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). I am advancing eDNA and mobile sequencing approaches to capture biodiversity patterns and species interactions within unmanaged Hawaiian agricultural sites. In addition, drawing on my membership in GBIF's Indigenous Data Governance Task Group and my affiliation with the Te Kotahi Research Institute at the University of Waikato (Aotearoa), I am applying Indigenous Data Sovereignty principles to domestic and international efforts to catalog 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 ʻOiwi (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.
Dissertation Title: Abundant Lands, Thriving People: Examining the Socio-Ecological Web of Kānaka ʻOiwi Agroecosystems
Bachelor of Science in Conservation and Resource Studies.
Area of Interest: Using Ecology to Shift the Colonial Environmental Paradigm