Nicole Yamase

Nicole Hokulani Yamase (born c. 1992) is a Micronesian marine biologist. She is the first person from Micronesia to earn a doctorate in marine biology. On March 11, 2021, she became the 20th person to descend to Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench, the deepest known point in the Earth's seabed. Though the Challenger Deep is in Micronesia, she is the first Micronesian and first Pacific Islander to make the descent, as well as the fourth woman and the second-youngest person. Her dissertation was Studying the Ecophysiological Responses of Native Hawaiian Macroalgae in a Changing World.

She made her 10-hour trip to and from the Challenger Deep with pilot Victor Vescovo aboard the DSV Limiting Factor, launching from the DSSV Pressure Drop.