The Latest News

NavHome fellow is returning to SACNAS with a research question on genetics and khat

Navigating Fellow Nico Valencia will present the research poster, “GWAS for Khat Use and Khat Use Frequency in Eastern Africans Identifies Genetic Risk Loci and Psychiatric Links,” at this year’s SACNAS conference.

For Nico Valencia, this year’s SACNAS conference is a return trip. His first was in 2023 in Portland, Oregon, where he presented research from an earlier grant-funded program. His topic then was childhood nutrition. “I presented on the protective effects of breastfeeding in children for obesity. In short, the more a child is breastfed, the lower their likelihood of obesity later in childhood.”

Louella Losinio October 22, 2026

NATURAL RESOURCES

Our natural resources team is hard at work protecting
and conserving native and endemic plant species.

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OCEAN CONSERVATION

Our ocean research teams are working to protect our
precious marine resources and species including our native
Sea Turtles and fisheries

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Sustainable Start

At the University of Guam Center for Island Sustainability & Sea Grant (UOG CIS & Sea Grant), we define sustainability as the balance between meeting current needs and safeguarding the resources of future generations. Established in 2009, UOG CIS & Sea Grant is the region’s lead institution for supporting the transition toward a sustainable, self-reliant, and prosperous island community.

Ocean of Reach

Since our founding, UOG CIS & Sea Grant has evolved into the region’s focal point for sustainability research and community outreach. We collaborate closely with government agencies, NGOs, and community groups to address critical island needs across four key pillars: Environment, Economy, Society, and Education.

A Green Future

With an expanding portfolio of implementation projects and strong community partnerships, UOG CIS & Sea Grant is moving the region toward a sustainable tomorrow. Our work is defined by action. Through transformative programs like Guam Green Growth, the SEAS Islands Alliance, and Navigating Home, we are turning sustainability plans into on-the-ground reality.

UOG CIS & Sea Grant Spotlights

More Stories

A fisher and his kids pose in front of a Guihan for Guåhan catch mat lined with reef fish.

Reeling in the numbers: Fishers help G4G put local catch on the dashboard

By Leilani Sablan Naden, program lead for Guihan for Guåhan

Fishers know the ocean in ways that can take a lifetime to learn. They recognize familiar fishing grounds, notice shifts in the size and abundance of certain species, and carry generations of knowledge about the waters that sustain our island. But what happens when we bring that knowledge together with fisheries data? What more can we learn when the people who depend on the ocean have access to the information their own catches help generate?

October 21, 2026 No Comments

Cashing in on the green: Exploring paths to self-funded conservation

When Clementine Schnabel agreed to mentor Kyle Dahilig through the Navigating Home Fellowship, she got more than research assistance. She got a firsthand look at what it means when local talent comes home.

Schnabel took Kyle in and involved him in one of the Micronesia Challenge’s key projects, a regional effort to manage 50 percent of near-shore marine resources and 30 percent of terrestrial resources by 2030. Reaching those goals takes money, so their task was to research and explore ways to build self-sustaining revenue.

October 20, 2026 No Comments

Riyo Anne Reyes tries her hand at closing a typhoon shutter at House 21,

Calm before Champi: A week of firsts with REEF

By Riyo Anne Reyes, REEF intern

One thing I’m quickly learning as a Research, Education, and Extension Fellowship (REEF) intern is that no two days look quite the same. This week was full of new experiences, from conducting interviews and covering events to trying something completely new.

October 19, 2026 No Comments

The second G3 GROW Corps cohort and UOG CIS & Sea Grant leadership pose holding colourful Sustainable Development Goal signs and a Guam Green Growth plaque.

UOG GROW Corps puts six new members to work for watershed restoration

Six participants have begun a six-month path toward potential careers in watershed restoration and forestry with the launch of the second cohort of the University of Guam’s Guam Green Growth (G3) GROW Corps. Over the course of the program, they will learn skills ranging from seed collection and nursery propagation to reforestation, firebreak maintenance, and forest data collection.

October 14, 2026 No Comments

Junior Achievement Guam high school students pose with G3 Makerspace Coordinator Abby Crain while holding colorful UN Sustainable Development Goal posters.

Green from the start: Junior Achievement kids learn to build sustainable businesses

Every product starts with an idea, but for Junior Achievement (JA) Guam’s young entrepreneurs, that idea begins with a question: What will it cost the island, not just the bottom line?

October 14, 2026 No Comments

Leilani Sablan Naden, program lead for Guihan for Guåhan , posing inside a fishing boat

Fishing is who we are. Can it stay that way?

By Leilani Sablan Naden, program lead for Guihan for Guåhan
Ask a fisher about fishing in Guam today, and you may hear a familiar sentiment: it just isn’t like it used to be. Trips that once brought home a cooler full of fish may now require more time and effort for a smaller catch. For many, these changes are not abstract scientific observations. They are lived experiences, passed through conversations at the boat ramp, around the dinner table, and among generations of fishers.

October 12, 2026 No Comments