{"id":105640,"date":"2019-11-01T13:15:54","date_gmt":"2019-11-01T23:15:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=105640"},"modified":"2020-08-07T13:40:19","modified_gmt":"2020-08-07T23:40:19","slug":"diversity-in-stem-conference-breaks-attendance-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2019\/11\/01\/diversity-in-stem-conference-breaks-attendance-records\/","title":{"rendered":"<abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr>-sponsored diversity in STEM conference breaks attendance records"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><div class=\"responsive-video-wrap-post\"><figure class=\"wp-block-embed wp-block-embed-youtube is-type-video is-provider-youtube epyt-figure\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\"><iframe  id=\"_ytid_81210\"  width=\"620\" height=\"349\"  data-origwidth=\"620\" data-origheight=\"349\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/upxLdujrFGw?enablejsapi=1&origin=https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu&rel=0&autoplay=0&cc_load_policy=0&cc_lang_pref=&iv_load_policy=1&loop=0&fs=1&playsinline=0&autohide=2&theme=dark&color=red&controls=1&disablekb=0&\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  no-lazyload\" title=\"UH-sponsored diversity in STEM conference breaks attendance records\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div><\/figure><\/div>\n<p>With a traditional k\u012bpaepae ceremony, University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> students, faculty and staff welcomed a record breaking audience of 5,000 attendees gathered for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sacnas.org\/\">Society for Advancement of Chicanos, Hispanics and Native Americans in Science<\/a> or <abbr>SACNAS<\/abbr> National Diversity in STEM Conference at the <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Convention Center.<\/p>\n<p>The 46-year-old conference is the largest and most diverse gathering of underrepresented minority STEM leaders, professionals, scientists and students in the nation.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/system-sacnas-booth.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/system-sacnas-booth-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"University of Hawaii booth at the SACNAS conference\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-105655\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/system-sacnas-booth-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/system-sacnas-booth-130x73.jpg 130w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/system-sacnas-booth-630x353.jpg 630w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/system-sacnas-booth.jpg 676w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> is this year\u2019s presenting sponsor. <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> tourism officials said the estimated economic impact of the conference was around $23 million, which is much higher than had originally been anticipated.<\/p>\n<p>Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine, the opening keynote speaker, called for a united front in taking climate action on behalf of those first and most affected by its impacts.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The time has come for has come for the global community to seek viable and effective solutions to the climate crisis and to do so with unrestrained speed,&rdquo; Heine said. &ldquo;It is my hope that the global community can summon the leadership needed to urgently increase its ambition to get us on a pathway consistent with the Paris agreement and to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Also at the opening ceremony, <abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa offered a Land Acknowledgement, a formal statement paying tribute to the original inhabitants of the land. <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa Provost <strong>Michael Bruno<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2019\/10\/31\/uh-manoa-land-acknowledgment-to-native-hawaiians\/\">delivered the Land Acknowledgement<\/a> as part of his opening remarks.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hokulea.com\/\">Polynesian Voyaging Society<\/a> President Nainoa Thompson was another featured speaker. He spoke of the need to blend culture and science to address the world\u02bbs challenges and also gave a nod to <abbr>UH<\/abbr>\u2019s role.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;How important the University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> is to the future of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>,&rdquo; Thompson said. &ldquo;It is such an extraordinary world-class place, doing amazing work.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Thompson and Heine both received standing ovations.<\/p>\n<p>The conference is a training ground for the next generation of diverse STEM professionals, aiming to level the playing field for first-generation college students of color through mentorship, professional development and networking opportunities.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8212;By Kelli Trifonovitch<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The <abbr>SACNAS<\/abbr> conference is the largest and most diverse gathering of underrepresented minority STEM leaders, professionals, scientists and students in the nation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[313,9,947],"class_list":["post-105640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-stem","tag-uh-manoa","tag-uh-system","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105640"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124598,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105640\/revisions\/124598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}