ARCS Foundation Honolulu welcomes the support of Hawai‘i corporations, philanthropists and community organizations who share ARCS Foundation’s commitment to advancing the nation's talent pool in science, engineering and health fields.
Established in 1955 to encourage private support for the University of Hawaiʻi, the University of Hawai‘i’ Foundation is the central fund-raising organization for the UH System. It manages the ARCS Honolulu endowment and nine additional endowments that generate named ARCS Scholar Awards: Bretzlaff Foundation and Frederick M. Kresser (for engineering); Columbia Communications (for astronomy); Sarah Ann Martin (for natural sciences); Starbuck ARCS and Yates ARCS (for medicine); and George Orton and Mona Marie Elmore, H. Keith and Sue Ernst, and Helen Jones Farrar (undesignated).
A century-old philanthropic organization, Hawai‘i Community Foundation manages two endowment funds providing annual payouts for ARCS Scholar Awards: the Maybelle F. Roth Award in Conservation Biology and Ellen M. Koenig awards.
ARCS Foundation Honolulu cross promotes public speaking events with Honolulu Science Cafe, a monthly program featuring speakers on a variety of scientific topics sponsored by the Hawai‘i Academy of Science.
"I hustle to make sure that my expenses are covered, often working part-time jobs to make ends meet. Receiving this award means that I can place greater focus on my academic research work."
2024 Helen Jones Farrar ARCS Scholar Ben Wiseman quantifies nematodes to study soil health and explores new cover crops as an effective, sustainable way to control the pest in sweet potato fields.
“My research, if successful, would add a new diagnostic toolset for medical professionals to assess risk for those already at a high risk for developing neuropsychiatric disorders.”
Honolulu ARCS Scholar Alexandru Sasuclark received Best Poster Presentation at the John A. Burns School of Medicine’s 2021 Annual Biomedical Sciences and Health Disparities Symposium. The George and Virginia Starbuck ARCS Award receipient studies the role of selenium in development of particular neurons in the brain and the perineuronal net structures that surround them. Disruption in their development is characteristic of many neurodevelopmental diseases. A University of Hawai‘i at Manoa PhD candidate in Cell and Molecular Biology, Alexandru aspires to a career in industry pursuing treatments for neurological ailments.
Read about his inspiration or watch his video