The University of �鶹��ý at Mānoa continues to solidify its status as a leading research institution, ranking No. 92 among the top 660 research universities in the U.S. and No. 68 among the top 420 public universities. This is according to the latest , which measures research and development (R&D) expenditures across various disciplines and serves as the primary source for R&D data in U.S. higher education.

• Related UH News story: UH Mānoa among nation’s best in latest research rankings, February 5, 2024

Top-performing disciplines

UH Mānoa demonstrated research excellence across a range of critical fields, with several disciplines maintaining their place in the top 10% nationally for fiscal year (FY) 2023:

• Ocean sciences and marine sciences: No. 7 out of 414 (top 2%)
• Astronomy and astrophysics: No. 15 out of 517 (top 3%)
• Geological and earth sciences: No. 13 out of 414 (top 3%)
• Computer and information sciences: No. 39 out of 500 (top 8%)
• Communication and communications technologies: No. 37 out of 474 (top 8%, ranked in top 10% for the first time)
• Atmospheric science and meteorology: No. 41 out of 414 (top 10%)

UH Mānoa also excelled in agricultural sciences (No. 40 out of 343, top 12%) and electrical, electronic, and communications engineering (No. 49 out of 403, top 12%).

“Our continued presence among the nation’s top research universities reaffirms the strength and consistency of our research programs at UH Mānoa,” said Interim Vice Provost for Research and Scholarship Christopher Sabine. “These rankings are a testament to our faculty and researchers and proof of our commitment to innovative research and scholarship to address challenges here in �鶹��ý and beyond.”

Examples of UH Mānoa projects that attracted significant funding, include:

• The �鶹��ý Ocean Time-series (HOT) established in 1988 that studies climate and environmental changes in the North Pacific. After nearly 350 expeditions to the exact same location north of �鶹��ý dubbed station ALOHA, the 35-year time-series record is still going strong. Read more on UH News.
• A UH telescope on Maunakea that will support NASA’s $19.5 million Landolt Space Mission by helping calibrate telescopes with an artificial “star” satellite and creating new star brightness catalogs. Read more on UH News.
• Earth scientists studying the chemical evolution of the Hawaiian hotspot and Kīlauea’s volcanic cycles, revealing the submarine Hawaiian volcano Kamaʻehuakanaloa has erupted at least five times in the last 150 years. Read more on UH News.

Record-breaking extramural funding

UH Mānoa received a record $464.9 million in extramural awards in fiscal year 2023-2024, leading the way in the UH 10-campus system’s record-breaking $615.7 million that fiscal year, surpassing the previous year’s record by $99.8 million.

Extramural funding, which comes from external sources, mainly the federal government, supports research and training initiatives by university faculty and staff. This marks the third consecutive year UH has exceeded half a billion dollars in funding.

National research trends

The HERD survey revealed an 11.2% increase in national academic R&D spending in FY 2023, the largest growth rate in two decades. Total U.S. academic R&D expenditures reached $108.8 billion, a $11.0 billion increase from FY 2022.

“UH Mānoa’s performance aligns with this upward trend, further emphasizing its role as a key contributor to the national research landscape,” said UH Mānoa Provost Michael Bruno.

In a significant development for climate research and management, the �鶹��ý Climate Data Portal (HCDP) is set to expand its reach to additional Pacific islands, and provide more data to help decisionmakers. Launched in 2022, the free online portal developed by researchers from the University of �鶹��ý and the East-West Center is expected to catalyze new research initiatives and inform policy decisions to mitigate climate risks and safeguard natural and human systems.

A major enhancement to the HCDP is the integration of data from the �鶹��ý Mesonet, which plans to establish 100 new climate stations across the state over the next two years. Similar efforts are underway in American Samoa, and funding is being sought for a mesonet in Guam.

“The �鶹��ý Mesonet is filling critical gaps in our understanding of climate in �鶹��ý. Improving monitoring across the Pacific is a goal we are working towards, one station at a time,” said Tom Giambelluca, UH Water Resource Research Center director.

The HCDP‘s recent inclusion in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society underscores its importance in streamlining access to climate information. The HCDP team plans to leverage decades of work developing the portal and expand its utility and function to serve other regions in the Pacific.

User friendly, comprehensive datasets

The user-friendly interface and comprehensive datasets make the HCDP an invaluable resource for improving awareness and facilitating collaboration across sectors. Recent updates feature new gridded surfaces, such as seasonal land cover and daily rainfall and humidity maps.

“Accessing high-quality climate data for �鶹��ý has never been easier,” said Ryan Longman, East-West Center Oceania researcher. “This means greater opportunities for research, community outreach, and developing decision support tools to aid resource managers.”

Federal agencies increasingly leverage HCDP data for various applications:

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture Risk Management Agency uses the data for an insurance product for ranchers in �鶹��ý.
• The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration produces a monthly state-of-climate report.
• The U.S. Geological Survey develops models to track avian malaria using HCDP‘s gridded products.

Since its launch on March 3, 2022, more than 45,000 unique users have accessed more than 20 million HCDP files. Upcoming developments include mapping hourly wind speed and solar radiation and creating tools for wildfire risk assessment and drought forecasting.

The Regents’ Medal for Excellence in Research is awarded by the University of �鶹��ý Board of Regents in recognition of scholarly contributions that expand the boundaries of knowledge and enrich the lives of students and the community.

Benjamin Shappee

Benjamin Shappee is an astronomer at the Institute for Astronomy. He specializes in transients and time-domain astronomy. Shappee is a founding member of one of the most successful time-domain projects, the All-Sky Automated Survey for Super-Novae (ASAS–SN), which uses telescopes around the globe to survey the entire sky daily.

The ASAS–SN survey paper (Shappee et al. 2014) is the 50th most-cited paper in astronomy in the past decade. Shappee is co-principal investigator of the largest near-infrared supernova survey to date, the �鶹��ý Supernova Flows, using the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope on Maunakea.

He and his group have made important contributions to our understanding of the origins of supernovae (exploding stars), stellar flares with potential impact on the habitability of nearby planets, and outbursts from supermassive black holes. ASAS–SN found the most luminous supernova yet discovered (ASASSN-15lh). Shappee was also part of the team that discovered the first and only counterpart to gravitational wave source from the merger of two neutron stars. He has authored 275 publications and has 20,000 citations.

Malte Stuecker

Malte Stuecker is an assistant professor in oceanography at the International Pacific Research Center in the University of �鶹��ý at Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology. Stuecker’s research is on climate variability and climate change in the past, present and future.

Much of his work is centered on the Pacific Ocean and phenomena such as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. Stuecker earned a PhD in meteorology from UH Mānoa in 2015. He returned to UH as faculty in 2020, and was previously an assistant project leader/research professor at the IBS Center for Climate Physics in South Korea.

Stuecker received the IAPSO Early Career Scientist Medal in Physical Oceanography in 2023, the Kamide Lecture Award from the AOGS Atmospheric Sciences section in 2020, and the Outstanding Young Scientist Award from the EGU Climate: Past, Present & Future division in 2016. In 2018, he was a Future Leaders Program Fellow of the Science and Technology in Society forum in Kyoto (Japan), and in 2022 he received an NSF CAREER Award.

Donald Womack

Donald Reid Womack is a professor of music in the University of �鶹��ý at Mānoa College of Arts, Languages & Letters. A faculty member at UH since 1994, Womack chairs the music department, and is faculty in Japanese and Korean Studies.

He is the composer of more than 100 original works, which have been performed and broadcast in 25 countries and recorded on more than a dozen releases in the U.S., Korea and Japan. Ensembles around the globe have performed his works, including the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony, Russia Ulan Ude Symphony, Hawaii Symphony, National Orchestra of Korea, among many others.

Womack is the recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship, two Fulbright Fellowships, two Artist Fellowships from the State of �鶹��ý, and won numerous other national and international competitions. Widely recognized as a leader in intercultural composition, he integrates East Asian and western instruments. He has lectured on his work in Korea, Taiwan and Japan, and taught as visiting faculty at Seoul National University.

The is No. 91 out of the top 633 research institutions in the U.S. and No. 59 out of the top 410 public universities, according to the latest , which measures research and development federal expenditures across a variety of disciplines.

The following disciplines at UH Mānoa placed in the nation’s top 10%, according to the latest available data from FY 2022:

• Ocean sciences and marine sciences: No. 7 out of 396 (top 2%)
• Astronomy and astrophysics: No. 13 out of 493 (top 3%)
• Geological and earth sciences: No. 15 out of 396 (top 4%)
• Computer and information sciences: No. 27 out of 484 (top 6%)
• Atmospheric science and meteorology: No. 41 out of 396 (top 10%)
• Social Work: No. 47 out of 460 (top 10%)

UH Mānoa is also in the top 11% in agricultural sciences (No. 38 out of 332) and electrical, electronic, and communications engineering (No. 43 out of 388).

“The data shows that in a highly competitive environment, the federal government recognizes the expertise here at UH Mānoa by funding our research across multiple disciplines,” UH Mānoa Provost Michael Bruno said. “It underscores our continued success in fostering a dynamic research environment, attracting top-tier faculty and students, and further establishing ourselves as a hub for cutting-edge research to serve the people of �鶹��ý and the world.”

UH Mānoa is a global leader in a wide range of disciplines, including earth and environmental sciences, sustainability, climate, food systems and the health sciences. Several examples of UH Mānoa projects that attracted the attention of funders:

• In 1988, the �鶹��ý Ocean Time-series (HOT) was established with support from the National Science Foundation to study changes in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. After nearly 350 expeditions to station ALOHA, the 35-year time-series record is still going strong. Read more about the HOT program on UH News.
• A UH Mānoa student-led team was selected to develop a small research satellite for the NASA CubeSat Launch Initiative planned to launch between 2024–27. Read more about the project.
• Kamaʻehuakanaloa (formerly ��ōʻ���� Seamount), a submarine Hawaiian volcano located about 20 miles off the south coast of �鶹��ý Island, has erupted at least five times in the last 150 years, according to new research led by Earth scientists at UH ����ԴDz�. Read more about this research.

“This achievement is a testament to the unwavering dedication of our faculty, staff and students who continue to elevate UH Mānoa as a beacon of excellence, propelling �鶹��ý to the forefront of cutting-edge research and innovation,” UH Mānoa Interim Vice Provost for Research and Scholarship Christopher Sabine said. “The entire state should take pride in our collective commitment to advancing knowledge and contributing to the broader scientific community.”

Record extramural funding

UH brought in a record high of $515.9 million for FY 2023 in extramural funding, $10.9 million more than the previous record of $505 million set in FY 2022. UH Mānoa, the flagship campus of UH’s 10 campus system, led the extramural funding amount with $342.7 million.

Extramural funding is external investments from entities such as the federal government, industry and non-profit organizations that support research and training activities conducted by university faculty and staff. Extramural projects support research and innovation that help to increase knowledge and provide solutions to improve quality of life.

UH Mānoa, the flagship campus of the UH 10-campus system is classified as one of only 146 R1 research universities in the nation by the Carnegie Foundation, indicating “very high research activity.”

The earned international recognition for academic and research excellence overall and in multiple subject areas, including a top 60 showing worldwide in meteorology, atmospheric sciences and geosciences, according to the released on October 25 by U.S. News and World Report.

UH’s flagship campus is ranked No. 394 worldwide out of the top 2,000 universities from 95 countries, selected from more than 26,000 institutions worldwide. The rankings are based on several factors, including global and regional research reputation, publications, citations and international collaboration. UH Mānoa was also ranked No. 106 overall in the U.S, No. 117 in regional research reputation, No. 129 in international collaboration in the U.S. and No. 267 in global research reputation.

According to U.S. News and World Report, UH Mānoa is highly ranked internationally in several subject areas, including No. 40 in meteorology and atmospheric sciences, No. 60 in geosciences, No. 116 in arts and humanities, No. 119 in space science, No. 179 in plant and animal science, No. 198 in environment/ecology, and No. 250 in social sciences and public health.

Other rankings

Here are UH Mānoa’s latest notable rankings:

• 2023 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, October 11, 2022
• U.S. News and World Report 2022–23 Best Colleges, September 11, 2022
• 2022 Academic Ranking of World Universities by the Shanghai Ranking Consultancy, August 16, 2022

For more information, visit the .

—By Marc Arakaki

Weather experts from the (SOEST) at the shared their knowledge with the public as communities across the state awaited Hurricane Lane’s arrival.

Several faculty in the SOEST have expertise in hurricanes, and tropical and island meteorology.

Assistant Professor was interviewed by the New York Times, and was on-air with KHON2‘s weather anchor for nearly six hours on Friday. She updated viewers on the approaching hurricane/storm, answered questions from the public and interpreted hurricane graphics in layman’s terms.

“The most exciting part was when the storm fell apart in front of our eyes on live TV,” said Nugent. “We could see the upper level clouds being sheared toward the northeast and the lower level clouds beginning to move westward as Hurricane Lane took a turn to the left.”

, professor and chair of the department, was also highly sought after as a media commentator. He discussed whether Maunakea and Mauna Loa on �鶹��ý Island “protect” the islands from storms.

The discussion centered around the influence of environmental winds on the track and wind shear on the intensity of the storm. In particular, as the storm weakened through the action of wind shear as it neared Oʻahu, its depth became shallower, and the low level flow from the northeast took over in steering the storm to the west.

Assistant professor , professor , assistant professor , and �鶹��ý Sea Grant faculty were also interviewed by several media outlets. They shared various tools and webpages for the general public to follow the storm; explanations of how Lane was progressing; and how to prepare homes based on the .

“Even though we dodged a bullet from Lane, the hurricane season is not over until the end of November,” said Chu. “We still have to be vigilant about future storms.”

Watch some of the UH experts

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—By Marcie Grabowski

Aiming to improve severe weather forecasting and warning lead-times associated with front range thunderstorms over northeastern Colorado, the University of �鶹��ý at Mānoa����(SOEST) and have expanded their partnership.

Improvements in Colorado’s thunderstorm forecasting rely on innovative data from its Lightning Mapping Array (LMA) network. The network is comprised of 12 stations north of Denver that monitor lightning activity. LMA sensors have revealed distinct tornado signatures 30 minutes prior to the formation of a tornado and are used to predict severe storms that also produce strong straight-line winds and large hail.

The southernmost LMA sensor is currently located 25 miles north of Denver. The new gift will enable the construction and installation of six additional sensor stations around and south of Denver, expanding the LMA network to cover the Denver Metro Area and improve severe weather forecasting for the most densely-populated area of Colorado.

“Not only will this project allow us to provide better information to the Colorado community about incoming and potential severe thunderstorms,” said Professor , chair of the in SOEST and project lead, “but it will allow scientists to study and refine relationships between lightning information and the tornadic potential of thunderstorms. It will allow us to better predict dangerous storms and improve lead-times for tornado warnings, which has the potential to save lives.”

Two new sensors will be installed this year and four additional sensors will be installed over the next two years.

Partnership also expanding tropical cyclone research

In addition to the new LMA collaboration, the Jonathan Merage Foundation has funded another year of investigation into long-range lightning data.��The project is funding a postdoctoral student in Businger’s lab.

“Last year we developed a tropical storm model that can assimilate lightning data,” said Businger. “This year we aim to improve the way cloud processes are handled in the model and run some case studies, such as Hurricane Patricia and Typhoon Haiyan, through the model. This year will get us closer to our goal of improving our ability to predict the track and intensity of tropical cyclones.”

Both projects are currently underway.

—By Marcie Grabowski

No matter where you live, rain seems to fall more often at certain times of day, whether it is seen in the daily afternoon rainstorm or a typical overnight shower. Indeed, statistically, long-term average rainfall tends to cluster at certain times of the 24-hour cycle, but that time frame varies depending on location.

A team of scientists led by postdoctoral researcher Takatoshi Sakazaki, from the University of �鶹��ý at Mānoa’s (IPRC), has analyzed satellite-based observations and computer model simulations of tropical rainfall variation throughout the day in an effort to determine the root cause of the temporal patterns. Their results, published recently in , show that daily tropical rainfall distribution is significantly shaped by heating of the upper atmosphere.

Curiously, location on the globe strongly determines the average time of day for the heaviest rainfall. Continental settings often receive most of their rainfall in the late afternoon, after sunlight has heated the land surface throughout the day. Conversely, in tropical ocean settings, the maximum rainfall comes in the late night/early morning. In fact, detailed examination of observed tropical patterns reveals that rainfall often clusters into two uneven peaks, separated by roughly 12 hours, a pattern reminiscent of the familiar twice-daily ocean tide heights (figure 1, “Observed” curve).

Sun-driven atmospheric waves

The atmosphere also experiences a type of daily tide. It has been long recognized that a global-scale pressure wave passes through the upper atmosphere, forced by the daily cycle of sunlight heating the ozone layer and propagating down toward the land surface. In the tropics, this wave can be seen in the daily fluctuations in barometric pressure, which peak at about 10 a.m. and 10 p.m.

Sakazaki and his team speculated that the tropical rainfall patterns are also intimately tied to this sun-driven atmospheric wave. By modeling rainfall patterns both with and without the forcing by upper atmospheric heating, they were able to show that the double peak of rainfall abundance in many tropical locations is accounted for only if the 12-hour atmospheric wave is included (figure 1, red curve).

“It is exciting to find that rainfall has distinct “footprints” of the stratospheric ozone heating, which occurs very far above us,” said Sakazaki. “Weather at the ground may be influenced by a much higher layer of the atmosphere than previously thought.”

Kevin Hamilton, a collaborator on this project and retired IPRC director, noted, “Understanding the self-organization of rainfall over periods of hours to days, and over large distances, is critical for improving forecasts of our day-to-day weather in the tropics.” In addition, he emphasized that this strong link between the rainfall patterns and the atmospheric tides provides a unique feature whose presence, or absence, can be used to evaluate the accuracy of rainfall pattern forecasting in atmospheric models.

—By Rachel Lentz

The has embarked on a long-term partnership with the University of �鶹��ý at Mānoa ��(SOEST) to explore how long-range lightning data can potentially improve storm forecasting.

“Through the ingest of lightning and storm balloon data, this project aims to increase our ability to map water vapor and heat associated with condensation of water in hurricane storm clouds in the core of the storm,” said Professor , chair of the SOEST����and project lead. “In the process, details of the initial storm circulation in the hurricane model will be improved.”

In future years, the way the lightning data are ingested into the hurricane model will be refined, to provide a more sophisticated and balanced approach that improves the way in which individual storm clouds evolve in the model. A number of poorly forecast recent hurricanes will be targeted as case studies to spur improvement in hurricane simulation and prediction.

Businger has been a pioneer in storm balloon development and suggests that floating storm balloons at low levels into a hurricane will provide crucial data on the energy exchange between hurricanes and the ocean surface beneath. The goal is to construct affordable storm balloons that possess the needed buoyancy control to allow them to remain near the ocean surface as they move towards the eye of the hurricane. They also contain GPS for position information and Iridium satellite communication to send data back on the energy exchange that governs hurricane intensity.

“Hurricanes are the most destructive storms on Earth and our ability to accurately forecast changes in their strength before landfall has not improved significantly in 20 years,” said Businger.

The project began this summer in Colorado with the launch of the first storm balloon. The balloons for this experiment were produced in collaboration with , an engineering firm specializing in developing custom prototypes for atmospheric and oceanographic exploration.

“It was a picture perfect first release,” said Businger.

—By Marcie Grabowski

Ten years after one of the deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history tore through New Orleans, a group of experts and specialists will convene to revisit the impact of Hurricane Katrina and discuss important lessons learned from the disaster and their implications for the future of �鶹��ý.

In conjunction with World Town Planning Day, the in collaboration with the presents “Lessons from Katrina and Implications for �鶹��ý” on Thursday, November 12.

“Given the recent increased frequency and intensity of storms threatening our islands, this topic is important and relevant,” said NDPTC Executive Director Karl Kim. “We have great resources from many different disciplines here at UH and we need to come together, share information and work together to build resilience.”

As part of the event, a group of expert panelists will share varying perspectives on the hazards and impact of natural disasters in the state. Panelists will include experts from a variety of fields including UH Mānoa professor Gary Barnes, lecturer Jen Darrah, Director of the George Atta, and engineering professor Ian Robertson.

Added Kim, “It is about combining the latest science and technology with a deep understanding of community vulnerabilities and social conditions so that we can better mobilize resources to plan for, respond to and recover from catastrophic events.”

Event details

“Lessons from Katrina and Implications for �鶹��ý” will be held on Thursday, November 12 with an opening reception at 5:30 p.m. at the UH Mānoa Saunders Courtyard. The reception will be followed by presentations and panel discussion in Crawford Lecture Hall at 7 p.m.

The event is a collaboration between �鶹��ýMānoa’s (NDPTC) and the along with the American Planning Association, Hawaii Chapter.

For more information on the event, contact NDPTC at (808) 956-0600.