OFFICE: Sherman Lab 223
PHONE: (808) 956-8901
FAX: (808) 956-6539
E-MAIL: mehana@hawaii.edu
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EDUCATION:
- PhD, Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies, Stanford University, 2013
- MEd, Curriculum Studies, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, 2003
- BA, Sociology, Harvard University, 1998
FIELDS OF INTEREST:
- Community-based watershed monitoring and abundance assessment
- Social-cultural effects of changes in land use, ownership and governance
- Ancestral Hawaiian models of local-level land and resource management
- ʻĀina Based Education
- Community based and collaborative management
Mehana Vaughan is an environmental social scientist whose work focuses on indigenous and community-based natural resource management. In addition to understanding and nurturing community care and governance of land and waters in Hawaiʻi, her research, teaching and outreach are all interconnected around themes of eco-cultural restoration, ʻāina-based education, and community or collaborative management. Students in her classes participate in research projects that meet community needs, and community members help to serve as teachers.
Dr. Vaughan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. She is also jointly appointed in the Sea Grant College Program (SOEST) and Hui ʻĀina Momona, an effort to build connections between the University system and rural Hawaiʻi communities to enhance community level capacity for natural resource management. Dr. Vaughan is the mother of three children and lives on the island of Kauaʻi, where she grew up.