Chaminade University of Honolulu

Natural Sciences & Mathematics

Chaminade Hosts Pacific Region Data Science Challenge

by

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.”

Sarah Caroll '24 poster for ASCS data science challenge

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 '25 poster for ASCS data science challenge

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's poster for ASCS data science challenge

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

by

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.

Walking the Walk: Creating a Sustainable Hawaii

by

Cara Gutierrez pouring old food onto composting pile

Cara Gutierrez doesn’t just want to learn about leaders in the green movement. She wants to be one.

The senior at Chaminade, who is majoring in Communication with a minor in Environmental Studies, is passionate about helping build a more sustainable Hawaii and has gotten involved in a number of projects on and off campus designed to do just that—from food waste audits to composting.

“I’m just trying to make an impact,” Gutierrez said.

And along the way, she’s hoping to inspire others to do the same.

Gutierrez, who transferred to Chaminade from St. Mary’s College in California as a sophomore, has created a Campus Sustainability Council Club at the university in addition to serving as vice president of the Surfrider Club and a resource recovery specialist at Windward Zero Waste School Hui.

She said her community service efforts grew out of an Environmental Ethics course at Chaminade, where she learned just how important a single person can be in making a positive difference. “I really felt called to help and did different types of volunteering. I wanted to do my part,” she said.

Sustainability Council Club a the beach picking up trash

So she started in her own backyard—by looking at sustainability at Chaminade.

In addition to launching her new club, she also conducted a food waste audit at the university to determine how much is thrown away that could instead be redirected to productive composting. That work led her to connect with the agricultural director at Saint Louis School for an innovative zero-waste project now underway and he in turn connected her with the Windward Zero Waste School Hui.

Gutierrez said she when she first reached out to the hui, which works with five public schools to turn their food waste into composted nutrient-rich soil, the director warned her the work wasn’t glamorous. She would be gathering food waste into huge compost piles, the hui told her, turning and watering them as worms break up the organic materials, and then selling that rich compost to the community.

“She told me, ‘This is really hard work. You’ll have dirt everywhere,’” Gutierrez said.

After working for a day, Gutierrez was hooked. “I said, ‘OK, sign me up!’”

If her volunteering and work with the hui wasn’t enough, Gutierrez is also an intern focused on sustainability projects at Chaminade’s new CIFAL Honolulu Centre, part of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research. She said through CIFAL and her sustainability club, she’s planning an educational Earth Day event and a gathering on Oahu’s North Shore to promote agriculture.

With all the hats she wears, Guteirrez doesn’t have much downtime.

Cara Guiterrez winding a lever on the Golden Rule Peace Boat

But that’s OK. What she has instead, she said, is a community that believes in her—and her mission.

“Climate change is so important and our generation has a responsibility to act. I’m only here for a limited number of years and I want to leave the lightest footprint possible but also have an impact on younger generations,” she said. “Everything I do is for the people who came before and after me.”

She added that her CIFAL Honolulu internship has also helped her zoom out and think about the value of sustainability policy and climate change work at the international level. “In the future, I would be really interested in working toward those bigger goals to make a greater positive difference,” she said.

For now, though, she’s focused on her grassroots work—and on graduation just around the corner. She said she plans to pursue a graduate degree, but will first take a year off to travel. “I’ve learned so much in Hawaii,” she said. “Now I want to go to different communities to learn even more.”

Big Dreams to Achieve Big Things

by

Meshelle Hirashima receiving her Chaminade diploma from Bro. Bernie Pleoger, SM

Meshelle Hirashima’s advice to young people is simple: you need big dreams to achieve big things.

She would know.

Hirashima, who graduated from Chaminade in 2017 with a degree in Historical and Political Studies and a Biochemistry minor, receives her Doctor of Medicine degree in May from Boston University School of Medicine. She is seeking to specialize in Obstetrics and Gynecology, and credits strong female role models—including the grandmother who raised her—for helping her believe in herself so she could reach her goals.

“I’ve had remarkable people in my life to be an example and help guide me to where I am today,” Hirashima said. “No one would think I would come this far knowing my history. I just feel so blessed.”

Hirashima was adopted as a toddler by her grandmother because her mother was struggling with substance abuse issues. Her mother has since turned her life around, Hirashima said, and the two share a special relationship. It’s because of her grandmother and her mother that she wants to be an OBGYN.

Hirashima is also the first person on her mother’s side to graduate from college.

And she’s the first person in her family to go to medical school.

In addition to her role models, she credits Chaminade with helping her get there. Hirashima was able to secure an early admission spot at Boston University’s School of Medicine thanks to Chaminade’s articulation agreement program with the institution—and the preparation she got along the way.

She also said immersive experiences at Chaminade helped her build her confidence.

Among them, in 2014, advisors at Chaminade encouraged Hirashima to apply for a six-week summer program at UCLA aimed at helping students from disadvantaged and diverse backgrounds get a taste for what it feels like to be a medical student and understand the steps to become a doctor. She said the program put a big emphasis on health disparities and helped her see how she could serve others. 

“It gave me a taste for what I could expect, and I was hooked,” she said.

An early dream to help others

Hirashima was born and raised in Hawaii and attended Moanalua High School.

From a young age, she said, she dreamed of becoming a doctor. She wanted to help others like the people who had helped her grandmother when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. And as she got older, she realized that being a doctor didn’t just mean providing medical care but helping people through everyday struggles and “being with them through momentous points in their lives.”

At Moanalua, many of Hirashima’s friends were eyeing larger universities.

But she wanted something different—a place where she could try out different things and pursue disciplines that intrigued her. That’s why she found herself initially majoring in Environmental + Interior Design at Chaminade before switching to Historical Political Studies with a Biochemistry minor.

How did that fit into her path to medical school?

Hirashima said she wanted to broaden her horizons and take the opportunity to dive into a course of study that would help her better understand the world. To her, the study of history and political studies was the opportunity to figure out why people decide what they decide and why they act as they do.

That foundation of knowledge, she said, helped her become a more empathetic, well-rounded person.

‘I knew what I wanted’
Meshelle Hirashima wearing her white coat at Boston University

Along the way, by minoring in Biochemistry, Hirashima was able to secure the science and math prerequisites she would need to apply to medical school. And she got a unique taste for what her life as a medical student would entail with those immersive experiences, like the one at UCLA.

Chaminade’s articulation agreement with Boston University’s School of Medicine was key to her admission. The program, in which Chaminade partners with a host of highly-esteemed universities on the mainland, allows students to set an early course to advanced studies in healthcare careers—establishing a strong academic record and completing prerequisites while at Chaminade.

After completing the requirements of her Chaminade degree, Hirashima also spent a year at Boston University preparing for medical school, taking graduate courses and studying for the entrance exam. “It was like drinking from a fire hose. And unconventionally, I put all my eggs in the Boston basket,” she recalled. “I’d never even been to the East Coast, have no family there, but I knew what I wanted.”

And she got it.

She said she was at the pool with a friend when she learned she’d been admitted.

“I just started screaming and jumping up and down,” she said.

From there, there would be more grueling work and long hours ahead. The COVID pandemic sharply curtailed the number of in-person learning hours she got. But in her third year, she moved on to rotations—a chance for medical students to work hands-on in different medical specialties.

Internal medicine. Psychiatry. Pediatrics. Hirashima loved them all.

But the OBGYN rotation was special. “It was about building connections with women. Just kind of through reflection, I thought, ‘Where am I going to make the biggest impact with my career?’ I had such strong female role models growing up and I knew I wanted to help women like them,” she said.

‘I used to be in those shoes’
Meshelle Hirashima '17 on Match Day—she is paired with University of Hawaii

While one chapter of Hirashima’s journey ends in May, when she earns her medical degree, another begins as she continues on her path to residency.

Her dream of returning to Hawaii to serve the people and communities that helped her remains alive. On Match Day, she was paired with the University of Hawaii’s Obstetrics and Gynecology program.

She is excited to come home, continue her training and cross off another goal from her list. Along the way, she hopes to inspire other young people to think big. “I had lots of humbling experiences growing up, but that didn’t stop me,” she said. “Overcoming obstacles will never be easy. But with help, it’s not impossible.”

Hirashima’s biggest piece of advice to others is simple: take advantage of opportunities presented to you. “It can sometimes be scary to get outside of your comfort zone,” she said. “I’m so lucky to have had people around me, including at Chaminade, who really believed in me and who helped guide me.”

She added that her “humbling experiences” growing up helped her build understanding for others. “When I talk to a patient who is struggling, I know a little bit about what that feels like. I used to be in those shoes,” she said. Her big dream now: serve as a role model just as many did for her.

“I want young people to know there’s so much out there, and they just have to go out and get it.”

Student Wins SC21 Data Science Competition

by

Taylor Ishisaka loves to unlock the secrets hidden in data.

There’s nothing more satisfying or rewarding, she says, than translating big data sets into clear, actionable information that communities can use to understand themselves better or tackle existing problems anew. “The world of data science has so much to offer,” said the Chaminade senior.

That passion isn’t only infectious, it’s getting noticed.

Taylor Ishisaki reviewing data science information

Most recently, she was part of a team that took home top honors in the inaugural data science competition at SC21, one of the biggest international conferences on high-performance computing. The competition, held over two phases in October and November 2021, was designed to give students a chance to showcase their computing, problem-solving and data analysis skills in a team dynamic.

Ishisaka, who is a Ho’oulu Scholar and Data Science major at Chaminade, said the competition started with a meet-and-greet opportunity over Zoom followed by details on the expectations for participants. She was put into a team with students from around the nation, including Washington State University and Central Texas College.

The first phase of the competition required students to perform analysis on a data set using a high-performance computing cloud. Ishisaka said the task was designed to test participants’ time management skills, teamwork, and ability to work effectively in the cloud platform.

The data set was a compilation of agricultural and livestock data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture database. Ishisaka’s team looked at crop production and fertilization data over several years, and Ishisaka created a color-coded heat map showing changes over time. A teammate, meanwhile, crafted several graphs that showed crop and soy production over specific Census years.

Ishisaka and her teammates put together a report in order to move to Phase 2, during which participants were challenged to find their own datasets to highlight problems in specific regions. Ishisaka’s team focused on Missouri data, specifically looking at data on bison populations. They took a multi-state view, tying in figures on climate and other environmental factors in their analysis.

The challenges were tough enough, but Ishisaka’s team also lost members over the course of the competition. Two didn’t show up again after the initial Zoom session. A third team member dropped off the map in Phase 2. That left the original team of five with just two members.

“As there were only two of us left in the most critical phase, my team member and I met with our mentor for hours each day discussing our progress on the project and next steps,” Ishisaka said. “We had to retrace our steps and rediscover our project purpose in order to put together our presentation.”

It was no easy task—but Ishisaka wasn’t deterred.

“After hours of putting together our presentation and rearranging everything to make sure that our story flowed, we created a product that we were proud of,” she said, adding that she stayed up all night before presentation day so she could memorize her talking points and deliver a clear message.

She delivered the presentation via Zoom with the judges and other teams all there. When everything was done, she was proud to have completed what she set out to do—and wasn’t thinking all that much about whether she’d actually be recognized for her efforts. “I was honestly surprised when we won,” she said. “I attended presentations of the other competitors and their projects were phenomenal.”

Ishisaka said she’s very happy with what she and her teammate were able to accomplish.

“I decided to keep on going throughout the competition because for one, I was representing Chaminade. And secondly, I know that my progress in the competition was a reflection of the skills and values that I learned throughout my academic journey in data science,” she said.

Ishisaka added she’s not one to leave things unfinished.

“Once I commit to a project, I am in it for the long haul,” she said.

The same goes for her commitment to data science, a major she fell into after participating in the Supporting Pacific Indigenous Computing Excellence (SPICE) Summer Institute in Summer 2019. SPICE, a partnership between Chaminade and the Texas Advanced Computer Center, gives students from all different majors and backgrounds a chance to explore data science and its many applications.

Ishisaka said that she entered the SPICE program not knowing anything about data science, “or that it even existed.” She added, “The following semester, I went to academic advising and switched my major from biochemistry to data science, and honestly it was probably one of the best choices I ever made.”

Partnerships and $15M Grant to Improve Health and Wellbeing in Hawaii

by

Research has shown Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, Filipinos and other medically underserved populations in Hawaii have disproportionately higher rates of physical ailments and mental health conditions. And the pandemic has only exacerbated those issues — and spotlighted a lack of community resources.

Addressing these health disparities will require everyone’s help.

That’s exactly the idea behind the newly-formed Center for Pacific Innovations, Knowledge and Opportunities (PIKO) — an innovative collaboration of Hawaii universities, including Chaminade, and organizations that will support critical areas of study and seek to turn research into positive change.

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences awarded the University of Hawaii PIKO a five-year, $15 million grant in which Chaminade University is a partner of the initiative. The funds will be distributed to researchers, especially those at the beginning of their careers, but will also go to professional development opportunities, outreach programming, and other opportunities.

The PIKO partnership includes the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Chaminade University and Hawaii Pacific University — along with the statewide network of organizations. PIKO is led by two UH professors: Dr. Joseph Keaweaimoku Kaholokula, who is chair of Native Hawaiian Health, and Dr. Neal Palafox, whose focus at the John A. Burns School of Medicine includes community health.

Kaholokula said PIKO is focused on improving the health and wellbeing of Hawaii’s people and supporting new research. “This is an unprecedented partnership and initiative in Hawaii to support talented junior researchers in doing culturally responsive and community-engaged research,” he said.

Faculty from Chaminade University who are part of this PIKO project include:

  • Dr. Jonathan Baker, assistant professor of Biology, who is one of the leads for tracking and evaluating the grant,
  • Dr. Rylan Chong, assistant professor of Data Science, who is the data science lead for the biostatistics, epidemiology and research design core, and
  • Dr. Claire Wright, an associate professor of Biology at Chaminade, is the lead who oversees the grant distribution and broadening the center’s reach.

Dr. Claire Wright said the pandemic has magnified the impacts of health disparities on underserved communities and underscored the need for action-oriented research.

“With this grant, we really wanted to focus on where the rubber meets the road,” she said.

In particular, the center and its partnering institutions will be working to recruit and fund more emerging researchers who come from the communities they hope to serve — and give them support along the way. There is also a strong emphasis on engaging community members, Wright said, by partnering with them for research projects and then communicating the results.

She added the center’s goals and the overall grant align with Chaminade’s mission to help build stronger, more resilient communities and to support projects that pursue social justice, peace and equity. “There is a lot of positive impacts you can make in this type of research,” Wright said.  

Funding for the first year of the grant is already rolling out, and projects for year two are being sought.

Wright said a call for abstracts is set for December.

She added that she’s optimistic about the positive impact the collaboration is poised to bring about and excited about the prospect of helping to develop more researchers—across a variety of disciplines—who are focused on addressing health disparities. Those researchers will in turn serve as mentors.

“At Chaminade, we have a close relationship with our students,” Wright said. “To be able to show more faculty entrenched in this kind of research, showing their students how they can help with their community, that’s a massive win for Chaminade and for changing their perspectives.”