In a collaborative project with the University of Stirling in Scotland, University College London, Harvard University, and University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo, a team of researchers from diverse disciplines is studying a trimaran expedition setting sail this month with two Indigenous Marshallese sailing experts and a documentary filmmaker onboard to better understand how the sailors find their way by sensing the swells of the ocean.

The researchers are experts in a wide range of fields including physics, neuroscience, philosophy, anthropology, oceanography and computer science, all aiming to understand the human brain and its relation to traditional Marshallese navigation, as well as to document and preserve this unique skill of seafaring. One particularly interesting aspect of the study is to gain an increased understanding of neurological disease, particularly the spatial disorientation of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Joseph Genz, an anthropology professor at UH Hilo whose research focuses on the cultural revival of voyaging and navigation in the Marshall Islands, is taking part in the project.

“The most exciting aspect of this project for me is the applied nature of research on traditional navigation to the medical field — mariners’ knowledge of Marshallese seascapes, geographies of the coral atolls of the Marshall Islands, and orientation during inter-island voyaging has the potential to provide culture-specific insights into detection of early onset Alzheimer’s Disease,”

says Genz.

“When I became connected to the Waan Aelon in Majol canoe-building program with Alson Kelen two decades ago, I could not have imagined that the project would one day intersect with cutting edge medical research that has the potential to directly benefit Marshallese suffering from this neurological disease,”

Genz adds.

Genz also notes the importance of the partnership with Marshallese anthropologist and UH Hilo alumna Jerolynn Myazoe in this multi-disciplinary, collaborative research project that “invokes a model of knowledge co-production and empowers the Marshallese community.” Myazoe graduated from UH Hilo with a bachelor of arts in anthropology in 2020 and a master of arts in heritage management in 2025.

Read more at UH Hilo Stories