Research Enterprise Program Receives $23 Million

Posted on | September 25, 2009 | 1 Comment

The National Science Foundation awarded the university two grants totaling $23 million to help stimulate the research enterprise in Hawaiʻi and create more educational opportunities for students throughout the state. The awards were made through the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, a NSF program created to strengthen research and education in science and engineering throughout the United States.

The first grant is a 5-year, $20 million Research Infrastructure Improvement cooperative agreement with UH. The Hawaiʻi RII award is centered on understanding the effects of invasive species, human activities and climate change on the biodiversity and ecosystems of the Hawaiian Islands. A primary objective of the program is to develop a collaborative research network to address the environmental changes occurring throughout the Hawaiian archipelago as a result of these impacts. A second component involves studies that contribute to an understanding of tropical ecosystems world-wide based on local research results.

The second grant is a $3 million, 3-year grant supporting a collaborative research project between the University of Hawaiʻi and the University of Alaska that will develop the capability of a Pacific Area Climate Monitoring and Analysis Network to yield a more reliable understanding of the impacts of climate change on fresh water resources.

“We are grateful to have been very successful in securing these grants,” says President M.R.C. Greenwood. “Significant resources have been dedicated to broadening the diversity of the state’s science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) workforce. The overriding goal is to expand Hawaiʻi’s competitiveness in new areas of science and technology research and education and drive innovation at a time when our state desperately needs to broaden its economic foundation.”

Read the news release.

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