As the director of the University of Hawai’i Sea Grant College Program since 2014, Dr. Darren T. Lerner oversees all aspects of the program including developing goals, objectives, and policies for the program; hiring and managing faculty and staff; overseeing fundraising and budgets; writing proposals and serving as principal investigator; awarding grants and scholarships; speaking publicly; arranging donor development; coordinating legislative/congressional interactions; and leading/serving on state, regional, and national boards, task forces, committees, and other groups. Dr. Lerner has also been serving as interim Associate Dean for Research for the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology since 2022 as well as the Consortium Director for the Pacific Islands Climate Adaptation Science Center. Lerner earned his bachelor’s degree in political science with a minor in psychology from the University of Missouri, Columbia, a master’s degree in zoology from Oregon State University, and a PhD in organismic and evolutionary biology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Lerner’s research focuses on the environmental physiology of fishes and he moved to Hawaiʻi in 2006 serving as the associate director for 7 years prior to his hire as director.