Current MA and PhD Students
The following are select graduate degree candidates.
- View MA Recipients
- View PhD Recipients

Dylan Beatty
Email: beattyd@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD
Research Interests: Political Geography, the Philippines, China, Maritime Southeast Asia, South China Sea, Geopolitics of Fishing, Critical Cartographic Studies, Territoriality of Ocean-space, Colonial Samoa
Advisor: Reece Jones

Aron Boettcher
Email: aronab@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD
Research Interests: Forests, Carbon, Biomass, Lidar, Imagery, Satellite, Photosynthesis, Machine Learning
Advisor: Qi Chen

Shannon Chambers
Email: smchamb@hawaii.edu
Program: MA
Research Interests: Human-Environment Relations, Political Ecology, Agriculture, Food Security, Sustainability, Indonesia
Advisor: Krisna Suryanata

Grace Chun
Email: gychun@hawaii.edu
Program: MA
Research Interests: Migration, Spaces of Sanctuary, Citizenship, Transnationalism
Advisor: Reece Jones

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

Jocelyn Grandinetti
Email: jwgrand3@hawaii.edu
Program: MA
Research Interests: Biocultural Restoration, Political Economy, Community-Based Resource Management, Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Human-Environment Relationships, Socioecological Systems
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

Meagan Harden
Email: mharden@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD
Research Interests: Feminist Geopolitics, Critical Border Studies, Migration and Mobility, Imperialism, Gender and Embodiment
Advisor: Reece Jones

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

Sasha Helfner
Email: helfner@hawaii.edu
Program: MA
Research Interests: Water Access, Protection, & Conservation, Medical Geography, Climate Change, Environmental Justice, Cesspools in HI
Advisor: Krisna Suryanata

Tatsuki Kohatsu
Email: kohatsut@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD
Research Interests: Cultural Geography, Critical Tourism Studies, Militarization, Discourse and Practice of Development, the Pacific 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

Borjana Lubura
Email: borjana@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD
Research Interests: Geopolitics, Borders, Sovereignty, Humanitarian Intervention,The European/Balkan Refugee/Migration Crisis, Human Trafficking/Human Rights, Area: Serbia, Croatia, Hungary, Bulgaria
Advisor: Reece Jones

Amiti Maloy
Email: amiti@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD
Research Interests: Blue Economy, Tourism, Feminist Geographies, Ocean and Coastal Studies, Geopolitics, Political Ecology, Marine Conservation, Social Change
Advisor: Marina Karides

Gina McGuire
Email: mcguire2@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD
Research Interests: Geospatial Analysis, Narrative Research, Marine Ecosystems, Indigenous Methodologies, Cultural Geography of Rural Areas, Oceania: Hawai’i, Australia & Atoll Ecosystems
Advisor: Lisa Kelley

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

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

Christopher O'Neal
Email: coneal@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD
Research Interests: Cultural Geography, Place-based Identity, Japanese and East Asian Regional Geography, Living Systems and Systems Analysis, Political Economy, Peace and Conflict
Advisor: Hong Jiang

Joan Pan
Email: jpan@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD
Research Interests: Cultural Geography, Tea, Health, Well-Being, Social Media
Advisor: Hong Jiang

Foley Pfalzgraf
Email: foleycp@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD
Research Interests: Cultural and Political Ecology, Feminist Geography, Resilience and Adaptation, Traditional Knowledge and Climate Change, South Pacific, Vanuatu
Advisor: Mary Mostafanezhad

Liat Portner
Email: lportner@hawaii.edu
Program: MA
Research Interests: Ecohydrology, Land Use Changes, Restoration Ecology, Ecosystem Services, Science Communication and Education
Advisor: Tom Giambelluca

LiEllen Rhame
Email: lrhame@hawaii.edu
Program: MA
Research Interests: Human and Nonhuman Animal Interaction, China, Cultural Geography, Terror Management Theory, Environment
Advisor: Hong Jiang

Leif Salveson
Email: leifsalv@hawaii.edu
Program: MA
Research Interests: Aquaculture, Political Economy, Marxism, Interstitial Organizations
Advisor: Brian Szuster

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, GIS, Remote Sensing, Big Data Analysis
Advisor: Camilo Mora

Desiree L. Simandjuntak
Email: dlsim@hawaii.edu
Research Interests: Political Ecology, Marine Policy, Fishery, Conservation and Ecology, Resource Management, Poverty and Development
Advisor: Krisna Suryanata

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

Henryk Szadziewski
Email: henryksz@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD
Research Interests: Political Geography, Economic Marginalization, Geoeconomics, Globalization, Academic Freedom, Sport and Identity, Oceania, China, Uyghurs, Overseas Chinese
Advisor: Mary Mostafanezhad

Katie Taladay
Email: taladay@hawaii.edu · Taladay on ResearchGate
Program: PhD
Research Interests: Remote Sensing, Coastal Ecosystems, Benthic Habitat Mapping, Carbon Cycling, UAS Technologies, Participatory Science
Advisor: Qi Chen

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

Kira Webster
Email: kiramw@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD
Research Interests: Climate Change Effects, Native Hawaiian Plant Populations, Reforestation, Island Biodiversity Conservation
Advisor: Camilo Mora

Laura Williams
Email: lauralw@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD
Research Interests: Political Ecology, Tourism, Popular Geopolitics, Cultural Studies, Nature and Society, Agro-Food Initiatives
Advisor: Mary Mostafanezhad

Kawēlau (Michelle) Wright
Email: kawelau.wright@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD
Research Interests: Hawaiʻi, Pacific Islands, Oceania, Political Geography, Political Ecology, Indigenous Geographies, Imperialism
Advisor: Reece Jones