About This Project

Environmental monitoring can empower Indigenous communities with data to inform community civic action. Deploying sensor networks to gather data is technically challenging, and expensive. This project aims to answer the question: can sustainable environmental monitoring systems be designed accessibly enough so that students and community members can better monitor environmental health and enable Indigenous-led civic action?

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

Remote off-grid sensors are vital for most environmental and Earth science research. Moreover, creating sensors that are accessible to people who are not computer experts is essential. Logistical problems non-programmer environmental scientists and students might encounter include how the device will communicate data, withstand environmental conditions, etc. Our laboratory focuses on creating accessible battery-less devices that record and communicate data without needing to be charged. Our project aims to help monitor the Waikalua Loko I'a fish pond to make better decisions to mitigate invasive species and pollution. Led by a Native Hawaiian director, we work with groups in Hawaii to empower Indigenous people, with technology for action.

What is the significance of this project?

Our research aims to answer the question of whether off-grid data collection systems can be designed so that non-coding scientists and students can use them to easily collect environmental data to drive indigenous-led civic action. Indigenous people worldwide lack access to environmental data that can inform policy, legal frameworks, and resource management. Generally, serious technical ability or finance is needed to gather large-scale environmental data, making coordinated restoration efforts inaccessible for Indigenous communities. We believe the accessibly designed, lower cost, and effort sensing kits will extend users' ability to accomplish their ecological restoration goals in the Waikalua Loko I'a fish pond.

What are the goals of the project?

This project will work with the Pacific American Foundation (PAF), and Pu'ohala School in Kaneohe Hawaii, to test if designing sensing kits for accessibility will cause students and scientists to better support the restoration and health of the Waikalua Loko I'a fish pond. Our goal is to design the kits so that Native Hawaiian students, environmental scientists, and cultural practitioners can more easily environmental data such as record pH, temperature, flow patterns, and indigenous mussel/fish populations. After, we will compare the effectiveness or differences in sensing and monitoring capabilities between what students and PAF had used previously versus using our sensing kits. We aim to publish our work and differences in outcomes for all Indigenous communities.