Growing up in Chandler, Arizona, thousands of miles from the nearest coastline, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa marine biology major and Honors undergraduate student Landon Schumaker never imagined his future would take him to the farthest reaches of the deep sea. But this summer, Schumaker conducted research in Perth, Australia, with the support of the Tyler Fellowship for International Research, a funding opportunity administered by the UH Mānoa Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) and the Tyler Center for Global Studies.
From June through August, Schumaker worked with the Minderoo-University of Western Australia Deep-Sea Research Centre to study the Nova Canton Trough, a hadal region more than 6,000 meters deep. This area had never been studied at such scale and depth until recently.
Schumaker said that last year scientists conducted an expedition to the Nova Canton Trough and deployed cameras to assess deep-sea biodiversity between 2,471 and 7,983 meters deep. He contributed to meticulous work on this footage, including taxonomic identifications, statistical analyses and visualizations.
“The deep sea fascinates me because it feels like an entirely different world,” Schumaker said. “It’s a world that is perceived to be so far away, yet in reality, is on our planet and right beneath our surface waters. There are vast knowledge gaps, and every expedition brings the possibility of discovering something new.”
Schumaker’s work was complemented by monthly virtual check-ins with his UH Mānoa mentor, Professor Jeff Drazen in the Department of Oceanography, who has guided him for more than a year.
“Landon was pretty familiar with the deep ocean when he departed for Australia, and he had already analyzed deep-sea videos. But in Australia he really dug into big datasets, and he dramatically increased his ability to use statistical modeling to explore research results,” Drazen said. “I’m really impressed that he analyzed the data and has a draft of a peer reviewed paper. This was a stellar opportunity for Landon and he really capitalized on it.”
Looking ahead, the results from the Nova Canton Trough study are expected to lead to at least two scientific publications, with Schumaker as a co-author, and potentially lead author. Long-term, he hopes to pursue a PhD in biological oceanography and dedicate his career to exploring and protecting the deep sea.
More on the Tyler Fellowship
“The Tyler Fellowship provided me with the financial support I needed to travel, live abroad for an extended period and gave me the opportunity to learn about so many different projects going on around the world,” Schumaker said. “This fellowship meant a lot to me, as it was something I put a lot of effort into between developing a proposal and a project plan, and then being entrusted with this award. Receiving it was both rewarding and humbling.”
- Related UH News story: New UROP fellowship supports international undergraduate research, creative work, March 11, 2025
Applications for the Tyler Fellowship for summer 2026 are expected to open in spring 2026.
