST is widely recognized as a world-class research and academic institution that is responsive to the needs of Hawaiʻi and engaged in finding solutions to our most pressing socio-environmental problems. Climate change, biodiversity loss, pandemics, pollution, and injustice are overlapping global crises that demand our full and immediate attention.
SOEST is grounded in aloha ‘āina as UH Mānoa continues to strive to become a Native Hawaiian Place of Learning. We value diverse voices, and we are dedicated to the idea that future generations have a right to a world that is just, sustainable, and resilient. I am honored and humbled to serve this community as we search for a permanent dean.
Mahalo for visiting and exploring our website. We are excited to share with you who we are, what we’ve done, and where we are headed!
Chip Fletcher
Interim Dean of SOEST