Shaun is the Executive Director of the Oceanic Institute (OI) at Hawai‘i Pacific University. He previously served as Acting President and Chief Executive Officer for Scientific Programs at OI. Earlier in his career, as Fullbright scholar, he worked in eastern Indonesia before returning to Hawaii in 1994 to join the Marine Sciences Department at Hawaii Pacific University as an Associate Professor.

From 1997 to 2009, Shaun was Director of the Shrimp Department at OI, where he conducted research on a variety of topics related to shrimp aquaculture including selective breeding, biosecurity, and environmentally sustainable grow-out technologies. He later served as Vice President of Research and Development from 2009 to 2012, concurrently directing the USDA-funded U.S. Marine Shrimp Farming Program.

Shaun earned his Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Hawai‘i in 1993. He is the author or co-author of more than 60 peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, and conference proceedings on shrimp aquaculture, and has contributed to aquaculture projects in China, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, and Vietnam.