Two University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa graduate students received the 2025–26 Ping Yip and Jong Hung Chan Award, recognizing their commitment to community, integrity and creating greater harmony through their work and actions.
The award, coordinated by the UH Mānoa Graduate Division, recognizes graduate students who exemplify moral character, strength and integrity through personal or public behavior. With a strong pool of applicants, two recipients were selected: Alondra Reyes and Ernest Bethe IV. Each received a $2,500 award.
Social contexts, racial disparities
Reyes, a psychology PhD student, was selected during her first semester at UH Mānoa. Her research examines how social contexts contribute to racial disparities, including the ways media portrayals can reinforce social inequalities. She also works with community leaders through Mālama I Nā Ahupuaʻa, learning about traditional land preservation and restoration.
“Receiving this award has strengthened my mission as a first-generation PhD student to bridge research with community action, providing the support I need to continue grounding my work in the pursuit of true harmony for the people of Hawaʻi and beyond,” Reyes said.
Urban environments, reconnecting people with nature
Bethe graduated from the master of urban and regional planning program in August. His work focused on creating urban environments that reconnect people with nature and each other, including through pollinator-friendly design, informal green spaces and food forests. His capstone explored how Honolulu could become a more multispecies city, where people have more opportunities to encounter and coexist with urban wildlife.
He also worked with the Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice to help develop safe walking routes to school in Waipahu. Bethe said the award reminded him that people often discover their capacity to act when others need help.
“I think everyone has this in them. We beat ourselves up for the things we don’t do, but I’d bet most of us do the right thing in a crisis,” Bethe said.
The Ping Yip and Jong Hung Chan Award is open to any currently enrolled, full-time graduate student at UH Mānoa, regardless of field of study. Students may self-nominate through the STAR Scholarship portal. The deadline to apply for the 2026–27 award is October 15.
The Department of Psychology and Department of Urban and Regional Planning are housed in UH Mānoa’s College of Social Sciences.
