Katie Kamelamela
Katie Kamelamela
Dr. Katie Kamelamela is a botanist and plant biologist researching ecological restoration and Indigenous economies. Born and raised in Oahu, Hawaii, Dr. Kamelamela completed her education at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Dr. Kamelamela is an Assistant Professor at Arizona State University within their School of Ocean Future and Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science and a Fellow at Mountain Sentinels.
Kamelamela, K. L., Springer, H. K., Keakealani, R. K. U., Ching, M. U., Ticktin, T., Ohara, R. D., … & Giardina, C. 2022. Kōkua aku, Kōkua mai: an Indigenous Consensus-driven and Place-based Approach to Community Led Dryland Restoration and Stewardship. Forest Ecology and Management, 506, 119949.
Wehi, P. M., Kamelamela, K. L., Whyte, K., Watene, K., & Reo, N. 2023. Contribution of Indigenous Peoples’ understandings and relational frameworks to invasive alien species management. People and Nature, 5(5), 1403-1414.
Kahanamoku, S., Alegado, R. A., Kagawa-Viviani, A., Kamelamela, K. L., Kamai, B., Walkowicz, L. M., … & Neilson, H. 2020. A Native Hawaiian-led summary of the current impact of constructing the Thirty Meter Telescope on Maunakea. arXiv preprint arXiv:2001.00970.
Kamelamela, K. L. 2019. Contemporary Hawai’i Non-Timber Forest Plant Gathering Practices (Doctoral dissertation, University of Hawai’i at Manoa).
Almena, I. S., Balzani, P., Carneiro, L., Cuthbert, R. N., Macedo, R., Tarkan, A. S., … & Haubrock, P. J. 2023. Taming the terminological tempest in invasion science.
Dr. Katie Kamelamela was born and raised on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. She was very independent as a child, allowing her to play with plants in her local community. Dr. Kamelamela also learned from her grandmother and her friends how to make leis (plant garlands) with the local plants. Dr. Kamelamela became interested in science from a young age, conducting science experiments to look at the growth rate of plants with different types of light (red, green, and blue). Later in her youth, Dr. Kamelamela attended Sacred Hearts Academy.
Dr. Kamelamela attended the University of Hawaii at Manoa for her undergraduate career, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Hawaiian Studies and Botany in 2008. Dr. Kamelamela continued her studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. In 2011, she completed her Master of Science in botany and plant biology. In 2019, she earned her Ph.D. in Botany/Plant Biology.
After earning her Ph.D., Dr. Kamelamela became a Fellow at Mountain Sentinels, a collective of stakeholders, NGOs, and scholars working towards a future of mountain sustainability. Since 2022, Dr. Kamelamela has also been an Assistant Professor at Arizona State University, where she works on research at the Center for Global Discovery of Conservation Sciences, the College of Global Futures, and the School of Ocean Futures. Dr. Kamelamela ultimately works toward centering Indigenous economies, ethnoecology, and ecological restoration.
A highlight of Dr. Kamelamela’s career was finding out that there was a possibility she could attend graduate school, something she did not know about. Dr. Kamelamela said, “I signed up for their class, at their invitation, and I found through reading scientific papers I was able to connect with different natural resource management strategies within Indigenous communities. This was the start of my official scientific journey, even though I was at the end of my botany undergraduate degree” (Survey, 2024).
Dr. Kamelamela has had many mentors throughout her career. She first considers her family as mentors, thanking her mother and father. Dr. Tamara Ticktin, her graduate degree advisor, was pivotal to her academic career, sharing “grace and kindness.” Dr. Kamelamela learned from mentors such as Dr. Will McClatchey and Kupuna Scholar Al Chock that science can be full of joy and “done in exciting ways” (Survey, 2024).
Dr. Kamelamela highlights mentoring programs such as the Pacific Internship Program for Exploring Science at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, which connected Native Hawaiians to science and engineering subjects. In this program, Dr. Kamelamela had the mentors of Dr. David Penn and Linda Koch, who were both in the State Hawaii Department of Health Environmental Planning office. Dr. Kamelamela states, “I ran my own water quality experiments over four years with their support and guidance. They both taught me how to get the work done and ensure the science is as clear as possible. Though my greatest mentors came from informal situations. Through volunteering with organizations that aligned with my values, I was able to connect with people who lived lives I wanted to live, and who walked paths I wanted to walk. Being around people with lived experiences has helped me understand how to approach challenging situations and make them as fun as possible” (Survey, 2024).
Dr. Kamelamela’s advice to young professionals is to “be kind to yourself and others. Be yourself; there is no one else who can be a better you than you” (Survey, 2024).
Dr. Katie Kamelamela. (2021). Dr. Katie Kamelamela. https://www.katiekamelamela.com/research
Katie Kamelamela. (2024). Linkedin.com. https://www.linkedin.com/in/kkamelamela/
Survey and interviews conducted by Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Sustainability Initiative staff. 2022-2024. Yale University-School of the Environment. New Haven, Connecticut.
JEDSI, 2022-2023