Laura Brewington is affiliate faculty with the University of Hawaiʻi Sea Grant College Program and the Co-director of the Pacific Research on Island Solutions for Adaptation (Pacific RISA) program. As a NOAA CAP team, the Pacific RISA team of investigators and staff supports Pacific island and coastal communities in adapting to the impacts of climate variability and change, and engages in research collaborations and exchanges with both Hawaiʻi and Guam Sea Grant. Pacific RISA emphasizes the engagement of communities, governments, and businesses in developing effective policies to build resilience in key sectors such as water resource management, coastal and marine resources, fisheries, agriculture, tourism, disaster management, and public health.

Laura is jointly appointed as a research professor at the Arizona State University Global Institute for Sustainability and Innovation, and a research fellow at the East-West Center in Honolulu. In addition to co-directing the Pacific RISA program, she co-founded the Pacific Regional Invasive Species and Climate Change (RISCC) management network and is a member of the Pacific Invasives Partnership, promoting a coordinated regional approach to international biosecurity and natural resources management. Prior to joining the Pacific RISA team, Laura researched agriculture, invasive species, and conservation in the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador where she held a post-doctoral fellowship and a biosecurity and quarantine fellowship.