Scholar in Ocean Residency

Nainoa Thompson, Director of the Polynesian Voyaging Society (PVS), is serving as the inaugural Scholar in Ocean Residency at William & Mary's Virginia Institute of Marine Science. We are honored to partner with Nainoa as he and PVS colleagues help amplify the voice of Chesapeake Bay tribes and launch canoe voyages designed to build links between indigenous communities worldwide.

This page is devoted to our time spent learning from and exchanging ideas with Nainoa and Lehua Kamalu during their November 2022 visit to Tidewater Virginia, the Native American lands and waters of Tsenacommacah. Lehua is the first woman to navigate and captain a voyage across the ocean using only nature to guide her and her crew.

After Hours Lecture

During his After Hours lecture on November 16, 2022, Nainoa Thompson shared the Hawaiian concept of "mālama"—care taking—while inspiring and educating viewers to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing world with a melding of science and indigenous wisdom.