Gift from UH alumna Harriet Natsuyama funds student research at UH Hilo
“I especially like to work with UH Hilo because I see it as a really important asset, a jewel in the UH system, especially in the natural sciences.” -Harriet Hatsune Natsuyama
By Susan Enright.
A gift from Harriet Hatsune Natsuyama, an alumna of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, will support UH Hilo students’ work on research projects, providing valuable experience they can take into future careers or graduate studies.
The Alexa and Sean Light of Nature Research Award will help UH Hilo undergraduate and graduate students in any major conduct research related to conservation, sustainability, and the regeneration of terrestrial, oceanic, or atmospheric life and well-being. The fund is named after Natsuyama’s two grandchildren Alexa and Sean; light in the name refers to the light of learning and knowledge.
This is the third fund Natsuyama has established at UH Hilo, following the Natsuyama-Otsubo Family Initiative Fund for research and the Ka ʻAno ʻAno Fund that provides support for applied research activities at UH Hiloʻs College of Agriculture, Forestry, Natural Resource Management.
“I especially like to work with UH Hilo because I see it as a really important asset, a jewel in the UH system, especially in the natural sciences,” says Natsuyama, adding that she thinks a fund to support undergraduate research for conservation and sustainability is a perfect way to help students with projects while encouraging others to give.
Game changer
Natsuyama says she was inspired to establish the new fund when she heard about the recent gift made by UH Hilo Chancellor Bonnie D. Irwin that created the Chancellor’s Fund for Undergraduate Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity. Irwin’s fund is aimed at increasing student access to research opportunities at UH Hilo, giving students a competitive advantage when they apply for jobs and graduate schools.
“It’s so important for undergraduate students to see the possibilities that research can create,” says Irwin. “We are grateful for Harriet’s forward-thinking gift that will have an impact on many students’ lives.”
Bruce Mathews, associate vice chancellor for research at UH Hilo, says Natsuyama’s gift will help support student research projects through covering such costs as supplies and materials as well as travel to present research at conferences.
“It will primarily fund research that’s using Hawaiʻi Island as a living laboratory,” says Mathews.
Natsuyama, who grew up in Honolulu and lives in Southern California, became interested in UH Hilo after getting involved in the collaborative Adopt-a-Beehive With Alan Wong program about a dozen years ago. When she visited the campus, she met Mathews who showed her some of the research being done at UH Hilo such as field trials to study sugarcane production for jet fuel.
“Harriet is a game changer,” says Mathews. “It gives us energy at the workplace that she wants to do good and make a difference for Hilo students.”
Harriet Hatsune Natsuyama
Natsuyama is an expert on systems analysis, computer modeling, and applied mathematics. She has authored six books and 200 papers of applied research in mathematical, physical, and engineering systems. She received her bachelor of arts in mathematics and her master of arts in physics from UH Mānoa. She received her doctor of science from Kyoto University Institute of Astrophysics.
Her professional life took place in Southern California and she is now a retired Cal State professor of systems engineering. She also spent time during her career as a visiting professor at Japanese universities.
Natsuyama has made more than a dozen field trips to study megaliths and has studied ancient writing with Japanese language researchers. She visited UH Hilo in 2017 to deliver a lecture on “Decoding Rocks and Words of Hinomoto: Hidden Wisdom of Space and Time,” where she spoke about the knowledge and wisdom contained in ancient rocks recently uncovered and decoded after being hidden from view for thousands of years.
She was named University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Distinguished Alumna in 1991.
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Story by Susan Enright, a public information specialist for the Office of the Chancellor and editor of UH Hilo Stories. She received her bachelor of arts in English and certificate in women’s studies from UH Hilo.
