Lani Stemmermann

Ruth Leilani Stemmermann (7 September 1952 - 14 March 1995), also known as Lani Stemmermann, was an assistant professor of plant ecology, biology and environmental science at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UHM) and Hawaiʻi Community College in Hilo. She then attended Pitzer College in Claremont, California where she earned her B.A. degree in botany in 1974. Stemmermann furthered her studies in botany at UHM where she eventually earned her Ph.D. in Botanical Sciences in 1986. She found Army bulldozers plowing through the naio and mamame trees to make room for building a Multi-Purpose Range Complex (MPRC). The 'ohi'a lehua is also known as Metrosideros polymorpha. Stemmermann studied this plant species extensively for a decade since 1982 and published three associated research papers in an effort to conserve this species. She stated "native forests should all be considered threatened. They're threatened with land use conversion."

Dr. Lani Stemmermann Endowed Fellowship of the University of Hawaiʻi Professional Assembly (UHPA) is a merit-based scholarship for graduate students pursuing a Ph.D. in botany at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

The Stemmermann Common Garden is a collaborative research project between University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and Stanford University, and was originally intended as Stemmermann's dissertation research. Following her death in 1995, the Common Garden was renamed after her in order to recognize her contribution to the research.