"New Consciousness, New Knowledge" │UH Hilo Faculty Research & Scholarly Activity
Associate Professor Hern’s primary area of research is on social movements and healthcare policy. She’s also researched transfer student retention at UH Hilo and community responses to natural disasters in Hawaiʻi.
Assistant Professor Akaka’s current research revolves around the revitalization of Hawaiian music through creating transcriptions and arrangements for Western instrumental ensembles, such as orchestra and/or band.
Professor Kim’s current research examines the effects of culture-specific counseling interventions and the impacts of client cultural values on counseling process and outcome.
Professor Perroy’s areas of expertise and research are in remote sensing, high-resolution mapping, geospatial data analysis, and aerial robotics.
Associate Professor Day’s research primarily examines settler colonialism in Hawaiʻi and the Pacific, thinking through the processes of racialization and U.S. empire through contemporary cultural representation.
Professor Qin’s area of expertise is in East Asian history with a research interest in Chinese immigrants in the United States.
Associate Professor Justina Mattos’s areas of expertise are in new play development, and theatrical history and criticism, focused particularly on the local theatre of Hawaiʻi.
Associate Professor Lee researches international conflict management, including negotiation and mediation strategies, and space politics. She also is collecting biographies of Peace Corps volunteers with ties to Hawaiʻi Island.
Professor Ippolito’s area of expertise is in new media art of Japan and China. Her research explores the nature of non-narrative interactive and performance art in today’s digital media realm.
Assistant Professor Meiser’s research areas are in food studies and the restaurant business, notably on violence and abuse in the workplace.
Professor Peter Mills’s areas of expertise are in archaeology, colonialism in the Pacific, stone tool analysis, and heritage management.
Associate Professor Dumanig’s research focuses on family language policy of Filipinos in Hawaiʻi, education and language in the Philippines, and caregivers’ interaction with elderly patients in adult residential care homes.
Professor Besio’s areas of expertise are in human geography with a focus on feminist geographies and qualitative research methods. She also investigates research ethics, home gardens, and local foods.
With an eye toward equity in action, Associate Professor of Education Martin’s research focuses on how policies and practices in education impede or facilitate the healthy social and emotional development and wellbeing of children and youth.
Professor Luangphinith’s area of expertise is in the literature of Hawaiʻi, but she is actively developing an expertise in local Korean history and oral histories of Hawaiʻi Island.
Professor Okuyama is studying mythology, semiotics, and deaf studies. She also conducts research on deaf adolescents’ texting and has published a series of papers on the topic.
Professor Marusek specializes in legal geography, legal semiotics, and constitutive legal theory within the disciplinary field of public law. She explores places and spaces to better understand law and legality.
Associate Professor Becker examines the ways communication contributes to the transformation of organizational, cultural, or family systems. She was the first in academia to test Cultural Convergence Theory in Japan.
Professor Simmons is a poet who studies Shakespeare, teaches literature and film. She specializes in modern literature and film with her most recent research being on Shakespearean tragedy in performance.
Professor Morrison researches women’s health and domestic violence in Hilo. Recently, Prof. Morrison shifted her research interests toward the intersection of human health and animal welfare.
