Alyssa is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Pacific Islands Climate Adaptation Science Center (which is administered by Hawaiʻi Sea Grant), focusing on the relationship between climate and fire in Hawaiʻi and the US-Affiliated Pacific Islands. For her PhD research, she studied the geology and geophysics of Hawaiian volcanoes to learn about Kīlauea volcano deformation and lava flow dynamics.

Alyssa teaches Geology of the Hawaiian Islands through Hawaiian medium instruction at Windward Community College for the Early College program for Hawaiian Language Immersion Schools. At the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, she previously served on the Kahua Aʻo project, translating Hawaiian language newspapers and developing STEM curricula relevant to Hawaiʻi and the Pacific. She also served as the program manager for the EPIK (Earth-Planets-ʻIke-Kuleana) Program that provides opportunities for high school students in Hawai‘i to gain exposure to Earth and planetary sciences.