| Fabulous Faculty
Manifest our 90th anniversary
1907-1997
|
Born in 1907 with a faculty of 13, the University of
Hawai'i has grown into a world-class research university. Along the way,
we recruited Nobel  laureate Georg von Békésy from Harvard
and became the first institution with back-to-back winners of the coveted
International Prize in Biology-reproductive biologist Ryuzo
Yanagimachi for developing techniques that made in vitro fertilization
possible and cellular biologist Ian Gibbons for explaining how cellular
motors work. Here is a sampling of highly acclaimed academics now on our
faculty. |
| UH faculty members garner international
honors...
The King of Sweden presented his country's International Inventors Award
to James Brewbaker for horticulture advances implemented throughout
the tropics. Anthropologist and Polynesian voyaging specialist Ben Finney
has received medals from Russia's Tsiolkovsky Space Museum, Britain's Royal
Institute of Navigation and the French University of the Pacific. Physicist
Klaus Sattler has received awards from Germany's Physical Society
and National Science Foundation. Singapore awarded the Public Service Star
to Stephen Yeh, who consults on housing and urban development policy. |
| ...and receive national awards...
Chrysler Corporation named Leeward Community College Associate Professor
Eric Pang top service technician for  North America. Windward
Community College aerospace lab founder Joseph Ciotti was named
National Aerospace Educator of the Year. Hilo mushroom and mollusk expert
Don Hemmes received Mycological Society of America, Smithsonian
Institution and Conchologist of America awards. Marshall Johnson's
contributions to integrated pest management were recognized by the Entomological
Society of America. Chemist Robert Liu received National Science
Foundation Creativity and National Institute of Health MERIT Awards. |
| ...for their ground breaking work.
Emeritus Professor Paul Scheuer is the acknowledged pioneer in
identifying potential medicinal substances from marine sources. Oceanographer
David Karl was among the first to discover unusual new microbes
living at deep-sea hot springs. Electrical engineer Shu Lin developed
coding techniques used in the Pioneer 9 solar orbit space mission. Journal
of World History editor Jerry Bentley helped establish world history
as a new field. Hilo geographer Thomas Paradise has expanded understanding
of sandstone weathering in the Middle East. John Mahoney is helping
explain the origin and nature of the suboceanic mantle. Emeritus Professor
Haruyuki Kamemoto was inducted into the Floriculture Hall of Fame
for developing the two dozen varieties that form the backbone of the orchid
industry in Hawai'i and Asia. |
| Our faculty members write textbooks...
 Cynthia Ning's three-volume set of first-year materials for
teaching Mandarin is used in more than a hundred schools and universities
in the United States, Europe and Asia. The first textbook on the subject
of animal cognition was Herbert Roitblat's Introduction to Comparative
Cognition. Sociologist Hagen Koo's State and Society in Contemporary
Korea is widely used in college courses on East Asia. James Gaines
developed the study guide that accompanies a major textbook on introductory
physics.
|
| ...and publish influential research
papers...
Emeritus Plant Physiologist Ernest Akamine's 1951 paper on tropical
seed storage is still a standard reference. Emeritus Professor Klaus
Wyrtki's 1975 paper on the El Niño atmosphere phenomenon is
the most widely cited paper ever published in the Journal of Physical Oceanography.
An article by astronomer Antoinette Songaila-Cowie was the fourth
most cited space paper published during 1994. |
| They are active in academic organizations,
East-West Philosophers' Conference former director Eliot Deutsch
presided over the Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy. Nina
Etkin is president of the International Society for Ethnopharmacology
and editor in chief of Reviews in Anthropology. Jaw-Kai Wang, founder
and past president of the Aquaculture Engineering Society, is a consultant
to the U.S. Department of State, Rockefeller Foundation and World Bank.
Anthropologist Leslie Sponsel chairs the American Anthropological
Association's Commission for Human Rights. |
| ...on important professional
publications...
Roger Ames is executive editor of China Review International.
Robert Blanchard edited the Academic Press series Advances in the
Study of Aggression. Anthony Marsella is senior editor of two encyclopedias
of psychology. Randall Roth is editor in chief of Encyclopedia of
Financial and Estate Planning. Robert Kiste founded Contemporary
Pacific: A Journal of Island Affairs. Among those serving on editorial
boards are Tom Brislin, Journal of Mass Media Ethics; Michael
Shapiro, Public Culture, Body and Society and Theory & Event; Charles
Weems, Prostaglandins and three other journals; and Chung Lee, several
journals and a Stanford UniversityEast-West Center series on contemporary
issues in Asia and the Pacific. |
| ...and in leadership roles.
The Joint Oceanographic Institutions named Brian Taylor one of
four distinguished lecturers for 199394. Rodey Batiza was a
charter member of the RIDGE Steering Committee overseeing mid-ocean ridge
research explorations. David Callies participated in Sum and Substance,
taped lectures by law professors considered the best in their fields. |
| They manage national data banks,
Entomologist Lee Goff manages the National Chigger Collection.
Urban planner Karl Kim maintains the national vehicle crash data
base. Engineer David Yun compiles and analyzes all U.S. research
on electric vehicles. |
| ...influence public policy...
Former minister of petroleum and natural resources for Pakistan M.
Asad Khan chairs that country's international advisers. Mark Ridgley
has been a consultant to the World Bank, European governments and private
industry on environmental policy and resource management. Planner Kem
Lowry Jr. has worked on coastal management projects in Asia, the Philippines
and Hawai'i. Andrew Mason's synthesis of population and economics
has influenced thinking about long-term trends in economic growth and wealth.
Michael Douglass writes extensively on globalization and urbanization
of the Pacific Rim. |
| ...and establish international ties.
Yasumasa Kuroda organized international conferences attended
by top political leaders from three continents. International communications
expert Majid Tehranian co-directed institutes in Tehran, London
and Tokyo. Futurist James Dator directs the Space and Society Department
of the International Space University,  which is headquartered in France.
Food technologist James Moy has helped establish food irradiation
procedures in Latin America and Asia. Among the most traveled visiting
professors from UH are Philippine politics expert Belinda Aquino
(Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand) and physicist
Sandip Pakvasa (Japan, Australia, India and the U.S. Mainland). |
| UH faculty make discoveries,
Civil engineer H. Ronald Riggs receives continual attention for
his work in hydroelasticity, structural dynamics and analysis of offshore
structures. Harry Yamamoto is cloning the gene for a photosynthesis-regulating
enzyme that he discovered and purified. Plant pathologist Wen-Hsiung
Ko generated important basic knowledge about soil microbiology and
fungal physiology. |
| ...create knowledge...
Still a young investigator, David Bercovici has already
received accolades for describing the dynamics of the Earth's mantle and
lithosphere. Meteorite expert Edward Scott heads a continuing effort
to explain the origins of carbonates found in a Martian meteorite. Geophysicist
Michael Bevis has developed a technique for using geodetic global
positioning system (GPS) to study the motion of the Earth's crust. Geographer
Nancy Davis Lewis is investigating the relationship between climate
change and disease in the Pacific Islands. |
| ...and invent new tools.
Margo Edwards' Hawai'i Mapping Research Group fabricates
sonar system mapping equipment for the Navy, private industry and researchers.
Engineer Junku Yuh develops underwater robotic technology for exploration
and commercial operations in the deep ocean. Chemist Garry Rechnitz
has received his second National Science Foundation Special Creativity
Award for developing biosensors, highly sensitive measuring devices that
incorporate electronics with living cells. |
| They shape the way things look...
Works by artist Kenneth Bushnell are in permanent collections
in several museums and the Library of Congress. Shows mounted by art gallery
director Thomas Klobe have received exhibition design awards. Spencer
Leineweber is the only architect from Hawai'i to win the National Award
of the American Institute of Architects (for the Hawai'i Plantation Village). |
| ...and improve how things are done.
Aurora Hodgson received awards from Hawai'i, the Philippines
and the United Nations for contributing to safety in food processing and
export. The dairy industries of Thailand and the Philippines expanded thanks
to research on heat stress in cattle done by Emeritus Veterinarian Robert
Nakamura. Professor Emeritus Mildred Sikkema helped improve social
work schools in Asia and the Philippines. Libby Ruch's research
shed light on social and psychological trauma from treatment related to
sex assault. |
| They educate as scholars,
John Stephan's six books on Russo-Japanese relations have been
translated into Russian or Japanese. The latest of eight tomes by Michael
Speidel describes the Roman cavalry. Kathy Ferguson has authored
five books, the most recent a study of the military in Hawai'i from a feminist
perspective. Other respected authors include Alvin So (economic
and democratic issues in Asia), Robert Locke (com parison of management
models in the U.S., Germany and Japan), Isabella Abbott (marine
algae of California and traditional Hawaiian plant uses) and E. Alison
Kay (marine mollusks and shells). |
| ...expert media sources...
News agencies across the nation seek comment from Meda Chesney-Lind,
on women and crime, gangs and youth delinquency; Asia expert Dru Gladney,
ethnic minorities in China; psychologist Elaine Hatfield, psychology
of love and emotions; poet and Hawaiian scholar Haunani-Kay Trask,
indigenous people's rights and sovereignty; and psychologist Louis Herman,
dolphin cognitive behavior. |
| ...and artists.
Playwright Vilsoni Hereniko has gained exposure for
Pacific literature in print, on stage and on film. Terence Knapp's
production, Damien, was carried to audiences worldwide. Judy Van Zile
penned Japanese Bon Dance in Hawai'i. |
| They seek justice...
Honored for his pro bono work challenging U.S. detention of Japanese
Americans during World War II, Eric Yamamoto is co-directing development
of law school curriculum on internment, reparations and civil rights. Brian
Murton is involved in Treaty of Waitangi claims research in New Zealand. |
| ...and promote understanding.
Mental health expert  Albert Robillard's experience with
disability launched scholarly work on living with paralysis and the
role of the body in social interaction. Karen Joe Laidler's studies
draw an accurate picture of crime, drug use and delinquency in the Asian
Pacific American community. Civil rights expert Judy Weightman's
award-winning documentary explores racism, heroism, prejudice and loyalty
from the view of Hawai'i's Japanese-American soldiers and Holocaust survivors. |