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Events Highlights

Recent ARCS Events

Return to Coconut Island

ARCS Foundation Honolulu Chapter started with a meeting on Coconut Island, where Barbara Pauley, a charter member of the Los Angeles Founding Chapter. She and her husband enjoyed visiting with Univeristy of Hawai‘i scientists working on the state-owned perimeter while staying at their vacation home on the island's interior. The ARCS Honolulu Chaoter provided $2.5 million for UH graduate students in STEM fields in the 50 years following that 1974 meeting. And Pauley later re-purchased the privately held portion of the island and gifted it to the university for expansion of the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology. Honolulu members returned to the island for a tour and picnic with guests attending the January 2024 National Board Meeting in Honolulu.

  • Tour participants on outboard motor boat
  • Tour participants in outboard motor boat
  • Tour participants on outboard motor boat
  • Group walking trail on Moku o Lo‘e
  • Tour group

    First stop: the wet tanks lab of ARCS Scholar Leon Tran

  • A power outage didn't phase the group, whihe visited Leon's octopi tanks by cell-phone flashlight.

  • ARCS Scholar Leon Tran with one of his research subjects

  • Moving on...

  • Checking out sea creatures at the touch tank

  • Learning about different kinds of corals and reefs, plus anemones, sea stars, sea cuumbers and more.

  • Claire Lager explains the work of the Smithsonian coral cryopreservation project.

  • ARCS Scholar alum Van Wishengrad has returned to the Hawaii‘i Institue of Marine Biology for his second postdoctoral position

  • Honolulu member Jessica Radovich checks out an aquarium in Van's lab.

  • Walking shoreline trail

    On to the picnic area for lunch

  • A group photo after lunch in the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology picnic area.

  • Back on O‘ahu, the group braves gusty winds for a visit to the He‘eia National Estuarine Reserch Reserve led by ARCS Scholar alumna Yoshimi Rii, who is the state representative for the project. She explained the Hawaiian land division system that extended from mountain top through valleys and wetlands out into the ocean, creating an interconnected, self-sustaining agricultural system.

  • Fred Rappun is part of the community non-profit Ka ko‘o O‘iwi, which is restoringing traditional Hawaiian loi (gardens) within the reserve.

  • Kalo (taro) is a Hawaiian staple—the corm pounded for poi, the leaves stewed in luau or wrapped aorund pork and fish and steamed to make laulau. Ancient chants tell how the plant arose from the burial of the first-born still-born child of Wakea (sky father) and Papa (earth mother), making it the elder brother to the second born Haloa, the ancestor of the Hawaiian people.

  • The loi is also home to indigenous birds.

  • Water from the loi flows into the He‘eia fish pond, which is being restored

To Quote a Scholar: Mason Russo

Mason Russo in front of poster

"I have conducted comprehensive studies on two invasive insect pests in the Hawaiian Islands that are severely impacting Hawaiian ecosystems. The coconut rhinoceros beetle is spreading fast across Oahu and has reached other islands. The hala scale impacts native coastal hala forests."

Besides offsetting the high cost of living in Hawai‘i, funds from the 2024 Maybelle F. Roth ARCS Scholar and Honolulu Scholar of the Year awards would allow Mason Russo to return to Asia if an initial survey produces promising biological control agents for the battle against destructive insects that threaten Hawai‘i trees.

Dr. Mark Hixon on ARCS Scientist Honor

Dr. Mark Hixon, Photo by Chris Pala

"I am especially grateful that ARCS Honolulu appreciates the mentoring of graduate students, who are society’s future scientists during an era when science is increasingly under attack."

ARCS Honolulu Chapter named marine ecologist Dr. Mark Hixon its 2021 ARCS Scientist of the Year for his remarkable record of research, mentorship and public outreach. He is the Sidney and Erika Hsiao Endowed Chair in Marine Biology and chairs the Zoology Graduate Program at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa. Photo by Chris Pala

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