EP 36 Entomologist Ken Kaneshiro on the courtship, beauty and fragility of Hawaiian picture-wing flies

Entomologist Dr. Ken Kaneshiro at the University of Hawai`i at Mānoa has studied and taught Hawaiian evolution and biology to countless generations of students through the story of the 1,000+ species of Hawaiian drosophila, picture-wing fruit flies descended from a single ancestor. His passion for conservation biology began as a dishwasher on the drosophila project, and has extended to his founding of the Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology Graduate Program which has trained many of today's conservation stewards in Hawai`i. As the Program Director for the Center for Conservation Research & Training at the Pacific Biosciences Research Center, he continues to connect students of all ages to the life sciences which stems from his advocacy for a close relationship to nature across all disciplines, social and ethnic backgrounds.