Leke (Leslie) Hutchins, Ph.D.
Indigenous scientist
Currently, I am an Indigenous Knowledge Systems in the Anthropocene Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow at Arizona State University (ASU). With my postdoctoral advisor, Dr. Krystal Tsosie, I am advancing eDNA and mobile sequencing approaches to capture biodiversity patterns and species interactions within unmanaged Hawaiian agricultural sites. In addition, utilizing ASU's prominent position in biocollections (NSF NEON and Earth BioGenome Project), I will apply Indigenous Data Sovereignty principles to domestic and international efforts to catalog our earth's biodiversity.
Previously, I completed my Ph.D. with Dr. Rosemary Gillespie in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at UC Berkeley. In my dissertation, I utilized a socio-ecological framework to examine if and how Kānaka ʻŌiwi (Indigenous Hawaiian) agroecosystems can conserve native arthropod biodiversity.
Education
University of California, Berkeley
Doctor of Philosophy in Environmental Science, Policy and Management.
Dissertation committee: Dr. Rosemary Gillespie, Dr. Timothy Bowles, and Dr. Alejandra Echeveri Ochoa.
Bachelor of Science in Conservation and Resource Studies with a focus on agroecology and Indigenous science.