From tackling motor vehicle theft to advancing AI in education and aquaculture, students in the University of Â鶹´«Ã½ at Mānoa’s won prizes for their innovative ideas at the inaugural 2024 Honolulu Tech Week Community Hackathon in September. Four PACE leaders on different teams earned awards across various categories, earning $4,000 in prize money.

The hackathon brought together innovators of all ages, challenging participants to develop functional prototypes within three weeks to address real-world problems. PACE students stood out for their creativity and ability to deliver impactful solutions.

MopedSafe

More than 3,000 thefts were reported in 2023—including motorcycles, motor scooters, and mopeds—according to the Honolulu Police Department’s crime dashboard. To address this problem, Andrea Murillo Martinez, a junior in electrical engineering, and Kai Garcia, a senior in computer science, developed MopedSafe, a hardware technology solution aimed at combating moped theft.

Their project used the latest technology to detect moped movements. The system sends real-time alerts to a user’s smartphone via Bluetooth if suspicious activity is detected.

MopedSafe took home both the Best Hardware-Related Project Award and the People’s Choice Award, with a combined prize of $2,000. Martinez and Garcia are exploring ways to bring MopedSade to the market and collaborate with a mobile telecommunications company.

Martinez and Garcia credit their experience to PACE and their entrepreneur in residence, Jeff Hui.

“It was great to see the aspects of PACE, like the challenges startups face and how to analyze the market. It helped us think about our own value proposition,” said Martinez.

WriteLevel

A team of researchers from the Department of Second Language Studies took home the Best AI Project award for their automated essay scoring system, WriteLevel. Ann T. Choe, former PACE participant, Yu-Tzu Chang, Dan Holden and Dan Isbell, entered the competition, hoping to make their academic research project more practical.

WriteLevel is designed to address the time-consuming process of grading placement essays by teachers. Taking input from the , the team built a machine learning tool that converts student essays into numerical data using natural language processing.

“I applied what I learned from PACE to turn an academic project into a compelling business pitch. I highlighted teachers’ pain points, especially the time-consuming task of grading essays by hand,” said Choe.

The team plans to use their $1,000 prize money to refine their machine learning models and explore ways to develop the system into a fully fledged product that can be adopted by other language programs.

AquaHealth

AquaHealth, led by a former PACE Leader, Quang Loc Lam, a fourth-year business administration student specializing in information technology investment, alongside his teammate Thi Hai Au La, is an AI-powered mobile app and website for diagnosing diseases in aquatic species, particularly catfish.

The solution aims to support Vietnam’s aquaculture industry, the world’s largest producer of catfish. The app allows farmers to take photos of sick fish, upload them to the app or website and receive a diagnosis in seconds.

“I learned a lot from PACE, but not just through hackathons, but I gained insights into customer validation, conducting interviews with potential customers and writing business plans,” said Lam. “ Understanding how to identify and address the pain points of customers is crucial. PACE provided me with the framework to turn these ideas into actual solutions.”

Lam’s project won the Best University Project Award and a $1,000 prize. The team is looking to expand AquaHealth’s AI capabilities to diagnose diseases in other aquatic species.

—By McKenzie Kurosu

The at the University of Hawaii–West Oʻahu (ACMWO) has created a plan to use creative media as a gateway to engage underrepresented students in STEM concepts—a significant step toward supporting the National Science Foundation’s initiative.

The plan was developed by Sharla Hanaoka, ACMWO director, and Brad Ashburn, associate professor of chemistry with the mathematics, natural and health sciences division at UH West Oʻahu.

Next steps

UH West Oʻahu will offer a new Math 100 course, Generative Art and Science, dedicated to the merge of art and math that supports the BPC plan welcoming all students with basic programming proficiency in spring 2025.

“By merging art into STEM fields, we’re not only breaking down barriers that often prevent students from our communities from pursuing computer science, but we’re also fostering creativity and unconventional thinking, preparing a new generation of problem-solvers equipped with both technical know-how and artistic vision for a future where technology and creativity are increasingly intertwined,” Hanaoka said. “This could lead to a more diverse, inclusive and innovative creative technology industry overall.”

Making art with science

Students Dylan Blue and Aina Kodaira—both pursuing a degree in creative media with a concentration in video game design and development—worked with Ashburn as a mentor on a summer research project that Ashburn will talk about in his upcoming course.

Blue and Kodaira presented their project, “Exploring Emergence with Cellular Automata,” at the UH West Oʻahu Student Research Experience Summer Symposium on August 9 at the Campus Center multi-purpose room. The project challenged them to combine software engineering, science, and design to build a highly interactive web application that generates complex patterns.

“We created an algorithm that creates different patterns; that’s how we blended technology with art,” Blue said. “This is significant because we don’t really see that happening too much, right? There’s always a distinct line between the field of science and creative media. …Being in a place where we havenʻt been before is pretty exciting.”

Both students plan this fall semester to take Ashburn’s new Generative Art and Science class, in which students will level up their creativity through hands-on computer programming, design and engineering projects.

“Many approaches to integrating the arts in STEM involve making art about science, but our approach is to make art with science,” Ashburn said.

—By Zenaida Serrano Arvman

Read more on .

A University of Â鶹´«Ã½ at ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹-led project using artificial intelligence (AI) to revolutionize farming irrigation practices has received a $2.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This initiative represents a significant step toward sustainable water use in Â鶹´«Ã½‘s agricultural sector.

“This technology has the potential to transform irrigation practices across Â鶹´«Ã½, helping our farmers conserve water while maximizing crop yields,” said Sayed Bateni, project principal investigator and professor in the UH ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹ and (WRRC). “By putting AI-enhanced tools directly into the hands of local producers, we’re not just developing new technology—we’re cultivating a more sustainable and resilient agricultural future for our islands.”

Despite abundant rainfall in some areas, Â鶹´«Ã½‘s high seasonal variability often leaves vegetable crops without adequate water throughout the year. The project will leverage data from a dense network of weather stations across the islands, feeding it into an innovative AI-enhanced irrigation management system.

According to co-principal investigator Jonathan Deenik, department chair, professor and extension specialist in the in the , farmers in Â鶹´«Ã½ have the opportunity to effectively and efficiently reduce irrigation water and enhance yields by adopting CropManage.

“The AI enhanced CropManage irrigation scheduling software will assist farmers better match water delivery to meet specific crop water needs with multiple benefits including conservation of precious fresh water resources, increased profitability for farmers through the reduction in water costs and increased overall sustainability of agriculture in Â鶹´«Ã½,” Deenik said.

How it works

Farmers can easily create an account on the CropManage irrigation tool and add the characteristics of their farms (e.g., crop type, acre, location, irrigation system, etc.) to CropManage. This irrigation tool determines when and by how much farmers need to irrigate each crop type in their farms.

Fourteen collaborating farms will host intensive on-farm irrigation trials to test and refine the technology. Results from these trials will be shared with agricultural producers, aiming to encourage widespread adoption of the advanced irrigation management tool. The project is expected to start in 2024 and end in 2029.

This project is a joint effort among WRRC, College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources and College of Engineering at UH ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹, and the .

This is one of 53 Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) projects around the nation that earned a total of $90 million, which supports the development of new tools, approaches, practices and technologies to further natural resource conservation on private lands. Increased funds were available in 2024 due to President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which is funding CIG projects that address climate change. .

A first-of-its-kind esports pathways program will launch this fall for University of Â鶹´«Ã½ students, as well as eligible Â鶹´«Ã½ residents through .

The free program consists of nine credits (SOCs 150 and COM 201 in fall 2024 and SOCs 489 in summer 2025) and a 150-hour internship in summer 2025. This is the first program from college to the esports industry in the state for students who want to learn more about careers in esports. After completing this program, participants will at least be qualified for entry level positions in the industry. This pathway program is designed to lead to a certificate program within the next year.

is hosting the program and working in partnership with . UH ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹ esports program director Nyle Sky Kauweloa is the lead instructor for the courses and manages the program.

Kauweloa said the program is geared towards freshmen and sophomores, especially at the community colleges, who have long expressed their interests in the video games/esports industries, but due to various constraints have been unable to fully participate in the growth around esports in Â鶹´«Ã½.

“The goal is to have this cohort of students better prepared with established contacts, relationships and knowledge to start finding sustainable work in esports from Â鶹´«Ã½,” Kauweloa said. “This is an unprecedented move by the state to support a pathway experience in esports with the support of the community, higher education and industry.”

Current UH System students as well as Â鶹´«Ã½ residents who are not currently enrolled at a UH campus are . Kauweloa is also hosting a virtual informational session for interested applicants on July 17 at 4 p.m. .

• Related UH News story: Free training: Media, film, esports, more, July 2, 2024

Vanta Esports is the program’s industry partner for the summer 2025 internship.

“We are excited to participate in the UH (Good Jobs Â鶹´«Ã½) esports pathway program this year,” said Ed Lallier, co-founder and chief revenue officer at Vanta. “It is a meaningful program that will have a significant impact on the local economy. It’s also great to have the state of Â鶹´«Ã½ financially support this initiative to help increase skill development and address critical needs in today’s job market. Skills learned through this program will give students opportunities to earn high paying jobs so they can afford a quality lifestyle on the island.”

Under Kauweloa’s leadership, the UH ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹ esports program has achieved global prominence, winning national collegiate program of the year in 2022, ranking in the top 5 nationally in multiple games and placing several students in successful international esports internships and jobs.

UH Esports receives funding from the . Visit the UH Esports team’s and . More stories on UH’s esports program.

Free summer training classes are now available for sign up through University of Â鶹´«Ã½ Community Colleges’ Good Jobs Â鶹´«Ã½ initiative. These training programs offer individuals the chance to upskill and attain industry certifications, opening doors to employment opportunities, paid internships, and apprenticeship pathways. Registration is now open for a variety of online and in-person classes with varying durations though goodjobshawaii.org.

Trainings that will be offered starting in May 2024 include:

• Creative Industry jobs: Intro to esports careers and digital art fundamentals
• Technology jobs: Help desk technician prep, CompTIA A+, AI in the workplace and AWS cloud certifications
• Clean Energy and Skilled Trade jobs: Carpenter pre-apprenticeship, renewable energy and commercial driver’s license
• Healthcare jobs: Certified personal trainer, certified nurse aide and medical assisting
• City & County of Honolulu jobs: Police Academy prep, certification in court interpreter training,
• Microsoft Office and plant propagation for nursery workers

Since the launch of Good Jobs Â鶹´«Ã½ in 2023, more than 4,000 residents throughout the state have enrolled in free training offered through the program.

“The Good Jobs Â鶹´«Ã½ initiative is focused on ensuring our state’s economic future has a skilled and local workforce ready to meet the demands of our high-growth industries,” said Erika Lacro, vice president for UH Community Colleges. “These free training classes being offered to Â鶹´«Ã½ residents provide an invaluable opportunity to upskill, paving the way for a successful future filled with promising career prospects.”

Free for most participants

More than $3 million in funding is available from various funding sources for tuition. Eligible applicants receive tuition assistance for courses and other training costs such as industry certification exam fees. The Good Jobs Â鶹´«Ã½ program is free for most eligible participants, since many of the trainings provide a 100% tuition subsidy to cover all costs.

In addition to the free tuition, each participant is also supported by a Good Jobs Â鶹´«Ã½ navigator, who provides one-on-one support to ensure a student’s success. Their services include offering college and career advising, referring to community partners for support services, facilitating connections to employers, and providing various forms of financial assistance.

To apply online for current training or to learn more visit Good Jobs Â鶹´«Ã½.

Esports, digital creative industries

In the creative industries sector, an exciting esports experiential learning pathway is set to start in fall of 2024 for students from all UH campuses.

“We encourage interested applicants to apply now as seats are limited. The training will provide an unprecedented experience of academic instruction, industry mentorship, and esports internships in Â鶹´«Ã½. The UH Esports program is a three-time nominated collegiate program of the year and winner of the 2022 national award,” said Nyle Sky Kauweloa, director of UH Esports.

The new online digital art fundamentals course prepares students for jobs in the rapidly evolving creative industries sector.

“This course offers a blend of introductory theory and practical skills essential for a digital media landscape that affects everything from education to digital marketing, telehealth to e-commerce, social media to esports,” said Associate Professor Adam Moura, coordinator for the New Media Arts Program at Kapiʻolani Community College.

Healthcare sector training

In the healthcare sector, a new personal trainer program hosted online for statewide participants by University of Â鶹´«Ã½ at Hilo in collaboration with UH Maui College offers the opportunity to attain the industry recognized ACE (American Council of Exercise) Industry Certification.

“The training provides students with the foundational knowledge and skills required to pursue an actual personal trainer certification from an accredited organization. It equips them with the educational groundwork needed to design safe and effective exercise programs, increasing their credibility and marketability in Â鶹´«Ã½‘s vibrant fitness industry,” said Ozan AtalaÄŸ, department chair in kinesiology and exercise sciences at University of Â鶹´«Ã½ at Hilo.

Technology fields

In the technology sector, a new help desk technician prep course leading to an internship with local managed service providers (MSPs) for Oʻahu residents will begin in May.

“The value of this training isn’t just about fixing computers, it’s about building the confidence to tackle any problem that may come your way,” said Branden Baker of InTech, one of the MSPs offering paid internships.

Financial support provided by the U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Economic Development Administration, and City and County of Honolulu. Grants from the Ascendium Education Group, Â鶹´«Ã½ Community Foundation and the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation support the UH Community Colleges’ coordination with industry partners in targeted sectors identified as recession-resilient in , issued by the Â鶹´«Ã½ Executive Collaborative.

More than 10,000 images of humpback whale tail flukes collected by University of Â鶹´«Ã½ researchers have played a pivotal role in revealing both positive and negative impacts on North Pacific humpback whales, positive trends in the historical annual abundance of North Pacific humpback whales, and how a major climate event negatively impacted the population. Adam Pack, who heads the UH Hilo Laboratory, Lars Bejder, director of the UH Mānoa (MMRP) and graduate students Martin van Aswegen and Jens Currie, co-authored a study on humpback whales in the North Pacific Ocean, and the images—along with artificial intelligence (AI)-driven image recognition—were instrumental in tracking individuals and offering insights into their 20% population decline observed in 2012–21.

“The underside of a humpback whale’s tail fluke has a unique pigmentation pattern and trailing edge that can serve as the ‘finger-print’ for identifying individuals,” said Pack.

Starting in 1976, Pack’s mentor the late Louis M. Herman, founder and director of the UH Mānoa (KBMML), initiated collecting tail fluke images of humpback whales in Hawaiian waters alongside his students. The effort expanded to humpback whales in Alaska in 1980 and has continued every year since through the KBMML, the non-profit organization The Dolphin Institute which Herman and Pack founded in 1993, and in 2008 and beyond through Pack’s UH Hilo Marine Mammal Lab. In total, more than 30,000 whale tail images have been accumulated in waters off Â鶹´«Ã½ and Alaska resulting in one of the largest archival catalogs of humpback whales in the world. UH Hilo students are tasked with cataloging those images.

“Until recently, comparing photographs of humpback whales to each other to discover resightings of the same individual and develop individual histories over decades was done by eye, a slow and labor intensive effort,” Pack said.

The recent advent of AI image-recognition tools has revolutionized the process facilitating large-scale collaborations involving decades of data.

AI and humpback whale science

The UH team of researchers are part of the 76 co-authors who contributed to the findings recently published in which showcases the impact of artificial intelligence in the groundbreaking study. AI-driven image recognition was used to organize the tail fluke images of both the Â鶹´«Ã½Hilo Marine Mammal Laboratory and the UH Mānoa Marine Mammal Research Program, along with thousands of other submissions from across the North Pacific, into an online humpback whale fluke matching program and database. The cutting-edge approach was led by Ted Cheeseman, the study’s lead author and the developer of research website .

“It shows how when we all pool our resources and talent together, we can learn remarkable things about humpback whales and their marine environment,” said Pack, who holds a joint appointment in the departments of and at UH Hilo.

A closer look at population increase and decline

The study showed a strong continuing recovery of North Pacific humpback whales from 20th century commercial whaling which ended in 1976 decimating the population to an estimated 1500–2000 whales. The study estimated 16,875 whales in 2002 growing to a peak of 33,488 in 2012. However, researchers also uncovered a critical period from 2014 to 2016 when an unprecedented marine heatwave adversely impacted marine resources including those in high latitudes which humpback whales rely on for sustenance. This decline in resources resulted in several years of poor reproductive and physical health for many humpbacks wintering in Â鶹´«Ã½ and summering in Alaska.

The population decline was especially noticeable in Â鶹´«Ã½, a vital destination for thousands of humpback whales seeking warmer waters to mate, give birth, and raise their young. By 2021, the study found a staggering 34% decrease in the humpback whale population in these waters. It indicates that continued monitoring of North Pacific humpback whales and care for their marine habitats is essential.

For more go to .

University of Â鶹´«Ã½ researchers and students will soon have access to some of the most powerful computing power at their fingertips thanks to a joint project with several universities around the country and the National Science Foundation (NSF).

UH is part of a newly available national cloud computing resource that allows researchers to access powerful cloud-based environments on demand to explore and understand immense amounts of data from a laptop or tablet.

The NSF supported project is an update to the widely used Jetstream cloud computing system. Jetstream2 provides eight petaFLOPS of virtual supercomputing power, allowing researchers to simplify data analysis, boost scientific discovery and leverage artificial intelligence (AI) tools.

“A 1 petaFLOPS (PFLOPS) computer system is capable of performing one quadrillion (1015) floating-point operations per second. The rate 1 PFLOPS is equivalent to 1,000 TFLOPS. To match what a 1 PFLOPS computer system can do in just one second, you’d have to perform one calculation every second for 31,688,765 years,” according to Indiana University.

“Our participation in Jetstream2 ensures our researchers, faculty and students have access to a national-scale cloud computing resource platform to effectively collaborate with their peers and research partners and leverage state-of-the-art technology and techniques to drive science forward,” said Garret Yoshimi, UH vice president for information technology services. “We are grateful to NSF for their generous support in making Jetstream2 a reality for our UH community.”

Related: UH part of $10M cloud computing coalition, June 4, 2020

With five computational systems, Jetstream2 spans the nation with partners at UH, Indiana University, Arizona State University, Cornell University and the Texas Advanced Computing Center. The system is designed to be easily used by researchers who have limited experience with cloud computing and to serve smaller academic communities with no previous access to such resources.

The 24/7 user-friendly cloud computing environment provides virtual infrastructure that allows for more access to high-end technologies that enable deep learning and AI techniques. The Jetstream2 system is easy to expand and reconfigure and supports diverse modes of on-demand access. In addition, it extends a broad range of hardware and services that include larger and faster storage systems, graphics processing units, large memory nodes, virtual clusters and much more.

Jetstream2 also supports experimentation and teaching. The system will serve more students than any other NSF-funded cyberinfrastructure resource, better equipping them to fully participate in the evolving STEM workforce.

Additional partnerships with the University of Arizona, Johns Hopkins University and University Corporation for Atmospheric Research will contribute to Jetstream2’s unparalleled usability and support for a broad range of scientific efforts.

Researchers may request several allocation types through NSF’s .

Honolulu Community College will expand its with a $100,000 grant from the Community College Partnership Program. Honolulu CC plans to offer students financial support, access to industry-approved tools, tutoring and internship support. The college will also conduct outreach to high schools and involve industry professionals in advising and mentoring students.

“We are so grateful to Johnson Controls for this grant, which will enable us to recruit and retain underserved students, especially women, for in-demand careers in refrigeration and air conditioning and build on our already strong partnership,” said Honolulu CC Interim Chancellor Karen C. Lee.

Introduced in 2021, the Johnson Controls Community College Partnership Program will fund $15 million over the span of five years to non-profit community colleges in support of their HVAC, fire, security and digital academic programs. Funding for each community college differs based on needs. In general, colleges will use the funding to recruit, support, retain and graduate underserved students who otherwise may not have had the opportunity to pursue higher education.

Local Johnson Controls employees in each market serve as volunteer educators and mentors, providing students with counseling and real-world experiences. The mentoring is directly incorporated into various college programs and provides a pathway for student internships and entry-level opportunities at Johnson Controls.

“At Johnson Controls we strive to provide students with appropriate insights, mentorship and knowledge to empower them to move forward with a successful career in infrastructure. In doing so, we will change the trajectory of lives for these students,” said Nate Manning, vice president and president of building solutions in North America. “We will continue steering our efforts and initiatives toward preparing the next generation for a rewarding and sustainable career path that will have a lasting impact on the future of green buildings.”

According to the , nearly 8 million skilled-labor jobs were lost from the labor force during the pandemic. About half have been filled, but an estimated 4 million vacancies remain in industries responsible for transportation, construction and mechanical needs nationwide. Additionally, the that nearly one-fourth of the manufacturing workforce is 55 or older. As they age and retire, there are not enough young people entering the trades to fill their positions.

Instructional designers at have won a top award from . The (TOPP) was recently recognized with a 2019 Campus Technology Impact Award. Campus Technology is one of higher education’s premier information resources for campus professionals. The Kapiʻolani CC team won the Teaching and Learning Award.

The team was comprised of instructional designers Helen Torigoe, Youxin Zhang and Jamie Sickel, who brainstormed, did intensive research, interviewed faculty, examined curricula, experimented with cutting-edge technology systems and took an in-depth look at how their efforts would allow faculty to succeed before online audiences.

“Our goal is to offer balanced training in technology, pedagogy and facilitation skills in the online environment,” Torigoe said. “Faculty participants experience being an online student while creating their own online or hybrid course with guidance from the instructional designers.”

TOPP was a response to online students expressing frustration over the lack of consistency in design, navigation, interaction and use of technology across classes. The program allows faculty participants to experience, empathize with and become an online student while creating their own online or hybrid course.

“Through the creation of TOPP, Helen Torigoe and her team have proven that when the teacher is the learner, the students’ learning experience is enhanced,” said Chancellor Louise Pagotto. “I applaud not just the empathy of a teacher for students, but also the promise of inclusivity in how we teach and prepare our students for the future.”

Since starting in summer of 2016, TOPP has trained more than 75 faculty members. They include seasoned tenured faculty, new tenure-track faculty and lecturers across disciplines at Kapiʻolani CC as well as other campuses in the community college system. Distance education has grown with more trained faculty. In fall 2015, 36.9 percent of Kapiʻolani students took distance education classes. By spring 2019, 45.5 percent of students registered for distance education.

Participants in the eight-week professional development program (or six-week summer program) learn, practice and build a sound and balanced training program. Faculty enrolled in TOPP also earn teaching credits or equivalences.

—By Louise Yamamoto

In the following in USA Today, (APLU) President Peter McPherson takes a step back and looks at China’s broader challenge to U.S. research/innovation and economic strength as U.S.-China trade issues continue to flare. The University of Â鶹´«Ã½ is an APLU member.

U.S. and Chinese trade talks hit a snag this month, imperiling hopes for a deal that the two sides have been pursuing for over a year. The negotiators are working to resolve a broad array of issues rooted in legitimate concern about fairness for U.S. businesses.

But even if all trade issues were resolved tomorrow, China has been racing ahead in scientific investment and progress. That poses an increasingly urgent challenge to U.S. scientific supremacy. China’s objective, President Xi Jinping said in a speech last year, is to achieve global dominance in science and technology for the 21st century.

And it is well on its way to achieving that goal in several areas. China’s top university now leads the world with the most citations in math and computing research and is making similar gains with other highly cited STEM research. China became the first country to land on the far side of the moon this year. It is already the world’s leading producer of supercomputers. And it has taken the lead in next-generation green energy.

Long seen as the world’s factory floor, China has developed a sophisticated strategy for achieving supremacy in the industries of the future. The country’s Made in China 2025 initiative outlines its intent to become the global leader in frontier sectors such as advanced robotics, aerospace and biotechnology. Made in China 2025 presents “a real existential threat to U.S. technological leadership,” China expert Lorand Laskai wrote last year when he was a research associate at the Council on Foreign Relations. The Chamber of Commerce echoed that concern in a recent report.

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