About Me

My name is Amy Deatherage, and I'm an undergraduate student majoring in Global Environmental Science, minoring in Anthropology, and in the Honors Program at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. With a passion for discovery, I've had the opportunities to engage in various research projects over the course of my time at UH: a research cruise aboard the R/V Kilo Moana, lab-based aquaculture research with the Echinonerd Lab on exchange at the University of Rhode Island, and ecological fieldwork for my senior thesis here at UH. My senior thesis research centers the documentation and characterization of aggregating behavior in helmet urchins, which are a culturally significant species of urchin native to Hawai‘i. Outside of classes, I love representing and performing for UH as a member of the Rainbow Warrior Marching Band color guard, and diving with the UHM Aquaholics SCUBA Club.

Beyond being at student at UH, I'm also a Class of 2024 NOAA EPP undergraduate scholar. As an EPP scholar, I've had opportunities to intern at the National Sea Grant Office in Silver Spring, MD (Summer 2024), and the Kasitsna Bay Laboratory (KBL) in Seldovia, AK (Summer 2025). Between these internships, I've gotten glimpses of a wide variety of work done at NOAA, from science communication and outreach work at NOAA Headquarters, to the ecological fieldwork and data analysis of an Alaskan tidal lagoon at KBL.

During my time as an undergrad and looking forward, I'm interested in exploring the unique relationship between humanity and the environment, and working towards a more stable, sustainable future by reintegrating modern society with the natural ecosystems humans already live amongst and within.

As those close to me know, I LOVE sea urchins (such dapper young fellows they are), and this website is a product of that enthusiasm and passion. Though I've had the opportunity to explore across numerous coastlines, most of my experience and interests lie in Californian and Hawaiian rocky intertidal marine life, and that will certainly be reflected across this website. Join me as I learn all about the world of sea urchins, and explore the diverse ecosystems they (and we!) are apart of.