University of Hawai'i University Relations Media & Publications Honolulu, HI 96822	(808) 956-8856 Telephone (808) 956-3441 Facsimile ur@hawaii.edu E-Mail
For Immediate Release:	December 2, 1998
Contact: Donnë Florence, PIO, 956-7522 Charles F. Hayes, Acting Dean, Natural Sciences, 956-6451

UH alumnus starts imaginative new grant program to spark student innovation and entrepreneurship at UH Manoa One-year grants of at least $5,000 each will help UH Manoa students develop their own technology projects that have commercial potential. Grants from the new Aspect Technology Fund will be made to students whose projects have the potential to develop into marketable products that could promote economic growth and help the high-technology industry in Hawai'i. Up to three grants will be awarded in the program's first year. The Aspect Technology Fund was established for the benefit of students at UH Manoa through the Hawai'i Community Foundation. The fund was created by UH alumnus Richard Chan and Jim Laurel, founders of Aspect Software Engineering, Inc., and their partners after the company was acquired by Microsoft Corporation. Any full-time UH Manoa undergraduate or graduate student may apply for one of the new grants by February 1, 1999. Each applicant must identify a faculty member who has agreed to serve as project adviser. Applications must include a project description (1,000 words maximum), one-page budget, 700-word essay on the spirit of entrepreneurship, UH transcript and letter of recommendation from the faculty adviser, plus a cover sheet. Cover sheets and detailed instructions are available from the Office of Community and Alumni Relations, Colleges of Arts and Sciences, UH Manoa, 956-4051. Applications for the award will be reviewed during February; finalists will be interviewed around March 1 and winners announced March 15. The project year covered by each grant will begin approximately April 1. Charles F. Hayes, acting dean of the College of Natural Sciences, stresses that any student with a potentially marketable idea can apply for the award. "Don't let the word 'Technology' fool you," he says. "You don't have to be an engineering major to come up with an innovative way of putting technology to work." What the selection committee will be looking for, Hayes stresses, are students with innovative ideas and the potential to create technology projects that could develop into marketable products. The goal is to stimulate products that can promote economic growth, especially in high-tech industries, in Hawai'i.

-UH-