Chaminade University of Honolulu

Natural Sciences & Mathematics

Chaminade University’s “Community First” Approach Sparks an Innovative Data Science Collaboration

A Collaborative Vision: Waianae Coast Community Scorecard and Dashboard Project

As part of an innovative partnership, Data Science students at Chaminade University are teaming up with community groups in the Waianae Coast to develop a Waianae Coast Community Scorecard and Dashboard. This project is designed to be regularly conducted to measure community sentiment and report results that are easy-to-use, meaningful and actionable. The results will shine a spotlight on areas of opportunity and community wellbeing, and will help prioritize initiatives. Dr. Helen Turner, vice president of Chaminade’s Center for Strategy and Innovation and faculty of the Data Science program says, “this project is part of a broader vision that embraces Chaminade University’s ‘community first’ approach and the work done at the Center to foster an Innovation Moku in the Waianae Coast to build a refreshed economic reality that is resilient and fits with community priorities and wishes.”

This project is advised by Dr. Rylan Chong, director of the Data Science program and assistant professor at Chaminade University and by Joseph Lapilio, the executive director of the Waianae Economic Development Council and Waianae Moku Navigators.

Joseph Lapilio says “the Waianae Moku Navigators, made up of more than two dozen community organizations, is excited about the Chaminade Innovation Moku partnership and the prospect of having a reliable—and replicable—tool for gauging public opinion, welfare, wellbeing and key quality of life metrics in the Waianae Coast. A lot of what we do now is based on anecdotes or emotional reaction to issues going on. But actual data,” Lapilio said, “has power that could incite real action.”

The Partnership: Working, Learning, and Growing Together

The Waianae Coast Community Scorecard and Dashboard project was first piloted in fall 2020 and continued through spring 2021. Students enrolled in the Data Science 301: Community-Engaged Computing class worked with the Waianae Moku Navigators and the Waianae Economic Development Council to create an initial scorecard and dashboard.

Lapilio said he’s been “very impressed with how hard Rylan and his students have worked on the project. Rylan has been extremely open to community input,” he said. “Our long-term goal is not only in terms of a scorecard. It is also in terms of—how do we connect community members to data collection so it is more than just us? How do we work together? How do we connect?” The scorecard hasn’t merely been an academic exercise, but a growing experience for Chaminade students and for members of the community. “They need to be able to engage with the community, to see the community as a partner in this work,” Lapilio said.

The next step for this project is launching the initial scorecard to a test group before taking the scorecard community-wide to collect responses. The scorecard incorporates a host of data points, including information on food security, household income, housing, health, feelings about safety, technology infrastructure and acceptance, and a sense of belonging.

The Experience: Hands-On, Collaborative, Meaningful

Dr. Gail Grabowsky, dean of the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at Chaminade  says, “real-world projects and partnerships like the Innovation Moku get our students involved and allows them to apply their data science skills in a collaborative environment to address the wellbeing of their communities.” Chong adds, “the Waianae Coast Community Scorecard and Dashboard project is about providing the students with a taste of what data science can actually do and the positive impacts they could have in the Data Science discipline.”

Students participating in this project say the effort has been fulfilling.

“My biggest takeaway from the project was how far-reaching an effect data science can have,” Chaminade Data Science senior Aaron Walden said. He assisted with the effort in Fall 2020 and said it helped him understand how “data science can be used to identify community initiatives.” The scorecard, he said, “is a tool to visually see trends to support prioritization of the community initiatives.”

Senior Hunter Yamanaka, who is majoring in Biochemistry with a minor in Data Science, also participated in the scorecard and dashboard project in Fall 2020. He said “working with the community while digging into the numbers helped him understand how similar efforts could benefit organizations and the public. Data Science has endless ways of improving society,” he said.

“For instance,” says Data Science major Taylor Ishisaka, “data science can turn lists of data points and numbers into something visual and meaningful that everyone can understand. It can shape how we see the world.” Ishisaka, who participated in the scorecard and dashboard project Spring 2021, said “it has been eye-opening to see how much work and collaboration goes into a project like this.” Data science in Hawaii and the Waianae Coast Community Scorecard and Dashboard project is more than collecting data, programming, and analyzing data. When data science is applied to this project, it’s clearly a powerful discipline that can be applied to any field, provide a platform for a community to voice their opinions, inspire discovery and innovation, connect communities, and has the potential to confirm or make ethical societal or policy changes. As Ishisaka and Lapilio said, “when it comes to data science, the possibilities are endless, with real potential for inciting action and implementing positive change in our communities.”

Dr. Kate Perrault Receives John B. Phillips Award

Katelynn Perrault

Dr. Katelynn Perrault, an associate professor of Forensic Science and Chemistry at Chaminade, is celebrating special recognition for her hard work—in the classroom, in the lab and in the community.

In June, Perrault was honored to learn she’d received the John B. Phillips Award at the annual International GCxGC Symposium. The award recognizes early career researchers making significant achievements and advancements in the field of two-dimensional gas chromatography.

Perrault received the award after presenting a lecture at the symposium titled, “A Secret Guide to Learning, Using and Teaching GCxGC.” Two-dimensional gas chromatography is a sophisticated method that allows researchers to separate what type of chemicals are present in complex samples.

In her case, Perrault is studying odors produced by bacteria associated with decomposing bodies.

She says the research could better identify which chemicals are released from a body after death, something that ultimately could help in search and recovery efforts and one day “help to bring closure to families who may not have known how, where or why their loved one passed.”

Perrault was also recently recognized for a very different type of work.

The American Chemical Society named her a 2021 Outreach Volunteer of the Year for her work to organize National Chemistry Week events in Hawaii. The week includes hands-on activities at Kahala Mall and a statewide illustrated poem contest that garners hundreds of entries each year.

Dr. Kate Perrault teaching her forensic science students

“Science outreach is so important to me,” Perrault said, speaking about the recognition for her work with the society’s Hawaii group. “I believe it helps people to understand the world around them through a scientific lens. We are living through an age where being able to assess information and events around us is greatly helped by a basic understanding of science and technology.”

Perrault brings that same enthusiasm to the classroom, and was recently able to see three undergraduate researchers (Kyle Furuta, Danson Oliva and Hunter Yamanaka) from her lab—the Laboratory of Forensic and Bioanalytical Chemistry—present posters at an international conference that she also chaired. More than 300 researchers, experts, students and newcomers from around the world attended the virtual, three-day Multidimensional Chromatography Workshop in February.

“The conference gave me motivation and great ideas for the next work we will perform in my own research group,” she said, “and I am grateful for the ability to have been able to share these three days with everyone in the field. It is so important, now more than ever, that we are able to remain connected to our global network within research, even if we aren’t able to gather in person.”

Students Showcase Work at Annual Na Liko Na‘auao

Na Liko Naauao virtual event 2021 screenshot

Chaminade undergraduates across all disciplines gathered virtually in early April to present their ongoing research across a broad array of exciting areas, from Native Hawaiian traditional medicine to data science database development to the microbiome, coral bleaching and cancer cell research.

The undergraduate conference, Na Liko Na‘auao, is an annual event at Chaminade to showcase exceptional original work by students seeking bachelor’s degrees and underscores the breadth and depth of academic scholarship at the University. Fields represented at this year’s conference, which included 23 presentations in all, ranged from Biology to Data Science to the Forensic Sciences.

The Na Liko Na‘auao symposium was first held at Chaminade in 2002.

Among the impressive topics students tackled this year:

  • “Modeling The Microbiome Of Aa In Vitro Taro Digestion Model,” from Ava Dysarz
  • “Seasonal Difference In Carcass Decomposition On Oahu,” presented by Marietta Lee
  • And “Keawawa Water Analysis And Restoration,” from Dorie Sanborn and Trinity Young

Organizers say Na Liko Na‘auao not only gives undergraduates an opportunity to offer the broader University community a glimpse into what they’re working on. It also gives them a chance to hone their presentation and speaking skills, synthesizing their research for a general audience.

The public forum also gives students an opportunity to take questions, giving them insight into their research strengths along with potential areas for improvement, further exploration and collaboration.

Also at Na Liko Na‘auao, the recipients of two prestigious Chaminade awards were announced.

Dr. Lynn Babington, Darian Balai and Dr. Rylan Chon

The President Sue Wesselkamper Prize, which recognizes a student who has displayed academic scholarship beyond the classroom and has a record of service learning volunteerism and leadership, was awarded to Data Science student Dairain Balai, who is also minoring in Biology and Criminal Justice.

In nominating her for the award, Data Science program Director Dr. Rylan Chong said Dairain has participated in a host of leadership and research growth opportunities—and excelled in each of them.

And her work is already getting noticed. To continue her research on Native Hawaiian women’s health, Dairain was selected for a competitive spot as a paid research assistant at the University of Texas in Austin Texas Advanced Computing Center, where she is also serves as a mentor to other students.

Chong said Dairian, who graduated from Waianae High and is a Ho’oulu Scholar, “represents what Chaminade is all about locally, in her community, and on the mainland by going beyond the expectations of her service to community and education, development of her moral character, personal competencies, and commitment to build a more just and peaceful society.”

Danson Oliva, Dr. Kate Perrault and Dr. Lynn Babington

Also announced at the event: the recipient of the President Mackey Prize, which recognizes a faculty member at Chaminade with a record of student mentoring and a strong, ongoing commitment to providing students with research or creative experiences that go beyond the classroom.

This year’s awardee: Dr. Kate Perrault, an assistant professor of Forensic Sciences and Chemistry.

Undergraduate researcher Danson Oliva nominated Perrault for the honor, saying the professor is “extraordinarily passionate about the course material and wants every student to succeed.” Oliva added that working in a lab under Perrault has been a wonderful growth experience, allowing her to flex her scholarship muscles while also getting helpful and instructive feedback and mentoring.

“As a research mentor, she guides us but also helps us troubleshoot problems when they arise,” Oliva wrote. “With the help of Dr. Perrault, I have gone on to give two conference presentations on my project. It wouldn’t have happened if Dr. Perrault didn’t truly believe in our ability to succeed.”

Under the Sea: Into Challenger Deep

Nicole Yamase '14 and Victor Vescovo during Challenger Deep expidition
Nicole Yamase and Victor Vescovo

Have you ever wondered what secrets can be found at the ocean’s deepest depths? 

So has Nicole Yamase ’14. And then she got to travel there.

In March, Yamase was invited to jump into a special submersible and journey 35,856 feet below the waves (or as she likes to say, about 700 coconut trees stacked on top of one another) into the Challenger Deep—the deepest known spot in the ocean, located in the Mariana Trench.

Yamase, who is Micronesian, is the first Pacific Islander ever to make the trip.

She describes the place as nothing less than “unbelievable”—like an alien world.

“Once we slowly got to the bottom, I couldn’t believe my eyes,” she said, adding that the expedition down with ocean explorer Victor Vescovo—who organized the special dive—started about 10 AM. Four hours later, they were there, staring into the murky, dark and deepest known depths of the ocean.

“It looks like a desert down there,” Yamase said.

Reinforcing passion for environmental studies

Yamase, who graduated from Chaminade with a B.S. in Environmental Studies and a B.S. in Biology and is now seeking a doctoral degree in Marine Biology from the University of Hawai‘i, was chosen for the journey because of her deep passion and previous work in helping to advocate for the oceans.

Nicole Yamase '14 (BS Environmental Studies, BS Biology) doing field work

Vescovo, she said, “thought it was time” that someone from the Federated States of Micronesia was invited down to the Challenger Deep, which can be found in their country’s waters. And not just “someone” was chosen, but a young leader who is studying diverse marine ecosystems.

She got additional support for the journey from the Waitt Institute and Micronesia Conversation Trust. 

Yamase said the experience of traveling to Challenger Deep was life-changing. It confirmed the incredible love she has for her research—she’s focused on studying the impacts of climate change on indigenous macroalgae important to Pacific reefs. And it underscored her other major academic focus: raising awareness about how climate change and rising sea levels are already impacting the Pacific.

“Humanity needs to improve its relationship with the world’s oceans,” Yamase said.

Because even the Challenger Deep wasn’t free of humanity’s fingerprint. When she was down there, nearly 7 miles below the surface, she saw boating tethers—human trash. “The fact that trash has made it all the way down to the deep is very alarming,” Yamase said. “It’s just a really pressing problem.”

Yamase knows that better than most.

Nicole Yamase '14 being a part of a beach clean up
Climate change is a problem now

When she returns to her hometown of Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia, she sees the rising sea levels lapping up higher than they ever have before. Friends and loved ones post photographs on social media of ocean water going into homes and of cemeteries being washed away.

Climate change isn’t a future problem for her country, she says, it’s a problem now.

And it will take everyone, including her generation and future ones, to fix it.

Opening doors for Pacific Islanders

“Through this expedition, I really just want to promote STEM—because Pacific Islanders, we need us,” Yamase said. “We’re the ones who are going to be in the field. We need local mentors, local role models because that’s what we lack. It really has a huge impact to see your own succeed in the field.”

Nicole Yamase '14 and Dr. Grail Grabowsky
Dr. Gail Grabowsky and Nicole Yamase

As she continues to make her mark, Yamase is grateful to her own mentors, including those at Chaminade. She said it was Environmental Science and Studies Dr. Gail Grabowsky, dean of the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, who encouraged her as a freshman to apply for a summer internship at UH-Mānoa focused on marine biology. “From that first experience, I was like, ‘oh my goodness, this is for me,’” she said. She continued to be selected for internships and other opportunities, including a chance to study macroalgae in Miami’s Biscayne Bay.

That research formed the basis of the dissertation she’s now working on.

She said Biology Professor Dr. Jolene Cogbill, her adviser in the department, was also hugely instrumental in getting her linked up with opportunities that honed her skills—and bolstered her confidence. “They both really pushed me out of my comfort zone,” she said. “My first year, I never raised my hand. I couldn’t do it. After these summer internships of really participating in these opportunities with other Pacific Islanders, I thought, ‘I’m not alone in this.’”

Nicole Yamase '14 showcasing her research at Chaminade's event in 2012

Yamase said she also got the chance to present her work at conferences and symposia.

She said she hopes to be that same inspiration to other young Pacific Islanders, especially those in environmental science, marine conservation and biology. She said her expedition into the Challenger Deep “was such a great opportunity to show young Pacific Islanders that we can do it.”

“There’s not that many of us in the science fields. Hopefully, this opens up doors.”

Finding Solutions Through Data Science

Dairian Balai '22, Data Science major

Dairian Balai ’22 peers into data to find solutions. That’s where she found her passion, too.

The Data Science major likes to say that all those numbers—on everything from community health disparities to poverty to race and education—represent people, with hopes and dreams, just like her. She’s on a mission to tell their story (and hers) by spotlighting the data that speaks to real experiences.

“I want to shine a light on the problems we’re facing,” she said.

And even though she hasn’t yet graduated, Balai is already making her mark. Thanks to a series of programs at Chaminade, Balai scored a paid remote internship with a University of Texas lab to research maternal and infant mortality and co-morbidities in Native Hawaiian communities.

She hopes to use data science to spotlight what factors can help protect moms and babies.

Balai grew up in Waiʻanae and graduated from Waiʻanae High. During her junior and senior year, she applied to a long list of potential universities in Hawaii and on the mainland. And she was pretty set on going out-of-state for her undergraduate education. But then her high school counselor told her about the Hoʻoulu STEM Scholarship, which covers 100% of Chaminade tuition and offers support services.

Dairian Balai '22, Data Science major

The scholarship convinced Balai to take a tour of Chaminade—and she’s glad she did.

“Off the bat, I liked how it was a small community. The campus was small,” she said, adding that she later spoke to her high school adviser and realized that the financial support offered through the Hoʻoulu STEM Scholarship far outweighed other aid universities on the mainland were offering her.

“I decided to stay. If I went back in time, I would make that decision again,” she said.

Balai said the thing she appreciates most about Chaminade is the one-on-one support she gets from professors and advisers, who have connected her with key opportunities. “They really make it a point to help you plan out your future,” she said. “They say ‘Chaminade is a family.’ I really believe that.”

Balai originally majored in Biology because she planned to go into healthcare.

But the course of her studies changed after she was participated in Chaminade’s Supporting Pacific Indigenous Computing Excellence (SPICE) program. The intensive, immersion experience, in partnership with the Texas Advanced Computing Center at the University of Texas at Austin, is designed to help train students to lead in data science and visualization efforts that support social justice projects in Hawaiʻi.

Balai said she learned coding in the SPICE program and worked with other students to create visualizations that helped illustrate her research area—how socio-economic status impacts healthcare.

From the SPICE program, Balai participated in a Computing4Change event in Chicago. The national competition challenges students to use computing for positive social change. Balai said through SPICE and the Computing4Change conference, she learned that data science wasn’t just about highlighting problems “but helping to solve them.” That, she realized, was the career she wanted to pursue.

Dairian Balai '22, Data Science major

So Balai switched majors to Data Science, taking the plunge even though it meant a little more time completing her undergraduate degree. She also started considering how she could eventually bring Data Science home—back to Waianae and the community she loves and eventually wants to serve.

She said Data Science helped her understand that having vulnerable populations doesn’t define Waiʻanae (and other communities with larger concentrations of low- and moderate-income families), but that socio-economic and other factors have a significant impact on the lives of Waianae residents.

She is especially interested in uncovering the factors that contribute to health disparities in her hometown. Data Science solutions to those gaps, she said, will help build a healthier community. And ultimately, that will help build a healthier state and nation, Balai added.

In 2019, Balai was offered a paid internship studying maternal health in Native Hawaiians. She said as a Native Hawaiian, the research feels personal—and all the more important given the healthcare challenges the community faces. She’s continuing that work and hopes to build on it.

In fact, Balai is now planning to go to graduate school.

She’s working with her adviser weekly to consider programs, and on crafting her long-term dream: returning to Waiʻanae to “build a better, a more aware community”—with Data Science.

Returning Home to Chaminade

Lupita Ruiz-Jones

Dr. Lupita Ruiz-Jones, Assistant Professor of Environmental Science at Chaminade University, wants students to plan their careers with intention, so they end up doing work they love.

The key, she says, is pursuing and doing the things you are interested in, even when you don’t know where they will lead. After all, that’s what worked for her.

She was in high school in Santa Fe, New Mexico, when she learned about Chaminade University at a college fair. “I don’t think I ever would have heard of Chaminade except for that booth.”

She wanted to study human impacts on the environment, and she wanted to move away from the desert. Chaminade offered a major in environmental studies, and she was sold.

Seeking out opportunities and going after them has been a life-long pattern for Ruiz-Jones. It’s especially impressive when you learn she was raised by parents who didn’t complete college in a family without the trappings of success.

Her mother was always supportive but struggled with bipolar disorder. Ruiz-Jones’ father went to prison when she was 12, which she says had a significant impact on her. “I really appreciated the ability to choose where I put my attention,” she says.

Luptia Ruiz-Jones and Gail Grabowsky

In one of her first classes, Dr. Gail Grabowsky, now dean of the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, told the students it was great they were there. “She told us, ‘You’re going to love what you do, you’ll make an impact, but you’re not going to become rich.’”

“That was fine with me,” says Ruiz-Jones. “I felt like as long as I loved what I did and made an impact, that was what was important to me.”

During her freshman year, she applied and was selected for a five-week summer program in India. “The goal of that trip was to see what small non-profits were doing in India,” she says. “It was really about human well-being and the different ways people were contributing by doing service to the really poor. It was an incredible experience.”

But the summer after her sophomore year at Chaminade, she started doing undergraduate research at Kewalo Marine Lab. That’s where she first got excited about biology and organisms in coral reefs.

Dr. Lupita Ruiz-Jones, professor and alumna

At the end of her summer research at Kewalo Marine Lab, her advisor Dr. Mike Hadfield invited her to continue there in an internship. He also encouraged her to take all the science courses she could, which pushed her into a fifth year of college.

She didn’t mind, though, because she wanted to participate in a Sea Education Association summer-at-sea sailing program that focused on environmental studies. She spent four weeks sailing from Hawai‘i to San Francisco on a tall ship sailboat.

“Wow, that was a really powerful experience,” she says. “We did biological oceanography research. I focused my project on invertebrates that live on the surface out in the middle of the ocean.”

Dr. Lupita Ruiz-Jones, professor and alumna

After graduating from Stanford University with her PhD, she received the Thinking Matters Teaching Fellowship and spent four years team-teaching there. That, she says, is where she developed her identity as a teacher and her love for teaching.

During the summers, she started collaborating with scientists at the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology.

That’s how she ended up back at Chaminade, as an assistant professor this time, in Fall 2020.

Right now, she says, her goals are to find ways to integrate her passion for research, coral reef ecology, and restoration into her teaching. And she’d love to take students on field trips to neighbor islands or other Pacific islands. “If we could do something like that where we took students to more remote Pacific Islands for environmental education, that’d be very cool.”