Project:About

The Habele Research Institute brings together insights from well-informed local residents and uniquely qualified external experts, alongside one of the deepest online archives focused on Yap and the wider Micronesian region. All contributors are either from the region or have years of direct experience living and working in Micronesia.

External experts have lived and worked in the Islands; briefed government departments; testified before Congress; served in the U.S. military; held senior roles in the U.S. Department of State; and served on business-sector boards in Micronesia. Several have been engaged in the region since the Trust Territory period. All bring rare institutional and cultural knowledge of what has worked—and what has not—in U.S. engagement, both locally and in Washington.

Advisors

Emil Friberg is affiliated with Georgetown University’s Center for Australian, New Zealand and Pacific Studies, where he has taught Pacific Islands seminars as an adjunct. He currently serves as an economist with Graduate School USA’s EconMAP team and previously was Assistant Director and Senior Economist at the U.S. Government Accountability Office, leading congressional reviews of Compact of Free Association implementation, trust funds, and migration.

Roger William Gale is the author of The Americanization of Micronesia: A Study of the Consolidation of U.S. Rule in the Pacific (1979), a foundational analysis of U.S. governance and U.S.–Micronesia relations. He is recognized for his long engagement with Micronesian history and its relationship with the United States. Gale lived in Japan, where he taught at a university and organized diplomatic meetings, later serving as a political appointee in the Reagan administration and running energy consulting firms in Washington for more than 20 years.

Francis X. Hezel, SJ is a Jesuit priest and historian widely regarded as the leading scholar of Micronesian history and society. Based in Micronesia for decades, he founded the Micronesian Seminar and authored numerous seminal works on culture, colonial administration, social change, and U.S.–Micronesia relations.

Howard L. Hills is a legal and policy expert with decades of experience in constitutional, international, and government affairs, including Micronesian political status and citizenship law. He has served in senior roles with the U.S. State Department, National Security Council, and Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and as a Peace Corps Legislative Advisor in the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.

Neil Mellen is the founder of the Habele Outer Island Education Fund and has worked for more than two decades on education, policy, and community development in Micronesia and the United States. A former Peace Corps Volunteer in Ulithi, Yap State, he later advised the FSM government on education, health, and Compact-related issues through the Joint Committee on Compact Review and Planning.

Col. Grant Newsham (USMC, Ret.) has nearly four decades of experience across the Indo-Pacific, including senior intelligence and policy roles with U.S. Marine Forces Pacific and service as U.S. Marine Attaché in Tokyo. He has also worked as a Foreign Service Officer, attorney, and senior executive in Japan and Korea, and is a widely published author.

Amb. Peter A. Prahar (Ret.) is a retired career U.S. Foreign Service officer who served as U.S. Ambassador to the Federated States of Micronesia from 2010 to 2012. A member of the Senior Foreign Service, he held senior diplomatic and policy roles across the Indo-Pacific, Europe, Africa, and Eurasia, including assignments in China, Japan, and Russia. His work focused on regional security, development cooperation, and U.S.–FSM relations under the Compact of Free Association.

The Work

• Bridging mutual understanding between those coming to the region and those who live in it, reducing misunderstandings and improving outcomes;

• Publishing original and archive-based research on rapid changes in Yap and the wider region, from local infrastructure projects to broader geostrategic dynamics;

• Developing practical, grounded recommendations that support mutually beneficial objectives;

• Hosting public events so local residents can understand engagement plans based on fact rather than rumor, and help shape outcomes;

• Collaborating with aligned organizations in the region and beyond to build on lessons learned.