Chaminade University of Honolulu

Grants

Chaminade Partnering with Texas Advanced Computing Center to offer new Data Science Training for Hawaii Students

$300,000 National Science Foundation Grant Funds 2-Year Pilot Program

Chaminade University is partnering with universities in Texas and Georgia on a two-year pilot program that trains Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) students for careers in data science, analytics and visualization.

The SPICE (Supporting Pacific Indigenous Computing Excellence) project is funded by a $300,000 award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) through its INCLUDES (Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science) initiative. INCLUDES is part of the NSF’s “10 Big Ideas” program.

Dr. Helen Turner

“The vision of SPICE is training a cadre of students who will lead data science, visualization and analytics efforts that support health, sustainability and social justice in Hawaii and elsewhere in the Pacific,” said Dr. Helen Turner, the project’s co-principal investigator and Chaminade’s dean of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and Vice President for Innovation.

“Solutions to many critical regional problems lie in ‘big data,’” Dr. Turner said. “It’s key that Hawaii’s future science, technology and business leaders are prepared to use data science in their careers and advocacy.

“Analyzing and applying big data has the potential to change lives in Hawaii for the better,” Dr. Turner added, “and we want our students to be part of that better future.”

Partnering with Chaminade on SPICE are the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at The University of Texas at Austin and the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics & Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology. SPICE principal investigator is Kelly Gaither, TACC Director of Visualization.

Gaither explained that SPICE students will work with large data sets offering possible solutions to current and emerging problems in the Pacific, including health inequities, natural resource management and economic development. Moreover, preparing these students for data science and computational careers will support Hawaii’s transition to an innovation economy.

“The long-term goal is developing the SPICE partnership into a backbone organization that can frame the current and future efforts as an NSF INCLUDES Alliance,” according to Gaither, “starting with a one-month summer immersion program in 2018 and building to a data science curriculum at Chaminade.

Chaminade President Lynn Babington said one of the “most compelling” aspects of this data science, visualization and analytics initiative is its broad applicability.

“These skills are needed by Hawaii’s future workforce across diverse sectors,” Dr. Babington said, “including business, science, health care and environmental protection. This is the gap Chaminade will address.”

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ABOUT THE TEXAS ADVANCED COMPUTING CENTER
The Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at The University of Texas at Austin is one of the leading supercomputing centers in the world. Every day, thousands of researchers rely on the center’s advanced computing resources and expertise which support more than 3,000 projects from more than 400 institutions across the country. TACC’s mission is to enable discoveries that advance science and society through the application of advanced computing technologies. The infrastructure includes web portals and services, high-performance computing systems, advanced scientific visualization systems, data servers and storage/archival systems, cloud computing servers, IT systems, high-bandwidth networks, and a comprehensive software environment comprising applications, tools, libraries, databases, and grid software.

$1 Million Awarded to Chaminade in Recognition of National Excellence in Science Programs

Chaminade joins select group of 24 universities nationwide recognized for inclusivity and quality in STEM programs

NSM Student in LabChaminade University of Honolulu today announced a grant of $1 million from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) as an awardee in the 2017-22 ‘Inclusive Excellence’ program. Chaminade was selected as one of 24 awardees from a pool of over 500 universities who applied for the prestigious recognition as a Howard Hughes Undergraduate Institution. The program will fund culture-based STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) education programs, Hawai‘i-centered research, and activities that link science to family and community for Hawaiian and Pacific Islander students.

Dr. Helen Turner
Dr. Helen Turner

“Chaminade has been building excellence in STEM for a decade with support from agencies such as National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF) and Kamehameha Schools, and this award recognizes the tremendous progress we have made in preparing the next generation of Hawai‘i and Pacific scientists” says Dr. Helen Turner, Chaminade’s Dean of Natural Sciences and Principal Investigator of the HHMI Program. “This award takes us to the next level of national recognition for the curriculum and cutting-edge teaching methods our faculty have developed. The HHMI program confronts the challenge of connecting STEM education with culture, family and community – which are critical for our local students to be successful and to build a strong Hawai‘i for the future.”

“Finding a way to include all students, from all backgrounds, in STEM is critical for building future generations of American scientists”, says David Asai, HHMI Senior Director for Science Education. “HHMI recognizes that science excellence depends on having a community of scientists that is rich in diversity of people and perspectives. This national experiment expects that the selected universities will produce useful models to address inclusivity in STEM.”

ABOUT THE HOWARD HUGHES MEDICAL INSTITUTE
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is the largest private, nonprofit supporter of science education in the United States. The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) has created an Inclusive Excellence Commission whose role will be to evaluate the outcomes of this national experiment, and to disseminate to the broader community what is being learned.