The University of �鶹��ý System has received more than $427 million from the (NSF) over a 10-year period from fiscal year 2012 through 2021 for cutting-edge research in a variety of fields. On August 30, NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan visited UH ����ԴDz� to learn more about the world-class research conducted by faculty, students and staff.

Panchanathan is a computer scientist and engineer, and the 15th director of NSF, a $8.8 billion independent federal agency and the only government agency charged with advancing all fields of scientific discovery, technological innovation and STEM education.

“The National Science Foundation essentially is responsible for unleashing great ideas and talent all across our nation, and in the state of �鶹��ý, there is tremendous talent and ideas,” said Panchanathan. “There is also amazing context. If you look at the domain of sustainability, or if you want to understand climate and oceanography, and understanding astronomy, here is a place that is a living laboratory. …The University of �鶹��ý and other institutions in the islands are doing a fantastic job.”

In FY 2021, UH was receiving the most funding from NSF, ranking higher than Harvard University and Duke University.

“We are grateful that the National Science Foundation awards an average of more than $42 million annually to UH research projects over the past 10 years. This is a testament to the high quality of research being conducted throughout the UH System by our world-class faculty, students and staff,” said Vassilis L. Syrmos, UH vice president for research and innovation.

UH hosted Panchanathan’s visit at C-MORE Hale on the ����ԴDz� campus. Several faculty members presented their NSF-funded research:

• —Professor David Karl, UH ����ԴDz� School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST)
• —Professor Angelicque White, SOEST
• (EPSCoR)/—�鶹��ý EPSCoR Director Gwen Jacobs and Professor Jason Leigh, director of the UH ����ԴDz�
• NSF CAREER: Soil Pedogenesis, Agroecology, and Their Interactions—Assistant Professor Noa Lincoln, UH ����ԴDz� Indigenous Crops and Cropping Systems
• Ola I Ka ʻAina: Reviving Ecosystems Utilizing Science, Math and Indigenous Knowledge—Associate Professor Esther Widiasih, UH West Oʻahu
• Hoʻomalu Haleleʻa: Community-led Innovation for Integrated Flood Resilience—Associate Professor Mehana Vaughan, UH ����ԴDz�

—By Marc Arakaki

A University of �鶹��ý at ����ԴDz� team of graduate students took home $10,000 as one of two winners in the student division of a national hackathon competition. Their project, CyberCOP (Common Operating Picture), is a virtual reality application designed to support cyber operators in denied, degraded, intermittent or low-bandwidth environments.

PhD student Yoshiki Takagi, and master’s students Michael Rogers and Roderick Tabalba, presented their project to military leaders on May 25 in the final round of “,” hosted by the National Security Innovation Network (NSIN). During electronic or cyber attacks, CyberCOP alerts users and automatically reroutes network traffic based on a modified shortest-path algorithm, optimized for network capacity.

Takagi, Rogers and Tabalba are students in Professor Jason Leigh’s (LAVA). CyberCOP was based on SatWatch—believed to be the first-ever virtual reality application for visualizing satellites orbiting the Earth. SatWatch was the work of LAVA undergraduate National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates student, Ryan Theriot, who became a full-time research software engineer at LAVA.

“We were thrilled to be part of this hackathon and to win was a big surprise to us,” Rogers said. “None of us had competed in this type of event before, but luckily, we had the skills and experience from working at LAVA to help us succeed.”

Rogers added, “We would like to give a special thanks to our professors Jason Leigh and Mahdi Belcaid for their support and encouragement throughout the course of the hackathon. We would also like to acknowledge Ryan Theriot for giving us full access to his code for viewing satellites in virtual reality, which allowed us to build a working prototype of our solution in under a week. We will be splitting the money evenly across the team members to continue sharpening our skills in computer science.”

Cyberworld named finalist

Five undergraduate students made up Cyberworld, which was named one of two finalists in the student division of the competition. Cyberworld’s solution focused on gamifying data sets within the Unity platform (development site for various industries across games, animation, automotive, architecture and more) for cybersecurity operators to make them more engaging. This is done through an interactive and informative 3D map with real-time data for quick access in each country and using an avatar.

Cyberworld team members are: Sydnee You, information and computer sciences; Wei Jin Yang, electrical engineering; Tsz Ching Wong, computer engineering; Helen Lin, accounting, finance, management information systems; and William Ng, information and computer sciences.

UH’s is one of 25 educational institutions that have partnered with NSIN to help build innovators who generate new solutions to national security problems in the U.S. Gloria Choo is NSIN’s inaugural university program director at UH.

“Reality Bytes in partnership with UH and several other universities helps identify and support the research talent that our university has,” Choo said. “This is also about building and fostering a community of practice and networks that can solve our real world challenges in the Department of Defense.”

This program is an example of UH ����ԴDz�’s goals of (PDF) and (PDF), two of four goals identified in the (PDF), updated in December 2020.

—By Marc Arakaki

Hawaii News Now’s Sunrise on the Road visited the campus on November 19, 5–9 a.m. The morning show featured leadership, faculty, staff and students from the campus who covered increasing enrollment, pandemic challenges, campus plants, the Warrior Recreation Center, new and old campus buildings, athletics and much more.

Live interviews on campus included:

• David Lassner, UH president
• Michael Bruno, UH Mānoa provost
• Makena Coffman, UH Mānoa Institute for Sustainability and Resilience director
• Matthew Lynch, UH sustainability coordinator
• Nikki Chun, UH vice provost for enrollment management
• Nōweo Kai, UH Mānoa campus curator
• David Matlin, UH athletics director
• Christian Naeole, a William S. Richardson School of Law student
• Daezon Arruda, student board president
• Stacey Robinol, UH Federal Credit Union vice president of member experience

Jason Leigh, information and computer sciences professor and Laboratory for Advanced Visualization and Application director, Seth Siaki and Brandon Shima from UH Office of Project Delivery and Jonathan Osorio, dean of �鶹��ýnuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge, were interviewed for the pre-taped segments of the show.

The UH Mānoa Marching Band, Rainbow Warrior dancers and cheerleaders also joined Matlin on the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex.

Watch the interviews

The interviews are available online on the Hawaii News Now website.

The ’s (PVS) two traditional Polynesian canoes returned to Oʻahu on May 27, after a two-week training voyage to prepare for its 2022 Moananuiākea Voyage, a circumnavigation of the Pacific. Hikianalia arrived at the University of �鶹��ý Marine Education Training Center at Sand Island at 4:30 a.m. followed by ��ō��ū����ʻ�� at 5:30 a.m.

The original sail plan was for the crew to sail to the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (the doldrums), located approximately 5 degrees north of the equator. The canoes, however, were delayed for nine days off Lahaina, Maui due to dangerous conditions in the Alenuihaha Channel. Once the weather cleared and the canoes were able to cross the Alenuihaha Channel, which is considered the second roughest channel in the world, and head to Keauhou on �鶹��ý Island. From Keauhou, they sailed to Kalae (South Point) and then into Moananuiākea, about 100 nautical miles south of �鶹��ý Island.

“Although our intent was to take the crew into the storm of the doldrums, Mother Nature had other plans. We still had a robust training nonetheless and we still hit Moananuiākea,” said PVS President and Pwo navigator Nainoa Thompson. “There have been many gifts of learning that we never ever imagined, because we were forced to change. It’s been a spectacular training program,” he added.

The training voyage also provided an opportunity to test the newly-refurbished vessels in strong winds and rough waters. PVS’s goal is to have 120 new crew trained by the end of the summer in preparation for next year’s circumnavigation of the Pacific.

UH’s role in Moananuiākea Voyage

Several key partners including UH’s Office of Indigenous Innovation, UH ����ԴDz�’s (LAVA), , Arizona State University, Kamehameha Schools and the Omidyar ʻohana are contributing to the educational activities of the training sails and the upcoming Moananuiākea Voyage, launching the first phase of the virtual “Third Canoe.”

UH is developing initiatives that blend ancestral knowledge and contemporary innovation to support the educational goals of the “Third Canoe.” Currently, LAVA is working with and UH West Oʻahu’s to perform photogrammetric scans of ��ō��ū����ʻ�� to create the world’s first fully accurate digital archival model of the historic vessel for future crew training, and capturing events onboard ��ō��ū����ʻ�� and Hikianalia during the Doldrums Sail to provide viewers who may never have the opportunity to sail on a voyage to experience it through immersive virtual reality. These products will eventually be exhibited in the Create(x) emerging media space at UH West Oʻahuʻs new Academy for Creative Media Building.

.

If you could fix the internet, what would you change? A University of �鶹��ý at ����ԴDz� graduate student in (ICS) addressed this question and went on to receive an award from Mozilla’s Fix-the-Internet Incubator’s .

Under the exploratory work program, Alberto González was awarded $1,000 for , an online tool that allows remote teams to work together in a collaborative workspace. González is a research assistant at the (LAVA) and graduate fellow of the (HDSI). He was also selected for this year’s UH Ventures Accelerator program.

RendezView, which can be accessed through any internet browser, allows remote teams to collaborate in real time on documents, spreadsheets, slideshows and more. The tool enables teams to better visualize and share ideas, which has become increasingly more important as many organizations have moved to remote work during the pandemic.

“It’s such an honor to be recognized by a technology powerhouse like Mozilla…. [we’re] happy that our software is helping remote teams collaborate online, and are excited about the future of work,” said González.

From more than 700 startups from around the world, González and his team were among the 20 awardees. Awards were given to participants in the Open Lab program who demonstrated best traction and commitment to fix the internet.

Mentored by ICS Professor Jason Leigh, González’s work through LAVA and HDSI helps to serve data intensive science, engineering and training needs of UH’s 10 campuses.

“Alberto’s product is so crucial in a post-COVID world where distance collaboration will no doubt be the norm, and it is such an honor to see it recognized by Mozilla,” said Leigh.

Sixty-two students at the University of �鶹��ý at ����ԴDz� (ACM) and (LAVA) will showcase their works at , one of the largest and most prestigious annual conferences for computer graphics and interactive techniques.

Originally planned as an in-person event in Washington, D.C., the conference will be held virtually from August 17–28, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The pieces were submitted by ACM Assistant Professors Brittany Biggs and Laura Margulies, and ACM and (ICS) Professor and LAVA Director Jason Leigh.

“ACM ����ԴDz� is very proud of the accomplishments of the students in ACM/ICS,” ACM ����ԴDz� Chair Christine Acham said. “The sheer number of projects that have been recognized also speaks to the mentorship of the professors Brittany Biggs and Laura Margulies as well as LAVA Lab Director Jason Leigh. As the program continues to grow, I look forward to celebrating their continuing accomplishments.”

“Conferences like SIGGRAPH are a great way to network and jumpstart careers,” Biggs said. “Being able to highlight that their work was showcased at SIGGRAPH is a significant accomplishment and one that will help their resumes stand out to recruiters and hiring managers.”

Showcased work

Pieces from three of Biggs’s courses will be highlighted at the conference. They included completed projects from a “minion style character” assignment, where students had to model, texture, rig and pose a minion-style character (a cylindrical shaped character with arms, legs and a face); a compilation of short 3D character animation performances that focused on a certain action while also exhibiting personality; and two short, animated films produced by group teams

“The most memorable piece for me from these assignments is witnessing the excitement students experience when creating something from nothing—whether it’s creating a digital environment from scratch, breathing life and personality into a digital character, or visually sharing a story they’ve only envisioned in their minds,” Biggs said.

Works from Margulies’s courses included a compilation of short 2D character animation performances that focused on a certain action or technique; and short, animated films that were experimental in nature, method, content, tone or presentation.

“These high quality works show strong personal and artistic visions,” Margulies said. “While the projects started with specific prompts, these students took the idea and grew them, following their own inner narrative. The creative pieces that resulted are original and surprising and bring something new to animation.”

Featured works from Leigh’s course involved working in teams to develop a multiplayer video game for a 20-foot tiled display wall with a resolution of 10K x 3K. Leigh said creating video games will not skip a beat during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Developing video games is one of those things that is easy to do during a pandemic lockdown,” Leigh said. “You just need computers, imagination and some technical, artistic and musical skills. That’s what you get when you combine students from computer science, creative media and music together.”

—By Mark Arakaki

An already impressive laboratory for data visualization at the is collaborating on a major software upgrade with the help of a $5-million grant from the National Science Foundation.

The (LAVA) consists of 1,200-square feet of space equipped with the world’s highest resolution hybrid reality visualization system called the , which stands for cyber-enabled Collaboration Analysis Navigation and Observation Environment, whose creator is Information and Computer Sciences Professor Jason Leigh. LAVA also is flanked by numerous ultra-high-resolution stereoscopic 3D and 2D, touch-enabled display walls.

• Related �鶹��ýNews story: Who built the world’s best hybrid 3D visualization system? UH students!, November 26, 2016

The software running these walls, SAGE2 (Scalable Amplified Group Environment), is getting a big boost from the large grant to UH, the University of Illinois at Chicago and Virginia Tech University to develop SAGE3, which will essentially add Artificial Intelligence (AI) to the mix.

SAGE2 was first designed for research scientists who had lots of data they had to make sense of. Through the years, technology costs dropped so rapidly that now almost anyone with a computer and three monitors can put together a SAGE wall.

Leigh and Assistant Professor Mahdi Belcaid are co-lead investigators for the new grant. Leigh said the grant for SAGE3 takes the technology to a whole new level by incorporating AI, turning the wall into a smart “co-pilot.”

“The applications for this technology are endless. It will be tremendously useful to enable evidence-based response during natural disasters, like the current COVID-19 pandemic,” Leigh said. “It will make it easier for scientists to use AI to analyze large amounts of data to make discoveries faster. It will help teachers use and teach AI concepts to future generations of students. It will also help film makers and video game designers brainstorm over new ideas more effectively by being able to analyze how films and video games in the past relate to each other and which ones had the greatest popularity and why.”

SAGE3 provides scientists with an intuitive framework that integrates state-of-the-art AI technologies with applications, workflows, smart visualizations and collaboration services to help them access, share, explore and analyze their data, come to conclusions, and make decisions with greater speed, accuracy, comprehensiveness and confidence.

The National Science Foundation wrote: “SAGE3 augments every step of the scientific discovery enterprise—from quickly summarizing large data, to finding trends and similarities or anomalies among one or more linked datasets, to communicating findings to scientists, public policy and government officials, and the general public, to educating the next-generation workforce.”

Leigh said, ultimately, it is the scientists and future scientists who must harness the big data revolution to solve the nation’s grand challenge problems that will benefit society as a whole, including studying the diversity of life on Earth, understanding the Earth and its systems from satellite imagery of its poles, developing response scenarios for natural disasters such as landslides and pandemics that impact the citizens and economies of the world and more.

Hollywood film producer Chris Lee, founder of UH’s Academy for Creative Media System, has long been a supporter of SAGE2, helping Leigh construct SAGE2-based tiled display walls, or CyberCANOEs, throughout �鶹��ý.

• Related �鶹��ýNews story: World’s best hybrid visualization system up and running at UH ����ԴDz�, November 26, 2016

—By Kelli Trifonovitch

A team of undergraduate students from the University of �鶹��ý at Hilo and UH ����ԴDz� were awarded Best Visualization Showcase Award and will be recognized at the upcoming (PEARC20). The team’s project integrated three-dimensional models of Hawaiian coral reefs into an immersive virtual reality platform.

Due to the coronavirus, PEARC20 will be held online on July 26–30 and will explore the current concepts of advanced research computing including modeling, simulation and data-intensive computing.

The UH project, “Exploration of Coral Reefs in �鶹��ý through Virtual Reality: Hawaiian Coral Reef Museum VR,” showcases models that were generated from high-resolution surveys at long-term monitoring sites throughout the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. Thousands of images of coral reef habitats were collected by John H.R. Burns, a UH Hilo assistant professor of marine science, and his research team during ship-based research expeditions led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association.

The images were processed by the UH Hilo (MEGA) Lab—a lab Burns developed—using structure-from-motion photogrammetry technology to create high-resolution 3D reconstructions of each coral reef study plot.

“The VR application is an incredible way to engage broad audiences and provide them with a unique immersive experience to see coral reefs first hand and witness changes occurring in these valuable ecosystems,” said Burns.

Francis Cristobal, a faculty specialist in the UH Hilo computer science department, spearheaded the two-year project.

“One of the primary objectives was to create virtual outreach products to showcase these incredible and unique products to public audiences around the globe,” Cristobal said. “When the application starts, the user is brought into a Coral Reef Museum filled with a curated selection of coral reefs. The user then picks a reef to explore and is transported to a life-sized 3D model of it. From there, the user can resize, reposition or fly through a 3D model, offering a wide range of interactivity. This human-centered design is particularly an effective platform for researchers, instructors and the general public.”

These reconstructions also allow researchers to examine how the coral reefs change over time and respond to stressors associated with climate change.

Team members:

• John H.R. Burns, UH Hilo Marine Science and MEGA
• Francis Cristobal, UH Hilo Computer Science
• Michael Dodge II, UH ����ԴDz�, Pre-Engineering
• Alec Goodson, UH Hilo Computer Science (graduated spring 2020)
• Drew Gotshalk, UH Hilo Computer Science (graduated spring 2020)
• Jared McLean, UH CyberInfrastructure
• Briana Noll, UH Hilo Computer Science (graduated spring 2020)
• Kailey Pascoe, UH Hilo MEGA lab
• Nickolas Rosenberg, UH Hilo Computer Science (graduated spring 2020)
• Alexandra Runyan, UH Hilo Marine Science
• Joseph Sanchez, UH Hilo Edwin Mookini Library
• Ryan Theriot, UH ����ԴDz� Laboratory for Advanced Visualization and Application

“This was an exciting project to work on,” said Michael Dodge, a UH Hilo alumnus and pre-engineering student at UH ����ԴDz�. “I learned a lot about what goes into VR application development, and doing this as a real-world program for the public made it every bit more interesting.”

The project was funded by the UH Academy for Creative Media System. The virtual museum will be showcased at the Mokupāpapa Discovery Center in Hilo and will be a traveling exhibit. It will also be presented at the �鶹��ý State Legislature.

—By Susan Enright

Work from animation students at the University of �鶹��ý at ����ԴDz� (ACM) and (LAVA) will be showcased in the 8th annual faculty submitted student work exhibit for in Los Angeles. The work will be screened throughout the conference, which runs July 28–August 1.

SIGGRAPH is one of the largest and most prestigious annual conferences for computer graphics and interactive techniques in the world. Ten minutes of student work was submitted, including LAVA‘s Destiny-Class CyberCANOE, 2D and 3D character animation scene assignments and animated short films.

The projects

For the LAVA project, undergraduate and graduate students worked together in the full design, prototyping, physical construction and software development (including application programming interface and demonstrational applications) of the 256 megapixel hybrid-reality environment Destiny-class CyberCANOE.

The 2D and 3D scene assignments consisted of short character performances that focused on a certain action while also exhibiting personality. These actions or assignment prompts included walk cycles, monolog scenes, dialog scenes between multiple characters and body mechanics exercises (such as pushing, pulling or lifting an object). The 2D assignments were from ACM 318 Classical 2D Full Animation course and the 3D character assignments were from ACM 316 3D Character Animation course. There were 3D environment scenes from ACM 215 3D Scene Design, where students modeled, textured, lit and rendered an environment using Maya, the industry standard 3D animation software package.

The animated short films were completed in a semester during ACM 320 and ACM 216, with students working independently from concept to completion.

“SIGGRAPH is one of the most prestigious computer graphics conferences in the world. Having our ACM animation and LAVA students’ work showcased during the event is exciting exposure for them, as countless industry professionals, artists, researchers, and technologists will see their work,” said Brittany Biggs, ACM assistant professor.

The students

• Jon-Dominic Allen
• Gavin Arucan
• Jake Asentista
• Kalilinoe Detwiler
• Mauricio Farina
• Aubrey Gamboa
• Alberto Gonzalez
• Andrew Guagliardo
• Noel Kawano
• Dylan Kobayashi
• Jack Lam
• Chandelle Oliver
• Samuel Park
• Roberto Renteria
• Molly Tapken
• Ryan Theriot
• Ken Uchida
• Eric Wu
• Suky Zhao

An interactive 3D projection-mapped model of Oʻahu developed by students, showing layers of data for the state’s plan to run on 100-percent renewable energy by 2045, generated lots of buzz at a national energy conference in February in Washington, D.C.

“A dozen or more states were interested in adopting the technology,” said Chris Yunker, energy systems and planning branch manager for the . “Assistant Secretary of the Office of Electricity Bruce Walker had come by and he showed interest for the [Department of Energy] to adopt the technology itself.”

Walker tweeted from the 2019 NASEO Energy Policy Outlook Conference in February, “Checking out the 3D modeling capabilities at the Hawaii Visualization Energy Nexus booth at the @NASEO_Energy Conference. As we continue to provide technical assistance to Puerto Rico, tools like this can help determine the best types and locations of generation. #NASEOOutlook19”

The student-built project is called the �鶹��ý Advanced Visualization Environmental Nexus (HAVEN). It can show land ownership, and photovoltaic and windmill buildouts over time, among other data projected across a topographical map of the island of Oʻahu. The team has 3D models for data visualization on other islands in the state, too.

HAVEN was developed by a team of UH ����ԴDz� students at the (LAVA), under the supervision of LAVA Director Jason Leigh.

• James Hutchison—undergraduate, main developer
• Nurit Kirshenbaum—PhD student, tangible computing advisor
• Ryan Theriot—MS student, visualization
• Kaila Foltz—undergraduate, graphic design (user interface and banner)
• Kari Noe—MS student, graphic design (HAVEN logo)
• Serena Kobayashi—undergraduate, physical structure
• Tyson Seto-Mook—MS student, docent who did the demo in Washington, D.C.

“It was done not just by me, so that’s an important thing. It’s a collaborative effort,” said HAVEN main developer James Hutchison, a UH ����ԴDz� computer science undergraduate student. “It’s great. I’m definitely proud of it.”

HAVEN supports thousands of pages of data from the �鶹��ý State Energy Office and Hawaiian Electric Industries. It was developed to help decision makers and stakeholders with the energy planning process, with funding support from the state energy office, Department of Energy and the .

“It would make me feel really good that I would have a hand in the future of renewable energy and trying to get away from coal,” said graduate student Ryan Theriot, who did the open-source visualization coding for HAVEN.

Now that the the National Renewable Energy Laboratory has also shown interest in HAVEN, this UH student invention could end up having a significant impact across the nation and possibly beyond.

—By Kelli Trifonovitch