Message from the Vice President

With a little over 1.4 million residents living on seven major islands that encompass roughly 6,400 square miles of land, Hawai‘i is one of the smallest states in the Union and the most geographically isolated. However, that has not precluded the University of Hawai‘i (UH) from becoming one of the most productive in research and innovation.

This year, UH has again set another extramural funding record with $615.7 million, marking the third consecutive year that we have topped over half-a-billion dollars in funding. These impressive numbers are a direct result of a continuing quest by our faculty, staff and students from across our ten-campus system to seek out new discoveries, technologies and innovative solutions to make our world a better place.

It is our goal to create a diversified, knowledge-based economy and workforce via basic research that is transformed into innovations of applied research, based around the uniqueness and excellence that is inherent to our islands. Hawai‘i’s diverse environments — mirrored only by the state’s ethnic diversity — is the enduring foundation of UH’s world-class research. These strengths, which respectfully acknowledges that the ancestors of these islands developed a practical knowledge that balanced both human society and the capacity of the ecosystems, have now become a guiding principle in UH’s effort to preserve the natural resources, environment, and way of life — not just at home — but across the world. 

In order to successfully scale our research enterprise for the future, UH must continue to make investments to its research infrastructure and intellectual capital. The Pō‘ai Ke Aloha ‘Āina Center for the Ancestral Circular Economy & Justice, Ke Ō Mau Center for Sustainable Island Food Systems, and the Space Science and Engineering Initiative are just a few examples of what UH research has in store for the future.

Learn more about these dynamic and innovative place-based initiatives led by our world-class researchers in this issue of Noelo and experience what makes the University of Hawai‘i — like no place on Earth.

Vassilis L. Syrmos, PhD

Vice President for Research and Innovation
University of Hawai‘i System