Hawaiʻi鈥檚 economy has slowed this year under the weight of war-driven oil prices and an unusually active storm season, including two hurricanes within three weeks, according to the 鈥檚 (糖心视频ERO) quarter 3 forecast for 2026.

Real GDP growth will fall to about half a percent in 2026, from more than 3% last year, and payroll employment will edge lower. 糖心视频ERO expects gradual relief as energy prices ease and storm recovery proceeds, with growth and hiring firming in 2027 and 2028. An aging, shrinking population will keep job gains modest, and continued AI investment offers upside potential for incomes, although the extent remains uncertain.

“Overall, we expect 2027 to bring gradual economic improvement to the state as energy prices and storm effects recede, although the persistent Middle East conflict remains a primary risk, together with election-related policy uncertainty,” 糖心视频ERO wrote. “Slowly declining population will mean a tepid trend employment path, while AI adoption could provide a potential upside income surprise in the years ahead.”

Takeaways from the September 25 report:

• The U.S. economy continues to grow about 1.5–2%, supported by higher-income households benefiting from AI-related wealth gains and to some extent by the AI buildout. High fuel and other prices strain lower-income families. With core inflation above its 2% target, the Federal Reserve began to raise the federal funds interest rate at its September meeting. Long-term rates have already surged, pushing mortgage rates higher. Growth abroad remains soft, with Canada facing new U.S. tariffs, China growing at its slowest pace since the pandemic, and high oil prices weighing on many trading partners.
• Hawaiʻi tourism faced dual headwinds this year from surging fuel costs and a parade of storms. Hurricane Lowell鈥檚 September brush with Kauaʻi will cut that county鈥檚 arrivals by more than 6% for the year. Statewide visitor arrivals will decline just over half a percent for the year as a whole, while a sharp drop in reported length of stay will pull the average daily visitor census down more than 6%. Maui tourism continues to recover, and 糖心视频ERO expects modest statewide arrivals growth to resume in 2027 and 2028 as energy prices ease and storm effects fade.
• Hawaiʻi鈥檚 job growth has stalled. Maui is the only county that 糖心视频ERO expects to see net gains this year. Weak labor demand, rather than a shortage of workers, is the main story: job postings are down and the unemployment rate has edged up to a still-low 2.7%. Real wage gains have been modest and uneven across industries. Statewide payroll employment will contract slightly this year before a small 2027 rebound, and income growth will slow before recovering.
• Honolulu inflation reached 5.6% over the 12 months ending in July, driven by the energy price surge and continued shelter cost increases. 糖心视频ERO expects inflation to average 4.8% in 2026, easing to 3.3% in 2027 as these pressures fade.
• Construction remains a significant contributor to the state economy, supported by ongoing large federal military projects, the Honolulu Skyline rail project, the Kapālama port upgrade and private condominium development. Construction employment has flattened but should remain above 40,000 workers for some years to come, even as the public infrastructure cycle gradually passes its peak. Changes to federal law and a potential new local financing tool will support more housing development.
• Housing affordability remains strained even though prices have stayed largely flat this year. High mortgage rates—now about 7%—have pushed up monthly payments, and Hawaiʻi鈥檚 already-high condo fees could rise further under new federal funding rules. Rebuilding from this year鈥檚 storms adds near-term costs for the state and counties, particularly because of long lags in the release of federal recovery funds.

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糖心视频ERO is housed in 糖心视频 Mānoa鈥檚 .

A multi-year University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa research project exploring the largely hidden biodiversity of Hawaiʻi Island鈥檚 lava tubes is coming to life for the public through a new exhibit at the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum.

The exhibit features a lava tube “caving” experience, examples of Hawaiʻi鈥檚 cave biodiversity and information about how scientists discover and name new species. It also highlights the development of Hawaiian names for cave species through collaboration with members of the Papahānaumokuākea Native Hawaiian Cultural Working Group Nomenclature Hui.

糖心视频 Mānoa researchers Rebecca Chong and Megan Porter have played leading roles in renovating ʻAʻaʻā o Hawaiʻi: Cave Bugs of Hawaiʻi, an exhibit in Bishop Museum鈥檚 Richard T. Mamiya Science Adventure Center. The exhibit gives visitors an opportunity to explore the unique ecosystems found beneath Hawaiʻi Island鈥檚 surface and learn about the scientists working to understand them.

“It鈥檚 exciting to see years of research transformed into something that people can experience for themselves,” said Chong, an associate professor in the School of Life Sciences. “These lava tubes contain species found nowhere else in the world, and this exhibit gives us a chance to share what we鈥檝e learned while helping people understand why these ecosystems are so important.”

Porter, a professor and associate director of research in the School of Life Sciences, said the exhibit represents another important step in the research process.

“Discovering a species is only the beginning,” Porter said. “We want to document these organisms, understand their ecosystems and preserve that knowledge for future scientists. Working with Bishop Museum allows us to bring that knowledge out of the caves and into the community.”

Uncovering hidden ecosystems

Chong and Porter have spent years exploring lava tubes, documenting cave-adapted arthropods and working with collaborators to understand how these underground ecosystems function. Their research has helped identify species new to science and expand knowledge of how native ʻōhiʻa forests support life underground.

The project began in 2022 with a multi-year, $1.29 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant awarded to Chong and Porter, along with collaborator Annette Engel of the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.

As the NSF-funded project concludes in 2027, the Bishop Museum exhibit provides a public-facing culmination of that work, connecting scientific discovery, museum collections, cultural knowledge and community outreach.

“Lava tube ecosystems are incredibly understudied, and there is still so much we don鈥檛 know,” Porter said. “We hope that by sharing what we鈥檝e discovered, we can inspire people to be curious about these remarkable places and support the next generation of scientists who will continue this work.”

The exhibit is now on permanent display at the Bishop Museum鈥檚 Science Adventure Center. The School of Life Sciences is housed in 糖心视频 Mānoa鈥檚 .

A University of Hawaiʻi at 惭腻苍辞补 researcher has received three years of National Institutes of Health (NIH) support to establish his own laboratory at the (JABSOM), following six months without a paycheck amid disruptions to federal research funding.

Jonathan Yap was awarded a two-part grant designed to help researchers transition from mentored training to running an independent lab. This funding will enable Yap to continue studying novel strategies to help the heart recover following a heart attack.

“It was a battle really. It was a hard-fought battle,” Yap said. “We just didn’t stop, and I think that’s what got us here today.”

Yap initially received the K99 phase while working under JABSOM Professor William Boisvert to study tristetraprolin (TTP), a protein that may reduce post-heart attack inflammation. The grant allows him to expand this research in his own lab.

Finding a path forward

Yap was originally awarded funding in 2023. However, 2025 federal policy changes disrupted that pathway, preventing a smooth transition to the independent phase when his original grant ended in May.

“For about six months I was unemployed,” Yap said. “I kinda just hung in there and kinda just kept going with what minimal things I could do in the lab at the time.”

Any achievement that I’ve reached in my life has never been done alone.
—Jonathan Yap

Determined not to let his research stall, JABSOM and 糖心视频 惭腻苍辞补 leaders worked to support his transition. Yap was hired as a JABSOM faculty member in February, enabling him to officially submit his successful grant application.

As a Native Hawaiian scientist, this perseverance has long defined Yap’s journey. After a body-surfing accident left him quadriplegic years before entering research, he originally joined JABSOM as a volunteer, gradually working his way up to postdoctoral researcher and now faculty member.

Today, Yap is preparing his laboratory in JABSOM‘s Biomedical Sciences Building, where he will continue his heart research while mentoring the next generation of scientists.

“There will always be adversity,” Yap said. “I feel like that’s one constant, and that one constant that accompanies achievement is adversity. Any achievement that I’ve reached in my life has never been done alone. It鈥檚 always been facilitated and required the assistance and really selflessness of others. And for that, I’m eternally grateful.”

The University of Hawaiʻi鈥檚 three 4-year universities earned national recognition in the released September 22, with 糖心视频 West Oʻahu earning two second-place regional rankings and two additional top-10 rankings.

, and were ranked among the country鈥檚 top 4-year institutions by U.S. News and World Report out of based on nearly 20 categories (depending on program ranking), including graduation and retention rates, peer assessments, academic and financial resources and student excellence.

“Recognition from U.S. News and World Report reflects the many ways the University of Hawaiʻi is serving students and the state,” 糖心视频 President Wendy Hensel said. “From academic programs and student support to opportunities that help students move into careers and build better lives for themselves and their families, these results highlight the strength and value of a University of Hawaiʻi education. We are proud of the work happening across our universities, community colleges and learning centers, and remain committed to providing opportunities for students at every level of higher education.”

The in the 糖心视频 Mānoa ranked No. 23 among the best programs in the nation. Shidler College also came in at No. 129 (tied) among the best undergraduate business programs out of 535 ranked undergraduate business programs.

The flagship campus of the 糖心视频 System ranked No. 96 (tied) as a top U.S. public university; No. 128 for best colleges for veterans; No. 186 (tied) overall in the country; and No. 196 (tied) in social mobility, which measures how well schools graduated students who were federal Pell Grant recipients. 糖心视频 Mānoa was ranked among the national universities category—featuring institutions that offer a range of undergraduate majors, plus master’s and doctoral programs, and emphasize faculty research.

The is the No. 94 (tied) best undergraduate nursing program among 671 ranked undergraduate nursing programs.

The ranked No. 140 (tied) for best undergraduate economics programs in the nation, and the ranked No. 189 (tied) out of the top 676 best undergraduate psychology programs in the nation. Both departments are housed in the .

The placed No. 146 (tied) among the best undergraduate engineering programs that offer doctoral degrees in the country.

The in the ranked as the No. 173 (tied) best undergraduate computer science program out of 587 ranked programs.

“糖心视频 Mānoa鈥檚 strong showing reflects the depth and breadth of a flagship institution that combines outstanding undergraduate education with nationally recognized research and professional programs,” said 糖心视频 Mānoa Chancellor Vassilis L. Syrmos. “Our faculty, staff, and students should all take pride in their hard work and dedication that led to these results, which can also be attributed to the many unique opportunities we are able to provide to students across our campus and in the field. I’m very pleased to see the fruits of our labor reflected in these rankings by U.S. News and World Report.”

糖心视频 Hilo ranked among the top national liberal arts colleges—a category that compares institutions across the country, rather than within a single region—that focus almost exclusively on undergraduate education and that tend to award most of their degrees in the arts and sciences. In that category, 糖心视频 Hilo ranked No. 17 as a top public school, No. 77 (tied) for social mobility and No. 153 overall.

糖心视频 贬颈濒辞鈥檚 is the No. 195 (tied) best undergraduate nursing program in the country among 671 ranked undergraduate nursing programs, the ranked No. 255 (tied) out of the top 676 undergraduate psychology programs in the nation, and the placed No. 301 (tied) out of 535 ranked undergraduate business programs.

“We鈥檙e proud to see 糖心视频 Hilo recognized among the nation鈥檚 leading liberal arts colleges,” 糖心视频 Hilo Chancellor Bonnie D. Irwin said. “This recognition reflects the dedication of our faculty, staff and students and the high-quality education and experiences we provide. It鈥檚 a testament to the strong community we鈥檝e built at 糖心视频 Hilo and our commitment to student success.”

糖心视频 West Oʻahu ranked No. 2 (tied) for top public colleges in the West and best colleges for veterans among regional colleges in the West, No. 8 for social mobility for regional colleges in the West and No. 9 (tied) overall among regional colleges in the West.

“These rankings are a reflection of the outstanding work happening every day at 糖心视频 West Oʻahu,” 糖心视频 West Oʻahu Interim Chancellor Carlos Peñaloza said. “Our faculty and staff are dedicated to providing students with a high-quality education and the support they need to succeed. We鈥檙e proud of our students and grateful to everyone who contributes to their success.”

Ranking categories

糖心视频 Mānoa was ranked in the national universities category, which featured institutions that offer a range of undergraduate majors, plus master’s and doctoral programs, and emphasize faculty research.

糖心视频 Hilo was ranked in the national liberal arts colleges category, which featured institutions that focus almost exclusively on undergraduate education and tend to award most of their degrees in the arts and sciences.

糖心视频 West Oʻahu was ranked in the regional colleges in the West category, which includes schools that focus on undergraduate education and grant fewer than 50% of their degrees in liberal arts disciplines.

The University of Hawaiʻi has announced that Denichiro “Denny” Otsuga has been appointed as director of the (OIC), which is housed under the , effective September 21.

In his new role, Otsuga will be responsible for the management of intellectual property and 糖心视频-developed technology assets, including engaging researchers to identify promising innovations and helping guide those innovations through intellectual property protection, licensing and other commercialization pathways. He will also be responsible for technology evaluation and marketing, venture creation, promoting industry engagement and the development of commercial partnerships to help stimulate economic growth.

Otsuga will also oversee efforts to help educate and mentor 糖心视频 faculty, students, researchers and alumni to successfully navigate the complex commercialization process through OIC and 糖心视频鈥檚 suite of accelerator and innovation-based programs and initiatives.

“What excites me most is the extraordinary opportunity to build on 糖心视频鈥檚 research strengths and ongoing innovation efforts to expand the translation of new knowledge into practical solutions, new ventures and meaningful partnerships,” said Otsuga. “I look forward to working alongside faculty, students, staff, industry and community partners to strengthen pathways for 糖心视频 innovations and expand their economic and societal impact for Hawaiʻi and beyond.”

Decades of experience

Otsuga comes to 糖心视频 after most recently serving as an independent advisor in university technology transfer, venture creation, equity financing for technology startups and innovation ecosystem development. His 20-plus years of combined experience includes stops as chief investment officer for Kobe University and Kobe University Innovation, Inc.; vice president of Colorado State University Ventures, Inc.; executive director of the Technology Commercialization Office at the University of Kentucky; founding director of the Technology Transfer Office at South Dakota State University; and as licensing manager of the Technology Transfer Office at the University of Utah.

“Denny鈥檚 diverse background in science, university tech transfer and venture capital experience will help to serve as a catalyst to turn our laboratory breakthroughs into market-ready solutions,” said 糖心视频 Vice President for Research and Innovation Chad B. Walton. “His understanding of the unique language spoken by researchers and commercial investors will be invaluable in our push to establish a knowledge-based economy for the state, and at the same time, helping to develop solutions that can be used here and around the world.”

Otsuga earned his bachelor of science in biology and PhD in molecular genetics from the University of Utah. A Registered Technology Transfer Professional, Otsuga has authored technology transfer and policy publications, presented at the Association of University Technology Managers and the University Network of Innovation and Technology Transfer, and served as a reviewer for the National Science Foundation鈥檚 I-Corps and the U.S. Department of Agriculture鈥檚 Small Business Innovation Research and Sun Grant programs.

The National Institutes of Health has awarded the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa nearly $5.9 million through two grants to continue and expand the (MauiWES), Hawaiʻi鈥檚 largest and most comprehensive disaster health cohort.

The new funding from the (NIMHD) will allow researchers to continue following adults affected by the August 2023 Maui wildfires and expand the study to 800 children, creating an unprecedented opportunity to understand how a major disaster affects physical health, mental health, development and recovery over many years.

Together, the awards will extend MauiWES through 2031—eight years after the fires.

“These awards transform MauiWES from an emergency response into a long-term commitment to Maui,” said Ruben Juarez, 鈥�HMSA Distinguished Endowed Professor of Health Economics and co-principal investigator of MauiWES. “We began studying families within months of the fires. Now we can follow them for years to understand which health problems persist, who is recovering and what we can do to better protect communities after future disasters.”

MauiWES impact

MauiWES was launched following the August 8, 2023 wildfires and enrolled approximately 1,800 adults and 200 children from wildfire-affected communities, including Lahaina and Kula, during its first year. The study brings together health screenings and biological monitoring with information on environmental exposures, mental health, housing, displacement and economic recovery.

What began as an emergency response supported by the State of Hawaiʻi, the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation and Kaiser Permanente Hawaiʻi has now grown into a long-term, federally funded effort to understand the health consequences of the Maui wildfires.

MauiWES has already translated its early community investment into measurable scientific and health impact. Across three annual community reports—2024, 2025 and 2026—the study has documented persistent respiratory and mental health challenges, housing instability and barriers to care as families recover. Findings published in and have further documented the lasting health effects of the fires and the critical roles of displacement, economic disruption and social support in recovery.

To date, MauiWES has connected hundreds of participants to healthcare and mental health services, and has now provided more than 4,000 appointments and screenings to more than 2,500 residents, returning health information and referrals directly to the community.

Following Maui survivors through recovery

The first award, R33MD019793, The Maui Wildfire Exposure Cohort Study on Community Health and Resilience, provides approximately $2.2 million over three years to continue following roughly 1,000 adults affected by the wildfires through 2029.

Participants receive comprehensive health assessments that include lung function testing, blood pressure, mental health screening and biological samples. Researchers also track housing, employment, displacement and other measures of recovery. By following the same people over time, MauiWES can move beyond a snapshot of the disaster to answer a bigger question: How does health change as families rebuild their lives?

Expanding MauiWES to children

The second award, R01MD021757, Evaluating the Health and Developmental Impacts of Wildfire Exposure on Children, provides approximately $3.7 million over five years and extends the MauiWES program through 2031.

The project will expand MauiWES to 800 children (400 children affected by the wildfires and 400 unexposed children for comparison) and follow them over several years. Researchers will examine lung and cardiovascular health, mental health, environmental exposures, stress, cognitive development, school attendance and academic performance. Early findings show why long-term follow-up is important. Among approximately 200 children evaluated after the fires, MauiWES researchers found high levels of symptoms of depression and anxiety, probable PTSD, and evidence of airway obstruction.

“Children are especially important to follow because their lungs, brains and bodies are still developing,” said Alika Maunakea, professor at the and co-principal investigator of MauiWES. “By looking at environmental exposures, health, stress, and education together, we can better understand how the wildfire may shape their development as well as identify ways families, schools, and health systems can support their recovery.”

From Maui to a national model

A major strength of MauiWES is that researchers began collecting detailed health information and biological samples shortly after the disaster, creating an early baseline that can now be connected with years of follow-up. MauiWES is among the earliest cohorts established after a wildfire disaster to collect both biomedical samples and health screening data, providing important baseline information that can be compared with participants鈥� health trajectories over time.

With the new awards, MauiWES will combine long-term data from the participants, creating a comprehensive picture of how disaster affects people and families across generations. The goal is not only to understand what happened in Maui, but to turn those lessons into better health screening, clinical care, school support, disaster-response, and prevention-oriented strategies for communities in Hawaiʻi and across the country.

The MauiWES team emphasized that the study would not be possible without the thousands of Maui residents who have participated and the community organizations, health care providers and local leaders who have supported the effort since the fires.

Research reported in this release is supported by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health under award numbers R33MD019793 and R01MD021757. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Read more about MauiWES on 糖心视频 News.

Two researchers at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (SOEST) have been selected to receive National Science Foundation (NSF) EPSCoR Research Fellows awards.

The awards will support Helen Janiszewski of the and Lenore Pipes of the (PBRC) as they develop new directions in fiber-optic geophysical sensing and reconstructing ancient marine ecosystems.

“What鈥檚 exciting about these fellowships is that they give Helen and Lenore the opportunity to take their research in new directions and build on that work at SOEST,” said Rebecca Chung, SOEST director of research development, who worked with Janiszewski and Pipes on developing their fellowship proposals.

Turning submarine cables into seismic sensors

Janiszewski, an associate professor of earth sciences, will lead a project focused on distributed acoustic sensing (DAS)—a technology that enables telecommunications fiber-optic cables to function as dense, continuous arrays of seismic sensors. This work has potential applications for earthquake and tsunami hazard research in Hawaiʻi.

Despite Hawaiʻi sitting at the nexus of the Pacific submarine cable network, local DAS infrastructure and expertise remain limited. Janiszewski aims to establish the technical and collaborative foundation necessary to develop DAS capability at 糖心视频 惭腻苍辞补, enabling her to lead fiber-optic sensing research and education in Hawaiʻi and the broader Pacific. Janiszewski will use the pilot data to build an initial seismic event catalog for the Hawaiʻi region, establishing workflows that can be expanded to additional cable systems as they become available.

Unlocking biological history from ancient marine sediments

Pipes, an assistant professor in PBRC, will develop computational methods to recover biological information from ancient DNA preserved in seafloor sediments, helping to reconstruct past marine communities and build historical baselines for understanding how ocean biodiversity responds to climate change.

In standard marine environments, ancient DNA preserved in deep-sea sediments degrades into extremely short, damaged fragments. Current methods can mistake that damage for evolutionary change, making it difficult to accurately identify the organisms represented in the samples. Pipes will develop new computational methods that account for ancient DNA damage. The approach could recover highly degraded genetic material.

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About 12,000 low-income households across Hawaiʻi rely on Housing Choice Vouchers, commonly known as Section 8, to help pay rent. But a new (糖心视频ERO) report finds the program is facing growing financial pressure as rising rents make it increasingly expensive to help families.

Federal spending on Hawaiʻi鈥檚 tenant-based vouchers more than tripled from about $55 million in 2003 to approximately $170 million in 2024, which represents a 70% increase even after accounting for inflation. Yet the number of families receiving assistance has grown only modestly.

The reason is simple: Hawaiʻi rents have climbed dramatically.

Voucher households generally pay about 30% of their adjusted income toward rent and utilities, with the government covering much of the remaining cost. But as rents rise while many participants鈥� incomes remain relatively flat, taxpayers must cover a growing share of the cost just to maintain assistance for roughly the same number of families.

The stakes extend beyond the families currently receiving help. Only about one in five income-eligible households in Hawaiʻi receives a voucher, leaving thousands of others waiting for assistance that may not become available for years.

“As rents rise, more federal funding is needed just to maintain the program, making it harder to expand assistance to the thousands of Hawaiʻi families still waiting for help,” said lead author JoonYup Park, an assistant professor at 糖心视频ERO and , who holds the Hawaiʻi Community Reinvestment Corporation Professorship in Affordable Housing.

The program is also becoming an increasingly important pathway out of homelessness. About one in five households newly admitted to the program was experiencing homelessness, compared with roughly one in 20 in the mid-2000s.

In addition, receiving a voucher does not automatically mean a family has housing. Households generally have 60 to 120 days to find a rental that meets program requirements and has a landlord willing to accept the voucher. If they cannot, they can lose the voucher and return to the bottom of the waiting list.

Potential solutions

The report points to housing construction as one possible solution. More apartments and other housing can help slow rent increases and create more affordable options for voucher holders, reducing the amount of government assistance needed for each household. Helping families increase their incomes could also reduce reliance on subsidies and eventually free vouchers for others waiting for help.

“This research shows that Hawaiʻi鈥檚 housing affordability challenge cannot be solved by rental assistance alone,” Park said. “We need to think about how housing policy, economic opportunity and the structure of public benefits can work together to give more families a realistic path toward long-term housing stability.”

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糖心视频ERO and the Department of Urban and Regional Planning is housed in 糖心视频 Mānoa鈥檚 .

A University of Hawaiʻi at 惭腻苍辞补 study of high school football injuries nationwide found that a rule designed to reduce dangerous hits to the head did not lead to an increase in leg injuries, a potential consequence student researchers set out to examine.

The targeting rule, adopted in 2014, prohibits players from initiating forceful contact above an opponent鈥檚 shoulders. (JABSOM) students Nolan Tanji, Cameron Nishida, Philip Lee and Sasha Rovinsky wanted to know whether efforts to avoid the head and neck were causing players to tackle lower and shifting injuries to the legs.

“We were just thinking as people are avoiding the head and neck, they’re going to be tackling lower in the body, so maybe the injury burden might be getting shifted lower in the body,” Tanji said.

Thousands of injuries analyzed

The researchers analyzed high school football injuries among athletes ages 14–18 using a national database containing emergency department data from more than 100 hospitals across the country. They compared injuries from the five years before the targeting rule with the five years after it took effect.

The team reviewed more than 14,000 entries to determine how the injuries occurred.

Researchers identified 7,315 lower-extremity injury cases before the rule and 5,611 afterward. When used to estimate national totals, the numbers declined from about 242,000 injuries to 193,000.

“It was really surprising,” Tanji said. “It was something that was the complete 180 from what we were expecting before analyzing the data.”

The researchers cautioned that the targeting rule cannot be credited with causing the decline. Changes in training, injury prevention and equipment technology may have contributed.

The study also found that knee injuries represented a slightly larger share of lower-extremity injuries after the rule took effect, while the proportion involving collisions between players increased. The researchers said those findings warrant further study.

The database included only injuries treated in emergency departments and did not identify which positions the injured athletes played.

“It’s not completely safe but, you know, it’s looking promising for the future in terms of injuries in football,” Tanji said.

Investigating a hidden environmental health threat across Hawaiʻi—pollutants left behind by decades of agricultural and industrial activity, and whether wildfires and other disasters can bring those contaminants back into the environment and into people鈥檚 bodies—is the focus of a new University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai-led research project that received a five-year, $3.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The new study builds directly on the (MauiWES), 糖心视频鈥檚 longitudinal health study (a health study that follows participants over time) established after the 2023 Maui wildfires, and will expand that work to understand how Hawaiʻi鈥檚 historical environmental contamination may be affecting communities today.

The highly competitive NIH R01 grant, funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), will establish the Health and Environment Assessment Longitudinal (HEAL) cohort, following 1,000 Hawaiʻi residents over five years. It will be the first systematic investigation in Hawaiʻi of heart and lung health risks associated with these legacy pollutants, including arsenic, lead, dioxins and others related to “forever” chemicals.

The project, Impact of Legacy Pollutants on Cardiopulmonary Health Following Natural Disasters, is led by principal investigators Alika Maunakea, professor at the (JABSOM), Ruben Juarez, –HMSA Distinguished Endowed Professor of Health Economics at 糖心视频 Mānoa, and Alison Lee, a physician-scientist with ties to Hawaiʻi at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Hawaiʻi鈥檚 past may still be affecting health today

For generations, sugarcane shaped Hawaiʻi鈥檚 economy, communities and landscape. But that history also left behind contaminants that can remain in the environment for decades. Former agricultural areas may contain arsenic, lead, dioxins and other mixtures. Arsenic was historically used in pesticides and in canec, a sugarcane-based construction material once widely used in Hawaiʻi homes and buildings. The concern is not only what remains in the ground, but what happens when these hazards are spread by flood or wildfires.

The 2023 Maui wildfires burned homes, buildings and infrastructure in communities with a long agricultural history. Researchers want to understand whether intense fires can disturb contaminants that have remained in soil or older structures for decades, creating new pathways of human exposure.

“Hawaiʻi has environmental exposures that are deeply connected to our history, but we still know remarkably little about what they mean for health today,” Maunakea said. “MauiWES gave us an unprecedented window into what happens to health after a major wildfire. Now we can build on that foundation to ask a bigger question: Are pollutants left in our environment decades ago still affecting people today, and can disasters bring those risks back to the surface?”

MauiWES to a statewide environmental health study

The new cohort will build on the infrastructure, community partnerships and scientific foundation developed through MauiWES while expanding the research beyond wildfire exposure alone.

Over five years, researchers plan to enroll 1,000 people across four groups: people with little-known exposure to wildfire or legacy pollutants; residents near former sugarcane lands; people exposed to wildfire but with lower expected exposure to legacy pollutants; and people exposed to both wildfire and legacy pollutants.

Researchers will combine soil and water testing, biological samples, heart and lung assessments, community-engaged citizen science, and geographic mapping to answer important questions: What is in the environment, is it getting into people, and is it affecting their health? They will examine outcomes including lung function, blood pressure and inflammation.

“Wildfires can burn homes and infrastructure and disturb contaminants that have been sitting in our environment for generations,” Juarez said. “By connecting environmental samples with what we find in people鈥檚 bodies and their health, we can begin to understand that full chain of exposure. This can help us design approaches to mitigate such exposures and improve the health of our community.”

Finding Hawaiʻi鈥檚 hidden contamination with national implications

One major goal is to identify potential contamination hotspots near former sugarcane areas and determine whether people living near those areas have higher levels of pollutants in their soil, water or biological samples. Researchers will then examine whether those exposures are associated with poorer heart and lung health and whether legacy pollutants help explain some of the health effects associated with wildfire exposure.

“Most environmental health studies look at one exposure at a time,” Lee said. “But communities experience many exposures together. Hawaiʻi gives us an important opportunity to understand what happens when a major disaster occurs on top of decades of existing environmental contamination.”

The implications extend far beyond the islands. Across the U.S., wildfires are increasingly reaching communities where homes, vehicles, industrial materials and historical contamination can all become part of the disaster environment. The researchers hope the study can ultimately help Hawaiʻi identify where contamination remains, who may be most exposed and what can be done before the next disaster occurs—while providing a model for other communities facing similar risks nationwide.

The NIH R01 grant, funded by NIEHS, is under award number 1R01ES038296.

If you are trying to detect or bait little fire ants in your backyard, scientists at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa suggest swapping canned tuna packed in water for cooked beef and sunflower seeds, honey or peanut butter with oil.

The study, published in the , by researchers at the 糖心视频 Mānoa (CTAHR) revealed that the little fire ant鈥檚 (Allomerus auropunctatus, formerly known as Wasmannia auropunctata) preferred diet is not what scientists and homeowners previously thought. In laboratory food-choice tests, the tiny, stinging pests overwhelmingly chose cooked beef and sunflower seeds over water-packed tuna.

One of the world鈥檚 most damaging invasive species

The findings can help researchers and agencies managing invasive ants refine the food lures used for surveillance and bait development for little fire ants, one of the world鈥檚 top 100 most damaging invasive species. Little fire ants are established on Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi Island, Maui and Kauaʻi, where they sting adults, keiki and kūpuna, damage food crops, and cause painful eye injuries in pets.

Community members often use food lures to test for infestations. However, if the lure is less appealing than other competing food sources, fewer ants would be attracted to it, leading people to underestimate the infestation鈥檚 size.

Expanding menu of food lures

The research team from CTAHR鈥檚 Department of Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences (PEPS) evaluated worker ant behavior across 24 foods rich in protein-lipid, carbohydrates or fatty lipids in laboratory choice experiments to identify top attractants:

• Cooked beef was by far the favorite.
• Sunflower seeds, honey, and peanut butter followed as preferred by little fire ants.
• Water-packed tuna and peanut butter with the oil removed performed the worst.

The study shows that oil-depleted versions lack the critical lipids (fats) that little fire ants prefer.

“These findings build on and expand the food-lure approaches currently used in Hawaiʻi,” said Jia-Wei Tay, associate professor of urban entomology in PEPS.

The research was led by Aradhana Shrestha, a master’s student in PEPS, and Tay, and funded in part by the Hawaiʻi Invasive Species Council and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa has been awarded $999,997 from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to build a Tunable Photoionization Chemical Dynamics Facility—a powerful scientific facility that lets researchers closely examine chemical reactions, helping them understand not just what chemicals are produced and what happens during chemical reactions, but exactly how and why the reactions happen.

With the new facility, 糖心视频 researchers will be able to uncover the hidden processes behind chemical reactions—knowledge that could help advance cleaner energy technologies and lead to future scientific discoveries.

The new facility will bring together key chemical technologies under one roof:

• Tunable high-power lasers (powerful adjustable lasers used to precisely study molecules)
• Molecular-beam experiments (controlled streams of molecules used to study chemical reactions)
• Isomer-selective photoionization (a technique that distinguishes between molecules with the same ingredients but different structures)
• A chemical microreactor (a small device used to conduct chemical reactions under controlled conditions)
• Machine-learning-accelerated simulations (computer simulations that use AI to speed up predictions)

“This is an opportunity to build a novel capability from the ground up鈥攐ne that will be unique in the United States,” 糖心视频 Mānoa Professor Ralf I. Kaiser said. “We want to understand chemical reactions not simply by looking at what comes out at the end, but by determining the molecular processes that lead to the products we observe.”

Revealing how strong chemical bonds break

The facility鈥檚 first major research project will tackle a fundamental question with implications for cleaner energy technologies: How does hydrogen help break strong carbon–sulfur (C–S) bonds in sulfur-containing compounds widely found in petroleum-derived fuels?

Breaking strong C–S bonds could help improve cleaner fuel production, but scientists still do not fully understand how hydrogen helps break them. Researchers will investigate this process using precisely controlled clusters of titanium, aluminum and boron. By combining laboratory experiments, computer simulations and machine learning, the team aims to understand not just whether these bonds break, but why and how different chemical pathways make the reactions possible.

The project is led by Kaiser, with Professor Rui Sun, a former 糖心视频 Mānoa chemistry faculty member now at Iowa State University, serving as co-principal investigator, and Peng Xu of Ames National Laboratory as a collaborator.

“The power of this approach is that experiment and computation can work together,” Sun said. “The experiments tell us what the molecules are doing, while advanced simulations allow us to understand the underlying pathways and predict how changes in molecular structure can influence the reaction.”

A new scientific asset for Hawaiʻi and the nation

The DOE investment will establish a nationally unique research capability and creates a foundation for future studies of molecular reaction dynamics. For Hawaiʻi, the facility will expand advanced scientific infrastructure and provide undergraduate students, graduate students and postdoctoral researchers with hands-on training in molecular reaction dynamics, laser-based experimentation, photoionization, molecular-beam science, chemical microreactors and computational chemistry.

“This facility gives us the ability to ask questions that are extremely difficult to answer with conventional approaches,” Kaiser said. “We are building the experimental capability first, and that opens the door to discoveries that go beyond this initial research problem.”

The project will build not only new instrumentation, but also the scientific workforce needed to use and advance it. The collaboration with Ames National Laboratory will connect 糖心视频 Mānoa to the DOE national laboratory system and brings national-laboratory expertise into development of the new facility.

The project is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Basic Energy Sciences, Gas-Phase Chemical Physics program, through DOE EPSCoR, and by the Office of the Vice Provost for Research and Scholarship.

The Department of Chemistry is housed in 糖心视频 Mānoa‘s .

Hurricane Lowell鈥檚 close passage west of Kauaʻi and Niʻihau brought damaging winds, heavy rainfall with more than 23 inches recorded on Mount Waiʻaleʻale, and dangerous surf. To understand the storm’s full impact, a University of Hawaiʻi team reconstructed Hurricane Lowell hour by hour across Kauaʻi and the state using observations from the Hawaiʻi Mesonet, a statewide network of weather stations, alongside experimental high-resolution mapping tools.

Users can visit the newly launched Hurricane Lowell website to explore interactive wind and rainfall maps, station observations and satellite storm replays.

The most striking weather signal during the storm was the wind. At Līhuʻe Airport, the highest measured hourly average wind speed reached 56 mph late on September 7. However, because 碍补耻补ʻ颈鈥檚 weather stations are concentrated primarily at lower elevations, experimental high-resolution modeling was used to estimate conditions across remote terrain. The models suggest that winds over exposed high-elevation ridges were much stronger, locally exceeding 100 mph as the island鈥檚 steep topography accelerated airflow over ridges and through valleys.

Rainfall on Windward Oahu, Mount Waiʻaleʻale, Kauaʻi’s north shore

Rainfall across the western islands was also substantial throughout the event. On September 6, rainfall amounts of 5 inches or more along the Koʻolau Ridge sent flood waters down Waikāne and Waiahole Valleys on Oʻahu, forcing the closure of Kamehameha Highway.

On September 7, nearly all of Kauaʻi received more than 2 inches of rain, with many areas exceeding 5 inches. High-elevation and north shore sensors show Mount Waiʻaleʻale recorded more than 23 inches of rain on September 7, accumulating nearly 36 inches over the full three-day storm period. Meanwhile, on 碍补耻补ʻ颈鈥檚 north shore, where rising river waters forced the closure of Hanalei Bridge, the Hawaiʻi Mesonet stations at Waipā and Lower Limahuli recorded more than 14 and 17 inches of rainfall, respectively, during the storm.

Coastal impacts and interactive storm replay

The report also references information from Pacific Islands Ocean Observing System (PacIOOS) on the significant coastal hazards brought by the storm. Large surf and storm surge impacted south- and west-facing shores of Kauaʻi as the hurricane tracked to the west.

To make these complex meteorological observations accessible to the public and emergency responders, the 糖心视频 team launched a dedicated Hurricane Lowell website. The site features interactive graphics that allow users to follow Lowell鈥檚 winds and rainfall through time, compare ground station observations with mapped estimates, and replay the storm using Hawaiʻi Mesonet measurements integrated with Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-West satellite imagery.

A novel wastewater treatment solution currently undergoing evaluation at the Wahiawā Wastewater Treatment Plant on Oʻahu could offer a crucial, cost-effective path forward as Hawaiʻi faces a massive statewide infrastructure overhaul.

The Hawaiʻi Onsite Wastewater Technology Evaluation Program (HOWTEP) was officially launched during the Wastewater Innovation Tech Showcase on August 26, at the Wahiawā Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Executed by the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (WRRC), HOWTEP is a three-year pilot testing program funded by companion bills and . WRRC evaluates innovative systems and provides evaluation reports to the Hawaiʻi Department of Health to support their decision-making and certification process. This directly accelerates the commercialization and approval of affordable wastewater technologies.

The initiative advances accessible, decentralized wastewater solutions to help property owners meet the mandate requiring the replacement, conversion or closure of nearly 88,000 cesspools across the state by January 1, 2050. Beyond system certification, HOWTEP serves as a multi-purpose hub for WRRC to conduct research, offer hands-on student training and perform community outreach.

Honu Hub

Honu Hub, which is supported by a $5 million National Science Foundation grant, is the first technology to be evaluated under the HOWTEP platform. It is led by Assistant Professor Zhiyue Wang (WRRC and Department of Civil, Environmental and Construction Engineering), Professor and Director Tao Yan (WRRC and Department of Civil, Environmental and Construction Engineering) and Professor Daniel Yeh (University of South Florida).

Honu Hub is a decentralized wastewater treatment system designed to process sewage completely above ground. By packing its technology into a compact 52-square-foot space—roughly the size of a standard garden shed—the unit eliminates the need for expensive heavy machinery, extensive excavation and costly landscape restoration.

For many homeowners, replacing a cesspool with a conventional septic system costs between $30,000 and $50,000—a financial burden amplified by difficult terrain, high water tables and tight lot boundaries. Honu Hub was engineered as an affordable alternative designed to drastically lower these conversion costs.

“The WRRC team鈥檚 role in this is to help with research and development to improve the technology and study the fate and transport of emerging contaminants in this system,” Wang said.

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The University of Hawaiʻi helped bring technology professionals, community members, educators, policymakers and other stakeholders together for the inaugural (HiSIG), a one-day symposium focused on the future of Internet and digital governance in Hawaiʻi and the Pacific.

About 80 people attended the September 4 event at Servpac鈥檚 Activity Room in Mililani Tech Park during Hawaiʻi Tech Week. The free symposium featured presentations and discussions on Internet governance, artificial intelligence, digital equity, Indigenous knowledge and online safety under the theme “Navigating Global Digital Governance.”

The 糖心视频 Mānoa in in the was a sponsor of the event, with faculty and students participating in the symposium. The program鈥檚 involvement reflects its commitment to preparing students to understand the rapidly changing digital environment and its impacts on communication, society and communities.

Shaping Hawaiʻi鈥檚 digital future

“Internet governance is no longer simply a technical conversation. It touches how we communicate, how information is shared and who has a voice in shaping our digital future,” said School of Communication and Information Chair and Communication Professor Wayne Buente. “Having our faculty and students participate in these discussions creates an important opportunity to bring communication perspectives to issues that will affect communities across Hawaiʻi and the Pacific.”

糖心视频 also was represented on a panel examining Indigenous knowledge in the digital age. Leimomi Bong of the joined other experts to discuss the importance of ensuring that Indigenous communities have control over how traditional knowledge is digitized, protected and used.

The symposium featured national and international experts addressing topics including Internet governance, the multistakeholder model, digital equity, inclusive Internet access, and trust, safety and risk in a connected artificial intelligence world.

The keynote address, “State of the Internet,” was delivered virtually by Internet pioneer Vint Cerf, chief Internet evangelist at Google. The session explored the history of the Internet in Hawaiʻi and how the technology continues to evolve.

Building digital connections across the Pacific

HiSIG was created to raise awareness and build capacity around digital technologies across Hawaiʻi and the Pacific. The initiative grew from discussions held with the Internet Governance Secretariat during the World Summit on the Information Society+20 meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, in July 2025.

Participants in HiSIG gained a deeper understanding of how the Internet works, the factors that shape its development and the ways communities can contribute to the evolution of their digital pilina (connection, relationships).

The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa has received a $2 million award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to lead a multi-institutional effort to develop artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled tools that can help detect environmental threats to food production systems before they become major problems. The effort comes as public health officials continue to investigate foodborne illness outbreaks tied to cyclospora, underscoring the need for faster, more proactive approaches to identifying potential threats in the food supply.

The $4 million NSF Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) Track II Focused EPSCoR Collaboration (FEC) award is led by 糖心视频 Mānoa in partnership with the University of Nebraska鈥揕incoln. 糖心视频鈥檚 portion of the award is $2 million, with the four-year project starting September 1, 2026. This marks only the second time 糖心视频 has received an NSF EPSCoR Track II FEC award.

Team of experts to cross variety of fields

The project will combine AI, environmental sampling, advanced genetic analysis and high-resolution chemical analysis to identify and monitor potential risks to aquaculture, livestock and agricultural systems.

Led by principal investigator Tao Yan, director of the (WRRC) and professor in the , the project brings together researchers from across 糖心视频, including WRRC, College of Engineering, 糖心视频 Cancer Center, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology and College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience.

“Food production systems are increasingly challenged by microbial pathogens and chemical contaminants that can threaten animal health, food safety and economic sustainability,” Yan said. “By combining environmental surveillance with AI, we aim to develop early-warning technologies that can identify emerging risks before they reach critical levels. This collaboration will strengthen Hawaiʻi鈥檚 and Nebraska鈥檚 research capacity while preparing the next generation of scientists and engineers to address complex challenges in food security.”

Creating a proactive approach

Current monitoring methods often identify problems only after disease outbreaks occur or contaminants have reached harmful levels. The project aims to create a proactive approach by continuously analyzing environmental data to detect warning signs earlier.

Researchers will develop new AI models capable of interpreting complex biological and chemical data, including information from metagenomics (the study of genetic material collected from environmental samples) and high-resolution mass spectrometry, which identifies chemical compounds.

The research team will test the technologies in aquaculture and beef cattle production systems, with the goal of improving food safety, protecting animal health and increasing the resilience of food production systems.

The collaboration will support STEM education and workforce development by providing research opportunities for junior faculty members, graduate and undergraduate students, and K–12 participants. Outreach efforts will engage industry partners, regulators and communities to encourage adoption of new technologies.

The partnership builds research capacity in two EPSCoR jurisdictions (Hawaiʻi and Nebraska) while establishing a long-term collaboration focused on using AI and biotechnology to address food system challenges.

The , facilitated by the University of Hawaiʻi, hosted its fifth Scientific Oversight Workshop last week on 糖心视频 惭腻苍辞补鈥檚 campus, bringing together a mix of 糖心视频 teams, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry and national environmental health experts.

Led by the Thompson School Registry Hub, one of the collaborating units at the Red Hill Registry, the event worked to understand existing environmental data and the registry鈥檚 early exposure data to assess which information would be useful for determining exposure in future health research of registry participants.

“As a result of this workshop and our cross-sector expert dialogue, we are able to begin to frame our approach to assessing an individual鈥檚 exposure to jet-fuel-contaminated water,” said Rosana “Sanie” Weldon, director of the Red Hill Registry.

Water experts, hydrologists, microbiologists and chemists from the (WRRC) and shared project-related updates on jet fuel degradation by fuel-eating microbes, hydraulic modeling of the Red Hill water lines, chemical compound classifications, early water screening results and more.

The Red Hill Registry shared current research methodologies, early exposure data reported by registry participants and community outreach efforts aimed at increasing the scientific rigor of the data being collected by the registry.

“The types of studies and health analyses that we want to be able to investigate will only be really effective if there’s a large cohort of folks enrolled and participating with the registry,” said Eamonn Clarke, postdoctoral researcher in the Marron Lab within WRRC and presenter at the Scientific Oversight Workshop.

The group discussed the challenges of complex data sets as well as how to conduct future research with assumptions and generalizations for unknown data.

“We have made a lot of progress at the workshop toward understanding what was in the water, when, and which areas were hardest hit. All of those things matter as we try to understand the health issues that emerged,” said Gina Solomon, Chief of the Division of Occupational, Environmental, and Climate Medicine at University of California, San Francisco.

The next Red Hill Registry Scientific Oversight Workshop is proposed for spring 2027.

Co-designed with the community, the Red Hill Registry aims to track health outcomes to inform future research and clinical guidance on fuel exposure and provide resources for the estimated 93,000 people who experienced the fuel spill.

A new project led by the University of Hawaiʻi at 惭腻苍辞补 will use artificial intelligence (AI) to help predict how rising seas and stronger storms could threaten coastal freshwater supplies and ecosystems.

Associate Professor Jonghyun “Harry” Lee of the 糖心视频 惭腻苍辞补 and has been awarded a under its Collaborations in Artificial Intelligence and Geosciences program. 糖心视频 惭腻苍辞补 will serve as the lead institution on a three-year, nearly $1 million collaborative project, alongside the University of Texas at Austin, to advance AI applications in geoscience.

Rising seas, stronger storms, saltwater contamination of freshwater resources and coastal ecosystem degradation pose increasing threats to coastal communities. These environmental pressures impact drinking water supplies, agriculture, infrastructure, local economies and daily life for millions of people.

To address these challenges, the joint project will develop fast, accessible AI models to better understand how water exchanges between coastal aquifers and the ocean. By combining recent advances in AI with traditional environmental modeling, the team aims to predict critical coastal risks鈥攕uch as seawater intrusion into freshwater aquifers and freshwater flowing from land into the ocean鈥攆aster and more accurately.

“This project will improve our understanding and prediction of how groundwater and the ocean interact in Hawaiʻi鈥檚 coastal aquifers, helping communities better protect freshwater resources and coastal ecosystems from challenges, such as seawater intrusion and coastal inundation,” principal investigator Lee said.

Advancing coastal science through next-gen AI

The researchers will develop a new system that combines AI with proven physics models to better understand coastal water systems. This approach creates high-speed 鈥渟urrogate models鈥� capable of running complex simulations of groundwater and ocean interactions at a fraction of the cost, while preserving essential physics laws at the land-sea boundary.

Key features and goals of the project include:

• Flexible AI architecture: Combining different AI tools to analyze both long-term ocean patterns and short-term events, such as storm surges.
• Real-world testing: Validating models on benchmark applications in Hawaiʻi and Texas coastal systems.
• Near-real-time forecasts: Enabling rapid assessments of seawater intrusion and coastal groundwater discharge to support digital twin models of complex ecosystems.
• Practical decision tools: Providing actionable insights to guide water management, infrastructure planning and long-term coastal resilience.
• Open science and education: Developing open-source software, interactive visualization tools, and interdisciplinary training for students and early-career researchers.

“Students and postdocs working on this project will be supported by hands-on research and training at the intersection of groundwater hydrology, coastal science, computational modeling, and artificial intelligence, preparing them for careers addressing Hawaiʻi鈥檚 water and environmental challenges,” Lee stated.

The (COH) in the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa鈥檚 is marking its 50th anniversary, commemorating five decades of preserving the state鈥檚 history through first-person accounts. Since its founding, the center has archived more than 1,200 personal, multi-ethnic accounts from Native Hawaiian and local populations, spanning historic events, cultural traditions and everyday life.

Preserving Hawaiʻi voices

As one of the nation鈥檚 oldest oral history institutions, COH serves as a critical bridge between generations. Its collection features documented accounts of how past generations navigated major environmental, social and economic shifts. Today, this archive provides unique insights for policymakers, educators and youth who are addressing contemporary island challenges such as food security, shoreline preservation and cultural sustainability.

“Our textbooks offer facts, but it is the recorded voices of our k奴puna that capture the true resilience and spirit of Hawaiʻi,” said Mary Kunmi Yu Danico, COH director. “As our islands evolve rapidly, preserving this collective memory ensures that future generations have a cultural and historical roadmap to guide them.”

Join in anniversary events

In celebration of its 50th anniversary milestone, the center is hosting a series of educational workshops and outreach events across the state. The events open to the general public include:

• August to November: Oral history community consultation meetings.
• September 22, 2026: (Time TBA) Livestreaming of Museum of Korean Emigration Exhibit in Incheon, South Korea, on the Korean Prisoners of War at Honouliuli (research from National Parks Service).
• October 16, 2026: 4–9 p.m. Livestreaming of the 50th Anniversary Celebration. Music, Art, Poetry and Talk story. Opportunities to sponsor.
• Late October/Early November: (TBD) Kahoʻolawe Aloha ʻĀina Oral History Project launch (public talk in conjunction with the Protect Kahoʻolawe ʻOhana鈥檚 50th anniversary).
• November (TBD): Kauaʻi 1924 Hanapēpē Strike Event.
• November 9–22: Oral History Talks and Workshops: Video streamed on YouTube regarding Kosovo-Fulbright Specialist award.

To ensure these vital preservation efforts continue in perpetuity, COH is inviting the community —effectively preserving the past for the future.

For more information about the upcoming anniversary events, .

Related 糖心视频 News stories:

• Preserving Maui鈥檚 stories: 糖心视频 Center for Oral History lands $538K in new funding, August 13, 2026
• Lahainaluna boarding stories preserved in new 糖心视频 oral history collection, April 13, 2025
• 糖心视频 students preserve Waialeʻe鈥檚 cultural legacy through oral history project, December 4, 2023

Set to launch on August 30, NASA鈥檚 Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will begin a mission to capture sweeping views of the universe on a scale never before possible, studying billions of stars, distant galaxies, and worlds beyond our solar system. Decades of University of Hawaiʻi innovation are set to launch with it.

“Roman is going to completely transform our view of our home galaxy, the Milky Way,” said Dan Huber, an astronomer at the (IfA) at 糖心视频 惭腻苍辞补 who will watch the launch at NASA鈥檚 Kennedy Space Center in Florida alongside several IfA colleagues.

糖心视频鈥檚 influence on the mission stretches from the telescope鈥檚 technology to the science it will produce. Technology developed by IfA researchers sits at the heart of Roman鈥檚 massive camera. 糖心视频 astronomers helped shape how the telescope will study the Milky Way, are building tools to turn its images into usable science, and will lead projects exploring exploding stars, mysterious dimming stars, and the expansion of the universe.

This work builds on the international reputation of the IfA, one of the world鈥檚 premier astronomy programs. 糖心视频 researchers have helped advance astronomy from Hawaiʻi for decades, including developing technology used on Maunakea, where astronomical research has consistently ranked among the world鈥檚 most scientifically influential.

Mapping the Milky Way

Roman鈥檚 mirror is the same size as that of its famous predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope, but its huge camera has a field of view 100 times larger. Its infrared vision will allow astronomers to peer through dust and survey huge areas of the sky much more efficiently.

Huber co-chaired the committee that helped define one of Roman鈥檚 three major surveys. Roman is expected to image more than 20 billion stars, providing an unprecedented look at the structure and history of the Milky Way. Huber will use tiny changes in stars鈥� brightness, known as “starquakes,” to help determine the masses and ages of stars near the center of our galaxy and uncover clues about how it formed.

糖心视频 eyes the universe

Five 糖心视频-led research programs were selected in the mission鈥檚 first highly competitive round, bringing more than $1 million to 糖心视频 researchers.

Two are led by Institute for Astronomy graduate students Cameron Pfeffer and Willem Hoogendam. Both will study supernovae鈥攅xploding stars used to measure vast distances across the universe.

“These students competed directly with senior researchers around the world and are among the few graduate students selected globally to lead Roman science programs,” said IfA astronomer Chris Ashall, a co-principal investigator on both student projects.

糖心视频 惭腻苍辞补 physicist David Rubin is also helping build core software that will turn Roman鈥檚 raw supernova images into precise measurements of the universe鈥檚 expansion.

Professor Eric Gaidos will lead another 糖心视频 program searching Roman data for rare stars that mysteriously fade for months at a time. Astronomers think some of these events happen when clouds of dust pass in front of aging stars, possibly revealing dramatic events in their planetary systems.

糖心视频 Institute for Astronomy researcher Kartheik Iyer will lead a Roman science program examining how galaxies form and evolve.

“Looking at the Milky Way in the context of large populations of galaxies allows us to understand exactly how our own galaxy is unique,” said Iyer, who recently joined IfA as an assistant professor. “That gives us perspective on how systems like our solar system and Earth fit into the larger landscape of the universe.”

Hawaiʻi technology in space

糖心视频鈥檚 connection to Roman began decades before launch.

Roman鈥檚 wide-field camera contains 18 advanced infrared sensors descended from HAWAII detector technology developed by IfA researchers led by Klaus Hodapp and the late Don Hall. Early versions were tested on the 糖心视频 2.2-meter telescope on Maunakea in the 1990s.

• Related 糖心视频 News story: Ground-breaking 糖心视频-designed sensors aboard NASA鈥檚 historic space telescope, December 20, 2021

The technology later reached the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes. Roman鈥檚 300-million-pixel camera represents its most advanced generation yet.

“It鈥檚 exciting to see 糖心视频 contributing to Roman鈥檚 supernova cosmology at every level, from that foundational pipeline to the individual science programs it will support,” Rubin said.