{"id":9354,"date":"2024-06-20T09:52:33","date_gmt":"2024-06-20T16:52:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/?p=9354"},"modified":"2024-06-20T09:52:33","modified_gmt":"2024-06-20T16:52:33","slug":"class-of-2024-graduate-feature-gabriel-kealii-jones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/2024\/06\/20\/class-of-2024-graduate-feature-gabriel-kealii-jones\/","title":{"rendered":"Class of 2024 Graduate Feature \u2014 Gabriel Keali\u2019i Jones\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Class of 2024 graduate Gabriel Keali\u2019i Jones is determined to make a positive impact on marine conservation. Gabe graduated with two honors degrees in ecological engineering and chemical oceanography. These fields have given him a deeper understanding of the environmental issues affecting coastal communities. \u201cGrowing up Native Hawai\u2019ian, I have always felt drawn to restoring the natural world,\u201d he says. His Hawai\u2019ian roots have \u201cmade him deeply aware of how communities in Hawai\u2019i have been impacted by climate change, especially through issues like ocean acidification and coral reef depletion.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabe\u2019s journey to this area of research was transformative. \u201cI started at OSU in chemical engineering,\u201d he explains. But as, he says, \u201cI became aware of the extensive oceanography research at Oregon State and Dr. Francis Chan\u2019s research with corals, my passion for ecology and oceanography became more focused.\u201d In his second year, he changed majors. \u201cI chose ecological engineering and oceanography because I wanted to combine my love of the ocean with functional ways to fix the problems I saw, mainly looking at how we can restore our coastline and reef ecosystems,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n\n\n

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During his time at Oregon State, Gabe has been involved in several clubs and organizations, including Hui O\u2019 Hawai\u2019i, The Pacific Islander Association, The Ecological Engineering Student Society, The Marine Energy Colligate Competition Team, The Marine Renewable Energy Club and United for Oceanography. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabe chose the Honors College for its \u201cclose-knit classes and colloquium that encourage discussion and interaction with topics outside one\u2019s major.\u201d His favorite colloquium was Soundscape Ecology with Dr. Dana Reason, which \u201copened my mind to aspects of human-environmental interactions that I had never deeply considered before.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For his honors thesis, Gabe sought to improve how artificial reefs attract marine life. Working with his mentor Dr. Francis Chan, an associate faculty and senior researcher in the Department of Integrated Biology, he tested using crushed oyster shells in engineered reefs to attract Pacific oysters. His study found that these oyster shell aggregates, which he named \u201cShellcrete,\u201d outperformed traditional materials in attracting Pacific oysters. \u201cThese results have the potential to inform future efforts to enhance coastal communities\u2019 economic sustainability and resilience against climate impacts,\u201d says Gabe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After graduating, Gabe will pursue a Ph.D. in civil engineering with a concentration in environmental engineering at the University of Hawai\u2019i at Manoa. Incorporating data science and engineering, his doctoral research will seek solutions to coral reef depletion. \u201cI\u2019m excited to work with people from across different disciplines like biology, computer science and public policy,\u201d he says. Gabe believes that collaboration is the key to conservation. Beyond practical problem solving, public outreach is \u201cjust as important for solving environmental problems.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabe\u2019s advice to incoming honors students is to be open-minded and seek out opportunities and ways to get involved. \u201cCollege is a great place to make connections, so don\u2019t be scared to reach out and meet new friends,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Shion Britten, student writer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Class of 2024 graduate Gabriel Keali\u2019i Jones is determined to make a positive impact on marine conservation. Gabe graduated with two honors degrees in ecological engineering and chemical oceanography. These fields have given him a deeper understanding of the environmental issues affecting coastal communities. \u201cGrowing up Native Hawai\u2019ian, I have always felt drawn to restoring […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14004,"featured_media":9355,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[645351,1635,1395124,1049126,1048851,1306],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-and-friends","category-experience","category-hc-student-spotlights","category-homefeature","category-homestories","category-student"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14004"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9354"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9356,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9354\/revisions\/9356"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}