News@UH
Left to right, Manuel Cabral, Helen Cox and Michael Rota.
Board Meeting
At the May meeting, the Board of Regents approved chancellor appointments for Leeward, Kaua'i and Honolulu Community Colleges. Manuel Cabral received permanent appointment at Leeward and Helen Cox and Michael Rota will take over for retiring chancellors at Kaua'i and Honolulu.Cabral’s appointment is for three years, effective June 1, 2008. He has worked at Leeward for 28 years in various capacities including faculty senate vice chair, chair of the Leeward Community College Campus Council, and for 19 years as the mathematics and science division chair. He was recognized for his excellence in teaching and leadership with the University of Hawai‘i Board of Regents’ Excellence in Teaching Award. Read the news release.
Cox’s appointment as chancellor of Kaua‘i is for three years, effective August 12, 2008. Cox is currently associate vice president of instruction at Salt Lake Community College, a position she has held since 2003. She has served in higher education for more than 25 years, primarily at Salt Lake Community College starting as a faculty member then progressing on to division chair, executive assistant to the president, and her current position as associate vice president of instruction. Read the news release.
Rota’s appointment as interim chancellor at Honolulu is for one year, effective July 1, 2008. Since December 2002, Rota has been the associate vice president for academic affairs for the University of Hawai‘i Community Colleges, where he is responsible for academic program planning, evaluation and assessment; course and program articulation; regional accreditation; federal higher education and workforce development issues, and collaboration with external agencies. Read the news release.
The board also approved two new degree programs—a master’s degree in financial engineering to be administered by Manoa’s Shidler College of Business and a certificate of achievement in hotel/restaurant operations at Kapi'olani. Read the news release.
They also approved a policy amendment to lower ticket fees for certain Manoa sports. Read the news release.
New P6 Supercomputer
Maui was awarded a new P6 supercomputer valued at more than $400,000 by IBM for use in its Electronics and Computer Engineering Technology program. The grant is part of a Shared University Research awards program, created to demonstrate the partnership between academia and the technology industry to explore research in areas essential to innovation.The new technology will allow students direct access to computing capabilities that will prepare them for employment in a high technology field. The collaboration between Maui and IBM will focus on the research and testing of real-time and operational data mining models on a broad range of platforms.
“Students will install and run programs related to image processing and performance testing,” says Assistant Professor Mark Hoffman. “This donation will provide students with direct access to supercomputing capabilities that will prepare them for employment in Maui’s high technology industries.”
Sustainability for High School Students
An environmental summer program for high school students launched by Windward Professors David Krupp and Floyd McCoy received a grant of $85,000 from the Harold K.L Castle Foundation.Students in the summer program are offered the opportunity to participate in an integrated mix of conventional lectures, hands-on laboratory exercises, outdoor field exercises, field trips, research projects and stewardship activities. The program broadens their understanding of watersheds and coral reef ecosystems, introduces them to pioneering scientific research and adds to their knowledge of current scientific methodology and research techniques. Embracing the theme that human beings are part of the ecosystem, not separate from it, the students learn these concepts and methods in the context of traditional and modern resource management practices.
The program is a partnership between Windward’s Pacific Center for Environmental Studies and Manoa’s Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology.
“The nationally-recognized PaCES-HIMB partnership has permitted the blossoming of a unique program that enhances environmental science literacy, motivates interest in science in general, and promotes environmental stewardship among Hawai‘i’s high school students," says Krupp.
Cooperative Breeding
A study by Manoa doctoral candidate Lindsay Young found that the Laysan albatross employs a strategy called reciprocity, where unrelated females pair together and take turns raising offspring. The study was published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.On O'ahu 31 percent of nests are female-female pairs. Female pairs raise fewer chicks than male-female pairs, but given the shortage of males, fewer chicks are better than none. Since albatross can only raise one chick each year, females stay together for multiple years for each to reproduce. This unusual strategy may explain why Laysan Albatross are successfully re-colonizing islands.
Unrelated same-sex individuals pairing together and cooperating to raise offspring over many years is a rare occurrence in the animal kingdom. Cooperative breeding, in which animals help raise offspring that are not their own, is often attributed to kin selection when individuals are related, or altruism when individuals are unrelated.
Manoa Athletics Facilities Funding
The Clarence T. C. Ching Foundation donated $5 million to assist in the construction of an athletics complex at Manoa. In recognition of this historic gift, the new facility will be named the Clarence T. C. Ching Athletics Complex.The gift will transform Cooke Field, Manoa's only on-campus, all-purpose track and field, football, soccer and recreational facility, to more fully realize its potential as a center of student activity.
"As has been reported both locally and nationally over the past year, our athletics facilities need to be enhanced and upgraded," says UH Manoa Athletics Director Jim Donovan. "The Clarence T. C. Ching Foundation is leading the way to build a partnership that will help create a facility at the center of the makai campus, that will benefit our student-athletes, student-body, and the community as a whole. I am very grateful for the support."
The late Clarence T. C. Ching was a developer, realtor, banker, affordable housing pioneer, and philanthropist. He was well known for developing the areas around Honolulu Airport, Salt Lake, Moanalua, Ft. Shafter and Tripler with noted Hawai'i businessman and former St. Louis classmate K. J. Luke.
British Royal Society Fellow
Manoa Astronomer Nicholas Kaiser was elected as a fellow to the British Royal Society, one of the 44 new fellows selected this year for their contributions to science, engineering and technology.The society chose Kaiser because he “is distinguished for initiating and developing several fields of research in large scale structure and cosmology. In each, he has provided highly original theoretical insight and applied these to obtain important observational results.” Kaiser has also “played a central role in turning weak gravitational lensing into a major observational industry and one of the most promising new techniques in cosmology for the next decade.”
The national scientific academy of the United Kingdom and British Commonwealth, the Royal Society is dedicated to promoting excellence in science. A fellowship of the Royal Society is one of the most prestigious honors a British scientist can achieve.
Obesity and Unintended Pregnancy
Manoa Assistant Professor Bliss Kaneshiro was awarded first prize for her paper “Relationship Between Body Mass Index and Sexual Behavior” by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.Kaneshiro's objective was to study the impact of body mass index on sexual behavior. It is important to understand this relationship because preexisting physician biases can affect how heavy women are counseled about pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease prevention. Kaneshiro studied the relationship between BMI and sexual behavior, including sexual orientation, age at first intercourse, number of partners and frequency of intercourse.
Some studies have suggested that obese and overweight women have a higher risk of unintended pregnancy than do normal weight women, according to Kaneshiro. Although multiple factors, including contraceptive use and its efficacy, may increase the risk of unintended pregnancy among these women, sexual behavior and the frequency of intercourse could also be a factor.
"The obesity epidemic in the US has resulted in serious health consequences for many individuals and for the health care system as a whole," says Kaneshiro. "Physicians of all specialties must factor body weight into their clinical decision-making process on a daily basis."
Scientist of the Year
The Achievement Rewards for College Scientists’ Honolulu chapter named Manoa Horticulturist Adelheid Kuehnle its 2008 Scientist of the Year. The award recognizes Kuehnle’s work with graduate students and her research in applied breeding to develop improved and novel cut flower and blooming potted plant varieties for general and niche markets.She also explores molecular genetic approaches to disease resistance and novelty in floriculture crops, including dendrobium orchid and anthuriums. Her study of the genetic diversity and inheritance in orchids and anthuriums includes use of laser flow cytometry.
Kuehnle is the co-author with Manoa Emeritus Professor Haruyuki Kamemoto on books about dendrobium and anthurium breeding and lead author on several book chapters and numerous articles in both scientific and trade journals. She was recently recognized by Pacific Business News as a finalist for Businesswoman of the Year.
From top left, Lorna Arita-Tsutsumi, Lynette Egusa, Neal Nagao and Cheryl Ramos.
Outstanding Faculty and Staff
Hilo celebrated 60 years of service to the community and recognized faculty, staff and student workers for outstanding performance.Lorna Arita-Tsutsumi, a professor of entomology, received the Distinguished Service Award for Improving Student Life.
Lynette N. Egusa, a counselor in the financial aid office, received the Pulama ‘Ike Award.
Neal Nagao, building maintenance supervisor, received the Excellence in Building and Grounds Maintenance Award.
Cheryl M. Ramos, an assistant professor of psychology, received the Taniguchi Award for Excellence and Innovation.
Sea Grant Books Honored
Two Manoa Sea Grant College Program publications were honored at the Ka Palapala Po'okela book awards. Reef and Shore Fishes of the Hawaiian Islands by John E. Randall won the Award of Excellence in Natural Science. Hawaiian Reef Plants by Manoa’s John M. Huisman, Isabella A. Abbot and Celia M. Smith received honorable mention.Regarded as his finest publication to date, Reef and Shore Fishes of the Hawaiian Islands is Randall’s 560-page volume that illustrates and describes 612 species of fish found in the Hawaiian archipelago.
Hawaiian Reef Plants is an easy-to-use yet comprehensive guide on nearly all species of marine plants present in Hawai'i accompanied by stunning photographs and illustrations.
The Ka Palapala Po'okela book awards were presented by the Hawai'i Book Publishers Association to honor the best in Hawai'i book publishing and also to honor the authors of these titles.
Project Learning
Manoa Professor Violet Harada and alumni Carolyn Kirio and Sandra Yamamoto published Collaboration for Project-Based Learning in Grades 9–12.This text includes how to directions for project-based learning for high school students and finds scientifically-based research incorporated into actual practice. An active collaboration of theory and in practice brings authentic examples of the school media specialist’s leadership role in school improvement.
In addition, this text provides a variety of rubrics and plans for students and teachers.
Collaboration for Project-Based Learning in Grades 9–12 is available from the publisher’s website.
Anniversary List
Buddhist Cultures Workshop
Manoa’s Outreach College presents the workshop Buddhist Cultures of the Himalayas June 2–18 at POST 127. This course explores the rich cultural diversity of the Himalayan region though the prisms of history and cultural geography. Participants can discover the unique cultures of the Himalayas through the unifying theme of Vajrayana, or Diamond Path, Buddhism, which came to dominate the religious life and art of the region.Topics include topography of cultures and basic historical chronology, the dissemination and persecution of Buddhism, the second great Buddhist period of the 10th–11th centuries, as well as the different regions in the Himalayas. (808) 956-8400
More Events
June 3—Jacob Park speaks on Corporate Environment and Social Responsibility–Is There an Asian Style, Manoa, Shidler C-101, 4:15 p.m., (808) 956-8041
June 4—Manoa student Ruey Hwu presents Effects of Two-phase Flow Regimes in Serpentine Flow Channels on PEM Fuel Cell Performance, Manoa, HITS2 broadcast in Kuykendall 201, 2 p.m. Also remotely at Leeward, Hilo and the Maui Research and Technology Center, email for details.
June 4—Manoa Associate Astronomer Paul Coleman speaks on Traditional and Modern Astronomy in Hawai‘i, Manoa, Krauss 012, Yukiyoshi Room, 7 p.m., (808) 956-8246
For more events, check the UH calendar.
Announcement
Free Homeowner’s Handbook Now Available
May 18 marked the beginning of hurricane awareness week in Hawai'i and this is the time to gather information on protecting your family and property from a hurricane before such a storm strikes our shores. This is also the time to take those critical, potentially life-saving steps toward safeguarding your home in the event of a devastating storm.The Homeowner’s Handbook to Prepare for Natural Hazards, published by the University of Hawai'i Sea Grant College Program, provides detailed information on how to prepare your home for a hurricane and other natural hazards including earthquakes, tsunamis, and floods. The handbook outlines small and cost-effective steps that can significantly reduce the risks of damage and loss due to a natural hazard.
Due to an overwhelming response from the public, all printed copies from the initial printing were distributed within a very short time. Thanks to generous support from the State Civil Defense Agency, funding was made available to re-print this free publication.
The popularity and pertinence of the handbook has prompted local Wal-Mart stores to make copies available to customers.
Free printed copies of the handbook are available for pick-up at Manoa's Sea Grant College Program. A $5 shipping and handling fee will apply to mailed orders. The handbook is also available for free online at the Sea Grant College Program website.