Sheena is from Munich, Germany and came to Hawaii to get her MSMS degree at HPU. Currently, she is working in the Lynch/CMDR lab on polymer identification of marine debris through Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). As a practicum intern her project is looking at the effects of Maui’s expanded polystyrene ban (Dec 2018) on the composition of plastic debris collected from different beaches around Maui. What got her so interested in working at the CMDR was after a backpacking trip to Indonesia and seeing the heartbreaking, horrible masses of plastic everywhere. While her research interests are diverse she wishes to eventually pursue the direction of tropical marine ecology studying different organisms and their interactions with the surrounding environment. One of her favorite working experiences was in Seychelles conducting daily quad surveys on the coral reefs there. With over 500 dives she has traveled a great deal through South East Asia chasing top dive destinations on her bucket list. All it takes to make her happy -> a dive and an underwater camera (and a healthy reef!)

Sheena Weller MSMS Student Email: sweller1@my.hpu.edu