Dr. Elliott Parsons serves as the Pacific Regional Invasive Species and Climate Change (RISCC) Management Network Specialist for the Hawaiʻi Sea Grant-administered Pacific Islands Climate Adaptation Science Center (PI-CASC) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, where he coordinates research activities and collaborative initiatives across the RISCC network. He is also affiliate faculty in the Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science graduate program at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo. His work focuses on understanding how shifting weather patterns influence invasive species prevention, management, and control across the Pacific region.

Dr. Parsons earned his Ph.D. from the University of Montana, where his research examined the direct and indirect effects of Rocky Mountain elk on high-elevation ecosystems with shifting weather. Before joining Pacific RISCC, he led the Nāpuʻu Conservation Project in North Kona for the Hawaiʻi Division of Forestry & Wildlife, overseeing a large team dedicated to ecosystem stewardship and resource management at Puʻuwaʻawaʻa Ahupuaʻa Experimental Tropical Forest. From 2016 to 2023, Dr. Parsons also served as a lecturer within the University of Hawaiʻi system, teaching courses on wildlife science, population ecology, and habitat management and conservation at UH Hilo. He brings extensive experience in conservation, management, and applied research to his Pacific RISCC position.