Comets Hold Key to Earth's Water

Three known main-belt comets. Images taken by H. Hsieh and D. Jewitt.

Three icy comets orbiting in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter may hold clues to the origin of Earth's oceans. The newly discovered group of comets, dubbed "main-belt comets” by graduate student Henry Hsieh and Professor David Jewitt, supports the idea that icy objects from the main asteroid belt could be a major source of Earth's present-day water. This work appeared in the March 23 edition of Science Express and April’s print edition of Science.

Earth is believed to have formed hot and dry, meaning that its current water content must have been delivered after the planet cooled. Possible candidates for supplying this water are colliding comets and asteroids, but until now, any ice that the asteroids may have once contained was thought to be gone or too deeply buried. This discovery means that this ice is not gone and still accessible. Spacecraft missions could provide new information on their ice content and in turn insight into the origin of Earth’s water.

Miyashiro Honored for Service

Sharon Miyashiro

Sharon Miyashiro, a specialist in the urban and regional planning department at Manoa, was recognized with the Robert W. Clopton Award for Distinguished Community Service. Since being appointed faculty specialist in 2001, she has undertaken a variety of public issues that have resulted in positive changes for the community. Miyashiro’s projects include organizing policies for the Hawai‘i Energy Policy Forum, coordinating a partnership between the community and university to develop a sustainability plan and facilitating concerns about custody and divorce cases in family court.

Manoa Named Best Value

Manoa is one of the nation’s best value undergraduate institutions according to The Princeton Review. The New York-based education services company chose Manoa as one of 150 colleges it recommends in the new 2007 edition of its book, America’s Best Value Colleges. The guide profiles public and private colleges in 40 states, naming those with excellent academics, generous financial aid packages and relatively low costs.

For more information read the press release or go to Princeton Review’s website.

Kapi‘olani Honor Society Awarded

Kapi‘olani’s Honor society, Phi Theta Kappa chapter Alpha Kappa Psi, was honored with five awards at the 2006 Regional Convention.

• Five-star Chapter Award
• Regional Horizon Award—Instructor Candy Branson, advisor to Alpha Kappa Psi
• Distinguished Chapter Officer—Christine Tooher, vice president of leadership
• Distinguished Chapter Member—Terrence Mar, Alpha Kappa Psi member
• Art Award—Nani Giltner, vice president of scholarship

Chinese Exchange Established

BFSU President Hao Ping, left, and Manoa Vice President of Academic Affairs Neal Smatresk.

Manoa administrators and President Hao Ping of Beijing Foreign Studies University signed a memorandum of understanding to establish exchange programs for faculty and students. The agreement is expected to eventually lead to establishment of a Confucius Institute at the Manoa campus to support the education of Chinese language teachers.

BFSU is regarded as one of China’s most prestigious schools for the study of languages. The school regularly offers instruction in more than 30 languages, and most of the country’s diplomats and foreign relations officials are graduates of this “Chinese Georgetown.”

Hilo Replenishes Manoa’s Collection

Hilo’s Mo‘okini Library, a participant in the Federal Depository Library Program, has transferred the majority of its federal government publications to Manoa’s Hamilton Library Government Documents Collection. The documents will replenish about 15 percent of the collection’s 95 percent loss that resulted from the Oct. 30, 2004 flood. Mo‘okini Library will continue to maintain a current collection of federal government publications.