Chancellor’s Message
Chamber Connection
April 2009

Community and international outreach benefits everyone

I’d like to share with you some exciting events, community outreach, and two international forums held at UH Hilo in March.

UH Hilo sponsored a joint US-China delegation of 40 top scientists and technical experts on renewable energy from the National Academies of Science and Engineering. This prestigious group chose UH Hilo as the location to discuss the future of renewable energy for the world. The work of this Committee on US-China Cooperation on Electricity from Renewables will help national governments and private industry in developing renewable energy. They were very interested in the Big Island’s renewable energy plans and how research strengthens the economic foundation of our community. Participants included UH Hilo faculty and staff, representatives of Mayor Billy Kenoi, Hawai?i Electric Light Company, Kanoelehua Industrial Area Association, and Richard Ha and others from local agriculture businesses.

Our College of Hawaiian Language sponsored an optional extension of the 1^st International Conference on Language Documentation and Conservation, held at UH Hilo’s ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawai’i. The conference focused on the theme of collaboration in language documentation and revitalization, and linguistic educators from all over the world came to Hilo to learn more about our internationally acclaimed Hawaiian language revitalization programs. The conference in Hilo was of great value to the participants who are working on language revitalization in many different countries.

The American Association of University Women sponsored the 17^th Annual Math/Science Conference for 7th Grade Girls held at UH Hilo. In my welcome remarks I encouraged the young scholars to continue their education and interest in science and math. I wanted them to understand that the future of our communities and of the world will be in the hands of people well educated in science, technology, engineering and math professions.

Many thanks to Jan Higashi and the UH Hilo Performing Arts Center Advisory Board for the 5th Annual Girls’ Day Diva Festival. It was another great event with food samplings donated by favorite local restaurants, a silent auction, door prizes and a sold out concert featuring the Society of Seven. Mahalo for all the community support! The proceeds will benefit the UH Hilo’s Performing Arts Center.

Our annual Ocean Day will take place on April 25 at UH Hilo’s Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resources Center. Once a year, the Keaukaha research facility opens its gates to the community, providing hands-on educational activities focused on celebrating Hawai’i’s ocean and coastal heritage. Families with their kids enjoy music, food and fun. The event is hosted by UH Hilo and our Department of Marine Science, in partnership with UH Sea Grant. Please come join us!

I’m happy to announce our 2009 Spring Commencement speaker will be Jerry Yang, co-founder, director and chief yahoo of Yahoo! Inc. He was chief executive officer of Yahoo! from June 2007 to January 2009. He co-developed Yahoo! in 1994 while he was working toward his Ph.D. in electrical engineering at Stanford University. He also serves as a director of Yahoo! Japan Corporation and Cisco Systems, Inc. He holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University. I’ve known Jerry many years from when I lived in Silicon Valley, and I look forward to hearing his remarks at Spring Commencement on May 16. I know he’ll be an inspiration to our graduates.

Mahalo for your support of these and other events. When we all work together, great things happen!

Aloha,

Rose Tseng