Alumni News

Lyle graduate from the HDFS program in 2017 and is currently working for the Department of Education as a Personnel Clerk for TSEAS (Teacher Substitute Employee Automated System) section. He helps go over applications and input information into the system, as well as providing necessary information to substitute teachers and other school officials...

As the founding college of the University of Hawaiʻi, CTAHR has witnessed much growth and change during the past 100+ years – but none more challenging than this 2020-21 schoolyear. As we approach Spring convocation, let’s take a moment to celebrate the successes of our undergraduates, graduates, PhD candidates, and post-docs. The examples below just scratch the surface. Kyle Marcelino and Renisha Karki, grad students in the Dept. of Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering, were recognized at the 2021 International Conference on Sustainable Biowaste Management in Hong Kong. Kyle was awarded Outstanding Postgraduate Researcher for his research topic, “Nanobubbles technology in aquaponics,” while Renisha won the Outstanding Poster award for her presentation, “Anaerobic co-digestion of coffee pulp and cattle manure for enhanced biomethane generation.”

“I am so proud of Renisha and Kyle, who are self-motivated in their research,” says Samir Khanal, who mentors the Environment and Bioenergy Research Group. “The awards demonstrated their dedication and excellence in research in front of more than 400 attendees who are researchers and professors from diverse areas of environmental engineering, bioengineering, and plant and social sciences!“

“I am very honored to receive this award,” says Kyle. “Attending this conference, despite the pandemic, was quite an experience for me. I hope we will get many opportunities as this in the upcoming days.”

“This is the first conference where I have presented, and I was proud to represent CTAHR and UH Mānoa,” says Renisha. “This experience has taught me a lot and motivated me to continue working hard for the betterment of environmental and public health.”

CTAHR alums Lucia Amore and Shelley Wong will graduate from UH JABSOM and were just matched for medical residency programs. Lucia (whose mother is Tessie Amore of the Dept. of Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences) will be joining the Family Medicine Clinic at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, while Shelley will study psychiatry at JABSOM. Read more.

“Shelley and Lucia were not only good students, but also dedicated individuals who volunteered their time to CTAHR and to different community needs,” says Kacie Ho of the Dept. of Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Sciences. “They are knowledgeable, skilled, and caring. Those are the characteristics you’d want in your doctor. The FSHN faculty are proud of our two former graduates, who we know will make excellent physicians in the near future.”

In the spirit of last week’s Earth Day celebration, students in the Dept. of Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences PEPS 410 class demonstrated the use of no-till sorghum cover cropping as a regenerative agriculture approach to restore soil health, improve the water cycle, enhance beneficial soil microorganisms that provide ecosystem services, while suppressing soil-borne pests. These would all lead to an ecosystem that is more resilient to climate change, and strengthening the health and vitality of farm soil. View the YouTube video of their project.

“It’s amazing to see students work c

Compared to the fattening up power of soybeans and corn, high-fiber animal feeds are often considered to be inefficient for optimal growth and production. But livestock producers may want to reconsider that stance, says Rajesh Jha of the Dept. of Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Sciences. “Our lab has studied many alternative feed components for developing cost-effective and sustainable animal production systems and, in the process, found many functional benefits of dietary fiber not previously appreciated,” he notes. Although fibrous feedstuffs typically have fewer calories and relatively lower nutritional values, the higher level of dietary fiber works to improve the animal’s gut health by modulating beneficial microorganisms in the large intestine, the same way as in humans. This, in turn, benefits the immune function, as well as overall health and performance.

“Alternative feedstuffs are a reasonably cheaper animal feed, and can be sourced locally,” Rajesh adds. “Interestingly, dietary fibers and their components have a prebiotic function and are considered alternatives to antibiotics in animal feeding programs. This is of particular importance when the animal industry is under pressure to produce food animals without antibiotics in their diets.”

The review paper, Dietary fiber in poultry nutrition and their effects on nutrient utilization, performance, gut health, and on the environment, appears in a recent issue of the Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology. Related review and research papers are also available on Rajesh’s lab website.

Our senior students in Food Science and Human Nutrition are winding up their academic careers at CTAHR, and you are invited! to their UH Food Science Capstone Student Presentations, hosted by the Hawaiʻi Institute of Food Technologists (HIFT). Trisha Nagasawa. Breadfruit and its capabilities as a flour.  Calah Bayley. Total phenolic content of a kava, salt instant coffee beverage product. Caitlin Yamasaki. Sensory evaluation of poi in candy.

• Amanda Joya. Emulsion characteristics and physical stability of oil-in-water emulsion using CBD oil in a black tea beverage.
• Kayla Morikami. Fat replacement in baked goods using konjac glucomannan.

Thursday, May 6^th at 6:00 p.m. Please RSVP by May 4 to receive the online meeting details.

“Please join our seniors for an evening of research,” says Kara Ono, HIFT Section Chair. “We hope to see you there!”

A culinary adventure into Cinco de Mayo? Sounds like a fun way to conclude this year’s online cooking series from the Academic and Student Affairs Office and Dept. of Human Nutrition, Food & Animal Sciences. Join Lara Hackney as she dishes up Mexican Street Corn Salad, Sweet Potato Enchiladas, and Churro with Chocolate Ganache!May 7, 5:00 p.m. via Zoom

Please register in advance. ASAO will email you a list of ingredients and supplies needed. Students can still have their monthly care packages filled with free food and other goodies available. Pickup is May 6, 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., Gilmore courtyard.