Special Keynote Presentation: Chad Kālepa Baybayan
When you leave the safety of the shore, you discover the stars — Chad Kālepa Baybayan.
Chad Kālepa Baybayan, "He Kani Ko Luna: A Sky Above." Recorded at TEDxMaui 2013, Maui Arts & Cultural Center.
Credit: TEDx/TEDxMaui
In April 2021, IOA-LSAMP mourned the loss of its esteemed external advisory committee member, Chad Kālepa Baybayan. Uncle Kālepa served as a valued member of the IOA-LSAMP external advisory committee, beginning in 2018 when he gave a stirring keynote presentation during the grant kickoff meeting held at UH Hilo. Beyond his work on the grant, he was a celebrated Kanaka Maoli navigator who crewed and captained the Hawaiian voyaging vessel Hōkūle‘a. He was also an educator and a champion of cultivating and promoting Hawaiian language and culture in the Islands.
IOA-LSAMP proudly dedicates this conference to Chad Kālepa Baybayan's memory and the work he left for us to collectively strive to fulfill. That is, to raise up and empower the next generation of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander leaders in science. We have chosen as the keynote presentation for this conference a TEDxMaui talk that Uncle Kālepa gave in 2013 on indigenous Pacific wayfinding and navigation. Even though he delivered the speech eight years ago, his words still provide powerful inspiration today. It is our hope that his message will remind us of the rich history of scientific achievement to which all past and living generations of Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders belong. STEM has been deeply rooted in our island societies for millennia, and it is our privilege and responsibility to carry that legacy of scientific enquiry and engagement forward into the future. The student presentations showcased here are evidence that we are making headway toward that end.
This year, once again, IOA-LSAMP joins forces with our B2B-STEM partners to offer students a shared space to promote their research. The links below will take you to presentations prepared by IOA-LSAMP and B2B-STAMP students from Hawaiʻi and across the broader Pacific. Their valuable contributions will be available for viewing August 9, 2021 and will remain on the IOA-LSAMP website indefinitely.
Finally, to the students who are participating in this virtual conference and to those who aspire to participate in the future, there are perhaps no better words to leave you with than those that were spoken by Uncle Kālepa (please see his quote below).
Aloha and ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa.
— Dr. Mārata Tamaira, conference convener.
Draw a big circle around where you want to end up and then throw the map away. Draw your own map. Become the map maker, the cartographer for your own life.
Special thanks to the following IOA-LSAMP and B2B-STAMP personnel:
UH Hilo Chancellor Bonnie Irwin (Principal Investigator), Joseph Genz (Project Director), Randel DeWees (American Samoa Community College), Helen Turner (Chaminade University), Chrystie Naeole (Chaminade University), Johnny Alden (Chaminade University), Rylan Chong (Chaminade University), Hatty Kabua (College of the Marshall Islands), Kendal Romany (College of the Marshall Islands), Peltin Olter-Pelep (College of Micronesia–FSM), Anthony Jay Sunga (Guam Community College), Tara Davis (Hawaii Pacific University), Velma Deleon Guerrero (Northern Marianas College), Vernice Yuzi (Palau Community College), Kristina Sayama (University of Guam), Nalu OʻConnor (University of Hawaiʻi, Hilo), Kelli Ching (University of Hawaiʻi, Mānoa), Kapi‘olani Community College Chancellor, Louis Pagotto, Kapi‘oloani Community College Interim Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Maria Bautista, Herve Collins (B2B-STAMP, Kapi‘oloani Community College), Josh Faumuina (B2B-STAMP, Kapi‘oloani Community College).
Islands of Opportunity–LSAMP Participants
American Samoa Community College (So’o Le Fau i Le Fau Learning Community)
Please be advised that any information or content derived from the student contributions featured on this website, in part or in whole, must be credited to the authors using appropriate conventions of citation and reference.
