Oceanography faculty is one of the authors of United Nations Environment Programme report

A colony of the dominant deep-water plate coral Leptoseris hawaiiensis 

Associate Professor of Oceanography Samuel Kahng, Ph.D., is one of 35 mesophotic coral ecosystems experts from around the world contributing to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report entitled “Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems: A Lifeboat for Coral Reefs?” The May 2016 released report is a result of follow-up recommendations from a 2014 UNEP workshop, which focused on management strategies to protect and preserve coral reef ecosystems. Kahng co-authored Chapter 2, What are mesophotic coral ecosystems? and authored section 3.8, The Hawaiian Archipelago. The full UNEP report and more information is posted here.

In Kahng’s lab at HPU, graduate students engage in research projects with him. Under the mentorship of Kahng, former student Daniel Luck (MS Marine Science ’13) concentrated his master’s thesis research on mesophotic coral ecosytems. More information on Luck’s research here, and Kahng’s teaching and research interests here.