Kenneth Kaneshiro - US grants

On September 11, 1992, Hurricane Iniki, the most powerful hurricane to hit the State of Hawaii this century, struck the Island of Kauai with steady wind speeds of over 230 km/hr and gust over 280 km/hr. Everything in the path of the hurricane was profoundly transformed; homes, public building, hotels, agricultural crops, and the natural features of the island were severely damages or destroyed. An aerial survey by the State Division of Forestry and Wildlife described the vegetation of the mountains as being "mowed by a giant weed-eater>" This event presents a once-in-a-century opportunity to study the consequences of such a phenomenon for the natural environment of the Hawaiian Islands. Prior research on Kauai will, in some cases, provide a baseline from which to measure changes wrought by the hurricane and track subsequent responses as t he ecosystems adjust to its short, medium and long-term consequences. The research proposed her seeks to measure the immediate effects of the hurricane and to monitor the ongoing consequences of this natural phenomenon. Of particular interest are the genetic effects of a population flush of some organisms, e.g. some species in the insect family Drosophilidae, in response to a huge but temporary increase in decaying organic mater. The population explosion may followed by a long period of small population size as the decaying material diminish and since it may be months or even years before some of the vegetation is restored to pre-hurricane conditions. Understand the genetics consequences of the sudden increase in population size followed by an extended period of small population size is important for understanding the ability of populations to survive catastrophic environmental conditions. Dr. Kaneshiro will also monitor population levels of exotic drosophilid species which have been shown to be a good indicator for disturbed habitats. As exotic fruit plants invade the now open forest, an increase is expected in exotic drosophilid species which are associate with the exotic plants. As the native forest canopy recovers and is restored to pre-hurricane conditions, a decrease in populations size of endemic drosophilids should occur. The results of the research here would therefore further document the significance of the drosophilids as an important indicator species group for monitoring the relative health of Hawaii native ecosystem. //

This proposal is for the funding of five Graduate Research Trainees to undertake research and training in the University of Hawaii's Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology Program. The students' training would expose them to one of the world's most spectacular examples of adaptive radiation, provide first- hand experience of Hawaii's native ecosystems, active conservation policies, research and practice and integrate basic knowledge with conservation practice in real situations. The training environment will be enhanced by an exchange agreement with Cornell University at present being negotiated, the development of a Center for Conservation Research and Training, the closely-related Hawaii Evolutionary Biology Program, the expansion of the Lyon Arboretum's role as a conservation research area, and a summer field course with collaborating land managing agencies. The training will include a two-semester core course that will provide professional level discussion of areas in biology that are fundamental to the understanding of all biology. Recruitment of ethnic minorities, already strong, will be enhanced through keying in with existing undergraduate minority programs. Special efforts will be made to recruit women by working through the American Association of University Women and the American Women In Science. Leading mainland candidates will be flown to Hawaii for assessment. To assist retention and the acquisition of skills students will in the first year be rotated through several research projects with associated graduate faculty.

9729193 KANESHIRO Fruit flies (family Drosophilidae) have been used for more than a century as model systems to explore major issues in biological and environmental sciences. The Hawaiian Drosophilidae, an assemblage of about a thousand species, represent the premier example of founder-effect speciation and adaptive radiation on oceanic islands, but except for the picture-winged cluster of about 100 species, their taxonomy and systematics are poorly known. In this collaborative project, the systematic biology of the Hawaiian drosophilids will be reviewed, and a robust phylogeny reconstructed. The work will include field collections, descriptions of species, establishment of cultures, and collections of morphological, molecular and behavioral characters for phylogenetic analysis. The resulting analysis is expected to be definitive, and to support future analyses of developmental and behavioral pathways in these flies.

This is a time-critical small grant for exploratory research for short-term support of a small unique collection of Hawaiian fruit flies (Drosophila and Scaptomyza) that are maintained currently at the University of Hawaii, Monoa. Support for the project for which these were collected is ending. Although the Drosophila Species Collection has expressed interest in adding these species, the large collection is in the process of being moved and cannot accept the additions at this time. This small award will provide short-term support to maintain the flies until they potentially can be moved into the living stock collection in its new home.

Based on the theme "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution", the Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology (EECB) Graduate Program has entered into a partnership with the State Department of Education to enhance K-12 education in the biological sciences. Students in the EECB program comprise some of the best students in the biological sciences at the University of Hawaii, and by taking their field-oriented thesis research programs into the K-12 classroom they are developing a science education program that is motivating and stimulating K-12 students into considering science as a career opportunity. The program is providing an opportunity for EECB students to improve the content knowledge and inquiry skills of the students and teachers at K-12 schools in Hawaii. The program is also conducting a series of courses that provide students selected as GK-12 Fellows with the learning processes, knowledge transfer/curriculum development techniques, and the teaching and learning tools to enable them to work effectively with K-12 students and teachers.

The University of Hawaii has proposed a plan for Research
Infrastructure Improvement (RII) with the overarching theme of
"Biodiversity in an Integrated Environment". The project involves the
collaboration of the University of Hawaii campuses at Manoa and Hilo.
The effort will be directed at three research thrust areas that are
consistent with the state's commitment to a research agenda that
targets responsible stewardship of its island ecosystems: evolutionary
genetics, ecosystems, and information technology for environmental
research. The research agenda will focus on Hawaii's native and
introduced invasive species and consider the impact of human activities
on ecosystem functionality and biological diversity. Hawaii
investigators will use new molecular and technical approaches to study
timely and substantive environmental research questions. A partnership
with Kamehameha Schools will enable researchers, educators and students
access to land of tremendous diversity for enriched research and
educational experiences. An Environmental Information Technology
Research Network will be established to store and retrieve spacial
data that can be used to model ecosystem processes throughout the
Hawaiian Islands and serve as a central clearinghouse for biological
resource datasets.

Hawaii's RII effort will strengthen and increase interactions and
collaborations among researchers within the state as well as with US
mainland researchers and integrate research in biodiversity with
educational and outreach activities. K-12 students and teachers will
interact with university researchers in field work designed to increase
math and science interest and learning in Hawaii's youth, particularly
Native Hawaiian students. Infrastructure support will also include
funding of faculty and student travel, start-up funding for new
faculty, "seed funding' to promote competitive collaborations among
investigators and support for research experiences of community college
students.

Building on a currrent GK-12 project (DGE 9979656) the University of Hawaii and the the Hawaii Department of Education are working to ensure sustainability of the collaboration that has been forged between them. Graduate students in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology (EECB) are interacting with and improving the content knowledge and inquiry skills of students and teachers at K-12 schools in Hawaii. The graduate and undergraduate Fellows are learning current science education reform efforts including national and state standards for science education while teaching science through inquiry to improve their own communication and teaching skills. Science teachers are provided with professional development opportunities to gain current knowledge of research in ecology, evolution and conservation biology in Hawaii. The graduate and undergraduate Fellows serve as role models of practicing scientists by engaging K-12 students and teachers as active participants in ongoing research in the EECB program. Thus a culture of collaboration between science research and science education is being developed in Hawaii. The graduate fellows bring information from the natural laboratory to the K-12 students and teachers in the classroom, and also bring the K-12 students and teachers to the natural laboratory in field-based activities. Previous projects have contributed to real-life situations within the local communities. In one case, the data collected by the K-12 students resulted in the eradication of an incipient invasion of an alien ant species as well as the discovery of two previously unrecorded species of ants. Thus, besides the intellectual merits of the current program in Hawaii, the individual projects are having a broad impact on issues being addressed by the local communities. Collaborative relationships are being developed with more than 20 community, government (federal, state and county), and professional agencies/organizations. Through these collaborations K-12 educators and students are developing a better understanding of the fragility of the island ecosystems and the importance of efforts made to conserve them.

Project title: Using the Native Biota for Science Education
Institution: University of Hawaii
PI/Co-PI: Kenneth Kanashiro, Sheila Conant, Robert Kinzie, Donald Young
Partner School Districts: Hawaii State Department of Education
Funding: $ 1,482,270
Number of fellows/year: 10 graduate, 2 undergraduate
Setting: Urban, Suburban, Rural
Target audience: K-12
NSF supported disciplines involved: Biology

This Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) award supports the establishes a program of graduate education and research in Ecology, Conservation, and Pathogen Biology involving collaboration across six academic departments and three institutes and campuses of the University of Hawaii at Manoa (UH Manoa). The purpose of this program is to provide doctoral students with interdisciplinary training in the skills required for conducting research at the interface of the biomedical and ecological sciences. The over-arching research theme is to improve the understanding of emerging infectious diseases, how they originate and spread, their impact on humans, domesticated animals, and on natural ecosystems and their biodiversity. The program builds on the unique collection of scientists, research projects and academic programs that exist at UH Manoa. Training will commence with students immersion in a unique 15-week intensive lab and field research experience that takes advantage of Hawaiis tropical forest and coral ecosystems as the outdoor classroom and laboratory. Students will conduct research using state-of-the-art equipment and facilities for carrying out research on the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of host-pathogen relationships, the molecular and cellular processes involved in pathogenesis, and the role of anthropogenic environmental change in emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases. Each student will have two mentors for his/her doctoral career during the program, an evolutionary ecological scientist and a biomedical scientist or parasitologist. In addition to their research experiences, students will receive continuing training including biannual workshops, a group project to build interdisciplinary collaborative research skills, and an annual international symposium which the students help organize and run in addition to particiipating. IGERT is an NSF-wide program intended to meet the challenges of educating U.S. Ph.D. scientists and engineers with the interdisciplinary background, deep knowledge in a chosen discipline, and the technical, professional, and personal skills needed for the career demands of the future. The program is intended to catalyze a cultural change in graduate education by establishing innovative new models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries.

The Hawaii EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement award will build on the success of the first EPSCoR RII program to advance specific research opportunities in ecology, evolution and Cyberinfrastructure that are of high priority to the State and the UH System. Specifically, Hawaii's 2005 RII Plan presents a research agenda that promotes responsible stewardship of Hawaii's ecosystems while enabling its people to assume their roles as technologically literate, critically thinking citizens in a 21st century workforce. In partnership with the State Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism (DBEDT), UH will leverage IMUA II to promote what Governor Lingle has emphasized as an "opportunity for environmental responsibility to be an economic force" for the State. The overarching theme of this award is "Research Collaborations in Island Ecology, Evolution and Cyberinfrastructure".

The Hawaiian Islands are renowned as ideal settings for evolution and speciation studies and provides an exceptional natural laboratory for investigating the ecological and genetic factors underlying speciation and adaptation to diverse natural and altered habitats. Moreover, because
the geological evolution of the main islands is well documented, is possible to accurately date genetic divergence times with known geologic events. There is no other place on earth where this can be done as easily or comprehensively. On a different scale, understanding the functioning of ecosystems, interactions of species within them, and the links among terrestrial, aquatic, and marine systems in both intact and altered ecosystems is critical for sustaining the long-term health of Hawaii's environment. Hawaii offers unprecedented opportunities for comparative ecological studies in terrestrial, aquatic, and marine systems at many levels of disturbance and human activities.

This award will expand on the base created by the first RII award by combining Cyberinfrastructure and environmental sensor technology with evolutionary genetics and ecosystem research. Regional partnerships of scientists from Hawaii universities, mainland universities and business leaders in Hawaii will develop infrastructure and appropriate research programs ranging from analyses of evolutionary and ecological processes in diverse habitats and across the Hawaiian archipelago to the multidisciplinary problems of invasive species and ecological and environmental perturbations on urban and rural environments. Other partnerships will be developed with national centers of excellence (National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center and the Center for Embedded Networked Sensoring). The Cyberinfrastructure focus area will develop an innovative network for environmental research and education that serves as an integrator of the EPSCoR program. This is based on a) wireless sensor networks and interactive data systems & repositories for environmental monitoring, and 2) Hawaiian socioecological systems research sites and collaboration. The Cyberinfrastructure program will collaborate with InteleSense Technologies, the National Biocomputation Center at Stanford University, the Maui High Performance Computing Center, and UCLA's Center for Embedded Networked Sensors.

From an ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic perspective, Hawaii's population base is among the most diverse in the nation. The award develops a program that builds on the most promising recruitment and retention activities implemented under the current RII award to develop structured interdisciplinary courses as a means of integrating interdisciplinary environmentally-focused research into the curriculum and to increase STEM student performance, especially for underrepresented groups. A major goal is to embrace the community colleges in the program by making community college faculty members of the research teams and to facilitate incorporation of research programs into the community college curricula.

This proposal describes a Track 3 Accomplishment Based Renewal from the University of Hawaii. The focus of this project has been on ecology, evolution, and conservation biology. K-12 students work with Graduate Fellows on their ongoing research. Fellows work with K-12 teachers to define activities, according to the needs of their research, but do so within the context of semester-long training provided by the Curriculum Research and Development group in the University of Hawaii College of Education. This proposal looks to provide funding towards continuing the activities of Track 1 and 2 GK-12 program focused on ecology, evolution and conservation biology as it pertains to the unique setting offered by Hawaii. Furthermore, the Track 2 program failed to fully institutionalize the GK-12 program, and the proponents are asking for two more years to ensure sustainability through funding efforts of this proposal.

Abstract for EPS-0701309

The proposal is for a workshop on Cyberinfrastructure (CI) that will be associated with (take advantage of) the Statewide Hawaii EPSCoR Conference, November 14-15, 2006 in Honolulu. This will provide an opportunity for scientists/educators from Hawaii as well as representatives from the 27 EPSCoR states to hear speakers who are leaders in the field of CI. The participants will learn about some of the state-of the-art technologies in wireless environmental sensing, database engineering, data analyses and visualization. They will also hear case studies of how the CI technology will play an important role in data integration, analyses and visualization. Within the EPSCoR state of Hawaii, interests in the workshop have been expressed by various government agencies, NGOs, and private land-owners.

Intellectual Merits
Cyberinfrastructure will provide scientists with the tools to manage, integrate, analyze,
and visualize data from widely disparate data sets. The volumes of highly heterogeneous
information over varying scales of time, space and complexity require access to scientific
computing and information technology and the ability to synthesize and enable interpretation of such extraordinary data sets. The proposed workshop will provide an opportunity for participants to better understand the CI technologies available today and what the future portends as the technology continue to develop. The workshop is very timely because of the rapid development of the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) that is developing national cyberinfrastructure programs for environmental science. The Hawaii RII award is developing the capability to be competitive for NEON infrastructure and the PIs have excellent experience to make this workshop very important to Hawaii and the entire EPSCoR community.

Broader Impacts
The workshop will provide a forum for both speakers end users of the technology to see and hear about the latest developments in the field. In Hawaii, a number of government agencies as well as private land-owners/managers have expressed tremendous interest in the application of CI technologies in protecting fragile island ecosystems, mitigating the impact of natural disasters (e.g. floods, tsunamis, hurricanes, etc). Civil Defense and the Army Corps of Engineers are keenly interested in deploying wireless sensor technologies in order to forecast environmental events such as flash floods and wave surges. The CI technology will have wide application in addressing society's needs and the workshop will be one of the first meetings of its kind in Hawaii.

EPS-0919608, University of Alaska, Fairbanks Campus, Virgil L. Sharpton, linked to EPS-0919607 (University of Hawaii)

Collaborative Research: PACMAN ? Cyberinfrastructure for Discovering Climate Change Impacts in Water Resources Across Alaska and the Hawaiian Islands


This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).

This project seeks to develop and demonstrate the capability of a Pacific Area Climate Monitoring and Analysis Network (PACMAN). PACMAN is expected to yield a more reliable understanding of the impacts of climate warming on fresh water resources and communities in Alaska and Hawaii. In addition, PACMAN will include modeling and planning activities that can advance the understanding of immediate and long-term precipitation patterns across the North Pacific. PACMAN?s capabilities will include: (1) real-time access to synoptic satellite data and in-situ sensor systems, deployed throughout Alaska and the Hawaiian Islands; (2) integration of these datasets with archival data from existing research databases and drawn from sophisticated web-harvesting capabilities; (3) redundant archival of all data and information products; (4) real-time distributed simulation from supercomputing centers in Alaska and Hawaii; (5) a collaborative framework for visualization and multi-dimensional mapping; (6) development of and reliance upon open-source web tools; (7) development of an agent-based framework for assessing societal impacts, and; (8) open distribution to researchers and policy makers in Alaska, Hawaii, and around the world through the Internet.

Intellectual Merit
The core cyberinfrastructure to be developed will enable research focused on measuring and understanding the macro- and micro-scale processes that influence fresh water and its ties to the social, cultural, and environmental wellbeing of communities in Alaska and Hawaii. The researchers seek to understand the dynamics of the integrated climate-water-social system from the local to global scales, and use this understanding as a basis for evaluating the effects of climate change on water resources. The integration framework goes beyond discipline-based inquiry and will be fundamental to understanding the impacts of climate variability and change on ecosystems? functions and biodiversity. The project uses the state-of-the art environmental monitoring and information management system initiated in the prior Hawaii EPSCoR RII awards as the core platform. This management system platform will be further developed in the Track-2 project so that it can handle the complex data processing, simulation, sharing, and integration needs of diverse teams of researchers in various targeted thematic areas.


Broader Impacts
The PACMAN consortium?s projects will enhance the abilities of Alaskan and Hawaiian communities to understand, plan for, and respond to changing climate conditions. It will inform effective policies that build resilience in fresh water resource management at multiple scales of control. The project will build upon the successes of previous Alaska and Hawaii EPSCoR RII educational and public outreach plans, as well as the Pacific and Alaska Regional Integrated Science and Assessment programs funded through National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

PACMAN will incorporate capabilities that are relevant to addressing other ?real-world? issues that most directly affect the coupled human-environment systems of the North Pacific, and will provide data and information products that are appropriate for, and capable of advancing a broad suite of cultural, economic, educational, and environmental missions across Alaska and Hawaii. This will be accomplished in two ways: 1) through the development of a highly accessible agent-based model capable of assessing the consequences of different hydrological scenarios, and 2) through the reliance of an External Advisory Group consisting of members drawn from potential end-user groups such as land holders, native Alaskan and Hawaiian groups, NGOs, K-12 schools, and government agencies to ensure that the consortium effectively engages Native Alaskans and Native Hawaiians in the project.