Kapiolani Community College is best known for training top-notch chefs such as Alan Wong, but the school on the slopes of Diamond Head is quietly making its mark in another field.

Its students are going head-to-head against teams from four-year universities in scientific competitions and winning — for the caliber of their research, team work and sheer effort.

"They win as much as the cooking students do," said Matthew Tuthill, assistant professor of molecular biology and microbiology at KCC. "Yet nobody seems to realize it."

Most recently, seven KCC students built a hot-pink "CanSat," or cannister satellite, and trekked to Burkett, Texas, to face off against teams that came from as far as India. KCC’s crew took the top prize in the NASA-sponsored CanSat Competition with a payload that deployed from a rocket soaring roughly 2,000 feet, then transmitted data to Earth as it aero-braked and fell at prescribed speeds before landing with a raw egg cradled inside.

"We were really excited that the egg didn’t crack," said Logan Tamayo, a gregarious 21-year-old who worked on the electrical system and flight software. "We were the first team that the egg didn’t crack."

The students were judged not just for their performance on launch day in June but for eight months of work on the project, including their preliminary design presented in a 100-page document and via teleconference in January; an intensive review of their work in March; and a post-flight analysis.

"This was the first time that an American team placed in the top five in the last two years, and to have it be a community college …" said Herve Collin, physics professor and CanSat mentor, his voice trailing off. "We were shocked."

The victory in Texas may have surprised the crew, but it was no fluke. The first time KCC participated in the CanSat competition, in 2009, the little college placed fifth — well ahead of engineering powerhouses including the iconic Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which came in 10th place that year.

KCC has been pioneering new approaches to science education, emphasizing undergraduate research and collaboration. The college piloted a new associate of science degree in natural science in 2007 that has grown exponentially, from 43 students pursuing that major in 2008 to 297 this year, according to Louise Pagotto, vice chancellor for academic affairs.

"The opportunity to work firsthand on research projects is really important because the only way to get kids to be scientists is to have them doing science," Pagotto said. "We have a very robust undergraduate research program."

The STEM Center on campus gives students a place to gather and work in a common area ringed by faculty offices. (STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.) KCC also offers a STEM Summer Bridge program that aims to ease the transition to college and recruit Native Hawaiian students. Six members of the CanSat team had been in Summer Bridge.

"I think the STEM Center is probably the key," said CanSat crew member Diamond Tachera, who will be pursuing a bachelor’s in geology and geophysics at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. "There is a sense of community. There are peer mentors who can help you, no judgment. There is always someone there to help."

The CanSat team reunited Thursday at KCC to receive proclamations issued by state officials in their honor. Rae-Zan Belen, McClyde Gaborno, Taylor Viti, Kelsey Kawaguchi and Joshua Tamayo are the five other members of the team. The last two couldn’t make it to campus because they were busy with internships at Boeing and Hawaiian Electric.

Addressing KCC’s overall strength in science study, Pagotto said in an interview, "We have been very fortunate to get some grant funding from the National Science Foundation, millions of dollars over the years, which gives us funding to support students. We have scholarships for science, we have funds for stipends to pay students to assist faculty doing research, we have funds to pay for students to serve as peer mentors. We are able to help students be successful."

Among KCC’s other science projects: growing tumor cells to investigate cancer and to produce DNA; using mice to make antibodies for the research community in Hawaii; and creating remotely-operated vehicles that roam underwater.

"We’re probably the only community college in the nation that produces monoclonal antibodies," Tuthill said. "It’s embedded in the biotechnology certificate program we have here."

"Community colleges are traditionally seen as vocational or terminal or transfer places," he said. "They are not seen as their own institutions that are able to do a wide range of things. The research we are able to do with our students is really pushing boundaries at both the local and national level."

In the past year, four biomedical students from KCC received awards at the SACNAS national conference, competing against four-year institutions:

» Codi Wong and Lucas Manica-Heldt earned national distinction in cell and molecular biology for building a new method to measure bacterial infection of human cells.

» Micon Garvilles and Thomas Premeaux earned national distinction in biology for their work measuring the levels of a cancer gene in human cancer samples.

In April, KCC student Robin Kaai won for best overall undergraduate presentation at the University of Hawaii Medical School Biomedical Sciences and Health Disparities Symposium for his research on using genetically modified viruses to produce antibodies.

"We use a viral laboratory to produce and target the antibody that we want," said Kaai, who received his associate of science degree at KCC and works as a peer mentor. "It cuts cost, it cuts time and it’s an alternative to the use of animals."

A Waianae High School graduate, Kaai spent time as a medic in the military before coming to KCC and considering nursing. He shifted gears after taking a microbiology course from Tuthill, an eager and inspiring teacher, and is now aiming for graduate school in molecular biology or medical school.

Collin, the CanSat mentor, ignited his students’ interest in CanSat, but the kids had to create their "satellite" and ground control station themselves and figure out how to make it all work.

"This entire project was student-driven," said Gaborno, a CanSat team member who is headed to UH-Manoa this fall to pursue a civil engineering degree. "He (Collin) was there to make sure we were meeting deadlines and provide encouragement."

"In the real world, your boss is not going to be there telling you exactly what you need to do," Gaborno added. "It’s prepared us for the real world."

The KCC students not only earned the top trophy in Texas, they showed a sense of aloha. A team from India suffered a devastating blow when it went through customs in Japan and most of its CanSat equipment was confiscated as suspicious.

"We had spare stuff, enough to make multiples, and we tried to offer it up to them," Logan Tamayo said. "We thought they could make something with what we had and what they still had. That way they would have something to show for themselves."

The judges nixed that plan but praised the Kapiolani students for their sportsmanship.