As of Fall 2023, the Aoki Coastal Ecology Lab is launching at University of Oregon! More details and an updated group website to come. Prospective lab members can reach out to Dr. Aoki at the email below.

Contact: laoki [at] uoregon.edu

I am an ecosystem ecologist and coastal scientist interested in the physical and biological drivers of ecosystem functions, especially in the context of anthropogenic forcing and global change. I joined the University of Oregon's Data Science Initiative in 2021, where I focus on integrating data across spatial and temporal scales to understand ecosystem dynamics, including resilience to extreme events and interactions of multiple stressors.

Prior to joining the Univeristy of Oregon, I held a post-doc at Cornell University where I studied the environmental drivers of seagrass wasting disease. Working with Dr. Drew Harvell and collaborators from 6 institutions, I coordinated a three-year latitudinal survey of eelgrass meadows from Southern California to Alaska. 

Previously, as a post-doc at the University of Virginia, I studied the spatial resilience of seagrass meadows to marine heatwaves using long-term data from the Virginia Coast Reserve LTER. I completed my Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences from the University of Virginia in 2018, working with Dr. Karen McGlathery. My dissertation research combined laboratory studies, field experiments, and long-term monitoring data to explore how landscape-scale restoration of seagrass meadows affects nitrogen cycling in shallow coastal bays.

I completed a B.A. in Chemistry and History from Cornell University in 2012. As an undergraduate, I studied carbon cycling in tidal wetlands with Dr. Pat Megonigal at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. Prior to attending graduate school, I worked as a field technician at the Bonanza Creek LTER, and as a policy intern at the Association of American Universities in Washington, D.C.