Dr. Jan Östman-Lind is an Affiliate Professor in Marine Science at the University of Hawaii, Hilo. He is the President of the Kula Nai‘a Foundation and the Research Director of the Hawai‘i Marine Mammal Consortium. Dr. Östman-Lind has over 15 years experience studying a wide variety of marine mammals both in the wild and in captivity.

He currently studies the social behavior, social organization and ecology of dolphins. A leading expert on spinner dolphin biology, he constructed and used a one-of-kind underwater viewing vessels, that for the first time made it possible to observe social interactions of oceanic dolphins for extended periods of time. He has published and made numerous presentations at national and international meetings and has helped to steer the study of dolphin social behavior towards quantification and statistical analysis.

Dr. Östman-Lind has an extensive teaching background, having taught a wide range of biology courses at universities in the Portland, Oregon area, courses on the biology of marine mammals and marine science research methods at University of Hawai‘i, Hilo, and math and science at high schools in Sweden and Hawai‘i. He currently teaches Oceanography and Environmental Science @ the University of Hawai‘i Center, West Hawai‘i. He is also involved in Oceans Explorers, a hands-on high school marine science program in the Kona-Kohala area, involving students in marine mammal research and coral reef monitoring.

Born in Sweden, Dr. Östman-Lind has two undergraduate degrees from University of Gothenburg (Animal Physiology) and University of Stockholm (Ethology), a Master’s degree from San Francisco State University (Animal Physiology and Behavioral Biology) and a Ph. D. from University of California Santa Cruz (Biology).