{"id":224274,"date":"2025-10-26T08:30:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T18:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=224274"},"modified":"2025-10-27T14:53:58","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T00:53:58","slug":"c-more-hale-15th-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/10\/26\/c-more-hale-15th-anniversary\/","title":{"rendered":"UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa\u2019s C-MORE<\/abbr> Hale marks 15 years of world-class ocean science"},"content":{"rendered":"
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C-MORE<\/abbr> Hale<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n[vc_row][vc_video link=”https:\/\/youtube.com\/shorts\/KG4WBk495LU” el_aspect=”916″ align=”right” el_id=”wrap-video-right”]\n

The University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at Mānoa\u2019s Daniel K. Inouye Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education (C-MORE<\/abbr>) Hale<\/a> celebrated its 15th anniversary on October 25, marking a decade and a half of cutting-edge discovery and sustainable design.<\/p>\n

Opened in 2010, the 26,997-square-foot facility has become a hub for groundbreaking research on marine microbes—organisms that play a vital role in the health of the planet\u2019s oceans and climate. The state-of-the-art building houses laboratories, offices and a conference center designed to foster collaboration among scientists across disciplines and time zones. Its 50-seat auditorium supports video conferencing and live webcasting, connecting researchers around the world.<\/p>\n

In 2012, C-MORE<\/abbr> Hale was the first research laboratory building in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> to achieve LEED<\/abbr> Platinum certification for environmental design<\/a>. The facility incorporates energy-efficient systems and low-flow plumbing. It also features smart lighting controls and water recycling technologies that reduce potable water use by nearly half. The building\u2019s innovative design earned multiple awards, including the Kukulu Hale Award for new commercial projects in 2011.<\/p>\n

Leading research in microbial oceanography<\/h2>\n
\"David
David Karl<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

David M. Karl, C-MORE<\/abbr>\u2019s founding director, member of the National Academy of Sciences and a professor of oceanography<\/a> at UH<\/abbr> Mānoa, was instrumental in securing the 10-year, $36.8 million National Science Foundation (NSF<\/abbr>) grant in 2006 that led to its establishment as an NSF<\/abbr> Science and Technology Center. The center unites specialists in biology, chemistry, oceanography and engineering from six partner institutions. Together, these teams investigate the structure, diversity and metabolic function of marine microbes—from those that use sunlight to generate energy to others that recycle organic matter and drive global nutrient cycles.<\/p>\n

Beyond the facility itself, Karl and C-MORE<\/abbr> have positioned UH<\/abbr> Mānoa as a global leader in microbial oceanography by successfully establishing a link between molecular-level biology and large-scale ocean processes. His pioneering research on marine microbes and their role in global biogeochemical cycles has shaped modern understanding of how ocean life regulates Earth\u2019s climate. Today, Karl continues to play a key role in advancing microbial oceanography worldwide.<\/p>\n

“The opportunities that have been sustained by the investment in C-MORE<\/abbr> Hale have put Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> on the map of ocean research,” Karl said. “UH<\/abbr> is now recognized as one of the top institutions in the world to study microbial oceanography, and we are also training the next generation of leaders. The future is today.”<\/p>\n

Modeling the future of Earth\u2019s oceans<\/h2>\n

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C-MORE<\/abbr>\u2019s integrated research program is organized around four themes: microbial biodiversity, metabolism and nutrient flow, remote and continuous sensing of ocean processes, and ecosystem modeling and prediction. This approach allows scientists to explore how marine microorganisms influence climate, carbon storage and energy transfer within ocean ecosystems. The center\u2019s work has advanced predictive models of how marine environments respond to environmental change, establishing UH<\/abbr> Mānoa as a key contributor to global ocean science.<\/p>\n

“C-MORE<\/abbr> Hale encompasses all the success in microbial oceanography and David Karl is the founder for microbial oceanography,” UH<\/abbr> Mānoa Interim Provost Vassilis L. Syrmos said. “He has brought funding—tens of millions of dollars to support this from the National Science Foundation, from the Moore Foundation, so private, public, federal, state, you name it. It is an unbelievable project. He has created a program that is second to none, not only here in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> and in the continent, but in the world.”<\/p>\n

Karl was instrumental in the establishment of an open ocean time-series, called the Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Ocean Time-Series, as a sentinel for observing the effects of climate on the structure and function of microbial communities. C-MORE<\/abbr>\u2019s long-term research station, Station ALOHA<\/a>, located about 60 miles north of Oʻahu<\/span>, was designated a Milestones in Microbiology Site<\/a> by the American Society for Microbiology in 2015. The recognition honored UH<\/abbr>\u2019s historic contributions to understanding marine microbial life and its role in maintaining planetary habitability.<\/p>\n

Building Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2019s future in ocean science<\/h2>\n

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In addition to its research mission, C-MORE<\/abbr> supports education and outreach programs that inspire future ocean scientists and engage the public in microbial ecology. These efforts span from pre-college curricula and teacher training to graduate and postdoctoral research opportunities, helping to strengthen the next generation of oceanographers.<\/p>\n

C-MORE<\/abbr> Hale\u2019s naming under the Daniel K. Inouye Legacy Program honors the late senator\u2019s lifelong commitment to advancing science and education in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

During C-MORE<\/abbr> Hale\u2019s 15th anniversary, many students and staff are aboard the R\/V Kilo Moana<\/em>, a 186-foot UH<\/abbr> Mānoa research vessel that supports the center\u2019s oceanographic missions by serving as a mobile platform for sampling, experiments and data collection at sea. Karl said a formal celebration to mark the milestone is planned for later this fall.<\/p>\n

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Opened in 2010, the 26,997-square-foot facility has become a hub for groundbreaking research on marine microbes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":224282,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[257,733,1467,1363,175,262,799,107,92,9],"class_list":["post-224274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-center-for-microbial-oceanography-research-and-education","tag-hawaii-ocean-time-series","tag-manoa-excellence-in-research","tag-manoa-research","tag-marine-biology","tag-marine-science","tag-ocean-microorganisms","tag-oceanography","tag-school-of-ocean-and-earth-science-and-technology","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/manoa-cmore-hale-15th-anniversary.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224274","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=224274"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":224393,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224274\/revisions\/224393"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}