Teams of scientists from four universities, led by the College of Pharmacy at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, are presenting a large-scale research concept to the National Science Foundation (NSF) in order to study traditional medicine. The universities involved are UH Hilo, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Rutgers University and Purdue University.

“Research is becoming more of a collaborative effort because of fiscal limitations and the complexity of problems we face,” said Dr. John Pezzuto (pictured), dean of the College of Pharmacy in Hilo. “It’s important for us to reach out to other schools to share our expertise and also to show we are a competitive force in the educational arena. It’s also an important step in gaining final approval in the accreditation process, which will take place when our first class graduates in 2011.”

Using advanced analytical technology such as X-ray diffraction, spectroscopy and bioanalytics, the researchers will investigate how characteristics of traditional medicines affect how they work in people. The relationships will be pulled together with informatics and bioinformatics, or the computational organization and analysis of the data. The researchers hope to fill a gap in how to identify the important elements of traditional medicine to treat serious diseases.

“Many traditional medicines have hundreds, perhaps thousands of years of history and it is almost certain that some of them could provide important leads for new drugs or new uses for old medicines,” Pezzuto said.

Team leaders from UH Hilo are Dr. Robert Borris, associate dean for research in pharmacy, and Dr. Kenneth Morris, professor of pharmaceutics. Faculty from the departments of biology and chemistry are helping to lead the effort, as well as other faculty from throughout the College of Pharmacy.

The NSF Science and Technology program is designed to support large-scale research across institutions to advance and create new science. This pre-proposal will be decided on after April 2009, and will be one of the many ways UH Hilo’s College of Pharmacy is building a strong research reputation in the global healthcare industry, Pezzuto said.

To help communicate this vision, Pezzuto is presenting an invited lecture, co-authored with Morris, to scientists at the Seventh Annual International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research. The conference, held in Washington, D.C. this week, is organized by the American Association for Cancer Research. Current work, conducted through a collaborative project involving UH Hilo College of Pharmacy, Purdue University, Scripts Institute of Oceanography and the University Illinois at Chicago, is funded by the National Cancer Institute. The lecture focuses on linking traditional medicine to advanced informatics, which is already used for the redesign of drug manufacturing and gene research.

Link to full story.

UH Hilo’s Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems, or PISCES, hosts team of NASA scientists this week, who are conducting research at Mauna Kea in preparation for space exploration.

NASA tests ideas on Mauna Kea

From Big Island VideoNews.com:

NASA wrapped two weeks of tests on the volcanic soil of the Big Island of Hawaii’s Mauna Kea, and invited the media to take a look at the technological concepts that will assist future space missions.

The goal was to test systems that will one day assist astronauts in maintaining a sustainable and affordable lunar outpost, by drilling into alien soil and extracting water that could be used to create oxygen.

NASA’s lunar exploration plan currently projects that lunar resources could generate one to two tons of oxygen annually, or the same amount that four to six people living at a lunar outpost might breathe in a year.

The tests were held on Hawaii because Mauna Kea’s soil is so similar to the regolith that covers the moon’s surface. Three prototype systems were tested.

The tests were hosted by Pacific International Space Center [for Exploration Systems], or PISCES, based at the University of Hawaii – Hilo.

In this video, William Larson, Chief of NASA’s Applied Sciences Division, explains the tests in greater detail.

Todd Shumway, director of Global Exchange at UH-Hilo, hands a pen to Noriko Mizuta, chancellor of Josai University Corporation and president of Josai International University in Japan, to sign an agreement that will open the door for shared research projects and student and faculty exchange programs, as UH-Hilo Chancellor Rose Tseng looks on. – Photos By Terrie Henderson/Tribune-Herald

UH-Hilo enters into agreement with international universities, highlights the accomplishments of the world’s female educators

by Terrie Henderson
Tribune-Herald Staff Writer

Published: Tuesday, September 23, 2008 11:00 AM HST

It isn’t every day a group of international women leaders from top universities across the globe gather in Hilo to discuss the accomplishments, and challenges, they’ve shared.

But on Monday, eight of these women met at the University of Hawaii at Hilo’s Performing Arts Center and spoke informally about their paths to success in an “Oprah”-like talk show setting during the presentation, “A Global Dialogue … Women in Higher Education.”

“You have to have passion. The passion of serving. The passion of community,” said UH-Hilo Chancellor Rose Tseng, who is the only Asian American woman in the United States to head a university.

Tseng said the university, which has witnessed increased enrollment over the past five years, is striving to be globally competitive. She said it only seemed fitting that a discussion amongst women leaders who have been firsts in many roles of leadership meet and discuss global issues in a place as culturally and ethnically diverse as the Big Island.

Prior to their “talk story” session, five of the women leaders signed agreements with UH-Hilo. Tseng called the agreements the beginnings of what could blossom into student exchange, faculty exchange and research initiatives with the schools these women represented.

“We are very proud of our university and very honored today to sign agreements … to extend our global reach,” Tseng said.

The female leaders who signed agreements Monday were: Chen Weijia, chairwoman of University Council, Communication University of China; Josefina Castillo Baltodano, president of Marian University in Wisconsin; Mary Jossy Nakandha Okwakol, vice -chancellor of Busitema University, Uganda; Noriko Mizuta, chancellor of Josai University Corporation, president and professor of Josai International University in Japan; and Sandra Harding, vice chancellor and president of James Cook University in Australia.

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UH-Hilo student research assistant Mary Chapman, left, undergoes a full-body scan on the Hologic QDR-4500W bone densitometer, while exercise physiologist Linc Gotshalk looks on. The machine was donated to UHH by Dr. Doug Hiller, a Waimea orthopedic surgeon and sports doctor. – William Ing/Hawaii Tribune-Herald

by John Burnett

Tribune-Herald Staff Writer

A Waimea orthopedic surgeon has donated a piece of equipment to the University of Hawaii at Hilo that could make the school’s exercise laboratory a leader among the nation’s small colleges.

Dr. Doug Hiller also specializes in sports medicine and has served as the chief medical officer for the Olympics triathlon since the 2004 Athens games. The North Hawaii Community Hospital practitioner gave UH-Hilo a used Hologic QDR-4500W bone densitometer. The machine is nine years old, but runs about $100,000 new, and should have many more years of productive use, Hiller said.

“There are very few of these machines available to exercise physiologists. It’s a really expensive piece of equipment,” Hiller said. “We used this originally to look at a group of Olympic-bound athletes who came to the Big Island in 1999 and 2000. It was designed for NASA to look at bone density in astronauts. … This machine has an upgrade that allows us to look also at (percentages of) body fat and lean muscle mass. So it’s a perfect machine for looking at the effects of diet on people, the effects of aging on people, the effects of exercise on people.”

Hiller is working with exercise physiologist Lincoln “Linc” Gotshalk on a study of men and women student-athletes at UHH to note changes in bone density, muscle mass and body fat during pre-season, regular season and post-season.

“We’re looking at stress and how stress changes body composition or bone density,” said Gotshalk, a veteran powerlifter who coached nine NCAA powerlifting championship teams at Temple University in Philadelphia before coming to UHH. “We’re looking at factors such as eating patterns, grades, how they feel on the road.

“What we’re hoping to see is the difference, or no difference, between the pre-season training, when they’re settled on campus and eat and train on campus on a regular basis, and then — especially at the University of Hawaii at Hilo — travel, and have to take courses and do tests on the road and meet their academic needs while on a demanding athletic schedule.

“Hopefully we can help prevent some of the muscle loss, bone density loss and body fat gains. That’s difficult to do because of all the stresses that the season affords.”

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The number of students from Hawaii is on the rise

by Bret Yager

Hawaii Tribune-Herald

Published: Sunday, September 14, 2008 8:01 AM HST

The University of Hawaii at Hilo added 178 students to its enrollment this year — a 4.9 percent increase that Chancellor Rose Tseng sees as growth “at a steady, sustainable pace.”

Enrollment at the university of 3,786 students has been rising since 1998, bolstered this year by a record freshman class, a 22 percent increase in Native Hawaiians and 90 new students at the College of Pharmacy.

Students are also taking more credits than elsewhere in the 10-campus system, with course loads averaging 12.7 credits, compared to 11.4 credits at the Manoa campus.

The number of students from Hawaii is also on the rise at UHH, due in part to resident-focused recruiting efforts. Students coming to the university from outside Hawaii fell from 35 percent last year to 31.6 percent this year, all part of the plan to focus on local students.

“We still recruit in the Pacific Northwest and California, but we used to recruit on the East Coast and in Colorado. Not anymore,” said Jim Cromwell, UHH director of admissions. “We took that money and put it into local recruiting.”

The university recently hired a Native Hawaiian recruiter on Oahu to go into schools there and on Molokai and Lanai, bolstering ongoing recruitment efforts on the Big Island, Maui and Kauai. Recruiters who visited schools once a year are now making multiple visits to discuss orientation, early registration and system accounts that students must set up to apply to the school.

Freshman applications accepted by the university this fall rose to 1,139, 13 percent more than last year. A total of 548 freshmen actually enrolled, up 8 percent from last year.

“I think we’re starting to see that increase,” Cromwell said. “We’ve had our largest freshman class ever. Our freshman class is almost 30 percent Native Hawaiian. That’s amazing.”

Luoluo Hong, vice chancellor for student affairs, said enrollment and capacity must be balanced, noting that moderate climbs in enrollment are preferable to unbridled growth.

“Every campus has a critical mass at which it can operate most efficiently,” Hong said in a prepared statement. “The one thing we don’t want is for the rate of growth to outstrip our capacity to meet the needs of our students.”

Hong said the campus has limited staff, facilities and money. UHH has an enrollment goal of 5,000 students by 2014.

The university’s ability to get prospective students to campus is hampered by a lack of student housing, with hundreds of applicants on lists each fall for the 620 spaces at the university’s residence halls.

“I’d have had more (freshmen), but I didn’t have the dorms,” Cromwell said. “If you’re a parent and your kid is 17, you’re not going to send them to Hilo if there are no dorms.”

There are 826 Native Hawaiians attending UHH, up 100 from last year.

Link

The RSVP deadline for UH Hilo’s “A Global Dialogue: Women in Higher Education” is extended to Wednesday, Sept. 17.

The international gathering of women leaders in higher education is scheduled for Monday, Sept. 22 from 4-6 p.m. in the UH Hilo Performing Arts Center.

“A Global Dialogue: Women in Higher Education” will bring together university presidents and chancellors from around the world, who will share their perspectives on women’s leadership in higher education.

Joining UH Hilo Chancellor Rose Tseng will be Chen Naifang, former president, Beijing Foreign Studies University; Chen Wejia, chair of University Council, Communication University of China; Josefina Castillo Baltodano, president, Marion University; Mary Jossy Nakandha Okwakol, vice chancellor, Busitema University, Uganda; Noriko Mizuta, chancellor, Josai University Corporation and president, Josai International University of Japan; Sandra Harding, vice chancellor, James Cook University, Australia; and Virginia Hinshaw, chancellor of University of Hawai‘i at Manoa.

Participants will share their personal stories of achievement and discuss how women are playing an increasingly prominent role in shaping higher education. The event will be moderated by Luoluo Hong, vice chancellor for student affairs.

An international dessert reception in honor of the guests will be held on the Performing Arts Center’s lanai following the event.

To RSVP or for more information, please contact the UH Hilo ConferenceCenter at (808) 974-7555 or email uhhconferencecenter@gmail.com .

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.”

Link

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.

UPDATE: RSVP DEADLINE EXTENDED TO WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 17

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.”

Link

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.

Link