Kaʻū News Briefs, Saturday, Dec. 31, 2022

Small cottage, big fireworks under the New Years Eve midnight moon in Pāhala, with 2023 coming on. Photo by Julia Neal

UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI'I GREETS THE NEW YEAR WITH NEW FUNDING that involves many community partnerships. UH is a major research institution and economic generator for the state, said Congressman Ed Case. The funds that he initiated and supported are included in the Fiscal Year 2023 Omnibus Appropriations measure recently passed by Congress and signed into law by President Biden. “This funding measure continues to showcase a very productive partnership between our Hawai’i congressional delegation and UH, our flagship institution of higher education and engine of our economy, with its excellent record of attracting hundreds of millions in research funding,” said Case.
    In the funding package includes $38 million for the U.S. Geological Survey Volcano Hazards Program, which provides continuing support to the UH Hilo Center for the Study of Active Volcanoes. There is $83 million for the U.S. Geological Survey’s Climate Adaptation Science Centers, which includes the Pacific Islands Climate Adaptation Science Center based out of UH Mānoa. These Centers provide regionally relevant scientific information, tools and techniques to resource managers and communities in Hawai‘i in response to our changing climate.

Triple works of fire above Pāhala New Years Eve. Photo by Julia Neal

    There is $1 million for UH’s Office of Indigenous Innovation to establish an indigenous data science hub to engage students in experiential learning opportunities and foster collaboration between indigenous researchers and cultural practitioners in developing community-derived, culturally grounded and globally relevant climate resilience strategies. The hub will be in North Kohala.
    A $24 million allocation supports the Strengthening Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions program, a $3 million increase from last year. This program provides funding support to institutions of higher education in the States of Alaska and Hawai‘i including UH to improve and expand their capacity to serve Native Hawaiian students. An $18 million allocation is for the Strengthening Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions program, an $8 million increase from last year. These funds help undergraduate institutions like UH expand their capacity to serve Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander students.
    Funds totaling $28 million for the Centers of Excellence program, a $4 million increase from last year, supports health professions schools across the country, including the Native Hawaiian Center of Excellence at the University of Hawai‘i John A. Burns School of Medicine, that seek to recruit, train and retain underrepresented minority students and faculty.
    Another $4 million supports work of the Center for Indigenous Innovation and Health Equity at UH in advancing indigenous research and policy solutions to achieve health equity.

A fireball on the street in Pāhala New Years Eve. Photo by Julia Neal

    Funding includes $6.5 million for the UH Center to complete construction of the Early Phase Clinical Research Center on its Kaka‘ako campus. The 17,000 square foot outpatient early phase clinical trial clinic—the first of its kind in State of Hawai‘i—will provide Hawai‘i cancer patients who have exhausted traditional treatments with greater access to novel clinical trials across multiple disciplines. The funds include $1.8 million for the Hawai‘i Public Health Institute to develop and train navigators to support kūpuna and family caregivers. It is a joint initiative between UH-Mānoa and HawaiʻiPublic Health Institute.
    The funding includes $101 million for the National Domestic Preparedness Consortium, which includes the National Disaster Preparedness Training Center at UH Mānoa. NDPC, a seven-member professional alliance, is the principal means through which the Federal Emergency Management Agency identifies, develops, tests and delivers training to state and local emergency responders. NDPC has trained over 2.5 million people throughout the United States and its territories.
    “In my work on the House Appropriations Committee, I know that if I support these programs at the national level then UH and other Hawai‘i institutions and communities will benefit locally,” said Case. Such programs of benefit to UH include:
   An allocation for $470 million for Advanced Research Projects – Energy and High Energy Physics, which directly supports groundbreaking research at UH aimed at rapidly developing energy technologies that can address the nation’s critical economic, environmental and energy security challenges; $144 million for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Engagement, an increase of $7 million above the FY 2022 enacted level, to inspire young people to pursue future careers in science and engineering. This includes $45 million for NASA’s Minority University Research and Education Project, which funds Hawai‘i STEM programs.

Aerials big and all over the sky in Pāhala New Years Eve. Photo by Julia Neal