Aloha mai kākou!

I am a PhD Candidate in the Department of Geography and Environment at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa studying under Dr. Mary Mostafanezhad. I am broadly interested in the intertwining of socio-environmental change, community-based economic development, and climate justice. I became interested in these currents after moving to the Pacific to complete two years of service as an AmeriCorps VISTA in Honolulu focused on community-based economic development in partnership with ʻāina-based organizations. Drawing from these s/pacific experiences, my dissertation research interrogates the role of forest-based carbon offsetting as a climate adaptation and justice mechanism in Vanuatu. I analyze colonial accounts, archival materials, my own ethnographic fieldnotes, qualitative interviews, and other textual representations alongside GIS and remote sensing analysis to explore the ways in which carbon offsetting programs meet (or fail to meet) the needs of communities and the national government. Previously, I have explored the efficacy of fair trade minerals programs and examined the effects of resilience-building in Vanuatu following Cyclone Pam. I have also worked in environmental conservation for the Environmental Law Institute, the Sierra Club, and the Katelios Group, as well as for the British Embassy in Washington DC on archival preservation. When I am not reading historical texts about forest change in Vanuatu, I am likely hiking the muddy trails up in Tantalus, relaxing at Hūnānāniho, or reading the latest science fiction or fantasy.

Education
2023      PhD in Geography and Environment
              University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
2020      MA in Geography and Environment
              University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
2016      MSc in Nature, Society, and Environment
              University of Oxford
2015      BA in International Studies
              American University
2013      Certificate in Social Sciences and Humanities
              Sciences Po Paris