Romina King

Dr. Romina King serves as the PI-CASC university consortium lead for the University of Guam. She is also an associate professor of geography at the Western Pacific Tropical Research Center at UOG’s College of Natural and Applied Sciences. She has a Ph.D. in geography from University College Cork, Ireland; an MSc in geographic information systems (GIS) from the University of Southampton, UK; an MA in Micronesian studies from UOG; and a BSc in economics from Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA. Her research interests include natural resource management, coastal zone management, coral reefs, GIS, remote sensing, climate change, adaptation, and vulnerability, particularly in Guam, Micronesia, and Oceania. In addition to being the PI-CASC UOG lead, Dr. King is also the associate director of NASA Guam Space Grant and serves as the chair of the UOG master’s of science Environmental Science Program. She also serves as vice-chair of the Guam Climate Change Resilience Commission.

Prior to her current stint in academia, Dr. King was a public servant for the government of Guam. She was a GIS analyst for the Guam Environmental Protection Agency before transferring to the Bureau of Statistics and Plans Guam Coastal Management Program. She was the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation fellow for two years and created a successful program, Guardians of the Reef, where 11th and 12th graders are intensely educated about the importance of coral reefs and then conduct outreach to third grade classrooms in Guam. Guardians of the Reef is currently in its 17th year and, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, every single third grade classroom on Guam was visited by older Guardians and learned about coral reefs! Dr. King also wrote and produced a highly acclaimed puppet show starring a young chicken who perceived himself as an endangered Guam Ko’ko’, learning about how trash can make its way through a watershed and end up on a coral reef ecosystem via river systems.

Dr. King loves to surf and kiteboard but has done very little in the last couple of years. Instead of playing on waves, she wrangles her adorable, tiny humans towards pathways that guide them to be kind grown-ups that contribute to society.  She has an extensive collection of children’s literature and Japanese stationery products.