KCC obtains grant for engineering

Kapiolani Community College has received a $5 million National Science Foundation grant to support the teaching of engineering to native Hawaiians.

The grant will support an online pre-engineering curriculum, allowing students at other University of Hawaii system schools to enroll.

Students will transfer to UH-Manoa and complete degrees in civil, electrical and mechanical engineering once they complete the pre-engineering curriculum.

Kapiolani Community College officials said yesterday one of the program’s main goals is to create an online pre-engineering core curriculum that effectively integrates calculus and prepares native Hawaiian students for higher-level courses.

Naval destroyer leaves Pearl Harbor

The guided-missile destroyer USS Paul Hamilton will leave Pearl Harbor today on a deployment to the Western Pacific and Middle East, the Navy announced.

Commanded by Cmdr. Edward Eder, the Paul Hamilton has a crew of about 30 officers and 223 enlisted sailors.

Arakawa taps 4 for roles on new team

Maui Mayor-elect Alan Arakawa has named three people to head the county’s water and finance departments.

Maui County Wastewater Division Chief Dave Taylor was selected yesterday to be the director of the county Department of Water Supply. His appointment is subject to County Council confirmation.

The mayor-elect also chose Paul Meyer, a former top finance officer for Maui Land & Pineapple Co. Inc., as the agency’s deputy director.

Maui County Budget Director Danny Agsalog was appointed county director of finance.

Former television and print journalist Rod Antone was named as Arakawa’s communications director.

Potential wind farm in the works

The Hawaii County Department of Water Supply is considering building a wind farm to power its South Kohala wells. The department would lease about 80 acres of state land next to its Lalamilo wells and have a developer build the windmills.

The project would create 50 construction jobs and three permanent jobs.

Department energy management analyst Julie Myhre says a wind farm built on the site in the mid-1980s has been decommissioned and that the site has been cleaned up.

West Hawaii Today reported yesterday the wind farm would save about $500,000 a year in electricity costs for the next 20 years.

A department spokeswoman says it is too soon to tell whether the facility would generate excess energy to sell to Hawaii Electric Light Co.