May 23, 2005

Regents Approve Tuition Proposal

The Board of Regents approved a six-year tuition schedule that will begin fall 2006. The initiative takes Manoa tuition to the projected national averages of like institutions by 2011–2012, and tuition for the other nine campuses to projected Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education averages. Revenues from the tuition increase will be applied to priority areas at each campus. One-fifth of the tuition increase will be earmarked for financial aid for needy and gap-group students. In response to earlier testimony the original five-year proposal was revised to spread out the increases over a longer period.

For more information read the press release. For specific tuition figures go to the tuition website.

Manoa Physicists Discover New Sub-Atomic Particle

Stephen Olsen

Manoa physicists are part of an international research team that discovered a new sub-atomic particle called Y(3940). The observation is the result of analysis of data by professors Stephen Olsen, UH Manoa, and Sookyung Choi, Gyeongsang University in Korea. All that is known about the sub-atomic particle hints at the possibility that it may be an example of a so-called “hybrid meson,” a particle that is assumed to be comprised of a quark, an antiquark and a gluon. The findings will be published in this month’s issue of Physical Review Letters.

“The existence of hybrid quark-antiquark-gluon particles was first predicted theoretically in 1978,” says Olsen. “However, in spite of 25 years of searching for one, none have been seen, until, maybe now.”

Other Manoa participants include faculty members Tom Browder, Mike Jones, Mike Peters and Gary Varner; postdoctoral researchers Marlon Barbero and Karim Trabelsi and graduate students Eric Dodson, Hulya Guler, Himansu Sahoo and Kirika Uchida.

Read more about it.

Keck Gives $1.5 Million for New Cosmochemistry Lab

UH Foundation received a $1.5 million grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation to support the creation of a new cosmochemistry laboratory at Manoa’s Hawai‘i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology. The laboratory will be amongst the most advanced of its kind in the world, enabling university scientists to work on problems such as the formation and evolution of stars, planets and the solar system.

Cosmochemistry focuses on laboratory analyses of meteorites, lunar samples, interplanetary dust particles and interstellar grains, as well as experimental simulations of planetary, nebular and circumstellar processes. A great deal of what is known about the origin and evolution of extraterrestrial bodies is due to these efforts. The university’s cosmochemistry program has direct connections with current and planned spacecraft missions that will return samples, such as Genesis, Stardust and Mars sample return missions.

Read more about it.

May Board Meeting

At its meeting held on May 20, the Board of Regents
• conferred the Regents Medal of Distinction to Manoa Professor Eliot Deutsch
• established two endowed chair positions at the John A. Burns School of Medicine—the American Lung Association of Hawai‘i and Leahi Fund Chair in Respiratory Health and the American Lung Association of Hawai‘i Endowed Chair in Neonatal Respiratory Health
• approved the appointment of Leeward Vice Chancellor Peter Quigley as interim chancellor for the campus when Chancellor Mark Silliman goes on professional improvement leave

Read the press release.

442nd Chaplain’s Papers Added to Hamilton Library Collection

Hamilton Library acquired letters and other documents of Hiro Higuchi, an Manoa alumnus who served as chaplain of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. As a chaplain, Higuchi did not engage in battle, but his duties enabled him to experience firsthand the nature of war and write about it

A finding aid with more detailed information on the collection is available online. For additional information, read the press release.

UH Newslinks

Find out about the latest UH stories in the media.

Regents approve tuition increase
(Honolulu Star-Bulletin photo)