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CASCs open new doors for Dr. Yinphan Tsang

When Dr. Yinphan Tsang began her postdoctoral work with the Climate Adaptation Science Centers (CASCs), she considered herself first and foremost a hydrologist with engineering training. She studied water–how it moved, how it warmed, and how it shaped landscapes. Working on CASC projects opened a new door by connecting those flows of water to fish, ecosystems, and ultimately, to communities.

Her first major National CASC project, Managing the Nation’s Fish Habitat at Multiple Spatial Scales in a Rapidly Changing Climate, immersed her in the painstaking work of compiling streamflow and temperature data from across the United States. She and her colleagues examined how climate change might alter fish habitats in nine major ecoregions. For Tsang, the leap into ecology was difficult but transformative.

“I was naïve about aquatic ecosystems and fish,” she recalls. “But through CASC, I was brought into that world. I learned how to connect climate projections with flow and temperature changes, and from there, with habitat vulnerability. That changed how I thought about research—it became about co-producing knowledge, delivering actionable science, and really asking, ‘what is the contribution we want to make?’”

That question has shaped her trajectory ever since.

After the national-scale projects, Tsang took on work with the Northeast CASC, helping build a stream temperature inventory for New England and the Great Lakes. The project pulled together scattered datasets to give resource managers a clearer picture of thermally sensitive fish species and their critical habitats. “It wasn’t just about compiling numbers,” she said. “It was about making sure people had the tools they needed to understand and respond to climate change.”

Her research eventually brought her to Hawaiʻi. Through the Hawaiʻi Fish Habitat Partnership, Tsang helped adapt conservation planning tools like MARXAN to prioritize lands across the Hawaiian Islands. That project, and the professional networks it introduced her to, anchored her to the islands. Presenting her work at an Ocean Science Meeting in Hawaiʻi solidified that connection. “That meeting really helped me establish myself in this community,” she said. “The relationships that grew from there are still central to my work.”

While in Hawaiʻi, she connected with yet another regional CASC—the Pacific Islands CASC—which funded multiple projects advancing her research in island ecosystems. One of these studies, Extreme Events Impacts on Stream Ecosystems, examines how floods, droughts, and other climate-driven extremes affect stream health, aquatic species, and the communities that depend on these vital freshwater systems.

Today, Tsang describes her research as spanning three themes: hydrological extremes, aquatic ecosystems, and place-based learning for resilience. To her, the threads are inseparable. “Water is life,” she said simply. “Studying hydrologic extremes is essential to understanding ecosystems. But it’s also essential to communities. By involving people and learning from their historical knowledge, we gain baselines for our science, and at the same time we give back to strengthen resilience.”

Her interdisciplinary identity, “part physical scientist, part ecologist,” is something she credits directly to CASC. “CASC has been pivotal in shaping not just my research, but my character as a researcher. It taught me to care deeply about environmental issues, and to make my science meaningful both personally and professionally.”

Hawaiʻi Stream Workshop

That blend of passion and practicality came alive again this year with the long-awaited return of the Hawaiʻi Stream Workshop. Tsang helped relaunch the event, working with the Hawaiʻi Fish Habitat Partnership and ʻIolani School to bring together stream scientists, managers, and community members. The last workshop had taken place in 2017, but after years of busy schedules and the disruption of COVID-19, the stream community was eager to reconnect.

“The feedback was overwhelmingly positive,” Tsang said. “Well, except that the room was too cold—but that was out of our control!”

Attendance doubled from previous workshops, with speakers and participants sharing updates on restoration, eDNA applications, barrier removals, and community-based projects. Small working groups have already formed to keep those conversations going.

“Streams connect everything, mauka to makai. And stream people are just so cool and so lovable,” she said. “When we reconnect with each other, we’re stronger. That’s what I hope to keep building—a stream hui that will last.”