Current MA and PhD Students
The following are select graduate degree candidates.
Angela Amantite
Email: amantite@hawaii.edu
Program: MA
Research Interests: Behavioral Geography, Sustainable Food Systems, Mental Health, Human Nature Connectedness, Ecotherapy, Integrated Wellness, Experiential Learning
Advisor: Krisna Suryanata
Carter Beale
Email: carter45@hawaii.edu
Program: MA
Research Interests: Ecosystem-based Adaptation, Flood Risk Management, Biocultural Resilience, Political Ecology, Hawaiʻi, California
Advisor: Krisna Suryanata
Aron Boettcher
Email: aronab@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD
Research Interests: Forests, Carbon, Biomass, Lidar, Imagery, Satellite, Photosynthesis, Machine Learning
Advisor: Qi Chen
Natalie Budner
Email: nbudner@hawaii.edu
Program: MA
Research Interests: Political Geography, Migration, Critical Border Theory
Advisor: Reece Jones
Wiwik Dharmiasih
Email: dawd@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD
Research Interests: Political Ecology, Political Geography, Multi-scale Environmental Governance, Community-based Resource Management, Environmental Peacebuilding, UNESCO World Heritage Sites
Advisor: Krisna Suryanata
Veronica Gema Cabebe
Email: vcabebe@hawaii.edu
Program: MA
Research Interests: Cultural Geography, Human Mobility, GIS, Cartography, The Impact of Climate Change on Displacement, Disaster Science, Environmental Discrimination, Park and Protected Area Management Through GIS
Advisor: Orhon Myadar
Shannon Chambers
Email: smchamb@hawaii.edu
Program: MA
Research Interests: Human-Environment Relations, Political Ecology, Agriculture, Food Security, Sustainability, Indonesia
Advisor: Krisna Suryanata
Ashley Clark
Email: anclark@hawaii.edu
Program: MA
Research Interests: Tea Agriculture, Sustainable Farming, Multispecies Interfaces, Ethnography, Taiwan, China
Advisor: Hong Jiang
Anna Duerr
Email: aduerr@hawaii.edu
Program: MA
Research Interests: Food Access and Security, Hunan-Environment Interactions, Sustainability, Agriculture
Advisor: Krisna Suryanata
Rollan C. Geronimo
Email: rollan@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD
Research Interests: Ecosystem Approaches to Fisheries Management, Climate and Ocean Change Impacts on Marine Resources, GIS, Remote Sensing, Data Visualization, Spatial Pattern Analyses
Advisor: Camilo Mora
Dakota Hafalia Yackel
Email: dhafalia@hawaii.edu
Program: MA
Research Interests: Agroecology, Sustainable Food Systems, Filipino Foodways, Decolonization, Identity Building, Sense of Belonging
Advisor: Krisna Suryanata
Michelle Harangody
Email: msharan@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD
Research Interests: Political Ecology, STS, Marine Policy and Conservation, Corals, Tourism, Thailand, Hawaiʻi
Advisor: Mary Mostafanezhad
Hunter Heaivilin
Email: huntersh@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD
Research Interests: Political Ecology, Agro-food Systems, Land Use Change and Planning, Climate Change, Pacific Islands
Advisor: Krisna Suryanata
Hongyi Jiang
Email: hjiang3@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD
Research Interests: China Studies, Taiwan Studies, Border Studies, National Identities, Railway, Chinese Civil War
Advisor: Hong Jiang
Justin Kellum
Email: jkellum@hawaii.edu
Program: MA
Research Interests: Remote Sensing, LiDAR, GIS, Spatial Statistics, Agroforestry, Macadamia Nuts
Advisor: Qi Chen
Keegan Kessler
Email: keeganak@hawaii.edu
Program: MA
Research Interests: Anti/Decolonial, Indigenous Methodologies, Mobility Justice, Environmental Justice, Disaster Studies, Feminist Political Ecology, GIS
Advisor: Orhon Myadar
Tatsuki Kohatsu
Email: kohatsut@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD
Research Interests: Geopolitics, Militarization, Tourism, Islands, Okinawa
Advisor: Mary Mostafanezhad
Dalilah Laidin
Email: dalilahn@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD
Research Interests: Cultural Geography, Heritage Landscapes, Critical Tourism Studies, Southeast Asia
Advisor: Krisna Suryanata
Amanda Lambert
Email: aml7@hawaii.edu
Program: MA
Research Interests: Remote Sensing, LiDAR, GIS, Imagery, Geospatial Technologies, Environment, Climate Change, Water Quality
Advisor: Qi Chen
Andrew Lewis
Email: ajl2@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD
Research Interests: Hydrogeology, Springs, Water Policy, Citizen Science, Polycentric Governance of Natural Resources, Indigenous Cultural Significance of Springs
Advisor: Aurora Kagawa-Viviani
Fernando Lopez Oggier
Email: lopezogg@hawaii.edu
Program: MA
Research Interests: Global Border Regime, Citizenship, Westphalian Sovereignty, Statelessness
Advisor: Reece Jones
Amiti Maloy
Email: amiti@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD
Research Interests: Blue Economy, Foodscapes, FDA, Social Change, Marine Conservation, Sustainability, Seafood, Labeling, Geographies of Consumption, Sense of Place, Greenwashing, Geopolitics, Ocean and Coastal Studies
Advisor: Brian Szuster
Olivia Meyer
Email: oliviacm@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD
Research Interests: Political Ecology, Feminist Geographies, Southeast Asia, Plastic Waste, Climate Justice, Feminist Theory, Social Movements, Thailand
Advisor: Mary Mostafanezhad
Duncan Miller
Email: wdmiller@hawaii.edu
Program: MA
Research Interests: Environmental Geography, Environmental Hazards, Climatology, Physical Geography, Geology, Climate Change, Military Geography, Risk, Mitigation, and Response
Advisor: Camilo Mora
Heidi Needham
Email: hneedham@hawaii.edu
Program: MA
Research Interests: Ecological Climatology, Climate Change, Climate Models, Natural Resource Management, Science Education, Outreach Activities with Underrepresented Groups
Advisor: Tom Giambelluca
Xiaoyun Neo
Email: xneo@hawaii.edu
Program: MA
Research Interests: Environmental History, Biodiversity and Wildlife Conservation, Resource Management, Community Resilience, Environmental Education, Narratives, Ecotourism, Southeast Asia
Advisor: Mary Mostafanezhad
John Nightingale
Email: john4225@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD
Research Interests: Critical Border Theory, Externalisation of Borders, Lived Experience of Migration, Critical Cartography
Advisor: Reece Jones
Joan Pan
Email: jpan@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD
Research Interests: Cultural Geography, Tea, Health, Well-Being, Social Media
Advisor: Hong Jiang
Marcus Peng
Email: marcuspe@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD
Research Interests: Coastal Management, Ecosystem Service Valuation, Outdoor Recreation, Experimental Methods, Causal Inference
Advisor: Brian Szuster
Foley Pfalzgraf
Email: foleycp@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD
Research Interests: Political Ecology, Resilience and Adaptation, Nature Based Solutions, Forestry, South Pacific, Vanuatu
Advisor: Mary Mostafanezhad
Leif Salveson
Email: leifsalv@hawaii.edu
Program: MA
Research Interests: Political Economy, Community Supported Fisheries
Advisor: Krisna Suryanata
Kristen Sanfilippo
Email: ksanfili@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD
Research Interests: Climate Change, Climate Modeling, Statistical Downscaling, Rainfall, Hawaiʻi Climate
Advisor: Tom Giambelluca
Renee Setter
Email: rsetter@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD
Research Interests: Marine Ecology, Climate Change, Climate Models, GIS, Big Data Analysis
Advisor: Camilo Mora
Sophia Somerscales
Email: ssomersc@hawaii.edu
Program: MA
Research Interests: Remote Sensing, GIS, Climate Change, Machine Learning, Land Classification, Object Detection
Advisor: Qi Chen
Claire Sremac
Email: sremac@hawaii.edu
Program: MA
Research Interests: Hydroponics, Vertical Agriculture, Sustainable Farming Practices, Container Farming, Urban Agriculture, Precision Agriculture, AgTech Innovation, Eco-Friendly Agriculture, Sustainability in Food
Advisor: Marina Karides
Yuko Stender
Email: ystender@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD
Research Interests: Responses of Coral Communities to Human-Induced Environmental Changes, Coral Reef Recovery from Impacts of Land-Derived Material, Landscape Ecology, Spatial Statistics, GIS
Advisor: Ross Sutherland
Tara Sutton
Email: thsutton@hawaii.edu
Program: MA
Research Interests: Trust between the Military & Host Communities, Community Recovery from Military-Induced Environmental Contamination
Advisor: Aurora Kagawa-Viviani
Hannah von Hammerstein
Email: hfvh@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD
Research Interests: Coastal & Marine Ecosystems, Effects of Climate Change on Organisms, Climate-driven Species Range Shifts and Their Ecological & Societal Consequences, Eastern Tropical Pacific
Advisor: Camilo Mora
Ivy Wappler
Email: iwappler@hawaii.edu
Program: MA
Research Interests: Beginning Farmers, Social Imaginaries, Agro-Food Systems, Political Ecology, Hawaiʻi, Northeast USA
Advisor: Mary Mostafanezhad
Kira Webster
Email: kiramw@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD
Research Interests: Climate Change Effects, Native Hawaiian Plant Populations, Reforestation, Island Biodiversity Conservation
Advisor: Camilo Mora
Korey Wetherell
Email: kwethere@hawaii.edu
Program: MA
Research Interests: Pollinators, Climate Change, Extinction, Cartography, Indigenous Systems, More-than-Human Geographies
Advisor: Marina Karides
Laura Williams
Email: lauralw@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD
Research Interests: Political Ecology, Rural Studies, Tourism, Islands, Political Economy, Development
Advisor: Mary Mostafanezhad