Alumni News

A heartfelt mahalo from the CTAHR ‘ohana to Clay Trauernicht of the Dept. of Natural Resources and Environmental Management. As the Maui wildfires tragedy unfolded, Clay was interviewed by at least 50 different media outlets from across the country and internationally. With the highest level of scientific integrity, advocacy, and professionalism, he represented NREM, CTAHR, UH, and the state of Hawaiʻi to millions of people around the world.

U.S. Senator Maize Hirono received the red carpet treatment August 14 as she toured the Kauaʻi Agricultural Research Center along with Extention agents, specialists, and Jeremy Elliott-Engel, CTAHRʻs new Associate Dean & Director for Cooperative Extension.

This past summer, four UH students traveled to Nairobi, Kenya, for the 19th Biennial International Association for the Study of the Commons conference. With our mentor, Dr. Mehana Vaughan of the Dept. of Natural Resources and Environmental Management, we relished the rare opportunity to share community-rooted research with an international audience.

“Blue carbon” is the carbon stored in mangroves, tidal marshes, and seagrasses. These coastal and marine ecosystems sequester and store large quantities of blue carbon in both the plants and sediment below. In fact, recent research shows that 50% of all carbon in the ocean is stored in coastal habitats, despite taking up on only 2% of ocean area. Which means these ecosystems could be an underutilized yet critical component to battling climate change. 

The Genius Day Program holds its STEM program for Hawaiʻi public middle schools every summer. It all started in 2006 by Dr. Ania Wieczorek. For the month of June, middle school students participated in a week-long course filled with lots of educational and hands-on science related activities. The overall significance of this program is to educate middle school students on the field of science, and interest them in a STEM-related career.  The all-day program ran from June 5-30, Monday-Friday.