On Saturday, January 11, Dean Nick Comerford and Interim Associate Dean of Student Affairs Ania Wieczorek traveled to Kailua-Kona to connect with CTAHR alumni. A small but merry group met at Ola Brew to get a guided tour of this brewery, which makes ciders and hard seltzers with locally sourced fruits and herbs such as pineapple, dragon fruit, lychee, rambutan, jaboticaba, and lemongrass.

Research in the college is in good hands with the formation of the new Research Advisory Committee (RAC)! Members are Mohammad Arif (PEPS), Susan Crow (NREM), Noa Lincoln (TPSS), Creighton Litton (NREM), Daniel Owens (MBBE; Senate liaison), Mark Thorne (HNFAS), and Hua Zan (COF).

Agriculture Day at the Capitol (February 5) is an opportunity to showcase CTAHR’s impact on Hawaiʻi. Up to 400 state lawmakers, staff, and stakeholders are expected to attend, and booths fill up fast, so please RSVP ASAP to publicize your program or project with an informational display, interactive activity, swag, or samples.

A recent article in Hawaii Tribune Herald noted that Mark Thorne, Extension specialist with the Department of Human Nutrition, Food & Animal Sciences, is working with the Kona livestock community to combat the two-line spittlebug (TLSB), a recently discovered pasture pest. They "pose a significant economic threat to the Hawai‘i livestock industry,” he says.

When thinking of CTAHR’s interdisciplinary collaborations, the connection between plant sciences and the Theatre and Dance department isn’t perhaps the first to come to mind. But this exact partnership came into full bloom for the recent UH Manoa theatre production Leviathan, which went up at the Earle Ernst Lab Theatre on December 5–8.