Ho’oulu Maui Nui is an online resource directory that helps Maui County’s small businesses find local services and products during COVID-19. Ho’oulu means ‘to grow’ and the directory, launched as part of the 2020 Adaptability Fund, was created to help Maui County businesses grow and adapt in a new business climate. A partnership among the Maui County Office of Economic Development (OED), Maui Economic Development Board (MEDB), and various community organizations, the Hoʻoulu Maui Nui Business Directory is a one-stop, online resource for small businesses looking for local service providers, and businesses wanting to reach potential customers by publicizing their services and products.
“This business directory is a great opportunity for local businesses to connect and support one another as we take on the challenges brought by COVID-19,” said Mayor Michael Victorino. “Reinvesting in our local economy and vendors ensures we’re getting the most out of our CARES Act funds, while still getting quality work and products.”
Businesses listed are specifically geared towards retooling and responding to COVID, helping businesses to: conduct business safely, including personal protective equipment (PPE); adapt operations to alternate business strategies; and to invest in technology infrastructure to help businesses operate virtually. Many businesses have had to expand their online visibility with web-based marketing and increase their capabilities to sell online through e-commerce. Some of the types of business listed in this directory are Business Leasing, Business Finance Consultant, Cleaning Restoration, Commercial Printer, Design, Remodeling, and Construction, Employee Recruiter, Export Consultant, Food Scientist and Technologist, HVAC Filtration Expert, IT Consultant, Marketing, PR, and Social Media Consultant, PPE Provider, Photographer, Videographer, and other services. There is no cost to participate.
According to Leslie Wilkins, MEDB President and CEO, “We want to make sure that the companies know, through the Ho’oulu Maui Nui business directory, what resources are available here at home.”
You can learn more about the Hoʻoulu Maui Nui Business Directory, search for businesses or apply to promote your business at https://www.hooulumauinui.org/
Maui County-based companies interested in signing up and being included in the business directory can visit www.HoouluMauiNui.org. There is no cost to participate.
Jocelyn Romero Demirbag, Ed.D., Director of Development at the University of Hawaii (UH) Maui College, works to expand the college fundraising efforts through the UH Foundation. The Foundation, a private 501(c)(3) non-profit, was established in 1955 to encourage private support for the university. Today, it is the central fundraising organization for the UH System. “Our work is to unite donors’ passions with UH aspirations,” said Demirbag, “We raise philanthropic contributions and manage private investments to benefit UH, the people of Hawaii, and our future generations. The university is supported by numerous individuals from Maui Nui, the state and the mainland, as well as a diverse range of organizations and businesses that include non-profits and foundations, hotels, and cultural groups.”
“UHMC welcomes contributed support of all types,” Demirbag noted. “Funding is needed for scholarships, endowments, faculty development, and instructional resources including facilities, equipment and technology upgrades. Our vision is to inspire giving and partnership by fostering UH pride among donors, alumni and the community.”
Demirbag pointed out, “One gift is all it takes to make a difference in the life of a UHMC student. With one gift, Maui residents can complete a degree and provide for their family, retool for a more satisfying career, or apprentice in the field of their dreams. One gift can be a game changer for both the college and students.”
Recently, the Wailea Community Association became a UH Foundation community partner. The Association felt that the Maui health issue is critical for everyone. They realized that when you directly help a nurse you are improving the care that any patient is going to be receiving. “Not only did they pay for the licensure of our nursing class that graduated in May 2020, but they are also funding the costs associated with taking the examination for the May 2021 graduating class,” said Demirbag. “We are so grateful to Wailea’s Community Association and to all our supporters! We hope other potential community partners will learn more about the program and other ways they can support us. These partnerships are so needed during these challenging times.”
Community partnerships allow UH to provide more career-related opportunities that might otherwise never happen.
Jocelyn Romero Demirbag, Ed.D., Director of Development, UHMC
Ke Kula o’ Pi’ilani School of Maui, surrounded by the beauty of ‘Īao Valley, is a rare treasure in the community. The independent, nonprofit Hawaiian language school, founded in 2016, is located on the Hawai’i Nature Center campus. Ke Kula o’ Pi’ilani is the only school in the state to offer a curriculum of Hawaiian language, culture, and a common core grading system created entirely by the kumu (teacher).
“Our goal is to ensure our students can be successful in anything they choose to be in the future because of the solid and well-rounded Hawaiian culture and language foundation that connects them to each other and to these lands,” said Kahu Kekai Robinson, Po’o Kula (Head of School). “Wailuku has historically been a hub for literacy and education , and we are doing our small part to honor and continue that here in the heart of ‘Īao Valley.”
The schools current program, a COVID-19 hybrid 20 percent online, 80 percent on-campus schedule with a shortened school day, supports 20 keiki in grades kindergarten through grade four, with the hope to accommodate twice that number of students in the coming years. Beginning next year, the school will add a fifth grade to accommodate the graduating fourth graders. “We strive to inspire a lifelong love of learning by cultivating an enriching environment in which diverse students grow to be united, confident, and globally competitive servant-leaders who think critically and creatively to contribute to the betterment of Maui, Hawai’i, and the world,” said Robinson.
Kumu Kehani Guerrero, Po’okumu Lead Teacher & Curriculum Director, explained, “Our curriculum is supplemented by Hawaiian practitioners in the classroom to leverage community resources and provide real-life cultural experiences. Alongside the Hawaiian cultural enrichment classes, we are able to contextualize the hands-on work into lessons in math, science, reading, writing, and art. Ka Piko Kaiao (family classes) are also designed to integrate with the school curriculum to enable family members to learn alongside the students and extend their education into the home. We hope to offer our Hawaiian language and cultural courses to the community in the 2020-21 school year.”
We get to use what we learn from being outdoors in this beautiful valley and connect it to all our studies. Plus, we learn Hawaiian culture, language, history, and values. We love this school!
Throughout the pandemic, the Nisei Veterans Memorial Center offered a once-a-month Ta-Ke Leadership Series. They asked outstanding leaders in the community to share their insights on current issues and how we can get past today’s obstacles as we begin to resume our daily lives after months of social distancing.
Invited speaker David Lassner, the 15th president of the University of Hawaii (UH), gave a virtual talk on his current UH agenda. Lassner, who leads the UH 10-campus system and the flagship research university at Manoa, is focused on helping more Hawaii residents earn college credentials, on developing an innovation sector to strengthen the state’s economy, and on creating high-quality jobs. Also, he is advancing UH’s commitments to sustainability and to becoming a model indigenous-serving university.
“My aim is to help take the state to a better place post-pandemic,” said Lassner. “Recently, the salaries of UH employees were reduced as we continue to prepare for the significant budget shortfall caused by COVID-19. The salary reductions follow other cost-saving measures across the system as UH invests in diversification of our revenue sources to enhance opportunities and growth.”
UH provides a transformational environment that brings learning and discovery to life, allowing students to embrace the practical applications of their chosen fields. Lassner wants to further develop economic sectors for a resilient and sustainable economy that includes computer science, engineering, astronomy, climate change, energy, green jobs, sustainable tourism, creative media, agri/aquaculture, and much more. He praised Maui Economic Development Board for decades of innovative services supporting Maui County start-ups, jobs, investments, and STEM programs, as well as for their Kama’aina Come Home Program.
Lassner concluded, “COVID showed us a silver lining that remote work is now possible, which is an extra push towards a technology economy for the state. Like much of the country over the last seven months, UH also emphasized online distance learning. Now, we need to work as a community to diversify and strengthen our economy. Our future must be more sustainable and equitable than the economy shattered by the pandemic. We need to build it together.”
I truly believe that UH is the most important institution to shape a more positive, sustainable and thriving future for our state.
Neutron-1, a 3U CubeSat small satellite involving more than 100 University of Hawaii students, faculty, staff and volunteers, successfully launched as part of an International Space Station (ISS) resupply mission from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on Friday, October 2. Neutron-1 was aboard the Northrop-Grumman 14 rocket that included other satellites, and will be in space for approximately one year. Around mid-November, when astronauts set up the deployer pod for launch out of the ISS, the satellite will study the relationship between the Earth and the Sun by mapping neutrons in low Earth orbit.
The science mission was proposed in 2011 by Peter Englert, a Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology researcher and principal investigator for the Neutron-1 Mission, and Lloyd French, Hawaii Space Flight Laboratory (HSFL) researcher and project manager for the Neutron-1 Mission. The Neutron-1 project was funded by a NASA EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Development award.
“This is a great achievement of the UH Neutron-1 team of students, staff, and faculty,” saidEnglert. “It demonstrates the quality of undergraduate education and research in space science and engineering at the university.”
French said, “This mission development demonstrates that HSFL can deliver flight hardware and work collaboratively with other institutions regarding NASA planetary exploration. Small spacecraft and cubesat architectures are the next generation of planetary robotic exploration, and HSFL is poised to take advantage of the opportunity.”
Amber Imai-Hong, an avionics engineer at HSFL, ground station coordinator for the Neutron-1 mission, and member of Maui Economic Development Board’s 2020 EMER-GEN® planning committee, noted, “Watching the launch live on NASA TV was an opportunity to reflect on how far we have come as a team, how many students in Hawaii were inspired by the project, and all of the lessons that we learned along the way.”
Imai-Hong concluded, “The HSFL team is now gearing up for mission operations. We will control Neutron-1 via the GlobalStar network, and partner with amateur radio operators to communicate with the satellite through HSFL’s Kauai Community College Ground Station to receive and send messages to the satellite when it is released from the ISS in November.”
It was an extraordinary experience for UH and all of Hawaii to watch Neutron-1 launch. It can still be viewed on the HSFL website.
Amber Imai-Hong, HSFL Avionics Engineer, Neutron-1 Ground Station Coordinator
Presented by Maui Economic Development Board, (MEDB), the 3rd annual EMER-GEN® program, which preceded the 2020 Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance Technologies Conference (AMOS), is a joint initiative of AMOS and the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC). A global non-governmental organization (NGO) and non-profit network, SGAC represents university students and young space professionals, ages 18-35, to the United Nations, space agencies, industry, and academia.
“EMER-GEN for young professionals builds on the capabilities and network of the AMOS Conference,’ said Leslie Wilkins, MEDB President and CEO. “The 2020 program, with a cohort of 37 participants from 13 countries in 13 time zones, went virtual this year. It was great exposure for the ten Hawaii-based participants in a program that aims to foster commercial space entrepreneurism in Hawaii.”
This year’s EMER-GEN program was developed with the help of the young professionals on the planning committee, including two representatives from the SGAC—Quentin Verspieren, Intelligent Space Systems Laboratory, The University of Tokyo, and Michael Barton, a.i. solutions, Inc. and past participant in 2018 and 2019. They were joined by Amber Imai-Hong, a participant in the 2019 cohort and avionics engineer with Hawaii Space Flight Laboratory.
Imai-Hong reflected, “I thought it was interesting that although our cohort was diverse in background, both technical and ethnic, the traits we valued in leadership were similar and complementary. With the help of mentors from industry, government, academia and NGOs, EMER-GEN® was filled with critical-thinking exercises. The cohort came to understand how nations reach agreements, and how the objectives of different stakeholders enhance effectiveness in a global environment”.
Barton added, “Thanks to MEDB, SGAC and our sponsors for providing the cohort with a successful development program. Additionally, thanks to the mentors for sharing their wisdom on cross-cultural communication, leadership, and career development.”
Tom Kubancik, founder and Executive Vice President of Trusted Space, Inc. and EMER-GEN mentor concluded, “Members of the cohort, distributed all over the globe, had remarkably diverse cultural backgrounds, but similar scientific and career interests in space. All the delegates were interested in making a difference for themselves, their country, and moving the science forward.”
Through the whole program, participants were challenged to create new opportunities for space-based technologies aimed at key issues
The University of Hawai’i Maui College (UHMC) Engineering Technology Program entered two teams in the 2020 International CanSat Competition. Out of 33 teams from more than a dozen countries, Team Onipa’a placed first and Team Paka’a placed 23rd. The competition required teams to design, build and launch a container holding a science payload. The annual event was organized by the American Astronautical Society to inspire future engineers seeking creative solutions, and the UHMC teams were sponsored by the NASA Hawaii Space Grant Consortium.
“The CanSat competition was designed to reflect, on a small scale, a typical NASA aerospace program,” said faculty advisor Dr. Jung Park, Associate Professor in the UHMC Engineering Technology Program and Associate Director of the NASA Hawai’i Space Grant Consortium. “The challenge included all aspects of research from the preliminary design review to the post mission review, incorporating the telemetry requirements, communications, and autonomous operations. This year’s challenge was to design a glider that is capable of unpowered flight and autonomous navigation, telemetry transmission, and sensor data collection while withstanding the extreme forces of a rocket launch.”
The team’s electronics and ground control station software were designed, fabricated, and confirmed operational in a test environment per CanSat specifications. They designed and 3D-printed the mechanical parts, the close-loop control system, and the Arduino code was written and simulated in Matlab. The results showed that critical payload systems are designed to operate in the conditions outlined in the CanSat Competition Mission Guide.
Onipa’a Team Leader Arthur Agdeppa said, “Each member of my team offered a diverse set of expertise, views, and knowledge, which was optimal to integrate various subsystems of our science payload and container. They took responsibility and pride in their weekly assigned tasks, and they welcomed the CanSat competition opportunity. It pushed us to be creative in our design, be resilient in our failures, and to be team players. One of our project’s external objectives was to promote STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) in our community and gain the confidence of young aspiring engineers. We hope that our winning the competition accomplished just that.”
The CanSat project was an excellent way for us to showcase all that we have learned at UHMC.
Arthur Agdeppa, Team Onipa’a Leader, UHMC Engineering Technology Program
Due to COVID-19, Maui Economic Development Board’s (MEDB) STEMworks™ Summer Internship team strived to personalize work-based learning experiences for students in the new virtual dimensions. They collaborated with internship host companies and community partners to give the students a unique opportunity to explore technical and professional development.
STEMworks Intern Napua Canales, 12th grade, said, “My internship was with BizzyB, a branch of Bizgenics Foundation, a nonprofit organization that fosters creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Specifically, BizzyB is a student innovation platform, where students 13 and older can create market-ready innovation through project-based learning. Our goal as BizzyB interns was to make a project template that other students around the world could use as a guide towards creating their own projects.”
Steve Sue, Bizgenics CEO and STEMworks mentor, explained, “Along with eight other 2020 BizzyB Summer Cohort members, Canales created a first-of-its-kind online project-based curriculum for BizzyB.com. Each student author created a project kit and teaching system for one of the United Nation’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Canales is the primary author of SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities. These curriculum kits will be featured in the BizzyB application and thus available to the world. Research, writing, graphics and videos are all part of curriculum authoring. This internship is proving that students are more capable and relevant than ever toward reshaping education. As a student voice project, we are clearly seeing that curriculum by students for students is a powerful new paradigm worth exploring. I believe it is part of the future of education. Information technology has changed access to information and perhaps more importantly, gives students more leverage to have larger impact earlier in life.”
BizzyB discovered that the students are really excellent at online research, and they have proven to be highly resourceful in finding content like video clips and authoritative sources that can be integrated in their teaching materials. Canales reflected, “Not only has the internship itself been a great learning experience on how educators create project lessons, we were also given a great learning opportunity on how to improve our work ethic through professional development.”
The summer interns became curators of content and creative coaches with goals of challenging and inspiring others to act while learning. Napua Canales, STEMworks™ Summer Intern
College freshman Ethan Covello completed his Maui Economic Development Board (MEDB) STEMworks™ Summer Internship at the Hawai’i Space Flight Laboratory (HSFL). The mission of HSFL is to promote space engineering and scientific research. They develop, launch, and operate small spacecraft from the Hawaiian Islands to accelerate the validation of new space technologies. HSFL also promotes synergistic collaborations between educational, governmental, and corporate institutions interested in space exploration.
Amber Imai, HSFL avionics engineer and STEMworks mentor, said, “Covello worked on creating a deployable ultra-high frequency amateur radio antenna for our Artemis CubeSat kit, which will serve as a platform for community college and undergraduate students to access space at a lower cost. Much of Covello’s work has been to create a design on SolidWorks and to 3D print the prototype. The previous design has proved to be unreliable due to its simplicity and Covello helped create something that is robust and reliable using a different method to deploy the antenna. We thank MEDB for the opportunity to work with such talented interns this summer!”
Covello explained, “I worked with several engineers and fellow interns to design the mechanical and structural aspects of the model satellite. I started this process by creating a Solidworks model of the deployer, then 3D printed my prototype to check for issues with my design and tested the deployer’s compatibility with the structure. After that, I detailed my findings and developed a new design that would fix the previous design’s flaws. My deployment system works through a gate system in which the antenna was attached. The gate keeps the antenna coiled into the base of the deployer using a nylon string. This string is attached to a resistor and when the resistor is activated the string melts, releasing the gate which releases the antenna.”
Reflecting on his internship Covello said, “Through working with seasoned engineers who guided me through using complex machinery and software, I was able to gain a new understanding of what being an engineer means. I will carry these new skills with me throughout my undergraduate education and continue to develop these skills to help prepare for a future career in mechanical engineering.”
My STEMworks Internship allowed me to develop my passion for engineering. Thank you MEDB! Ethan Covello, STEMworks™ Summer Intern
