Rosie ʻAnolani Alegado was born and raised on Hawaiʻi and is kanaka ʻōiwi (Native Hawaiian). She is Associate Professor of Oceanography and Sea Grant at University of Hawaii Mānoa, where she is Director for the Center of Excellence in Integrated Knowledge Systems. For her graduate work at Stanford, Alegado used C. elegans as an innate immunity model for intestinal infection with Salmonella and then transitioned into investigating evolution of host-microbe interactions using choanoflagellates at the University of California, Berkeley with Nicole King. Alegado has expanded her work to investigate the microbial ecology of coastal estuaries. In partnership with Native Hawaiian fishpond stewards, her group has tracked the influence of restoration, storms and multi-annual climate patterns on the health of an 800-year-old fishpond that feeds the Heʻeia community. Together with the community, she is involved in developing kūlana noiʻi, a process wherein researchers build and sustain equitable partnerships with community.