Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology - HIMB

Soon after his arrival in 1908, University of Hawai‘i’s first president John W. Gilmore noted that "our teaching should be in accordance with the environments." He proposed the creation of a marine biological laboratory. A laboratory was established in 1912 in a wooden structure on the shores of Waikiki with funds from the Charles M. Cooke Estate. This lab functioned in association with the Waikiki Aquarium. In 1919, both facilities were turned over to the University of Hawai‘i. In 1947, the late Edwin W. Pauley provided an opportunity to establish a marine laboratory on Coconut Island, and the marine sciences entered into a new era in Hawai‘i. In 1993, the Pauley family again, in an act of far-reaching vision and generosity, provided funds to purchase the private portion of Coconut Island and construct a new world-class marine laboratory on the island.

The Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology is a world-renowned marine research institute of the School of Ocean & Earth Science & Technology at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. Situated on Moku o Lo'e (Coconut Island) in Kane‘ohe Bay, HIMB provides excellent opportunities for tropical marine research located just 15 miles from the main campus and downtown Honolulu.

HIMB offers cutting edge research facilities for faculty, students, and visiting scientists coupled with convenient access to a diverse range of marine environments. For example, Coconut Island is surrounded by 64 acres of coral reef designated by the state of Hawai‘i for research activities only as the Hawai‘i Marine Laboratory Refuge. Research at HIMB covers many disciplines of tropical marine science such as coral ecology, biogeochemistry, and evolutionary genetics. In addition, HIMB faculty are recognized authorities in marine diseases, neuroendocrinology, microbial organisms, and sensory systems of marine mammals and elasmobranchs. Visit our Faculty and Research pages to learn more about ongoing scientific activities at HIMB.

Graduate and undergraduate students conducting research on Coconut Island are most often enrolled in the departments of Zoology and Oceanography at the University of Hawai’i, but also include students from a variety of departments and programs across campus such as the departments of Microbiology, Geography, Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering (MBBE), Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Sciences (HNFAS), and the Global Environmental Sciences program at the department of Oceanography.