OFFICE: SAUNDERS HALL 415
FAX: (808) 956-3512
E-MAIL: KAGAWA@HAWAII.EDU (TWITTER: @AKKAGAWA)
RELATED WEB PAGES: Personal Website and Community Water Fund
EDUCATION:
- PhD, Geography and Environment, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
- MS, Botany (Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology specialization), University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
- SB, Environmental Engineering Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
FIELDS OF INTEREST:
- Ecohydrology (vegetation-water interactions)
- Forest ecology
- Tropical drylands
- Indigenous science and engineering education
- Community-driven research
CURRENT RESEARCH:
Terrestrial landscapes are being transformed at unprecedented rates due to urbanization and other drivers of land use and ecosystem change. These land cover changes interact with changing climates to produce new ecological and hydrologic regimes at the land’s surface. How are flows of water and energy altered? What are the implications for human society? What has or what can society at large or local communities do to mitigate these changes or alter the trajectory of these new ecohydrologic regimes?
Dr. Aurora Kagawa-Viviani applies the lens of change to study how plant and human communities are affected by- and affect-hydrologic processes. Her current research focuses on vegetation-water interactions, the ecohydrology of biotic invasion and ecological restoration, and cultivation of plants and landscapes where water limits growth. Dr. Kagawa-Viviani is particularly interested in human-ecosystem interactions and leans on natural science and social science tools and approaches. For example, she utilizes in situ environmental sensors to study how biotic invasion, ecological restoration, and climate change shape plant communities and water fluxes at the land’s surface. She is also developing new collaborations with social scientists to address gaps in the space between socio-hydrology and hydrosocial paradigms. Dr. Kagawa-Viviani is excited to engage with aspirations of local communities to drive rigorous and novel research in the transdisciplinary space encompassing plants, water, and people.