News@UH
Masaki and Momoe Kunimoto Memorial Award
Honolulu Apprenticeship Coordinator James Niino was named the winner of the Masaki and Momoe Kunimoto Memorial Award for Outstanding Contributions to Vocational Education. The award recognizes outstanding achievement and significant contribution to vocational and technical education by a community college faculty member or student.As the coordinator, Niino has managed the largest apprenticeship program in the state with more than 3,500 students. His influence has been widespread, as he has been the consummate diplomat and liaison with other apprenticeship coordinators and instructors and union officials.
Niino was involved in planning Honolulu’s Construction Initiative, which provided funds for the development of a Construction Academy taught to high school students by community college instructors. In addition, he has sat on a dozen hiring committees as the Construction Academy expanded its staff, never hesitating to volunteer to serve the college’s needs.
Niino will be recognized along with other UH award recipients at the annual Convocation ceremony on Sept. 9, 10 a.m. at Manoa’s Kennedy Theatre.
A conceptual view of the role of sunlight in producing methylphosphonate through food-web processes (circle), bacterial decomposition (square), producing the greenhouse gas methane CH4. Image credit: C-MORE/SOEST.
Underwater Methane Pathways
Manoa researchers have uncovered a new pathway for methane production in the oceans, which has a significant potential impact for the study of greenhouse gas production on the planet. The article, released in Nature Geoscience, reveals that aerobic decomposition of an organic, phosphorus-containing compound, methylphosphonate, may be responsible for the supersaturation of methane in ocean surface waters.Professor David Karl was interested in this “methane enigma” and why the surface ocean was loaded with methane, over and above levels found in the atmosphere. When looking at the literature, Karl found a possible solution to the enigma, in the compound methylphosphonates, a very unusual organic compound only discovered in the 1960s. In the laboratory, the aerobic growth of certain bacteria on methylphosphonate can lead to the production of methane, but until now this process of methylphosphonate degradation in the ocean had not been suggested as a possible pathway for the aerobic production of methane in the sea.
“This is a newly recognized pathway of methane formation that needs to be incorporated into our thinking of global climate,” says Karl. “Since our oceans cover three fourths of the planet, you just need to stimulate this pathway a little bit and you’re going to create more methane. And one way you can tweak it is to stratify the oceans, which we know will happen. All of the climate models show that the ocean will become more nutrient limited over time.”
The other Manoa contributors to the article are Graduate Assistant Lucas Beversdorf, Research Specialist Karin M. Bjorkman and Assistant Professor Matthew J. Church.
Lifetime Achievement Award
Manoa Professor Beverly Ann Deepe Keever received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Professional Journalists, Hawai‘i Chapter on July 11.Keever, who retires in July after 29 years of teaching journalism students, spent seven years as a correspondent during the Vietnam War for Newsweek, the New York Herald Tribune, the Christian Science Monitor and the London Daily and Sunday Express.
In 2004, she published News Zero: The New York Times and The Bomb, an in-depth look at how The New York Times covered and covered up the dangers of nuclear testing. Keever co-edited U.S. News Coverage of Racial Minorities: A Sourcebook, 1934-1996 and has written numerous other articles for academic and professional publications.
Healthcare Degree Distance Learning
West O'ahu’s new healthcare administration degree will be offered via distance delivery as well as through in-classroom instruction beginning fall 2008. As the only undergraduate program of its kind in Hawai'i, the new degree addresses the increasing need for health care managers as stated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and demonstrates the university’s commitment to workforce development.The concentration will be available through West O'ahu’s distance learning option in partnership with university and education centers. Through these centers, the university offers bachelor’s degrees and certificate programs to neighbor island and O‘ahu residents via distance-delivered classes. Graduates will earn a bachelor of arts in public administration with a concentration in healthcare administration.
“Our program was developed specifically to address the workforce and career development needs for the state of Hawai'i,” says Associate Professor Kristina Guo. “With earmarked funds from the state legislature, we developed the distance education option to target students on the neighbor islands who would not otherwise have access to the degree and for O‘ahu residents who prefer the flexibility of online courses.”
Farrington High School's Melanie Takashima works on her underwater robot.
Underwater Robots
High school students enrolled in the Manoa GEAR UP Summer Academy built their own underwater remotely operated vehicles while at the same time learning critical partnership-building skills from undergraduate peer mentors from the Kapi'olani Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Program.The underwater robotic technology, termed Sea Perch, was developed by MIT Sea Grant and uses materials found at any local hardware store. The students attach plankton nets, underwater video cameras and/or other water quality monitoring devices to conduct scientific experiments in areas where scuba gear would normally be needed.
“The students feel a wonderful sense of accomplishment when the Sea Perch works,” says Kapi'olani STEM Program Coordinator Keolani Noa. “The materials are found in hardware stores and are easy to relate to, and they learn intricate electrical skills, but most importantly they learn how to listen to each other and work collaboratively. This is invaluable.”
“STEM subjects are often thought of as abstract and intimidating to students, but the robotic construction aspect of the program allows for a fun and engaging learning environment,” says Manoa GEAR UP Academic Support Specialist Erwin Legaspi.
Kudos
Jane Freeman Moulin, Manoa professor, was invited by London’s BBC to do an on-camera interview for an upcoming documentary, The 1930s in Color. The documentary includes early color footage from a 1937 voyage on the Stella Polaris.A paper co-authored by Assistant Biofuel Agronomist Richard Ogoshi, Assistant Specialist Brian Turano, Soil Scientist Goro Uehara and the State Energy Office of the Department of Education was one of 13 winners selected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the second Bio Energy Awareness Days Grand Challenge award. The paper was entitled “A Systems Approach for Transforming America's Agriculture and Economy from a Fossil to a Fiber-Based Energy Future.”
Hilo Academic Support Specialist Kanoe Wilson presented the workshop, “Kipuka: A Model of Empowering Student Success in Higher Education,” at the 9th Annual Native Hawaiian Education Association Convention held at Windward Community College.
In Memoriam
Terence A. Rogers, former dean of Manoa’s John A. Burns School of Medicine, passed away July 16 at the age of 83.Arriving in Hawai'i in 1964, Rogers was crucially involved in the establishment of the Pacific Biomedical Research Center, the precursor of JABSOM. His concerns for the under represented led to the beginnings of the Imi Ho'ola Program which saw the numbers of Hawaiian, Filipino, Micronesian and Samoan graduates increase.
In 1972 he astutely observed that there were less than 10 licensed Hawaiian physicians in the State of Hawai'i. As a direct result of his efforts, today, there are well more than 300 Native Hawaiians in medicine, the vast majority of them having graduated from JABSOM.
Chujiro and Keru Oda, circa 1897.
Hilo Scholarship
Russell Oda and his wife Aki established an endowed scholarship at Hilo to honor the memory of Russell’s grandmother, Keru Oda.Keru Oda immigrated to Hawai'i from Japan with her husband Chujiro, working in the Paukaa sugar cane fields to support their eight children. After her children were grown, she raised her grandson Russell until he was 16 years old. Through Russell, she finally learned to read and write Japanese katakana at the age of 63.
Today, the descendants of Keru and Chujiro Oda include accountants, engineers, contractors, teachers, doctors, nurses, realtors, attorneys, bankers and architects. Their success provides powerful testimony to the emphasis on education instilled in them by a wise woman who was herself unable to attend school.
“’You are grandma’s boy,’ she always told me,” says Oda. “So I tried hard not to do anything bad that would bring shame or disgrace to the family. I know she would be very happy knowing that she is being honored with a scholarship in her name.”
New Accounting Scholarship
The Association of Government Accountants of Hawai'i established and endowed scholarship fund to assist students pursuing an accounting or auditing career in public service and honor past and future AGA Hawai'i leaders and members.Founded in 1976, AGA Hawai'i Chapter has approximately 150 members comprised of professionals from federal, state and city agencies, international and local CPA firms, the University of Hawai'i, and various non-profit organizations. The chapter also has student members.
“For many years, AGA Hawai'i Chapter has supported the college’s School of Accountancy, and its accounting clubs and students,” says Dean V. Vance Roley. “We are grateful to the AGA Hawai'i Chapter Executive Committee, and in particular, Shidler alumni, AGA President Spencer Lum, AGA Director and Scholarship Chair Kay Miyamoto and AGA Treasurer Patrick Oki for making this scholarship possible. This scholarship will help attract top students to our College to ensure a quality work force for Hawai'i’s public accounting community.”
Cultural Tourism
Manoa Lecturer Heather A. Diamond published American Aloha: Cultural Tourism and the Negotiation of Tradition.Based on archival research and extensive interviews with festival organizers and participants, this innovative cross-disciplinary study uncovers the behind-the-scenes negotiations and processes that inform the national spectacle of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 1989.
Intersecting the fields of museum studies, folklore studies, Hawaiian studies, performance studies, cultural studies and American studies, American Aloha supplies a nuanced analysis of how the carefully crafted staging of Hawai'i’s cultural diversity was used to serve a national narrative of utopian multiculturalism—one that collapsed social inequities and tensions, masked colonial history, and subordinated indigenous politics—while empowering Hawai'i’s traditional artists and providing a model for cultural tourism that has had long-lasting effects.
Diamond deftly positions the 1989 program within a history of institutional intervention in the traditional arts of Hawai'i’s ethnic groups as well as in relation to local cultural revivals and the tourist industry. By tracing the planning, fieldwork, site design, performance and aftermath stages of the program, she examines the uneven processes through which local culture is transformed into national culture and raises questions about the stakes involved in cultural tourism for both culture bearers and culture brokers.
American Aloha: Cultural Tourism and the Negotiation of Tradition is available from the UH Press website.
Abled Artists Festival
Artists and performers with disabilities will showcase their talents at AHA Arts!, the Abled Hawai'i Artists' Festival, on the Big Island on Sat., July 26, 10 a.m.–4 p.m. at the Hawai'i Cafeteria, and on Sun., July 27, 10 a.m.–3 p.m. at Kapi'olani's lower parking area.The free annual festival brings together more than 400 participants for music, visual arts, hands-on demonstrations and other activities. It celebrates the arts and disability in our community and promotes inclusion as a welcoming place for all. Participating artists will provide demonstrations including mouth-stick painting, and there will be a juried artist exhibit. Ongoing entertainment throughout the day will include The What, an all-deaf rock 'n' roll band. (808) 956-9202
More Events
July 22—Giles Hunt speaks on Healthcare Management, Manoa, Shidler College of Business C-101, 4:15 p.m., (808) 956-8041
July 22—Aaron Hebshi speaks on Shearwaters in Hawai‘i, Black Point and Beyond, Manoa, St. John 011, 6:30 p.m., (808) 528-1432
July 23—Manoa's David Harrington will speak on Stellar Winds: Observing Stars from Haleakala, Maikalani building in Pukalani, 6:30 p.m., (808) 573-9500
July 23—Robert G. Peters speaks on Keiki First: The Foundation of Sustainable Hawai‘i, Manoa, Krauss 012, Yukiyoshi Room, 7 p.m., (808) 956-8246
July 24—Eddie Kamae performs at the Waikiki Aquarium, 7 p.m., (808) 440-9015
July 26—Okinawan Celebration Day with an exhibit, lecture, panel discussion and Eisa performance with RMD Hawai'i, Kapi'olani, all day (808) 734-9562
July 26—The Hanauma Bay Education Program presents Hawaiian Ocean Traditions, educational activities for the whole family, Hanauma Bay, 6 p.m., (808) 397-5840
For more events, check out the UH calendar.
Announcements
Lyon Arboretum Opens on Saturdays
The Lyon Arboretum in Manoa Valley will now be open for visitors on Saturday. 9 a.m.–3 p.m. For the past several years, the arboretum has been open to the public only during weekdays, limiting its accessibility to the community and to families who cannot visit during the week.The arboretum is a 193-acre tropical rainforest located in the head of the Manoa Valley and is open to the public. Its mission is to increase the appreciation of the unique flora of Hawai'i and the tropics, by conserving, curating and studying plants and their habitats; providing inclusive educational opportunities; encouraging use by the broader community; and supporting the educational, scientific and service activities of the University of Hawai'i.
The arboretum is at 3860 Manoa Road and is open Monday–Friday, 8 a.m.–4 p.m. and Saturday, 9 a.m.–3 p.m. (808) 988-0456