$2.5M federal grant led by UH Hilo renewed to support Hawaiʻi and Pacific Island students’ STEM research
The Islands of Opportunity Alliance will receive $2.5 million from the National Science Foundation to continue for five more years with STEM mentorship and research opportunities for students.
By Susan Enright.
A federally-funded program supporting student research projects and headed by the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo that includes a dozen partner universities and colleges from Hawaiʻi and the Pacific region has received funding for its 4th grant cycle.
The Islands of Opportunity Alliance (IOA), led by the UH Hilo Office of the Chancellor, will receive $2.5 million from the National Science Foundation over the course of the next five years beginning next month to continue with mentorship and research opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students from underrepresented populations in science, technology, engineering, and math, commonly called the STEM fields.
“I’m grateful that the NSF has recognized the value of our alliance with another grant,” says UH Hilo Chancellor Bonnie D. Irwin, who serves as principal investigator of the grant. “The network we have built around STEM across the Pacific and the opportunities the program gives to students is an important component of improving all of our island communities.”
UH Hilo serves as the administrative hub of the alliance, which includes partner institutions in American Sāmoa, Guam, Hawaiʻi, Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), the Marshall Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands.
The students are supported in conducting independent research projects of great benefit to their home communities on varied topics such as medicinal plants, digital coding, ancestral knowledge, diets and breast cancer, and sustainable fish farming. Many use the new knowledge and skills they’ve gained during the program to then help their people and communities navigate the future more effectively.
At the recent Islands of Opportunity Alliance STEM Symposium held July 24-26, 2024, and hosted by UH Hilo on Hawaiʻi Island, over two dozen students presented their independent research.
Since its inception in 2006, the Islands of Opportunity Alliance has developed as a network of higher education institutions in Hawaiʻi and the greater Pacific region within the federal Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program, which was launched by the NSF in 1991 with a mission to encourage and facilitate access to careers in STEM fields for underrepresented populations. The program is particularly aimed at encouraging students from two-year programs to continue their education at four-year institutions.
Member institutions for the upcoming grant period are American Samoa Community College, College of the Marshall Islands, College of Micronesia-FSM, Chaminade University of Honolulu, Guam Community College, Hawaiʻi Pacific University, Northern Marianas College, Palau Community College, University of Guam, UH Hilo, UH Mānoa, and new member UH West Oʻahu.
The IOA program also has a strong mentorship component where peers and faculty nurture and support students in their research.
“The project continues with mentored research experiences at each campus’s STEM Learning Community, which includes the UH Hilo Keaholoa STEM Scholars Program,” says Joe Genz, an associate professor of anthropology at UH Hilo who serves as the IOA program director.
Also continuing are two major alliance-wide projects: data analytics training and research, headed by Chaminade University; and social science education research, conducted with faculty at UH Hilo and the University of Guam.
During this upcoming grant period, a new alliance-wide project will be introduced on climate change.
“A climate stories research project will be guided by faculty at UH Hilo, Hawaiʻi Pacific University, and the University of Guam,” says Genz. “The idea is for IOA-LSAMP students from all 12 campuses to be involved in a single overarching research project focused on climate change impacts and lived experiences of resilience.”
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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.
