Regents Appoint McClain President

David McClain

At a special meeting held on March 7 at Honolulu CC, the Board of Regents appointed Interim President David McClain to the permanent position of president. McClain’s appointment extends to July 31, 2009.

For more information, read the press release or download McClain’s statement.

Rapa Nui Colonization Occurred Later Than Assumed

Terry Hunt on Rapa Nui. Photo by Jennifer Crites

Archaeological analysis conducted by Manoa Professor Terry Hunt suggests that the colonization of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) took place not between 400 and 800 A.D. as previously assumed but closer to 1200 A.D. The finding, which challenges current beliefs about the island’s prehistoric chronology and the dramatic environmental changes that occurred there, is scheduled for publication in Science.

Hunt and a team of field researchers have been excavating archaeological deposits at Anakena, the settlement site of the island’s first inhabitants. Hunt was skeptical when he first got radiocarbon dating results for the samples collected. “It didn’t fit with what everyone believed about the island’s chronology.”

When all the evidence was considered, researchers found no data to support the current assumption that settlement of the island occurred earlier than about 1200 A.D. These results compare favorably to dates applied to human impact on the island’s environment.

Read the press release or a Jan. 2005 Malamalama article.

Arsenic-Free Drinking Water Discovery

black granules in the palm of a hand MicroNose™ granules average 1 millimeter in size, and are easy to handle and are environmentally friendly.

Liangjie Dong, a doctoral student at Manoa, developed an economical and efficient technology that could potentially solve arsenic poisoning problems in drinking water. MicroNose™, showed initial results that removed 99.9 percent of arsenic from drinking water.

Arsenic, a highly poisonous metallic element that is found in rocks, soils and waters, affects more than 100 million people worldwide. In the U.S. 13 million people in more than 20 states are affected by arsenic contaminated drinking water. Medical problems linked to arsenic ingestion include skin cancer and bladder cancer.

Dong discovered a simple mixture of clay, iron and other common ingredients, when properly combined, produce absorbent and permeable pottery granules. “Each MicroNose™ granule contains thousands of tiny holes and acts like a filter, just as our nose can trap large unwanted particles like dirt or pollen,” explaines Dong. “The granules are also capable of capturing arsenic and other heavy metals from drinking water.”

Read the press release.

Upper Mantle Shows Stretch Marks

Scientists found ancient material distributed in 40 km (approximately 24 miles) thick streaks in the mantle beneath the Indian Ocean. The study, published in the March 9 issue of Nature, used isotopes in sea floor volcanic rocks collected along the mid-ocean ridge to determine the size and number of streaks in the Indian Ocean upper mantle. Manoa Associate Professor Ken Rubin co-authored the paper.

The mantle is the rocky outer portion of the Earth extending from the base of the crust down to the top of its core some 2700 km (approximately 1,670 miles) below. It behaves like a fluid on geological time scales, slowly stirring Earth’s interior as rock slabs of Earth’s surface sink downward. Rising plumes beneath hotspots add to the motion, which helps to stir the remnants of subducting plates into the mantle, where they are stretched and thinned by the motions; some of this material is then brought back to near the mantle’s upper surface.

“Mid-ocean ridge volcanism draws magmas from the upper mantle, and such lavas carry information about the mantle below,” says Rubin.

$4 Million GEAR UP Scholarship Established

UH and GEAR UP Hawai‘i established a $4 million scholarship fund through the Hawai‘i Community Foundation that will provide scholarships for 7,500 GEAR UP scholars. This year, more than 350 GEAR UP scholars in the high school class of 2006 have applied for the scholarship through HCF.

Students enter the GEAR UP program at the end of 8th grade by signing a form with their parent pledging to prepare for postsecondary education and meeting minimum academic and behavioral requirements. Throughout high school, scholars receive college preparation support and resources from GEAR UP Hawai‘i and student college prep clubs.