The next installment in the Center on the Family’s Brown Bag Seminar Series will be in Miller Hall Room 2, at noon on Friday, February 23. Sarah Yuan, Javzandulam Azuma, and Ji-Yeon Kim (all COF) will give a presentation entitled “Good to Be Home: A Pilot Study Examining Changes in Health Care Costs Among Chronically Homeless Adults in a Housing First Program.” The presenters are involved in several research projects on homeless services and substance abuse treatment programs in Hawai‘i. As they explain, housing plays a fundamental role in physical and psychological well-being. People experiencing chronic homelessness often suffer from mental illnesses, substance use disorders, and long-term disabilities; many of them make frequent and preventable use of costly ER and inpatient hospital services. Their presentation focuses on how housing stability affected the health care costs of a group of chronically homeless adults who participated in the Pathways Housing First program. Bring your lunch and come hear more!

The Geography department is offering a lecture that many in CTAHR may be interested in: Paul Porter, from the University of Minnesota’s Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics, will present “Stories from Somalia from the Perspective of an Agronomist” on Thursday, February 22, from 12 noon to 1 p.m. in Saunders 443.

Come one, come all to the CTAHR Spring Event on Friday, February 23, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., in the grassy area next to Gilmore Hall!

The Hawai‘i Chapter of the Society for Conservation Biology is holding a Science Communications Lunchtime Workshop on Tuesday, February 27, from noon to 2 p.m. at the Sinclair Library in Learning Room 1.

The first annual Plant Sciences Symposium will be held on Friday, March 9, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the UH Innovation Lab (iLab). The topic is “Phytobiomes for Sustainable Agriculture.” Listen to talks about the phytobiome from leaders in this field, present your research at the poster session, and meet colleagues!