Natural Sciences & Mathematics

Chaminade University Receives $10 Million Grant for United Nations Sustainability Center

August 18, 2022 by University Communications & Marketing

The National Science Foundation (NSF) selected Chaminade University to lead a groundbreaking $10 million, five-year grant project to create new leadership pathways into data science careers for students and working professionals across Hawaii and the Pacific region.

The grant is part of a comprehensive $39 million effort to establish four new NSF INCLUDES Alliances nationwide designed to bolster diversity and inclusion in scientific leadership, innovation and discovery.

With the help of the transformative funding, Chaminade University’s new United Nations sustainability center, CIFAL Honolulu, and Data Science program will spearhead the launch of the university’s new Alliance Supporting Pacific Impact through Computational Excellence (ALL-SPICE). Working with a consortium of partners, ALL-SPICE will focus on the application of data analytics to solve critical sustainability issues and promote sustainable development across the Pacific region. The program will also focus on workforce development, providing opportunities for skills building in data science to meet employer needs in this high-demand field.

The first Alliance programming will begin this September.

“Chaminade University is honored to lead this important initiative charged with empowering STEM leaders for tomorrow from across Hawaii and the Pacific, equipping them with the cutting-edge data analytics skills they need to drive sustainable development,” said Chaminade President Dr. Lynn Babington.

“This grant is part of a collective and exciting effort to meet a pivotal moment in our history by expanding opportunities to a new generation of change-makers. This program is founded in our mission of serving community needs and building d healthier, more resilient and socially just communities in Hawaii and the Pacific region.”

CIFAL Honolulu Executive Director Dr. Gail Grabowsky said ALL-SPICE will be “laser-focused” on data science as critical to helping Hawaii and Pacific region communities meet their sustainable development goals, including bolstering renewable energy, reducing inequality and forming sustainable communities.

“This project is about putting Pacific data in Pacific hands to effect regional change and develop the capacity for data-driven decision support,” Grabowsky said. “Our communities are facing big challenges and so this alliance is about helping tomorrow’s Hawaii and Pacific leaders to find big solutions.”

Dr. Helen Turner, research director of Chaminade’s CIFAL Honolulu Centre, is the principal investigator for ALL-SPICE along with Data Science Director Dr. Rylan Chong. She said the Data Science program at Chaminade has taken a community-focused approach from the start.

“Our data science faculty has a portfolio approach to data science education that meets students, working professionals and community members where they are to offer academic, training and informal learning programs,” she said. “NSF recognized the potential of applying this strategy across our Pacific region with a focus on using data analytics to promote sustainable development goals.”

The ALL-SPICE Alliance will have three central functions:

Offering training and education programs;
Conducting data science research on sustainable development;
And building capacity for data analytics, including with cyber infrastructure.

The Chaminade University-led consortium includes the University of Hawaii, East-West Center and the Texas Advanced Computing Center.

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Chaminade University of Honolulu believes in the power of education to drive positive change, broaden perspectives, and deepen our understanding of one another. With an emphasis on transformative service-learning experiences, we prepare students to serve as tomorrow’s leaders, inspiring and challenging them to use their minds and their hearts to help build stronger and more just communities. We are proud to serve as Hawai‘i’s only Marianist university and rely on these values to guide us in delivering a high-quality education with an individualized approach and a focus on excellence, innovation, and change. Established in 1955, we offer more than 30 undergraduate and graduate programs, including doctoral degrees in education, psychology, and nursing practice. Learn more at chaminade.edu.

Alumna’s Forensic Science Passion Takes Her to NCIS

July 13, 2022 by University Communications & Marketing

When Kay Een ’02 was a kid, she called many places home.

Her dad was in the military and stationed around the world, from Okinawa to Greece to Hawaii.

And with each assignment, the family would pack up, pick up and move someplace new. Een got accustomed to change, but she also found something that always stayed the same: her love of Patricia Cornwell novels. The crime author’s delicious tales of murder and mystery fascinated her.

And eventually, they would help drive her to a successful career in forensic sciences.

But first, Een said, she had some “growing up to do.”

Finding Her Passion

After graduating from high school, Een wasn’t quite ready to jump into college so she decided to follow in her father’s footsteps and join the military. She chose the Navy and was trained as an air traffic controller. It was fulfilling, fast-paced work, but Een was looking for new ways to grow.

So when she was stationed in Hawaii, she decided to enroll at Chaminade University.

She initially got her associate’s degree. And then after leaving active service, she returned to Chaminade to continue her education and complete her bachelor’s degree. She majored in Forensic Sciences, rekindling her desire to immerse herself in crime scene investigation and evidence analysis.

At Chaminade, she also found a place where she could thrive as a nontraditional student.

“I loved the connections I made with professors. There was a camaraderie I was able to develop with them,” she said. “I also really enjoyed the fact that a lot of the younger students really looked up to us older students from a life experience perspective. We could offer our shared experiences.”

But what really set Chaminade apart, Een said, was its focus on hands-on learning.

She loved every minute of mock crime scene investigations and staged witness interviews, and couldn’t get enough of the time she spent in forensic sciences labs, either. “You really got to see the work through the eyes of police officers,” she said. “It was really fascinating—and I was hooked.”

That experiential learning continued with an internship that had Een over the moon.

A Career at NCIS

She got the chance to work with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) for two semesters, and suddenly found her dream job. “They had me doing real work. We were going to crime scenes, collecting evidence, I went to autopsies,” Een said. “I got to know that this was really for me.”

Een loved the work so much that she applied to NCIS after graduation in 2002. But about that same time, as the U.S. bolstered military actions in the Middle East, Een was activated from the Navy Reserves and deployed to Qatar. She was there for about six months as a Navy air crew member.

After she returned to Hawaii, she got the call she had been waiting for: NCIS wanted to interview her.

She was hired in short order for the agency, and before she had little more than a moment to take a breath, she was assigned to general crimes and conducting investigations. “It was a great first tour,” she said. “I really got to sink my teeth into understanding what the agency and my role was all about.”

Een’s next assignment with NCIS was in Okinawa, a place where she’d lived as a kid.

She is also half-Japanese, and has family on her mother’s side in mainland Japan.

Een was assigned to the family and sexual violence unit and spent three years in Okinawa.

While there, she met her future husband, a Marine. They now have two children together—10-year-old Kenji and 7-year-old Cora. And from Okinawa, the couple was able to co-locate their careers to new locales. They’ve moved five times so far, including to Washington, D.C. and back to Okinawa.

Along the way, Een also received several promotions.

Inclusion and Diversity in NCIS

“That was the most amazing thing about NCIS. I didn’t have to choose between being a mom and promoting or progressing in the agency. At the end of the day, I was presented with the right opportunities and was able to progress my military career. That’s so important,” she said.

Een now serves as the chief diversity and inclusion officer for NCIS, a role that’s kept her passionate about her career and agency. She said her focus is on making NCIS the strongest it can be and attracting and retaining the best talent. “If you don’t have equity and you don’t have inclusion, you don’t have diversity,” she said. “We need to use this canvas of people we have to the best of their abilities.”

As she marks 18 years with NCIS, Een says it hasn’t all been roses.

About 10 years into her career with the agency, with her husband deployed, Een said she almost left when she felt as if she was being asked to choose between being a mom and being an agent. But a candid conversation with her superiors allowed her to stick with it—and she’s grateful she did.

Een added she doesn’t want that experience to happen to others.

“I was fortunate that the agency picked me up and changed my trajectory,” she said. “But I really think that shouldn’t happen to anybody else. It shouldn’t be luck or chance to determine whether or not I stayed with this agency. What if I hadn’t had that conversation? Where would I be today?”

And it’s that experience that got her interested in equity in the first place.

Een started serving as a member of the NCIS director’s Committee for Diversity and Inclusion in 2014. And when her current role opened up, she immediately put her name in the hat. “This is what I want to do because I genuinely believe that our organization is wonderful and we do really good things,” she said. “Our director believes in cultural diversity and he believes in people. I want to support that.”

And if you’re wondering if Een is a fan of the “NCIS” TV series, too, the answer is yes.

The last time she was in the islands, she got to visit the “NCIS: Hawaii” set and “totally fangirled.”

She’s also excited she might have more opportunities to swing by. Sixteen years after leaving, Een will be moving back to Hawaii with her family and continuing in her current role with NCIS remotely. “It’s something that we’ve always said, that Hawaii was where we’d like to go some day,” Een said. “It’s always been a touchtone and now it’s happening. We’re thrilled.”

Chaminade Hosts Virtual Forum with Medical Team Who Performed the First Pig-Heart Transplant

June 24, 2022 by University Communications & Marketing

In January 2022, 57-year-old David Bennett, Sr., was suffering from terminal heart disease when he made history—and grabbed headlines—as the first person to receive a genetically modified pig’s heart. The groundbreaking operation inspired millions and heralded a new frontier in transplant science.

Bennett, Sr., lived for two months with his donor heart before his condition deteriorated and he was administered palliative care when it was clear he would not recover. David Bennett, Jr., said his father will be remembered for his humor, his kindness, and his ardent belief in the power of education.

It was that legacy that helped make a rare opportunity a reality for the Silversword community.

On the afternoon of May 31, about 100 Chaminade faculty members and students gathered for “Advances in Porcine Xenotransplantation,” a virtual forum with Bennett, Sr.’s, medical team and his son. The event was an opportunity for attendees to unpack the latest on the first-of-its-kind transplant, while also learning more about David Bennett, Sr., the “goofy” patient and beloved father and grandfather.

“It’s an honor and privilege to do this for my dad, who helped to advance science,” David Bennett, Jr., told participants. “He was always generous with his time and he always reminded me how proud he was of me. My dad was somebody who had lots of friends and who got along with people very well.”

Dr. Bartley Griffith, the world-renowned cardiothoracic surgeon who performed the surgery at the University of Maryland Medical Center, said Bennett, Sr., was a “terrible candidate” for the operation “in the truest sense of the word.” His overall health was poor and his ability to fight infections low.

“He would be classified as almost untreatable by transplantation standards,” Griffith said.

He was also deemed ineligible for a traditional heart transplant.

“The only thing about Dave that made him a great candidate was his toughness,” Griffith told participants, adding genetically modified pig hearts had only ever before been transplanted into non-human primates. “We didn’t know if the pig heart would work for two minutes, two days, two months or two years. The testing of this was just done in animals and they have a different immune system.”

Dr. Genevieve Griffiths, Dr. Claire Wright and Dr. Sandra Bourgette-Henry, of Chaminade, moderated the conversation and presented questions gathered in advance from students and members of the faculty.

Wright, an associate professor of Biology, called the forum a great opportunity to learn about the scientific and human aspects of a massive medical innovation. “This was a human who meant so much to his family and friends and now leaves us with this wonderful legacy,” she said.

Griffith, the surgeon, agreed. “We are doing exactly what Dave Bennett, Jr., requested of us, which is to learn something and to spread that learning to those who are interested,” he said. Griffith added there is still much to discover about the transplant itself and about Bennett, Sr.’s, cause of death.

“We are still working with tissues to take a deep dive on what really happened,” Griffith said.

Dr. Kapil Saharia, an assistant professor of Medicine at UMMC’s Institute of Human Virology and Bennett’s infectious disease specialist, said the transplant underscores just how far transplant science has come in the last decade alone. “I think this is setting the stage for really bigger steps,” he said.

Dr. Alison Grazioli, UMMC medical director and the head of the Cardiac Surgery Intensive Care Unit, added Bennett, Sr.’s, transplant was “in many regards a success. We learned so much from Mr. Bennett and will continue to do so. It is everybody’s great hope that xenotransplantation will continue to improve.”

Grazioli spent long days—for months—caring for Bennett, Sr., and said she built strong relationships with him and his family along the way. “The greatest thing we got out of it was getting to know Dave Bennett, Jr., and his family,” she told attendees. “All of those unexpected things and all the hurdles that we had to overcome, it was made so much easier that we developed relationships with such great people.”

In response to a question about what’s next for animal organ transplants, Grazioli said more breakthroughs are around the corner. “There’s talk of clinical trials where we can, in a rigorous way … really get to define who should get these transplants and save the most lives,” she said.

“Mr. Bennett energized the science and I think you’re going to hear a lot more about it.”

Dr. David Carter Recognized for Achievements in Forensic Sciences

May 27, 2022 by University Communications & Marketing

The American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) recognized Chaminade University’s Forensic Sciences Director and Professor Dr. David Carter for his significant contributions to the discipline, to the broader community and to his students with the AAFS Pathology/Biology Section Award for Achievement in the Forensic Life Sciences.

The prestigious honor from the organization, which has more than 6,500 members around the US and globally, is reserved for those who have demonstrated exemplary excellence in the practice, advancement and teaching of forensic applications in the life sciences.

In addition to Carter’s myriad professional accomplishments, committee members applauded his commitment to cutting-edge scholarship and his service as a mentor for young scientists in the field. Carter is chair of the AAFS Pathology/Biology Research Committee, which helps fund young investigator research proposals, and he volunteers to moderate educational sessions at annual academy meetings.

In a recent interview, Carter said he was moved and humbled by the recognition.

“It’s incredible,” he said. “I feel like I’m just now starting to do my best work.”

Carter joined Chaminade in 2012, and he said he’s proud of how the Forensic Sciences program has continued to grow and evolve over the years. “What I try to do with my teaching is tap into our program’s identity and communicate that in an informative and interesting way,” he said.

He added one of the biggest highlights of his work is teaching and mentoring students.

“They provide me with hope for the future. They provide me with a constant stream of rewarding experiences,” he said. “All that is fuel. It’s motivating and encouraging. I just find myself smiling a lot.”

He added, “Many of them are interested in making the world a better place.”

In forensic sciences, Carter said, students find a discipline that at its core is “all about taking care of people.” Carter’s work, for example, focuses on getting answers in decomposition cases—in which key clues to a person’s cause of death are harder to find. “I help police, medical examiners, the coroner … understand decomposition better so they can do their investigations better,” Carter said.

And ultimately, that provides families and loved ones with answers—and closure.

Carter added that while all the elements of his work have their own unique rewards, one thing that never fails to brighten his day is when he hears from a graduate who is doing well in the field. “They’ll send you a message and say, ‘you taught us how to do that thing in class and I used it,’” he said.

Looking ahead, Carter said he’s excited about advances in his field—and about how technology is allowing researchers to take another look at old challenges. “I’m just hitting my stride,” he added, when asked about his own career. Plus, Carter is in good company in being honored with the achievement award. Dr. Lee Goff, Chaminade’s former Forensic Sciences director, received it in 2008.

Chaminade Hosts Pacific Region Data Science Challenge

May 17, 2022 by University Communications & Marketing

Rewarding. Difficult. Inspiring. Those were some of the words student participants used to describe their experiences in the inaugural Advanced Computing for Social Change Challenge in the Pacific, hosted earlier this spring by Chaminade University’s Data Science, Analytics and Visualization program.

Dr. Rylan Chong, director of the program, said about 20 students from across the Pacific—including Saipan and Guam—participated in the remote, week-long event along with six undergraduate mentors.

The challenge in March was held in coordination with similar events scattered across the country, Chong said, and with support from Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) and Texas Advanced Computing Center, whose supercomputer was used by student participants.

Chong said the challenges are meant to test participants’ data analysis and interpretation skills, creativity, innovation, and ability to work under pressure. Participants also get invaluable training and mentorship—all as part of a broader effort to help them connect real-world data to actionable solutions.

Over the course of the week, students identified a research question, pored over the relevant data, arrived at results, created data visualizations, and then presented their work. Along the way, they also attended workshops on everything from statistics to text mining in order to hone their skills.

He said the projects students worked on included a study of COVID-19 in Hawaii and an exploration of native birds of Haleakala. “Each project provided data sets for participants to derive their project from,” he said. “The data sets included thousands of records and results were used to inform researchers.”

He added that the underlying theme of the challenge was about building capacity and learning communities in the Pacific to “harness the power of technology and data to address” challenges.

Chaminade Data Science student Sarah Carroll ’24 jumped at the chance to participate in the competition to build on her skills and apply them. She focused on COVID-19 in Hawaii, text-mining Twitter data to analyze community sentiment on the virus and the government response.

“It was very rewarding to see that I am capable of implementing what I learned,” Carroll said, adding that she was thrilled to be able to put together a project and get immediate feedback on her presentation. “This experience really boosted my confidence in working with data.”

Punohu Keahi is a first-year student at Chaminade, majoring in Environmental Studies, and participated in hopes of learning more about how to turn big data sets into results that communities can actually use to make decisions. “My biggest reason for joining this program was to step out of my comfort zone,” Keahi said. “Getting this experience is something I will never forget.”

Keahi opted to dive into data from the Haleakala National Bird survey.

“I love native birds and I’m interested in knowing more about the different factors that could have caused the fluctuations in the bird population,” she said. “My biggest challenge during this program was figuring out how to code and then create different scatter plot and bar graphs.”

One of the greatest thrills? Using a supercomputer for the first time.

Armando Luna, a Data Science student at Chaminade, said the competition was tough—but a worthwhile experience. “The biggest challenge was ensuring I would have a presentable and complete project in time,” Luna said. “However, we had fantastic mentors who helped us through the week.”

Mentors like Dairian Balai ’22, who said she wanted to volunteer because of her own positive experiences at Advanced Computing for Social Change Challenges on the mainland. She was in the 2019 ACSC cohort and said the mentors were key to ensuring the event was filled with both learning and fun.

She said many of the students participating in this year’s challenge didn’t have any experience with coding, programming or working with big data sets. That meant they needed some extra help to ensure they didn’t get overwhelmed. “The students persevered and created incredible posters,” she said.

She added that what she enjoyed most about being a mentor was watching students grow in the challenge. “You can tell how much confidence they gained,” Balai said. “I also like seeing those great ‘aha!’ moments when they’re running into issues and then they finally make a breakthrough.”

Celebrating Student Research at Na Liko Na’auao 2022

April 19, 2022 by University Communications & Marketing

Participants of the 2022 Na Liko Na'auao Symposium

Interpretation of Multidimensional Chromatographic Outputs by Non-Specialists.

Decolonizing Methodologies in Research.

Native Hawaiian Traditional Medicine and its Effects on Inflammation of WISH cells.

Those titles are a mouthful. They also represent just a handful of the hefty research topics undergraduate and graduate scholars at Chaminade discussed at this year’s Na Liko Na’auao Symposium, an annual event dedicated to showcasing student scholarship across disciplines.

Na Liko Na’auao is in its 20th year at Chaminade and gives its student participants an opportunity to showcase their academic and creative work. After going virtual for the last two years, the event on April 8 was held in person at the Clarence T.C. Ching Conference Center.

And in another twist, students got the chance to discuss their research posters and give oral presentations. Participants also came from across fields, including Psychology, Environmental + Interior Design, Data Science, Biology and Nursing—to name a few. Topics explored by students ranged from research into forensic science and body decomposition to the use of statistical models to detect malicious internet traffic.

Amber Noguchi, the director of Chaminade’s Undergraduate Research and Pre-Professional Programs, said expanding participation at the symposium to graduate students was a natural step given the numerous master’s degrees offered at the university on top of three doctoral programs.

Student presents her research poster at Na Liko Na'auao Symposium

In her opening remarks, Noguchi also gave special recognition to the founders of the event: the late Henry Gomes, who was director for Native Hawaiian Partnerships at Chaminade, and Patti Lee-Robinson, former director of Health Professions Advising and Undergraduate Research.

“They had a vision to create a venue to celebrate student scholarship,” Noguchi said.

Also at the event, President Lynn Babington announced the recipient of the 2022 President Sue Wesselkamper Award, which recognizes a student at Chaminade who has demonstrated both outstanding scholarship and extensive service to the community and to the university.

As Babington explained to attendees, Wesselkamper was named Chaminade University’s eighth president in 1995 and was the first woman to head a four-year university in the islands. The award in her name was endowed by Mr. and Mrs. Henry Clark, and recipients are nominated by faculty members.

This year’s awardee: Nainoa Gaspar-Takahashi, a junior at Chaminade who is majoring in Nursing.

Nainoa Gaspar-Takahashi and Dr. Lynn Babington

Gaspar-Takahashi has a strong record of academic scholarship, including research into the integration of Native Hawaiian and Marianist values in student success. In 2020, he co-wrote an article that was published in the Asian Pacific Islander Nursing Journal. He is also a member of the Student Nurses Association and is a peer leader in the Kokua Kakou nursing enrichment program.

His central goal is to make a positive difference in the community, especially in the Native Hawaiian population, and so he is pursuing a career in nursing and hopes to serve in an intensive care unit or emergency room. He also wants to eventually seek a master’s degree in Nursing and continue research projects aimed at improving the healthcare system in Hawaii and the quality of care provided to all patients.

Dr. Edna Magpantay-Monroe, a professor of Nursing who nominated Gaspar-Takahashi for the prestigious honor, applauded his “impeccable work ethic” and said he is a joy to collaborate with.