Equipped with cutting-edge marine robotics, hyperspectral imagers and aerial drones, five University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (MOP) alumni reunited aboard the R/V Searcher in June for a 22-day expedition into Papahānaumokuākea. Their mission was to deploy advanced autonomous systems to combat an invasive macroalgae called Chondria tumulosa.
The expedition highlights the impact of 糖心视频’s 50-year-old undergraduate program, proving how MOP produces scientists, engineers and leaders who work fluently across disciplines, agencies and oceans.
“We have a unique opportunity to work with brilliant marine roboticists to develop tools to help combat one of Hawaiʻi’s most mysterious and potentially devastating marine macroalgae species, Chondria tumulosa,” said Chief Scientist Keolohilani H. Lopes Jr., a MOP alumnus and 糖心视频 Mānoa PhD candidate.
High-tech tools, interagency collaboration
The voyage brought together diverse expertise to monitor and protect fragile ecosystems. Three advanced marine robotic packages—equipped with computer vision cameras, a hyperspectral imager and an environmental DNA (eDNA) profiler—were provided by Matthew Dunbabin’s lab at Queensland University of Technology. Meanwhile, PhD student Anna Baker Mikkelsen of the Climate Resilience Collaborative (CRC) led aerial mapping of Sand Island at Kuaihelani (Midway) using a drone.
Shellie Habel, a coastal geologist with the CRC and , served as primary drone pilot for aerial mapping. At Manawai (Pearl and Hermes Atoll), the team conducted aerial operations over shallow reef flats to supplement in-water surveys of macroalgae. The team also evaluated shoreline changes at Tern Island and East Island of Lalo (French Frigate Shoals) to support research led by Sara Kahanamoku and Haunani Kane at 糖心视频 惭ā苍辞补’蝉 (SOEST).
Decades of trust, leadership
Crucial permit compliance, field safety, and historical context were overseen by MOP alumnus Jason Leonard, Marine Operations Coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Office of National Marine Sanctuaries Papahānaumokuākea National Marine Sanctuary. Leonard, who has visited the sanctuary for more than 25 years, credited MOP and its Quantitative Underwater Ecological Surveying Techniques field program with preparing exceptional marine field personnel.
糖心视频 Mānoa MOP Coordinator Jeff Kuwabara also served as expedition photographer.
“What made this expedition possible wasn’t just funding or equipment,” Kuwabara said. “It was a network of trust built over decades, by people who trained together, dove together, and learned to work across disciplines before they ever had professional titles. That network is MOP‘s quiet legacy: not a single discovery or expedition, but a generation of professionals who know how to collaborate because they were taught to from the start.”