Aya Kimura

Aya Kimura is a Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa's College of Social Sciences. She holds additional leadership roles as Senior Sustainability Advisor for the college and Director of the AASHE Center on Sustainability Across the Curriculum. Her academic background includes a PhD in Sociology/Rural Sociology from University of Wisconsin-Madison (2006), MA in Environmental Studies from Yale University (2001), and BA in International Legal Studies from Sophia University (1997).

Her research examines intersections of technoscience, sustainability, and power relations, with specific focus on feminist political ecology, agro-food systems, citizen science, and environmental justice. She utilizes interdisciplinary approaches to analyze food security, agrobiodiversity, and gender dimensions of environmental issues.

She teaches courses including:

• SOC 305: Women and Health
• SOC 367: Sustainability, Technoscience, and Social Justice
• SOC 400: Food, Body, and Women: Analysis of Biopolitics
• SOC 670: Sociology of Sustainability

Awards include:

• President’s Award in Outstanding Teaching in Sustainability (2016)

She directs the AASHE Center advancing sustainability curriculum development and serves on the board of an organic farm. Her community engagement focuses on Hawaiʻi's food systems through event organization addressing sustainability and inequality.