We, the undersigned, call upon the University of Hawai'i to rename the Life Sciences Building at UH Manoa after Dr. Isabella Aiona Abbott.

Scientist, author, and educator Isabella Aiona Abbott was a pioneer in the study of ocean plants and Hawaiian ethnobotany. Born in Hāna, Dr. Abbott studied botany at UH and then became the first Native Hawaiian to earn a doctoral degree, from UC Berkeley, in 1950. She went on to write eight books and over 150 papers. Known as the “First Lady of Limu,” Dr. Abbott was inducted into the Order of Ke Ali‘i by Kamehameha Schools, selected as a UH Mānoa Distinguished Alumna, and and honored as a “Living Treasure” by Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawai‘i. In 1997, she received the Gilbert Morgan Smith medal for excellence in marine botany from the National Academy of Sciences.