Current PhD Students
The following are select geography PhD degree candidates.
Dylan Beatty
Email: beattyd@hawaii.edu
Research Interests: Political Geography, The Philippines, Maritime Disputes in Southeast Asia and Filipino Fishers, the Rise of China as a Global Power
Advisor: Reece Jones
Will Cecil
Email: wececil@hawaii.edu
Research Interests: Marine Conservation, Protected Areas Management, Fisheries and Aquaculture, Environmental Policy
Advisor: Brian Szuster
Md Azmeary Ferdoush
Email: ferdoush@hawaii.edu · Ferdoush's Website
Research Interests: Enclaves, Borders, [Non]citizenship, State, Territory, Political Geography, Geopolitics, Social Theory, South Asia
Advisor: Reece Jones
Micah R. Fisher
Email: micahrf@hawaii.edu
Research Interests: Landscapes and Livelihoods, Tenure and Customary Rights, Political Ecology, Participatory Mapping, Climate Change Adaptation, and Conflict Resolution
Advisor: Krisna Suryanata
Rollan C. Geronimo
Email: rollan@hawaii.edu
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
Michelle Harangody
Email: msharan@hawaii.edu
Research Interests: Participatory GIS, Political Ecology, Tourism, Marine Policy and Conservation, Climate Change Adaptation, Community-Based Ecosystem Management
Advisor: Mary Mostafanezhad
Hunter Heaivilin
Email: huntersh@hawaii.edu
Research Interests: Political Ecology, Agro-food Systems, Land Use Change and Planning, Climate Change, Pacific Islands
Advisor: Krisna Suryanata
Jacob Henry
Email: jacoblh@hawaii.edu · Henry's Website
Research Interests: Cultural & Development Geographies, Namibia/Southern Africa, De-proletarianization, Compulsory Schooling, Post-Wage Livelihoods, Rurality, Cash Grants, Volunteer Tourism
Advisor: Mary Mostafanezhad
Owen Jennings
Email: owenaj@hawaii.edu
Research Interests: Islands, Remoteness, Connectedness, Infrastructure, Internet, Transportation, Identity
Advisor: Mary Mostafanezhad
Aurora Kagawa-Viviani
Email: kagawa@hawaii.edu
Research Interests: Invasion and Restoration Ecohydrology in Water-Limited Landscapes, Tropical Dry Forests, Indigenous Agricultural Systems, Water Resources, ʻŌiwi STEM and Collaborative Research
Advisor: Tom Giambelluca
Kyle Kajihiro
Email: kkajihir@hawaii.edu
Research Interests: Political Geography, Political Ecology, Indigenous Geographies, Feminist Geopolitics, Militarization, Imperial formation, Social Movements
Advisor: Reece Jones
Dalilah Laidin
Email: dalilahn@hawaii.edu
Research Interests: Cultural Geography, Heritage Landscapes, Critical Tourism Studies, Southeast Asia
Advisor: Krisna Suryanata
Kerrie Littlejohn
Email: klittlej@hawaii.edu
Research Interests: Behavioral Geography, Environmental Responsible Behaviors, Norms and Values, Nature-based Tourism, Education, and Sustainable Development
Advisor: Brian Szuster
Keolohilani Lopes, Jr
Email: khlopes@hawaii.edu
Research Interests: Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, Remote Sensing, UAS, Marine Ecology, Spatial Statistics, Mesophotic Coral Reef Ecosystems
Advisor: Qi Chen
Borjana Lubura
Email: borjana@hawaii.edu
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
Gina McGuire
Email: mcguire2@hawaii.edu
Research Interests: Geospatial Analysis, Narrative Research, Marine Ecosystems, Indigenous Methodologies, Cultural Geography of Rural Areas, Oceania: Hawai’i, Australia & Atoll Ecosystems
Advisor: Lisa Kelley
Christopher O'Neal
Email: coneal@hawaii.edu
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
Research Interests: Cultural Geography, Tea, Health, Well-Being, Social Media
Advisor: Hong Jiang
Foley Pfalzgraf
Email: foleycp@hawaii.edu
Research Interests: Cultural and Political Ecology, Feminist Geography, Resilience and Adaptation, Traditional Knowledge and Climate Change, South Pacific, Vanuatu
Advisor: Mary Mostafanezhad
Angkana Rawichutiwan
Email: angkana@hawaii.edu
Research Interests: Political Ecology, Development and Environment, Small-scale Fisheries, Coastal hazards, Mangrove forest, Environmental Narratives and Discourse, Thailand
Advisor: Krisna Suryanata
Sayaka Sakuma
Email: ss26@hawaii.edu
Research Interests: Tourism, Political Ecology, Militarization, Discourse and Practice of Conservation, State, Rural-Revitalization, Okinawa
Advisor: Mary Mostafanezhad
Ben Schrager
Email: schrager@hawaii.edu
Research Interests: Agrifood Studies, Chicken, Cultural Geography, Political Ecology, Ethical Consumption, Food Certification Strategies, Quotidian Geographies, Soccer, Area: Japan and Hawai‘i
Advisor: Krisna Suryanata
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
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
Research Interests: Critical Geopolitics, Mobilities, Transnationalism, Geoeconomics, Globalization, and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Areas: Fiji, Oceania, China, and Xinjiang
Advisor: Mary Mostafanezhad
Katie Taladay
Email:taladay@hawaii.edu · Taladay's Website · Taladay on ResearchGate
Research Interests: Remote Sensing, Coastal Ecosystems, Benthic Habitat Mapping, Carbon Cycling, UAS Technologies, Participatory Science
Advisor: Qi Chen
Han Tseng
Email: tsenghan@hawaii.edu
Research Interests: Ecohydrology, Forest Environment and Ecology, Watershed Hydrology, Cloud Forest (TMCF), Tropical Ecosystems, Climate Change and Land Cover Change
Advisor: Tom Giambelluca
Laura Williams
Email: lauralw@hawaii.edu
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
Research Interests: Hawaiʻi, Pacific Islands, Oceania, Political Geography, Political Ecology, Indigenous Geographies, Imperialism
Advisor: Reece Jones
Jinwen Xu
Email: jinwenxu@hawaii.edu
Research Interests: Geographical Information System (GIS), Social Media, Disaster, Geocomputation, Visual Analytics, Spatial Analysis
Advisor: Yi Qiang
Qian Zhang
Email: qzhang7@hawaii.edu
Research Interests: Remote Sensing Technologies, Geographical Information System (GIS), Carbon Sequestration and Carbon Cycle, Forest Biomass
Advisor: Qi Chen