Our Team
John Rulmal Jr.
Co-Director & Community Organizer
OPOR Board Member
Nicole Crane MSc, MAR
Co-Director & Senior Conservation Scientist
OPOR Board Member
Dr. Michelle Paddack
Senior Conservation Scientist
OPOR Board Member
Dr. Giacomo Bernardi
Fish Biologist – Ecological Connectivity
Dr. Supin Wongbusarakum
Conservation Social Scientist
Iliana Hayes
Program Coordinator
Undergraduate Student at UC Santa Cruz
Justina Paiy
Youth Action Program Coordinator
May Roberts
Youth Action Program Coordinator
PhD Student at UC Santa Cruz
Chamonix Toledo
Youth Action Program Coordinator
Undergraduate Student at UC Santa Cruz
Milo Tasopulu
Youth Representative
Lives on the island of Falalop in the Ulithi Atoll
Clancy J. Sewemor
Youth Representative
Lives on the island of Falalop in the Ulithi Atoll
Slatelynna laiugmai Legalishyaro
Kevin Arizmendi
Undergraduate Researcher
Charlotte Grenier
OPOR Team Graphic Designer
Charlotte’s Art: @Char_Carvs
Mario Dohmai
Local Scientist & Data Collector
Lives on the island of Mog Mog in the Ulithi Atoll
Alex Sau
Local Scientist & Data Collector
Lives on the island of Falalop in the Ulithi Atoll
Basco Marle
Local Scientist & Data Collector
Lives on the island of Asor in the Ulithi Atoll
Albert “Data King”
Lives on the island of Falalop in the Ulithi Atoll
Jerry Halchimar
Musician
From the beautiful islands of Ulithi, Yap FSM
Derwin Rolmar
Musician
From the beautiful islands of Ulithi, Yap FSM
Our Collaborators
Samantha Runkel
Sustainability advocate, writer and musician
Dr. Branwen Williams
Associate Professor of Environmental Science at the W.M. Keck Science Center
Dr. Kelton McMahon
Assistant Professor in Biological Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island
Josh Pi
PhD Candidate
Ph.D. Biological Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Projected 2025
Eric Tong
- Doctoral student in the Department of Oceanography at the University of Hawaii at Manoa; advised by Dr. Robert Toonen at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology
- Eric’s dissertation research examines the connectivity of reef organisms across sites in the Society Islands. He has worked primarily at the community level to develop collaborations among academics and fishermen towards improving management initiatives for Hawaii’s nearshore resources.
- Kure Atoll Conservancy — Board Member
- Hōkūleʻa Worldwide Voyage Science at Sea — Lead Investigator of Pelagic Fisheries Project
- B.S. in Marine Biology from Brown University, specializing in the molecular ecology of marine resources
Kelsey Doyle
Video Journalist
- Kelsey Doyle is an award winning documentary filmmaker and media producer whose work focuses on supporting non-profits and giving them agency by making documentary films about their causes – a marketing strategy non-profit organizations cannot afford.
- Her work has taken her and her teams from the jungles of Sumatra, savannahs of Maasailand, to the outermost Pacific islands of Micronesia and has been published by Stanford, National Geographic, Oceanic Society, National Science Foundation, UN, Filmmaker, Independent Filmmaker Project, PBS Newshour, Stanford, UCB, NYU, Patagonia, and New York Magazine. She is a proud member of the Board of Directors of Naretoi.
- Kelsey holds an M.A. in News and Documentary Journalism from New York University and a B.A. in Film and Digital Media from the University of California. She’s lived in Buenos Aires, Brooklyn, and London. Currently, she is based in the San Francisco Bay Area and works as a Senior Digital Content Producer at Stanford University.
Emma Lassiter
Education, Outreach & Fundraising
- Narrator for One People One Reef’s Storytelling Project
- Assistant Professor of Bio 450 Applied Research: Genetics of Micronesian Marine Organisms with Dr. Eva Sales at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California
- 2017 Youth Action Program Participant
Eva Salas
Coral Reef Ecologist
- Led the 2017 Ulithi Youth Action Project
- Member of the 2017 Outer Islands Expedition Science Team
- Teaches the Genetics of Micronesian Marine Organisms Research Class at Cabrillo
- PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of California Santa Cruz
- Scott is a professional photographer specializing in wildlife, nature, and travel. Originally trained as a wildlife and marine biologist, his research and photo assignments have taken him to the far corners of the globe and all seven continents. National Geographic, BBC, Animal Planet, NY Times, and renowned magazines have used his photography. His patience for teaching and love of capturing the essence of his subjects make him one of our most popular tour leaders.
- Ph.D. Student at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada
- Vanier Scholar & Ocean Leaders Graduate Fellow
- M.Sc. from the University of British Columbia
- B.S. in Marine Biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz
- Worked with with the Ulithi & One People One Reef team from 2012-2015
Dr. Melva Treviño Peña ( Website )
- Dr. Melva Trevino is a human geographer and an Assistant Professor at the University of Rhode Island.
- She is working with One People One Reef to better understand the connections between wellbeing, governance, resource use and how climate change affects those linkages.
Dr. Debashish Bhattacharya ( Lab Website )
- Dr. Bhattacharya’s team at Rutgers University is investigating the metabolomics of Montipora coral (locally known as cabbage coral.
Noelle Myron (Oldiais)
- B.A., Marine Ecology and Conservation with a certificate in Ethnic Studies, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, 2007
- M.Sc., Chemistry, Biology, and Marine Science, University of the Ryukyus, 2013
- Analyzing data from our reef and household wellbeing surveys to better understand the dynamics on the reefs, resource needs, and indicators of ‘wellbeing’ with the people of Ulithi.
Tommy Hall
- BS in biology from California Polytechnic, San Luis Obispo
- Passionate about preserving the beauty of natural ecosystems
- Enjoys fishing, hunting, surfing, and backcountry snowboarding
- Skilled photographer: Tommy captures photos of native island species and their habitats
- His images play an important role in communicating Island Conservation’s mission and can be seen throughout our website and outreach materials