Current Students
The following are select graduate degree candidates.
Ariel Mota Alves
Email: motaal2@hawaii.edu
Program: MA (Law and Policy)
Research Interests: Public Policy, Welfare State, Timor-Leste Politics, Southeast Asia Regionalism, Environmental Justice
Advisor: Petrice Flowers
Kelsea Armstrong
Email: kelseaga@hawaii.edu
Program: MA (Law and Policy, Political Theory)
Research Interests: Post-colonial Studies, Law and Policy, Queer Theory, Critical Race Theory, Identity Politics, Gender Studies, Theorizing Social Space, Prison-industrial Complex, Policing and Violence
Advisor: Nicole Grove
Kisha Borja-Quichocho-Calvo
Email: kishab@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Indigenous Politics)
Research Interests: Indigenous Education, Chamoru Education on Guåhan, Indigenous Resurgence and Agency, and Us Militarization in the Mariana Islands and the Greater Oceania
Advisor: Noelani Goodyear-Ka'ōpua
Randizia Crisostomo
Email: rbcrisos@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Indigenous Politics)
Research Interests: Indigenous Resurgence, Pasifika Feminisms, Chamoru Agency/Activism in Guåhan, the Marianas and the Diaspora, De-occupation and Mili(Tourism) in Oceania, Inafa'maolek as Praxis.
Advisor: Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio
Boyd DeLanzo
Email: delanzo@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Alternative Futures, International Relations, Political Theory)
Research Interests: Complexity Theory, Space Policy, Space Futures, Geotechnics, Competition, China
Advisor: Jairus Grove
Kaʻiminaʻauao Cambern
Email: cambernk@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Indigenous Politics)
Research Interests: Political Economies of Mana, Black and Indigenous Co-optic Futures, Hōʻailona and Kanaka Maoli Political Action/Activism, Trans-indigenous Resurgence, Hulihia, Pilina, Ea, Moʻokūʻauhau Consciousness
Advisor: Noenoe Silva
Ari Eisenstat
Email: ari7@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Alternative Futures, International Relations, Law and Policy, Political Theory)
Research Interests: Sustainable Development, Social Innovation, Human Rights, Outer Space, Peace and Conflict Resolution, Exponential Technologies, International Organizations, Civil Society Advocacy, Climate Justice
Advisor: Jairus Grove
Hannah El-Silimy
Email: hannahel@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Comparative Politics, Indigenous Politics)
Research Interests: Activism and Social Movements, Decolonization, Transnational and Third World Feminisms, Liberatory Education, Global Politics, Southeast Asia
Advisor: Noenoe Silva
Ryan Ferguson
Email: ryanferg@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Alternative Futures, Political Theory)
Research Interests: Politics of Technology, Future of Media Systems, Aesthetics
Advisor: Jairus Grove
Heather Frey
Email: hfrey@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Alternative Futures, International Relations, Law and Policy)
Research Interests: Intellectual Property, Patents, Futures, Law
Advisor: Debora Halbert
Soksamphoas Im
Email: sim7@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Law and Policy)
Research Interests: Ageing Policy, Human Rights, Demography and Social Change, Biopolitical Governance, State and Development, Civil Society, Cambodia, Southeast Asia
Advisor: Katharina Heyer
Andriy Levytskyy
Email: alevytsk@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Alternative Futures, Comparative Politics, International Relations, Political Theory)
Research Interests: Critical International Relations, Post-Soviet Transformations, Political Sociology, Complex Systems, Ukraine
Advisor: Nevzat Soguk
Cheng-Cheng Li
Email: ccli@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Indigenous Politics, International Relations)
Research Interests: Cultural Diplomacy, Pacific Regionalism, Pacific Islands Forum, Taiwan Foreign Policy, Taiwan and Oceania
Advisor: Sarah Wiebe
Samantha Lopez
Email: salopez@hawaii.edu
Program: MA (Law and Policy)
Research Interests: US Imperialism, Postcolonial Studies, Philippine Foreign Policy, Land and Self-Determination, Public Policy
Advisor: Sarah Wiebe
Kacie Manabe
Email: kymanabe@hawaii.edu
Program: MA (Comparative Politics, Law and Policy)
Research Interests: Identity, Race, Gender & Sexuality Studies, Asian Americans, Diaspora, Asian Politics, Japanese Studies & Politics, Popular Culture
Advisor: Ehito Kimura
Daniel Kauwila Mahi
Email: dmahi@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Alternative Futures, Indigenous Politics)
Research Interests: Contested Governance, Ceremony, Traditional Games, Alternative Exports, Hawaiian Kingdom Governance, Indigenous Futurisms
Advisor: Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio
Mathew Markman
Email: markman@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Alternative Futures, Political Theory)
Research Interests: Sanctuary, Fascism, Far-Right Extremism, Counter-Radicalization, Democratic Futures, Alternative Governance Models, Urban Revolution, Quantum Social Science, Middle Eastern Studies
Advisor: Jairus Grove
Billy Meinke-Lau
Email: wmeinke@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Alternative Futures)
Research Interests: Futures, Intellectual Property Rights, Open Educational Resources, Education Policy, Personal Data, Surveillance
Advisor: Jairus Grove
Sukyoung Myung
Email: smyung@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Comparative Politics, International Relations)
Research Interests: Political Polarization, Democracy, Political Participation, Online Nationalism, Asian Politics, Korean Politics
Advisor: Ehito Kimura
Saveun Nhim
Email: snhim@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Law and Policy)
Research Interests: Public Policy, Education Policy, Southeast Asian Politics, Social Policy, Non-profit Management, Youth Development, Social Protection, Cambodia, Social Justice
Advisor: Petrice Flowers
Haʻani San Nicolas
Email: haanisn@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Indigenous Politics)
Research Interests: Settler Colonialism in Guåhan, Decolonization and Demilitarization in Oceania, Chamoru Liberation, Pasifika Women/hood, Indigenous Resurgence
Advisor: Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio
Emily Pesicka
Email: eab613@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Alternative Futures, International Relations, Law and Policy)
Research Interests: Environmental Law and Politics, Political Ecology, Climate Change, Global Warming, Military Transformation, Military Revolution
Advisor: Jairus Grove
Ken Reyes
Email: ereyes4@hawaii.edu
Program: MA (Comparative Politics, Political Theory)
Research Interests: Biopower/biopolitics, Philippine Politics, Critical Race Theory, Political Theology, Modes of Resistance
Advisor: Jonathan Goldberg-Hiller
Youngwoo Rhee
Email: jkriley@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Alternative Futures, International Relations, Political Theory)
Research Interests: The Historicity of the Divided Self of Modern Person, the Fragmented Sovereignty and Self of Korean, Conflict In-between Premodernity and Modernity
Advisor: Jairus Grove
Kawika Riley
Email: jkriley@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Indigenous Politics, Law and Policy)
Research Interests: Federal Policymaking, Indigenous Agency, Policy Feedback Theory, Native Hawaiian Wellbeing
Advisor: Colin Moore
Owen Shieh
Email: oshieh@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Alternative Futures, International Relations, Political Theory, Law and Policy)
Research Interests: Institutions of Weather and Climate Prediction, Public-Private Relations in the Weather Enterprise, Tropical Cyclones and International Relations, Complexity Theory and Actor-Network-Theory
Advisor: Jairus Grove
Shane Strachan
Email: strachan@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (International Relations, Political Theory)
Research Interests: Chinese Politics, Religion and International Relations, Comparative Political Theory, American Foreign Policy
Advisor: Ehito Kimura
Tamara Swift
Email: swiftt@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Alternative Futures)
Research Interests: Alternative Local Political Structures, Local and Sustainable Farming, Hawaiian Ahupua'a Land System, Women in Governance, Surviving Climate Crisis
Advisor: Jairus Grove
Susy Tekunan
Email: tekunans@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Comparative Politics)
Research Interests: Overseas Chinese Immigration in Southeast Asia, Chinese Diaspora, China Transnational Governance, Colonial Legacy and Racial Politics
Advisor: Petrice Flowers
Mahina Tuteur
Email: ntuteur@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Indigenous Politics, Law and Policy)
Research Interests: Indigenous Law & Social Movements, Natural Resource Management, Land & Water, Critical Race Theory
Advisor: Noenoe Silva
Chantrelle Melenani Waialae
Email: cwaialae@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Indigenous Politics, Law and Policy)
Research Interests: Native Hawaiian Law, Family Law, Violence Against Women, Public Policy, Native Hawaiian Rights, Indigenous Politics, Conflict Resolution, Pu'uhonua
Advisor: Jonathan Goldberg-Hiller
Amali Wedagedara
Email: amali@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Comparative Politics)
Research Interests: Asian Politics, Political Economy, South Asian Politics, Gender, Development Studies, Finance
Advisor: Sankaran Krishna
Kalaniakea Wilson
Email: knwilson@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Indigenous Politics, International Relations, Law and Policy)
Research Interests: Ko Hawaii Pae Aina, Aloha kekahi i kekahi, I ka wa ma mua, I ka wa ma hope, He alii ka aina, He kauwa ke kanaka, Occupation, Colonization, Genocide, Power, Race, Treaties, War Crimes, Propaganda, Lies
Advisor: Noenoe Silva
Changwon Yang
Email: changwon@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Comparative Politics, International Relations)
Research Interests: Southeast Asian Politics, Philippines Politics, ASEAN
Advisor: Ehito Kimura
Irmak Yazici
Email: irmakyaz@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD (Comparative Politics, International Relations)
Research Interests: Blasphemy, Middle East, Religious Nationalism, Secularism, South Asia.
Advisor: Sankaran Krishna