Emele Lasaqa

Emele Lasaqa’s many scientific interests can be mapped back to her hometown of Lautoka, Fiji. Emele and her family are natives of Verata, Ucunivanua, is a village located in the nearby Tailevu province of Fiji. It’s there that she discovered her love of geoscience and sustainability as a high school student. 

Today, Emele contributes to the Climate Science Volunteer Program, a collaboration of members from the scientific community and government officials who are focused on climate change. Emele was part of a team that debated issues regarding energy solutions and hybrid cars. In the next few months, the program will work with Fiji high schools and non-profit organizations to fight climate change.  

A love of science at a young age inspired Emele to keep learning 

Emele spent most of her time in high school studying geoscience, which was a combination of chemistry, biology, and geography courses.  Noticing Emele’s remarkable determination and love of learning, her geography teacher suggested that she consider pursuing a geospacial science degree program in university. 

It turned out that her geography teacher was right. 

After high school, Emele attended the University of the South Pacific in Fiji. The regional university welcomes students from 14 countries in the South Pacific region. Fijians, Samoans, Tongans, and Papua New Guineans who attend the university learn about each other’s cultures and languages while completing their own degree programs.

Emele’s transition from high school geoscience classes to a full-time university geospatial science degree program made her even more committed to succeeding in her field.

“I was an intern at Fiji Met service in Nadi, Fiji,” Emele said. “I loved that there were a lot of people in the workforce with different personalities. I loved helping out Fiji Met with weather forecast maps and flood risk maps. Also, catchment maps for areas that were usually flooded.”

Although Emele was usually one of just a few women in her geospatial science classes, any sexism or preconceived notions about her gender didn’t affect her ability excel alongside her male classmates. She got to work learning advanced mapping systems that quickly tested her abilities as a student.

“In GIS, we have compulsory GIS units and electives. Students can choose between Environmental Science or Information System units. As an analyst, I took a lot of environmental science and geography units. GS101 was one of the hardest subjects of the degree. We used python for GS101 and it was really tough, but it was fun,” she said.

As Emele progressed through the more challenging university courses, she had to focus harder than ever on studying and remaining disciplined. 

“I like challenges and I like to try new things,” she said. “During my degree, there were a lot of challenges faced, but I managed to balance work and studies.” In my last year, I had a job and I was studying which added to the pressure I was already facing with my demanding program. I organized my schedule and kept to it religiously.”

All of the hard work paid off in the end. Emele recently graduated with her degree in Geospatial Science from the University of the South Pacific in Fiji. 

Emele focuses on a more environmentally sustainable future

Environmental sustainability has become very important to Emele, but it was a 300-level class focused on seagrass mapping that gave her the most clarity about her professional future. 

“We collected the coordinates for different types of seagrass and the changes that had taken place over the years,” Emele said. “My classmates and I compiled the data and made a presentation. In the future, I want to join an organization such as the World Food Program. I want to use my knowledge to help communities. In Fiji, we need people to help with disaster risk management. I can see myself contributing to this field.”

Emele is pursuing her postgraduate diploma in Climate Change in 2021.