Joy Kumagai

Joy is a second-year PhD student within the biology department at Stanford University. She is interested in understanding how coastal foundational ecosystems respond to simultaneous anthropogenic pressures and how to increase effectiveness of marine protected areas. Her current projects focus on assessing whether marine protected areas increase kelp forest resilience to marine heatwaves, and exploring how sedimentation, disease, and seagrass decline in Palau may be intertwined. She is passionate about useful, transdisciplinary research that increases the wellbeing of people through the sustainable management of marine ecosystems. Using her skillset in GIS, her previous work focused on mangroves, where she valued carbon stocks within Mexico to develop metrics quantifying the extent of area-based conservation. Additionally, she worked for IPBES at the science-policy interface implementing data management within international assessments focused on biodiversity and ecosystem services. When not at her desk, she likes to be out in nature or knitting on her couch.

kumagaij@stanford.edu