The University of Hawaii and the Department of the Navy recently signed a 10-year agreement designed to safeguard natural and cultural resources at and around Navy facilities. What are you most excited to see accomplished?

This Intergovernmental Support Agreement (IGSA) between the Navy and UH is an umbrella agreement that will greatly facilitate our cooperation over the next decade on all kinds of environmental stewardship on Navy and Marine installations in Hawaii.

Whether the tasks require surveys and monitoring, protection and restoration of native habitats and cultural sites, addressing threats such as invasive species, promoting resilience to sea level rise, fires and flooding — we’re excited to take this opportunity to support the Navy’s efforts to be good stewards of the lands, oceans and communities they are a part of, that matter greatly to us all in Hawaii.

How will this IGSA impact the public?

The Navy’s presence in Hawaii is critically important to our security here in the middle of the Pacific, and to our economy. At the same time, it’s equally important that they take care of the lands and oceans they work and live in.

The Navy’s footprint in Hawaii is a portion of our total footprint, and we all are addressing these threats and taking protective actions for our aina. It’s reassuring to know that the Navy is doing their part, with the help of UH experts, so we can all move forward together in these important efforts.

UH obtained a record $616 million in research funding during fiscal 2024. How do the school and state benefit from this windfall?

Extramural funding goes to support the multidisciplinary, place-based research and training activities conducted by UH faculty, staff and students to help nurture and cultivate a knowledge-based enterprise in Hawaii. Through the creation of new knowledge, we attract and retain world-class human capital, provide investments to maintain and improve our cutting-edge research infrastructure, and create workforce opportunities by creating high paying, quality jobs. This allows UH research to be able to provide solutions to real-world challenges that help to improve the quality of life not only in Hawaii, but around the world. Examples include sea level rise, energy, water, conservation, creative industries, space sciences and engineering, and food security.

At the same time, UH’s research funding provides significant economic impact to the state. According to UHERO (UH Economic Research Organization), based on the $515.9 million in extramural funding received in FY 2023, it is estimated that our research expenditures amounted to $638.2 million and resulted in $938.5 million in business sales, $317 million in employee earnings, $55 million in state tax revenue, and supported 7,271 jobs. An investment that parallels major industries in the state.

UH seeks to diversify the state’s economy by cultivating an effective research and innovation enterprise. What steps has the university taken toward fulfilling this goal?

Global conflicts, labor slowdowns, and most recently the COVID-19 pandemic have disrupted Hawaii’s fragile, tourism-dependent economy. In response, UH has focused on creating a new economic engine for the state in the 21st century. By pursuing the aggressive commercialization of its research discoveries, UH seeks to take its basic research and transform it into applied research products and solutions that will drive a new and diversified, knowledge-based economy and workforce to strengthen Hawaii’s sustainability and resilience.

Entrepreneurs and startup companies play a vital role in an innovation-based economy and UH has developed an ecosystem of incubators, industry partnerships, programs, and initiatives that provide our researchers and students the critical resources to achieve success. Since this type of economy is based on a foundation of identifying and transforming new knowledge, the ecosystem will continue to produce these benefits beyond the boom-and-bust lifecycle of any one industry or business, which is critical to an island state like Hawaii.

With a new university president set to take the reins in January, what can leadership do to nurture UH’s robust funding pipeline?

To continue to build on our record-breaking research funding levels, it will be important for President Wendy Hensel and the executive leadership team to continue to invest in our students by expanding academic offerings, programs, opportunities and emerging technologies, like AI, to create a dynamic and robust research and innovation infrastructure across UH’s 10-campus system.

As the UH research enterprise continues to flourish, it will also become vital to continue to invest in our researchers and the research infrastructure to maintain this positive momentum into the future.

Finally, we must make sure to strengthen our existing relationships and to develop new relationships with federal and state governments, agencies, industry and community based organizations, and philanthropic funders to keep them well-informed and in our corner to help us achieve our research and innovation goals and objectives.