Lillian Tuttle Raz, PhD

Dr. Tuttle Raz is the Assistant Unit Leader of the Hawai‘i Cooperative Fishery Research Unit at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo. Prior to joining the Hawai‘i Unit, she served as an Essential Fish Habitat Biologist with NOAA Fisheries in Honolulu. She earned her PhD from Oregon State University and completed postdoctoral training at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.

Dr. Tuttle Raz studies the ecology and management of marine ecosystems in Hawai‘i and the Pacific Islands. Her research examines how local stressors—including coastal pollution, habitat degradation, fishing pressure, and invasive species—influence coral reefs, fisheries, and aquatic communities. Using field studies, long-term monitoring, statistical modeling, and evidence synthesis, she investigates species distributions, life-history processes, and ecosystem responses across spatial scales. Her recent work has addressed larval and juvenile fish ecology, coral reef condition and resilience, noncommercial fisheries, invasive species management, and the environmental drivers of marine species distributions. Her research supports fisheries management, conservation, and natural resource decision-making through collaboration with state, federal, and community partners.

She teaches courses in Marine Conservation Biology and Principles of Modeling for Natural Resource Management at the University of Hawai‘i and advises graduate and undergraduate students in marine ecology, fisheries science, and conservation.