Elisabeth Gallant, Assistant Professor of Geology
Assistant Professor Lis Gallant’s areas of expertise are in volcanology, lava flow hazards, and eruption response.
Posted July 17, 2026.
Elisabeth “Lis” Gallant is an assistant professor of geology at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo. Her areas of expertise are in volcanology, lava flow hazards, and eruption response.
Assistant Professor Gallant received her master of science (2016) and her doctorate (2019), both in geology from the University of South Florida, Tampa. Prior to arriving at UH Hilo in 2023, she spent two-and-a-half years at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory at Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park on Hawaiʻi Island as a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow studying the lava and cinder cones from the 2018 eruption of Kīlauea.
- UH Hilo welcomes new geologist Lis Gallant (UH Hilo Stories, August 25, 2023)
From Idaho to a new home on Hawaiʻi Island with one of world’s most active volcanoes
Among her most notable research, Gallant cites some of her early work that revealed the previous lava flow hazard assessment for the Eastern Snake River Plain in Idaho substantially underestimated the probability of lava flow inundation using a combination of computational models, field data, geologic maps, and a novel approach for eruption scenario classification.
- A new approach to probabilistic lava flow hazard assessments, applied to the Idaho National Laboratory, eastern Snake River Plain, Idaho, USA (Geology, 2018).
“This area has the highest density of nuclear reactors in the world, and site selection criteria was based on the original assessment values,” Gallant explains. This research and numerous other factors catalyzed a multimillion-dollar effort to update the hazard assessment, which resulted in a 1,500+ page report.
Gallant is still actively involved in sharing the data from this Idaho study.
“I’ll be attending a meeting at the beginning of September (2026) to discuss volcanic processes and hazards associated with the eastern Snake River Plain and potential science activities to better understand the volcanology of the plain and to forecast future volcanic unrest and eruptions,” she says.
Since relocating to Hawaiʻi Island in 2023, Gallant has been very busy with volcanic investigations, including lava sampling (published 2023); landscape and human impact from eruptions (2024); Mauna Loa 2022 outreach efforts (2025); catastrophic lava flow levee failure (2025); an investigation into Kīlauea’s lava lake (2025); and a retrospective on the 2022 Mauna Loa eruption (2026), among others. And currently in review for publication are research projects on use of ground-based radar interferometry for tracking lava flows and on Kīlauea’s current ongoing episodic fountaining eruption.
Among this Hawaiʻi Island work, Gallant sites as some of her most interesting discoveries the characteristics of lava flows.
“Most people who model lava flow hazards focus on the front of the flow and the path it will take, which is a very sensible and reasonable approach, but this can leave the hazards present along the sides of a channel under-appreciated,” she says. “For example, we saw a catastrophic failure of a lava flow levee in 2018 that re-routed the flow and lead to the inundation of new areas. For me, this work highlighted how the built environment can influence which areas become inundated in ways that I hadn’t previously thought about.”
- Real-time lava flow forecasting during the 2022 Mauna Loa eruption response (Bulletin of Volcanology, 2025)
Integrating students into ongoing research projects
Currently in 2026, Gallant is focused on the ongoing, consistently episodic eruption of Kīlauea.
“Right now it’s all hands on deck to keep up with the ongoing eruption of Kīlauea,” she says. “I participate in the eruption response activities as a volunteer for the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, (and) we have students in the labs processing samples collected during the high fountaining episodes, and several recent graduates have stayed on as part of the team.”
Those research teams, all of which include UH Hilo students producing published research as co-authors, have several papers in review about this ongoing work. In addition, students from several of Gallant’s classes are taking a look at that data.
In one active project, Gallant is working with UH Hilo junior Susan Richfield on geochemical and petrology studies on lavas from the 1919-1920 eruption of Maunaiki, located in Kīlauea’s southwest rift zone. Richfield was recently awarded a $5,000 Kleinman Grant to support her work on this project, titled, “Examining historical events through modern techniques, a geochemical analysis of the 1919-1920 Maunaiki eruption from the Southwest Rift Zone of Kīlauea volcano.”
Gallant is also mentoring students through UH Hilo’s Pacific Internship Programs for Exploring Science (PIPES), and is currently working with Kamalani Poepoe who graduated from UH Hilo this past May with a bachelor’s degree in geology. Poepoe’s current project focuses on making connections between moʻolelo (traditional Native Hawaiian stories) from Kīlauea and Maunakea and geologic processes.
“Kama has recently accepted a position with the Center for Maunakea Stewardship and hopes to continue working with the geology department to conduct research relevant to her new role,” says Gallant.
- UH Hilo geology major Kamalani Poepoe’s lava research featured in fun educational video produced by Boston College (UH Hilo Stories, Jan. 13, 2026)
These projects with students are examples of Gallant’s focus on providing opportunities for every student in the geology department to participate in research. This is achieved by integrating these opportunities into the coursework for her classes: Earth materials classes focusing on mineralogy and petrology (GEOL 212 and GEOL 320 respectively), volcanology (GEOL 470), and volcano monitoring (GEOL 471).
Last winter, Gallant attended the American Geophysical Union conference, held in New Orleans, with graduating seniors Raymond Adams who is now working for the Research Corporation of University of Hawaiʻi, and Lichen Forster who is currently on her way to Central Washington for a master’s degree.
And plans are aplenty for the upcoming fall semester.
“This upcoming semester in GEOL 470 we’ll be using a ground penetrating radar to examine the layering of cinder cones,” says Gallant, noting the radar was purchased by UH Hilo’s Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems (PISCES), an aerospace research and education program. “I’ve used this instrument to look at puʻu (cinder comes) on Kīlauea and hope to integrate these studies into this area of research with Cristina De Torres, a UH Hilo senior, in the fall.”
Looking ahead
Looking to the future, Gallant says a lot of what she will achieve in her field and with her students is dependent on the rhythms of the island’s active volcanoes.
“Hard to say (what my future plans are), as a lot of my work is dictated by whatever is happening with Kīlauea and Mauna Loa,” she says. “I would like to work on Hualālai someday, if things ever calm down.”
By Susan Enright, public information specialist for the Office of the Chancellor and editor of Keaohou and UH Hilo Stories. She received her bachelor of arts in English and certificate in women’s studies from UH Hilo.
