Alumni News

The National 4-H Council ran a Raise Your Hand for 4-H promotion to raise awareness of all the great work that 4-H does with youth development. Supporters of the program could vote by virtually raising their hands in celebration of its myriad health, leadership, agriculture, and STEM programs for kids. While Hawai‘i 4-H didn’t win one of the top three monetary prizes, voters still put CTAHR on the map at the national level for generating the greatest percentage increase of hands raised compared with the 2018 promotion. For this, Hawai‘i will receive an Inspire Kids to Do photo shoot sponsored by National 4-H Council. 4-H’s Inspire Kids to Do campaign helps youth to grow into leaders through inspirational hands-on learning experiences.

We are sorry to report that emeritus researcher and biochemist Dr. Harry Yamamoto has died. He earned his BS degree from UH in 1955, followed by an MS from Illinois in 1958 and a PhD from UC Davis in 1962. Initially hired in CTAHR’s Department of Food Science, he then founded the Department of Plant Molecular Physiology. He also served as department chair, associate dean for agricultural research, and acting director of research. His research interests included plants’ photosynthetic reactions to their environments, particularly their protective mechanisms against excess sunlight, and the role of phytocompounds such as carotenoids and violaxanthin. He was honored for his lifetime research achievements with the Charles Reid Barnes Award by the American Society of Plant Biologists in 2003 (pictured in the middle). Services for him will be held on July 16.

Dr. Peter Huybers, a professor of climate science in the Department of Earth and Planetary Science at Harvard University, will be coming to UH for a sabbatical year. Given the wide scope of his research, Dr. Huybers wants to meet with many departments at UH, as well as start a journal club to facilitate interactions on climate. Faculty and students who are interested can contact Giuseppe Torri at gtorri@hawaii.edu and help spread the word across campus.

A group in CTAHR is attempting to quantify the amount of money spent by the college’s researchers on external lab fees. Anyone who has paid an independent laboratory to conduct analyses in the past three years is asked to please contact Noa Lincoln (TPSS) at nlincoln@hawaii.edu. Confidentiality is guaranteed, with any results presented solely as amalgamated figures.

Lynn Takahara is the new secretary in the Office of the Associate Dean & Associate Director for Extension. She previously worked at the Honolulu Fire Department, where she served the fire chief. Darren Park is now the manager for CTAHR’s Agricultural Diagnostic Service Center. He comes to the college from the Department of Health, where he served as the coordinator/manager for the Office of Solid Waste Management, tasked with managing personnel, facilities, budget, and operations.