Malosi means “strength” or “energy” in the Samoan language, and our mission is to give students and fellow researchers strong skills and resources to do environmental science. We formed the Foundation to give back to the territory and people of American Samoa and share the knowledge and lessons learned from our years of doing research and teaching there.
Dr. Alex Messina and Jameson Newtson started the Malosi Foundation in 2019 to facilitate training workshops and continued research trips to American Samoa. They wanted to leverage their experience and connections with the on-island scientific community and integrate students and locals to build the capacity on island to continue the high-quality scientific research and marine resource management. They secured an initial grant from NOAA Fisheries to conduct a workshop for American Samoa Community College (ASCC) students and Coral Reef Advisory Group (CRAG) researchers and managers. The workshop was a great success and the Foundation was poised for expansion.
Following the success of the initial NOAA grant, Alex was blessed with his first child and Jameson with his second. Research trips were much harder to pull off with the new family obligations and then the COVID-19 pandemic shut the borders to Tutuila for nearly 2 full years. All grants and research activities for the Malosi Foundation were suspended.
Tragically, in 2021 Jameson Newtson passed away from childhood heart complications and the Foundation itself was suspended indefinitely while we reeled from the loss. In 2022, Jameson’s wife, Carolyn, proposed we switch focus towards providing fundraising and a scholarship in Jameson’s memory. The Foundation began raising money at events held in Jameson’s memory and we’re now prepared to send our first student to American Samoa in 2024. We hope the student can experience the island that Jameson loved dearly and stoke their passion for marine science that Jameson was so dedicated to.