UH Hilo’s Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems (PISCES) hosts teams from the around the country to test robotic instruments that will be used in upcoming missions to the moon.

Scientists and engineers, assisted by PISCES staff and Hilo students will conduct a full mission simulation featuring three NASA developed robotics, including the Selectively Compliant Articulated Robot Arm Rover. The tests are designed to provide participants hands-on experience with specific technical challenges to be anticipated when humans return to the moon by 2020, explore the lunar surface and set up outposts.

“It’s one thing to test an instrument in the laboratory. But that really doesn’t tell you how it will perform during a lunar mission,” says John Hamilton, research operations manager. “Our challenge is to replicate those conditions as closely as possible to ensure that the test results will be a true reflection of how these instruments will perform on the Moon.”

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Link to PISCES

UH Hilo presents A Global Dialogue: Women in Higher Education

For the first time in UH Hilo’s history, an international gathering of women university presidents & chancellors will convene to share their perspectives on the role of women’s leadership in higher education. This historic presentation will serve as an empowering and inspiring message and will offer networking and mentoring opportunities.

Join honored guests for an International Reception, a unique culinary experience on the theatre lanai immediately following the program.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

UH Hilo Performing Arts Center

PLEASE RSVP BY FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10

For information call: 974-7555 or email: uhhconferencecenter@gmail.com

Click here for flyer: flyer-for-a-global-dialogue.

Former Hilo educator and administrator Audrey Furukawa established the Audrey S. Furukawa Study Abroad Scholarship Endowment. Furukawa made the lead gift upon her retirement from Hilo, and then enlisted the community to raise additional funds.

To be eligible, students must be enrolled fulltime as an undergraduate at Hilo and show academic merit as demonstrated with a minimum 3.2 GPA. The study experience will be at least one semester and reserved for students who have not studied, traveled or lived abroad for more than a month. Preference will be given to Hawai‘i high school graduates.

A lifelong resident of Hilo, Furukawa attended Hilo College, the predecessor of UH Hilo, and then went on to earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Manoa. She spent over 30 years as a faculty member and administrator at Hilo, retiring in 2008 from dual positions as executive assistant to the chancellor, and director of the Center for Global Education and Exchange.

“I wish to extend a very special thank you to my family and the many friends who joined me in creating this endowment,” says Furukawa. “Your gift will enable eligible Hawai’i students to begin their global education journey and open infinite doors of opportunity.”

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UPDATE 8/31/08: Story in today’s Hawaii Tribune-Herald

Mauna Kea’s summit is short one telescope: its first. The first telescope to be placed atop the volcano, in 1968, has been retired and removed, to make way for a new, larger telescope for UH-Hilo astronomy faculty and students. AP photo.

Associated Press

August 24, 2008

KAILUA-KONA » The first telescope to be placed atop Mauna Kea has been retired and removed.

Scientists used the 24-inch telescope, built in 1968, to conduct pioneering observations on asteroids, outer planets and other objects in the solar system.

“This telescope had a lot of history,” UH-Hilo Astronomy Professor William Heacox said. “Even though the years of wear and tear had eroded its capabilities, we were still sad to see it go.”

Many University of Hawaii astronomy students learned the craft using the instrument. UH-Hilo faculty and students used it to collect data for more than 13 published research projects since 1995.

“It is fair to say that most, perhaps all, of our astronomy graduates have learned how to ‘do astronomy’ with the old 24-inch telescope in its unheated dome,” Heacox said.

“I have probably spent more than 100 nights using that instrument, and did most of my Ph.D. thesis research with it in the mid-1970s.”

The recent removal of the old telescope and installation of the new dome clears the way for a larger telescope for UH-Hilo astronomy faculty and students.

The new telescope is being funded by a $650,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. University repair and maintenance funds will pay for the building reconstruction.

The new telescope is being built by Equinox Interscience, Inc. of Golden, Colo. It will be shipped to Hilo in October and, once installed, will be remotely operated from the new Science and Technology Building on the Hilo campus.

Mauna Kea, one of five volcanoes that form the Big island, is the highest point in the state at 13,796 feet. It houses 12 of the world’s leading observatories for optical, infrared and submillimeter astronomy.

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Rose Tseng, chancellor at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, says she’s got plenty of things on her to-do list before she steps down from her current position in December 2009. Since Tseng became chancellor in 1998, outside grants for scientific research at UHH have increased from $3 million a year to about $20 million. - Photos By William Ing/Hawaii Tribune-Herald

UHH chancellor Tseng has projects to finish before departing post

by John Burnett
Tribune-Herald Staff Writer

Published: Monday, July 28, 2008 9:15 AM HST

It’s been nearly two months since Rose Tseng informed the University of Hawaii regents that she would step down as chancellor of UH-Hilo in December 2009.

Tseng, who has presided over a decade of unprecedented growth at UHH, talked to the Tribune-Herald last week, discussing her plans and hopes for the 17 months she has remaining in the school’s top spot. Attired in a tasteful black dress and long-sleeved red jacket and impeccably coiffed in her trademark semi-wedge, Tseng radiated the energy of a woman half her age and carried herself like the long-time institutional CEO she is.

“Whatever you do, please don’t describe me as a lame duck,” said Tseng, who is in her mid-60s. “I’m too young and there’s too much still to be done.”

Tseng said she gave the regents more than a year-and-a-half notice “so they can take their time and find a good permanent replacement,” adding that she will probably not have a role in the search for her successor. She’ll take a sabbatical for the entire 2010 calendar year, then return to UH-Hilo in a still-to-be-determined capacity for two years before retiring.

“I was a (United Nations) consultant,” she said. “I could use my international connections for the university. I could do fundraising. I’m very big on grants, getting foundation money — and I would have more free time to do that. I could do (technological consulting). I have a lot of connections in Silicon Valley. … There are a lot of possibilities. Then, there’s teaching. There’s nothing wrong with that. I love to teach, too. There are just too many options (laughs). … There are still 21/2 years before I have to decide.

“There’s also what the new chancellor wants, how he or she thinks I can best help.”

If Tseng returns to the lecture hall or the lab — which seems unlikely — she is a full professor with a Ph.D. in nutritional science who minored in biochemistry and physiology. She has spoken extensively on leadership and said it’s possible she could teach leadership at the school’s College of Business and Economics.

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In yesterday’s Hawaii Tribune-Herald:

The University of Hawaii at Hilo will use a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to build a campus resource center for Pacific Islanders.

The two-year project will turn a third-floor Campus Center lanai into an enclosed 2,700-square-foot facility where multicultural training and workshops can be conducted. The Center for Pacific Islander Education and Retention will also house a library of cultural education material, with an overall aim of increasing success and retention of the university’s approximately 200 Pacific Islander students.

Students will be able to use the center for peer mentoring, tutoring, networking or to relax.

“We seemed to be lacking a gathering place for these students to call their own, and where visiting scholars and performers can use the space — something less stuffy than a classroom,” said Jim Mellon, UH-Hilo’s director of student development.

The lanai being eyed for the space has been under-used and isn’t a functional space, Mellon said. The grant specified that the money must be used to renovate an existing facility. But it does also allow $10,000 to be used on art, Mellon said.

“I think there’s room in the grant to furnish the place, buy some electronic equipment and some art to put on the wall,” Mellon said.

The project is in line with UHH goals of bolstering the study of Hawaiian, Pacific Islander and indigenous cultures and a system-wide goal of being a “training hub of Oceania,” Mellon said.

“One of the things that our graduates say is that they learned a lot about people from other parts of the world,” Mellon said. “I would envision this as a place for all students.”

Congresswoman Mazie Hirono announced the first installment of the two-year grant on Monday. Planning and design will begin in the fall, with the center opening in 2010.

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In yesterday’s Honolulu Advertiser:

Congresswoman Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawai’i) has announced that a $682,982 U.S. Department of Education grant has been presented to the Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions Program at the University of Hawai’i at Hilo.

The money will be used for the planning and design of the proposed Center for Pacific Islander Education and Retention, according to a news release from Hirono’s office. The University of Hawai’i at Hilo will renovate an existing campus facility to establish the center.

It will be used for peer monitoring, tutoring and learning communities; for multicultural training and workshops; and for a library of relevant education, leadership, and cultural materials and resources — all in an effort to increase Pacific Islander student success and retention, according to the news release.

The total cost of the two-year project is $1,994,557. The bulk of the cost is for the the actual conversion and renovation of the campus facility to create the center.

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Farrah-Marie Gomes has been named director at UH Hilo’s North Hawai‘i Education and Research Center in Honoka‘a.

Gomes has been interim director at the center since January 2006, presiding over a period of rapid growth for the educational outreach facility, which offers credit and non-credit courses from UH Hilo and Hawai‘i Community College. The center also serves as a community meeting place.

“People in North Hawai‘i have been waiting for the educational service that NHERC provides for a long time,” said Gomes, a Pa‘auilo native who lives in Waimea. “The rising price of fuel plus the distance to Hilo have made our mission to bring higher education to North Hawai‘i even more important.”

The University of Hawai‘i at Hilo College of Pharmacy was recently awarded Candidate Accreditation Status during the June Executive Board Meeting of the American Council on Pharmaceutical Education (ACPE). Dean John Pezzuto said this is an important step that will help the one-year-old program address a nationwide shortage of pharmacists.

“This second phase in the accreditation process is a critical milestone that takes the College of Pharmacy to the next level, and we are very pleased,” Pezzuto said. “As the first and only pharmacy school in the Pacific Basin from Samoa to Guam to Alaska, we fill a significant gap that provides opportunities for Pacific Islanders to earn their Doctor of Pharmacy degrees locally. This makes it more likely they will stay to serve the community and hospital pharmacy needs of the islands.”

ACPE accredits all pharmacy programs in the U.S. through a three-step process: pre candidate status for programs that haven’t enrolled students, awarded to UH Hilo in June 2007; candidate status, awarded to a program with students enrolled pending graduating its first class; and full accreditation, for which UH Hilo is on track and eligible in May 2011 when the first group of Pharm D. students will graduate.

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Letter to the Editor in today’s Hawaii Tribune-Herald:

‘Imiloa Is The Best

My wife and I recently spent two weeks on the Big Island, usually in the Hilo area, visiting with family and friends. I made my usual pilgrimage to the ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center, and wanted to express my enthusiasm and appreciation for the exhibits and for the work of ‘Imiloa’s staff.

Quite simply, ‘Imiloa is one of the crown jewels of the Big Island. The quality of the material at ‘Imiloa is very much the equal of anything done by the Smithsonian Institution at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. Air and Space is much larger than ‘Imiloa, of course, but in terms of quality, ‘Imiloa is easily the equal of its larger counterpart.

Especially gratifying is the way in which ‘Imiloa seamlessly blends the indigenous mythology of Hawaii with the contemporary insights of astronomy and cosmology, and does so in such a way as to enhance one’s respect for both. Perhaps best of all, though, ‘Imiloa does not “talk down” to visitors. Many of the “hands-on” exhibits range from challenging to downright difficult, especially those concerned with simulating how astronomers set up observations on the Mauna Kea telescopes. I spent well over an hour setting up a simulation of the Gemini telescope for an observation of the Crab Nebula — and finally getting the hang of it!

As a former amateur astronomer and as someone who has a master’s degree in physics with an astrophysics emphasis, I think that an educated layperson willing to invest the time at ‘Imiloa could come away with at least an “101″-level education in astronomy. The day I was there, I only left because my wife and in-laws were waiting dinner on me.

I urge folks in Hilo to not be like people in Philadelphia — I have met several — who have never seen the Liberty Bell. Become ‘Imiloa patrons and discover the stars!

James R. Cowles

Kent, Wash.

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