Jim Omura, Virginia Hinshaw, Richard Ha, Mark Yudov at Washington Place
Hamakua Springs President Richard Ha shares pictures and thoughts from the Thirty Meter Telescope reception on his blog. He commends University of California, Santa Barbara, Chancellor Henry Yang for listening to the Big Island community.
That’s Richard, second from right, with Mānoa Chancellor Virginia Hinshaw, Jim Omura of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, left, and University of California President Mark Yudov.
TMT Reception at Washington Place
University of Hawai‘i President M.R.C. Greenwood, Sen. Daniel Inouye, UH Institute for Astronomy Director Gunther Hasinger and Irene Inouye.
TMT Reception at Washington Place
From left,UH Manoa Chancellor Virginia Hinshaw, UH Hilo Chancellor Donald Straney, Dilling Yang, University of California System President Mark Yudof, UC Berkeley Professor Steven Beckwith, Senator Daniel and Irene Inouye, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan Director General Shoken Miyama, UH System President M.R.C. Greenwood, UH Institute for Astronomy Director Gunther Hasinger, UC Santa Barbara Chancellor Henry Yang, California Institute of Technology President Jean-Lou Chameau.
TMT Reception at Washington Place
IfA Director Hasinger and President Greenwood welcome Steven Beckwith, University of California, Berkeley vice president of research and graduate studies.
TMT Reception at Washington Place
From right, UH Regent Jan Naoe Sullivan, Governor Abercrombie and UH Vice President Howard Todo welcome from the international TMT consortium.
TMT Reception at Washington Place
Governor Abercrombie talks with UC President Mark Yudof, center, and California Institute of Technology President Jean-Lou Chameau.
TMT Reception at Washington Place
U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye addresses a reception for officials associated with the proposed Thirty Meter Telescope.
TMT Reception at Washington Place
Ricard Ellis, CIT; Gary Sanders, TMT; Mike Bolte, UC; Suijian Xue, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Shoken Miyama, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan; Hawaiʻi Governor Neil Abercrombie; Hideki Takami and Masanori Iye, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan; Henry Yang, UC Santa Barbara; Ray Carlberg, University of Toronto; A. N. Ramaprakash, University of Pune.
TMT Reception at Washington Place
University of California Observatories Director Michael Bolte, left, and Governor Abercrombie greet Hawai‘i Congresswoman Mazie Hirono while Masanori Iye, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, waits in front of TMT backdrop.
TMT Reception at Washington Place
Hilo businessman Barry Taniguchi and Debbie Goodwin of the Keck Observatories were among the guests, who included representatives from Big Island and astronomy communities; federal, state and university officials; and benefactors.
Governor Abercrombie joined me in hosting partners and benefactors for the Thirty Meter Telescope project at Washington Place on Veteran’s Day.
TMT will be the most advanced and powerful optical telescope on Earth when completed in 2018 on Mauna Kea. It will allow astronomers to look back 12 billion years to watch the formation of the first stars and galaxies; probe the turbulent regions around supermassive black holes, including the one at the center of our Milky Way galaxy; and reveal details of planets around nearby stars.
Guests at the reception included officials from TMT partners California Institute of Technology, University of California and the Association of Canadian Universities for Research in Astronomy and participating institutions including the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Department of Science and Technology of India.
We were also delighted to see representatives of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, which is providing significant funding for the project, as well as local, state, national and international leaders.
UH scientists will have guaranteed observing time on the new telescope, and the partnership has pledged $1 million a year to support education on the Big Island.
2011 Career and Technical Education Conference
Leeward Community College hybrid car display
Assistant professor Rodney Hirokawa, Vice President John Morton, UH President M.R.C. Greenwood, Professor Jacob Darakjian, Professor Eric Pang with
2011 Career and Technical Education Conference
Honolulu virtual welding display
2011 Career and Technical Education Conference
Leeward television production display
2011 Career and Technical Education Conference
Leeward automotive program hybrid car display
2011 Career and Technical Education Conference
Windward veterinary assisting program display
The UH Community Colleges partnered with the Office of the State Director for Career and Technical Education and the Hawaiʻi State Department of Education to present the 2011 Career and Technical Education conference Where Innovation Begins on Oct. 28 at the Sheraton Waikīkī.
More than 500 people attended from DOE and UH as well as the business community.
I was joined by DOESuperintendent Kathryn Matayoshi to offer opening remarks, but the real highlight was the innovative and interactive exhibits of career and technical education, which included a television production set, virtual welding simulator and carpentry model home project. There were also more than 20 workshops on topics ranging from social media applications to cyberbullying and hands-on technology stations with personal guidance.
The UH West Oʻahu is going to be an absolutely outstanding campus, and set a standard for green construction and energy efficiency! The University of Hawaiʻi Board of Regents toured the site, under construction and set to open doors in the fall of 2012) after their board meeting out in Kapolei.
The Regents meet once a month, excluding summers, and at a different campus each month so they can appreciate the diversity and strengths of our 10 campuses statewide. West Oʻahu did a terrific job hosting our October meeting, and topped it off with a fabulous site visit so Regents could see the buildings and surroundings taking shape.
What a jewel in the crown of UH this new campus will be when it opens a year from now!
Follow the progress of the new campus construction.
Around 120 business leaders and government officials including representatives from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the President’s office gathered at Thang Long Ballroom, Melia Hotel in the center of Hanoi on October 4 for an impressive dialogue on how to expand investment and trade and to reduce barriers to businesses through the upcoming APEC Forum in Honolulu in November. The informational seminar, APEC 2011—Exploring New Opportunities for Vietnam, was sponsored and organized by the APEC 2011 Hawaiʻi Host Committee, National Committee for International Economic Cooperation of Vietnam, Foreign Trade University, APEC Study Center, University of Hawaiʻi and Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry. It was great to be a part of such stimulating discussion.
I also had a chance to meet and visit with Foreign Trade University President Hoang Van Chau (left), who leads what many refer to as ”The Harvard of Vietnam.“
A group of us, including some UH alumni posed at the main entry to campus (below).
UH graduates are everywhere throughout Asia and Southeast Asia!
It is rewarding to see our students serving their home countries and peoples.
More to come from Vietnam…
From left with President Greenwood, UH Shidler Vietnam EMBA Director Tung Bui, MBA alumna Pham Thi Hong Yen, FTU President Hoang Van Chau, UH Foundation President Donna Vuchinich, UH alumna DaoThi Thu Ha and Tho Dinh Nguyen
It was my honor to address the recent Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance Technologies Conference annual gathering on the island of Maui. One of the topics I covered was the continuing need to open science and related fields to more women. We’ve come a long way, but we could always be better in this area! Here’s an excerpt:
“Sixty percent of the undergraduates in colleges and universities across the nation today are women. In many fields, they exceed the number of men. Although the numbers may still lag in astronomy and related disciplines, it is clear that if we want to maintain and continue to build upon our level of expertise in science and technology in the future, we must successfully engage females in the scientific fields. It is gratifying that here in Hawaiʻi we have leading programs that reach out and draw women and girls into the sciences, such as Maui’s Women in Technology Project and others. We need to recognize these trends will continue to increase, and we must continue to plan for these societal shifts or we will fall behind.”
Mary Walshok talking with RCUH Executive Director Michael Hamnett
Member of President Greenwood’s Council on Science and Technology Mary Walshok of San Diego Connect was in town to speak to the Hawaiʻi Business Roundtable and other key corporate supporters about how the city of San Diego and specifically the University of California at San Diego helped build from scratch a strong and vibrant partnership between the business community and their institution of public higher education.
Mary helped lead the effort to develop a common sense of purpose and to revitalize a stalled economy there, lessons we could certainly put to use in the islands! As a major institution with a presence on all islands, what a role UH could play in this collective activity!
You can download Mary’s PowerPoint presentation at UH’s Innovation Initiative webpage.
College accrediting agency official Ralph Wolff, Vice President Linda Johnsrud and Chancellor Rota on arrival for the conference
The University of Hawaiʻi was honored to be chosen by APEC (Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation) and the U.S. State Department to host the officially sanctioned APEC Higher Education Conference August 4–6, hosting delegates from the education ministry and other high-level government officials from 20 of the 21 economies in the Asia-Pacific region.
Dr. Eduardo Ochoa, assistant secretary for postsecondary education for the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. delegate to the APEC Higher Education Conference, was among the first day’s keynote presenters. Delegates considered the theme of the conference, Quality in Higher Education and what that means to colleges and universities in their home countries, among other topics related to their higher educational systems.
Gerald De Mello and Donald Straney with M.R.C. Greenwood and Mary Wolshak
From left, university officials Randy Hirokawa, Gerald De Mello, M.R.C. Greenwood and Donald Straney; student Ashlee Kalauli; Mayor Billy Kenoi; Gov. Neil Abercrombie; Senators Gilbert Kahele and Malama Solomon; Rep. Jerry Chang; Chancellor Emeritus Rose Tseng
During the blessing for UH Hilo’s new Science and Technology building, I shared the inspiring testimony of a Native Hawaiian Big Island student who wants to be an astronomer.
Read my remarks. For more about the facility, read the news release.
AC Kobayashi and UH officials from left: Russell Young, Caroll Takahashi, Brian Minaai, M.R.C. Greenwood, Myles Ikeda, Kathy Inouye and Warren Leong
One of the major bright spots on the economic and construction horizon is our beautiful state-of-the-art UHCancer Center. I had a chance to tour the site recently and was impressed to see the progress of this on-schedule, on-budget exciting new piece of the economic fabric of our community.
Scientist and experienced administrator M.R.C. (it’s pronounced “Marci”) Greenwood is the 14th president of the 10-campus University of Hawaiʻi System.
This blog, maintained with staff assistance, shares her activities and insights. Use the contact form to offer feedback or email President Greenwood directly. We welcome comments posted in the tradition of academic freedom and spirit of aloha.
