2003: Kenneth Kaneshiro
Director of the Center for Conservation Research and Training,
University of Hawai‘i at Manoa

In 1985 Ken Kaneshiro helped found the Hawaii Evolutionary Biology Project. From this project he worked with colleagues to launch the University of Hawaii's graduate program in EECB (Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology), of which he was chair between 1991 and 1999. He also aided in the establishment of the Secretariat for Conservation Biology, now known as the Hawaii Conservation Alliance. In 1993 with funding from the state and federal governments and the MacArthur Foundation, Ken started CCRT (Center for Conservation Research and Training) at the University of Hawaii. For many years he has been one of the driving forces behind these projects, and has secured generous funding for them every year.

Ken also has a talent for bringing people together to start new projects or solve problems. Witness the Hawaii Conservation Conference, which brings together natural resource managers and scientists who are devoted to the conservation of Hawaii's unique biota and ecosystems. The University's EECB graduate program has probably done more outreach in Kindergarten – Grade 12 science education (through a National Science Foundation Grant penned by Ken) than all the other science departments combined. He has served conservation quietly in many ways and for many years.