Dr. Mehana Vaughan

Doctor of Philosophy, Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies, Stanford University 
Master of Education, Curriculum Studies, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Bachelor of Arts, Sociology and Advanced Provisional Teaching Certification in High School Social Studies, Harvard University

Mehana is an environmental social scientist whose work focuses on indigenous and community-based natural resource management. She comes from Namahana and Kalihiwai, Kauaʻi, at the intersection of the rural moku (districts) of Haleleʻa and Koʻolau. Her research, teaching and outreach are interconnected around themes of ecocultural 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.

Mehana is an assistant professor at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management in the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources. She is jointly appointed in the Sea Grant College Program under the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology 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.