ADVISORY BOARD

Dr. James Wood obtained his PhD at Dalhousie University. Through The Cephalopod Page, The Census of Marine Life, MarineBio.org, and CephBase, Dr. Wood has been a pioneer in online marine science education and outreach. He co-authored the book Octopus: The Ocean's Intelligent Invertebrate, a chapter in Cephalopod Cognition, and numerous scientific journal articles. Dr. Wood has worked as a faculty research scientist, has served as Director of Education at the Aquarium of the Pacific, and has served as Associate Director at the Waikiki Aquarium.

Cindi Punihaole is the Project Director for Kahaluʻu Bay Education Center (KBEC) and serves as a cultural advisor on the Kona Coast of Hawaiʻi island. Having grown up learning traditional Hawaiian values and following an unwritten social code of Pono Practice, Cindi knew that it was possible for people to coexist harmoniously with the land and sea. After witnessing first hand the anthropogenic stressors that have caused massive declines in the island’s spectacular reef ecosystem, Cindi founded KBEC to help preserve Kahaluʻu Bay for future generations. Today, under Cindi’s wise and steady leadership, KBEC hosts multiple programs engaging hundreds of volunteers in the areas of reef etiquette, history and culture, citizen science, visitor education, and marine conservation. For over a decade, Cindi has impacted over 400,000 visitors a year, in the warm spirit of aloha, by exposing them to the concept of Mālama ʻāina, to care for the land.

Adam Daw works for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service where he leads a conservation program that studies and maintains captive populations of endangered aquatic organisms in Texas. He has a B.S. in Marine Biology from Texas A&M at Galveston, a M.S. in Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science from the University of Hawaii at Hilo, and is currently a PhD student in the Coastal Sciences program at the University of Southern Mississippi’s Gulf Coast Research Laboratory. His work/research encompasses a range of topics related to the biology, ecology, and aquaculture of aquatic organisms and he has published numerous scientific papers, magazine articles, and has assisted with book chapters on these topics. He was previously the laboratory manager for the National Resource Center for Cephalopods where he helped oversee the captive care and culture of octopus, cuttlefish, squid and nautilus along with working with public aquariums and universities to facilitate their use in educational displays and research. He has spent many years specifically working with the octopuses around Hawai‘i Island as part of his Master’s thesis and work for the University of Hawaii at Hilo’s Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resources Center.

James Everglade is a marine biologist who received an AS in Marine Science from the College of Micronesia and a BS in Marine Science from the University of Hawaii at Hilo. As an aquaculturist at NELHA, James has worked in fish husbandry with many Hawaiian and exotic species and also in bio-secure environments culturing microorganisms. He has worked as a commercial sailboat captain and is skilled in both carpentry and welding. James is a strong advocate for marine mammal rights, an active volunteer at the Kahaluʻu Bay Education Center, and is an experienced waterman.

Gabby Lout is a doctoral student in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society at Arizona State University. She graduated with a B.S. in Marine and Conservation Biology from Seattle University and received a M.A. in Global Leadership and Sustainable Development from Hawaii Pacific University. In all of her work, she is interested in finding innovative solutions for the complex social-ecological challenges our marine environment is facing to protect the ocean and people who depend on it most. Her current research, at the nexus of human rights and conservation, is focused on current approaches to advance social responsibility and decent work in small-scale fisheries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Jan War grew up on the island of Oʻahu and graduated from ʻIolani School in 1970. He received his BS in Biology, with minors in Chemistry and English Literature, from The University of New Mexico. Jan served as the Operations Manager for the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority (NELHA) for 39 years where he played an integral part in the entire evolution of this prestigious marine science and technology facility. With expertise in pioneering salt water piping and pumping systems, aquaculture technology, and the use of deep, cold ocean water, Jan has traveled extensively throughout the world attending and speaking at conferences and visiting other marine science facilities. Jan has been a “waterman” in Hawaii for nearly all of his life and has spent countless hours on, in, and under the ocean, including ten deep (2,000-3,000 ft.) dives within the manned submersible PICES V. Since retiring from NELHA in 2020, Jan has spent many hours free diving at Kahaluʻu Beach Park and at other reefs along the west coast of the Big Island. He is keenly interested in the existing stressors on Hawaii’s cauliflower (P. meandrina) and antler (P. exyouxi) corals, and is closely following their recovery from recent mass bleaching events. Jan is also in the Ironman Hall of Fame and has been the Swim Director of the Ironman Triathlon World Championship race in Kona since 1987.

Pam Madden works at the Hawaii Ocean Science and Technology Park in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii where she manages the Comprehensive Environmental Monitoring Program and the Water Quality Laboratory at NELHA. She received a BS in both Marine Science and Biology, with a minor in Chemistry, from Coastal Carolina University and received a MS in Biology from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Her diverse background ranges from fisheries habitat research to marine mammal research and necropsies, to aquatic toxicology testing and laboratory analytical chemistry. As an adventure shore diver, she loves exploring the underwater world, often with her head down looking for sea slugs! She is an experienced waterwoman spanning from the cold waters of the Saint Lawrence River in upstate NY, the coastal waters of the Carolinas and the tropical waters of Hawai’i Island. 

Ron Wolfe is a retired snowbird spending three summer months each year in Southeast Alaska, where he started scuba diving, and nine months in the warmer waters of the Kona Coast as an avid recreational diver. A Natural Resource Forest Manager by education, his training and career have provided a solid general understanding of environmental and biological sciences. This has led to his becoming a Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) Citizen Scientist and achieving the Expert Level for Hawaii and submission of over 700 REEF fish surveys to date. Ron is providing both a resource manager perspective and knowledge of Hawaiʻi fishes to the Advisory Board.