Daisy Green’s career has truly come full circle. Several years after graduating from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa with a degree in electrical engineering, the Waikōloa, Hawaiʻi Island local has returned to the College of Engineering as a new faculty member.
“I’m very grateful for this opportunity to return back home,” Green said. “Everyone here has been really nice and helped me get settled in and I’ve had the chance to talk with people about possible research collaborations.”
The 2012 Kealakehe High School graduate was a UH Mānoa regent scholar and graduated in three and a half years. While at UH Mānoa, Green cultivated her passion for being “green” and sustainable. She participated in an x96 project, working in the smart campus energy lab under the guidance of Professor Anthony Kuh.
After graduating from UH Mānoa, she was accepted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she earned a master’s and PhD degree in electrical engineering and computer science, and worked as a postdoctoral associate. Green’s research focused on creating more energy efficient systems and better thermal control in buildings. She hopes her experiences and research interests in sustainability will help to create a clean energy future in Hawaiʻi.
“I want to do research that helps establish a more sustainable electric grid,” Green said. “While we’re transitioning to more clean energy, there’s going to be more monitoring and control that’s required to ensure the stability and resilience of the grid.”
“Daisy has so much to offer the University as well as the State of Hawaiʻi,” said UH Mānoa College of Engineering Dean Brennon Morioka. “Not only is her expertise something that will help the State in achieving one of its very ambitious goals, being that of clean energy, but she will be also able to serve as a role model for many of our local students to help them envision what students in Hawaiʻi can achieve while also encouraging them to consider careers right here at home.”
Serving up aces, on and off the court
During her time as a UH Mānoa student, Green was also a member of the Rainbow Wahine tennis team, competing for three seasons from 2012–15. She said juggling both academics and athletics helped to refine her time-management skills and hopes to support her students, not just in academics and research, but also about life.
“I definitely hope to be able to mentor students and help students find what path they want to take—especially in electrical engineering or other engineering fields,” Green said. “I want to give back to the many communities here which have also helped me along the way.”
Family support
Green is grateful for the support from her parents, Stephen and Yuko. Stephen, who is a UH mechanical engineering alumnus, annually contributes to UH to support students, and in 2018, he wrote a letter to President David Lassner expressing their appreciation of Daisy’s UH Regents scholarship, which—along with the UH Presidential scholarship—supports Hawaiʻi students with a record of outstanding academic achievement.
A father thanks UH for daughter’s continued success, January 16, 2018
“My parents are great,” Green said. “They’re very supportive of anything that I wanted to pursue—both in terms of school and tennis. Since my dad graduated with a mechanical engineering degree from UH, it’s definitely a full circle moment. They’re very happy that I’m back here.”
While she may be one of the newest additions to the engineering faculty roster, Green’s experiences and accomplishments prove that she really is a seasoned professional and not “green.”
—By Marc Arakaki
