She examines how personal, social, and contextual factors—such as gender, socioeconomic status, information-seeking behaviors, and attitudes—affect the adoption of water-conserving practices. The goal of her research is to inform AgriLife Extension programming and support evidence-based water policy.

Oyugi holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural Education and Communications and brings interdisciplinary expertise in applied behavioral frameworks, program development, and social science research. She has extensive experience in designing, teaching, and evaluating agricultural extension and education courses, as well as supervising graduate research. At TWRI, she develops and implements theory-driven research and evaluation tools to understand and promote the adoption of sustainable water-use practices in agriculture and irrigation.

Before her role at TWRI, Dr. Oyugi served as the Education and Training Coordinator and Assistant Research Scientist at the Behavioral Plasticity Research Institute (BPRI) in the Department of Entomology at Texas A&M University. In these capacities, she developed, implemented, and evaluated interdisciplinary research training programs to prepare early-career scientists from five partner institutions for biological integration across various disciplines.

Dr. Oyugi is committed to advancing inclusive, data-driven approaches to water conservation and Extension research, with a focus on human behavior, equity, and measurable outcomes.