{"id":223803,"date":"2025-10-16T10:20:41","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T20:20:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=223803"},"modified":"2025-10-16T10:21:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T20:21:06","slug":"science-technology-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/10\/16\/science-technology-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawai\u02bbi <abbr>EPSCoR<\/abbr> seeks public input on state\u2019s new science and technology plan"},"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><figure id=\"attachment_117793\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-117793\" style=\"width: 676px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/hilo-coral-study-1.jpg\" alt=\"scuba divers taking photos of coral\" width=\"676\" height=\"381\" class=\"size-full wp-image-117793\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/hilo-coral-study-1.jpg 676w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/hilo-coral-study-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/hilo-coral-study-1-130x73.jpg 130w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-117793\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students from the <abbr>UH<\/abbr> Hilo <span lang=\"haw\">&#699;Ike<\/span> Wai Summer Research Experience survey coral health and collect imagery for <abbr>3D<\/abbr> reconstruction on coral reefs off the Kona coast.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2019s research community and residents are being asked to help shape the state\u2019s next five-year Science &#38; Technology (S&#38;T) Plan. <a href=\"https:\/\/hawaii.edu\/epscor\/\"><span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> <abbr>EPSCoR<\/abbr><\/a> (Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research), managed by the University of <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>, is gathering public input through an online survey to identify priorities that will guide future research and innovation across the islands.<\/p>\n<h2>Help shape <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2019s science future<\/h2>\n<p>The S&#38;T Plan is set to launch in 2026. Community input is being gathered through a brief, 15-question online survey. The survey is open to researchers, educators, policymakers, industry professionals and community members statewide.<\/p>\n<p>The deadline to participate in the survey is October 31.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/go.hawaii.edu\/cbm\"><strong>Take the survey here<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The S&#38;T plan will serve as a strategic roadmap for <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2019s research and innovation priorities in light of recent changes to National Science Foundation (<abbr>NSF<\/abbr>) and <abbr>EPSCoR<\/abbr> program policies. Once completed, it will reflect <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2019s unique needs, perspectives, strengths and opportunities in science and technology, and align the state\u2019s priorities with federal research opportunities.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;This planning process is critical to keeping <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> competitive for major federal research awards, which bring in millions of dollars into the state to the growth of local science and innovation,&rdquo; said <abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> Interim Vice President for Research and Innovation Chad Walton, who also serves on <abbr>EPSCoR<\/abbr>\/IdeA Foundation Board of Directors. &ldquo;We encourage representatives for all sectors and the community to participate, as your insight is essential to strengthening <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2019s research and development ecosystem and improving our competitiveness for federal research funding.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>For more about the <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> <abbr>EPSCoR<\/abbr> program or the S&#38;T plan, contact Walton at <a href=\"mailto:cwalton@hawaii.edu\">cwalton@hawaii.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>For an island state like <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>, fresh water is a precious commodity. It is life. That is why in 2016, the <abbr>NSF<\/abbr> awarded <abbr>UH<\/abbr> a five-year $20 million grant for its <span lang=\"haw\">&#699;Ike<\/span> Wai (knowledge of fresh water) project to conduct geophysical research to better understand the dynamics of freshwater aquifers around the state. In addition to providing updated information on water flows and capacities, the study helped to more accurately map the contaminant flow from subsequent leaks into the aquifer that contributed to the eventual shutdown of the U.S. Navy\u2019s Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility on <span lang=\"haw\">O&#699;ahu<\/span> in 2022.<\/p>\n<p><abbr>NSF<\/abbr> provided this grant through <abbr>EPSCoR<\/abbr>, a federal initiative designed to enhance research capabilities and foster innovation in states or territories that historically receive a smaller share of federal research funding. Its mission is to broaden the distribution of federal research dollars, while strengthening both local and national research infrastructure and capacity. The <abbr>UH<\/abbr> System oversees and provides administrative support for <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> <abbr>EPSCoR<\/abbr> initiatives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Science &#38; Technology Plan is set to launch in 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":117793,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[61,62,1505,63,64,65,1467,1363,1600,1579,71,14,9,60,947,59,66],"class_list":["post-223803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-hawaii-community-college","tag-honolulu-community-college","tag-innovation","tag-kapiolani-community-college","tag-kauai-community-college","tag-leeward-community-college","tag-manoa-excellence-in-research","tag-manoa-research","tag-public-impact-research","tag-research","tag-uh-community-colleges","tag-uh-hilo","tag-uh-manoa","tag-maui-college","tag-uh-system","tag-uh-west-oahu","tag-windward-community-college","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/hilo-coral-study-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223803","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=223803"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":223815,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223803\/revisions\/223815"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}