Makena Coffman

Bio

Makena Coffman is the Director for the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Institute for Sustainability and Resilience (ISR), a Professor of Urban and Regional Planning and a Research Fellow with the University of Hawai‘i Economic Research Organization. She holds a B.A. in International Relations from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. As Director of ISR, Dr. Coffman facilitates campuswide sustainability curricular pathways, and leads an interdisciplinary research team focused on climate change policy. Dr. Coffman’s research spans both the causes and consequences of climate change within Hawai‘i and the region. She has expertise in environment-economy modeling and applies this to research interests in renewable energy policy and deployment, electrification and alternative transportation, and sea level rise adaptation policy.