Donate
LOG IN
Honolulu
Chapter

Events Highlights

Recent ARCS Events

For two decades, Honolulu ARCS Scholar alumna Heidi Hammel helped guide development of the James Webb Space Telescope, determined that it be as good of tool for the next generation of space scientists as the Hubble Space Telescope had been for her as a postdoc.

The Association for Universities for Research in Astronomy vice president for science is one of six science advisors on the space tlescope, which launched Christmas Day 2021 and began tranmitting images in July. In a special live online presentation hosted by ARCS Honolulu Chapter and co-sponsored by the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa's Institute for Astronomy, Dr. Hammel reflects on JWST's importance and what it means for her own research and our understanding of the universe.

"Hubble gave us high school yearbook pictures of the universe; Webb is giving us the baby pictures. It is by putting them all together that we try to understand how the universe formed and evolved to where we are today." Only half of the important science thus far generated by Hubble was planned prior to launch, she notes. Now astronomers find themselves "on the edge of a firehose" of data with JWST and just getting started. "I don't even know what the most amazing science is going to be," she says. "It's a new era of astronomy starting now. I don't know where it is going to lead, but it is quite an amazing ride and I'm so thrilled to be a part of it. Thank you ARCS for helping me when I was a young student in Honolulu."

Watch the recorded talk.

  • Dr. Heidi Hammel Webb Telescope Talk Title Slide

Scholar Update: Indigenous Scientist Haunani Kane

Haunani Kane headshot

“Climate issues are large global issues, but the solutions are really going to need to be locally based, driven by communities: community needs, and their vision for the future, as well as looking at our native people and the way that they have sustainably managed lands and their coastal resources,”

2017 Toby Lee ARCS Scholar Dr. Haunani Kane combines indigenous knowledge and modern scientific techniques in her work as Univrsity of Hawai‘i at Manoa assistant professor of earth sciences. Read more

To Quote a Scholar: Alexandru Sasuclark

Alexandru Sasuclark headshot“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

To Quote a Scholar: Julia Douglas

Julia Douglas headshot

"The generous support of the ARCS award facilitates both the completion of my PhD program and the establishment a long-term research component of my future career."

2024 Sarah Ann Martin ARCS Scholar Julia Douglas scales trees in Hawai‘i an Mexico to study endangered epiphytes growing in the canopies as part of her doctoral research in botany at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa.