Madeline (Maddy) McKenna is a 2025 Grau Fellow with the Honolulu Office of Climate Change, Sustainability, and Resiliency (CCSR), working with the Coastal and Water Program team to implement the city’s adaptation strategy. Her goal is to honor both rigorous science and Indigenous ecological knowledge in developing people-centered solutions for Oʻahu’s threatened coastlines, and she is excited to bring her experience in environmental policy and atmospheric sciences to this challenge.

Madeline holds an MA in Climate and Society from Columbia University and a PhD in atmospheric science from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Her doctoral research focused on the impacts of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation and its patterns of ocean surface temperature, which influences large-scale extreme weather phenomena called atmospheric blocking events that redirect mid-latitude storm tracks. Previously, she had worked with the Earth Institute’s Center for Climate Systems Research at Columbia University on several projects related to changing weather patterns and hazard communication. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area in California, Madeline has always been passionate about the conservation of coastal environments and science communication.