Apr 22, 2020 | Innovation
Maui Economic Development Board (MEDB) has lost a dear friend and dedicated STEMworks™ supporter with the passing of Irene Hirano Inouye, widow of the late United States Senator Daniel Inouye. Hirano Inouye was a nationally recognized leader in the nonprofit sector, with more than 35 years’ experience in nonprofit administration, community education, and public affairs. Her national reputation has been built on a record of vision, collaboration, and accomplishment, as well as an unyielding commitment to the values of fairness and individual opportunity.
Leslie Wilkins, MEDB President and CEO reflected, “In 2013, MEDB, with the endorsement of Hirano Inouye, established the Daniel K. Inouye (DKI) Innovation Award to honor the late Senator’s vision for Maui as an innovation center for the latest scientific and technological advances. She recognized the critical nature of MEDB’s work throughout its history to enhance education and training in our community.”
In past years, the senator and his wife headlined MEDB’s annual Ke Alahele Education Fund dinner, with proceeds used to support and administer MEDB-led STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) educational programs and to provide grants for STEM initiatives. “The DKI Award is presented to a Maui County project team that demonstrates the most innovative use of STEM tools and capabilities to serve and improve our community,” said Wilkins. “The Award is open to all Maui County students in grades 6-12 who submit a project that has a practical function and value to the community.”
Hirano Inouye received the Global Ambassador Award from the Price School for best representing the mission and expertise of the school in a global setting. She served as president of the Washington D.C.-based United States-Japan Council, which enhances relations between the two countries through people-to-people connections. In addition, Hirano Inouye has been recognized for her outstanding leadership as the former CEO and President of the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, and her service with prominent philanthropic and nonprofit boards across the country, including the Ford Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, the Smithsonian Institution, and the President’s Committee on the Arts & Humanities, among others.
Hirano Inouye was involved in nonprofit work early in her career, serving for 13 years with a clinic for low- and moderate-income women and families. She was a gracious humanitarian!
Leslie Wilkins, MEDB President & CEO
Apr 15, 2020 | Innovation
Mayor Michael Victorino recently announced $100,000 in grant funds to Maui Economic Development Board Inc. (MEDB) for local production of emergency ventilators to treat COVID-19. “This is very good news!” said Victorino. “Ventilators are crucial when it comes to effectively caring for COVID-19 patients, so having these companies producing them on island is a true blessing for our community. We also want to mahalo MEDB and the two companies for their partnership in producing these ventilators.”
There are several nationwide collaborations that are developing open-source plans for manufacturing ventilators, including a group from MIT, UT-Austin, UC-Irvine, and a few groups in Hawaii. On Maui, two locally-owned technology companies are immediately redeploying their engineering and machining capabilities to manufacture the ventilators. Maui Innovation Group, led by Dr. Ned Davis at the Maui Research and Technology Park, is currently developing breakthrough magnetic valve technology at the U.S. Air Force Academy. HNu Photonics, led by Dr. Dan O’Connell of Kahului, presently has their Maui-built biolab in orbit on the International Space Station.
“Our companies are in the process of retooling to manufacture ventilators to support Hawaii’s needs,” said O’Connell. “We were called to action to use our design and manufacturing facility to produce bridge ventilators that provide basic assisted-breathing mechanisms for various stages of patient treatment. We are working with multiple groups that have been assembled quickly in response to the growing urgency. These groups are sharing information about designs, plans, specifications, components, vendors, regulatory requirements, and safe operation.”
“Thank you to these local companies, founded by our talented tech professionals on Maui, for their efforts and willingness to step up during this time of need,” said Leslie Wilkins, MEDB President and CEO. “The effort is part of a nationwide emergency collaboration to recruit technology companies to fill national and local ventilator needs. The two Maui companies came together quickly on conference calls with national officials to discuss the details. Once they ramp up production they will be in a position to supply Hawaii with ventilators and help the national repository, but Maui is a first priority.”
Maui can be proud of its local businesses for meeting urgent community needs by using their technical knowledge and skills.
— Leslie Wilkins, MEDB President and CEO
Apr 8, 2020 | Community
Kyle Kawakami, Maui-born 2019 Chef of the Year, is continuously thinking of ways to help his Maui community. His philanthropy is endless. He is well known for placing an Aloha tip jar on the counter of his Maui Fresh Streatery Food Truck to help raise funds for those in need. Whether it is individuals or nonprofits, his gifts have totaled over $50,000. “The Pay it Forward program translates as Aloha Spirit,” Kawakami said. “We as a community need to come together during these times to support each other. Without compassion and caring for our kupuna, our neighbors, our friends, and our ohana we have nothing. It is what separates us from the rest of the world─ what makes us Hawaii.”
Kawakami is assisting the community in numerous ways. “First, we are using our location as a food hub to help local farmers and fish purveyors sell their harvests that are currently not moving,” he said. “Our first food hub was with Okoa Farms. They dropped off 20 boxes filled with a farmer’s choice of produce, which we sold for them, giving 100 percent of the proceeds back to the farm.”
Another community assistance program Kawakami implemented is Kokua Meals. Customers are able to make donations to purchase meals for families in need, children that normally receive free or subsidized lunches, socially isolated seniors, and others. “Today,” he said, “we had volunteers deliver 45 meals to those in the community, along with other donated food products such as fresh bread and sausage.”
Additionally, Kawakami changed his Maui Fresh Streatery service to address the current pandemic situation that we are in. “At this time, we have implemented a Zero Contact Service,” he explained. “Meals are cooked, packaged, and labeled. The zero contact comes upon pickup. Customers remain in their cars. When it is their turn to order we give an alcohol wipe to sanitize their hands and take payment. The food is placed on a table near the car for the customer to claim. Then, we sanitize the table for the next order. We will get through this together!”
Our Aloha tip jar is currently being used to assist with the Kokua Meals through our Pay it Forward program. You can’t shut down Aloha!
Kyle Kawakami, Maui Fresh Streatery Food Truck, Chef/Owner
Apr 1, 2020 | Events
Maui Economic Development Board (MEDB) sponsored approximately 30 people from around the world for the first 2020 meeting of the OpenMP Architecture Review Board (ARB). OpenMP is a software system that allows programmers to distribute work and data among different processors running concurrently in a computing system. Dr. Michael Klemm, CEO OpenMP ARB, said, “Working together face-to-face is an integral part of the development process for future OpenMP specifications. I want to thank MEDB for making our meeting possible on this beautiful island.”
The Maui High Performance Computing Center (MHPCC), through the University of Hawaii (UH), joined the OpenMP ARB in the fall of 2018. The group is responsible for maintaining an open standard that all computer companies, such as Intel, IBM, and many others, agree to support, and that meets the needs of national and international laboratories, universities, computer centers, and researchers worldwide. Often, these users want new features. The purpose of the meetings, held three times per year in different locations, is to bring users and people from the computer companies together to agree on how new features should be added to the standard.
“The MHPCC strives to drive our needs into commercially available products while advancing its computing capabilities with the latest technology that industry has to offer,” said Lt. Col. Scott Pierce, USAF, MHPCC Director. “The OpenMP consortium gives us the opportunity to engage with industry, academic, and international partners to develop standards and tools. These tools build the computational base by which we can model, simulate, design, and develop systems across many of our modernization priorities.”
Dr. Alice Koniges, UH Research Principal Investigator, is the primary representative from MHPCC and UH on the OpenMP ARB. She is also a Maui author, with two co-authors, of a new book, The OpenMP Common Core, just released from the MIT Press. “Our book fills a major gap in parallel programming, explaining a method to reduce the amount of time to run a computer program,” Koniges said. “It offers an introduction to widely used features in OpenMP and describes how to use them to solve a range of programming problems.”
Using a wide assortment of exercises, our book guides readers through the most essential elements of writing parallel code to become effective programmers
Alice Koniges, Ph.D., UH Research Principal Investigator
Apr 1, 2020 | Community
All of us at MEDB wish good health to everyone in our community in these difficult times. We would like to reinforce the new rules announced by the Mayor to keep residents safe and healthy during the fight against the spread of COVID-19, starting with staying at home and working from home except for essential activities and business, or government operations. Travel likewise should be minimized. We should all avoid any private or public gatherings outside the home, and wherever you are, be sure to wash your hands thoroughly and often.
Announcing the restrictions effective March 25th, Mayor Victorino announced, “Decisive action is needed to stem the spread of COVID-19 and protect our healthcare resources, our hospital beds, respirators and the health and safety of doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals. I humbly ask all of us to do our part to flatten the curve and come together as a community.”
Essential activities during this period include those essential to maintain health and safety (such as visiting a doctor or getting medicine), getting food or pet food and necessary home supplies, caring for a family member in another household or caring for the elderly, minors, dependents, those with disabilities or other vulnerable persons, performing essential business or government work, or taking part in solitary outdoor exercise (running, walking, hiking).
For more information, and for a list of government services and businesses that may remain open during this time, visit the County of Maui’s website at mauicounty.gov.
While the current restrictions are in place, MEDB will use this weekly space to keep our community updated in the coming weeks and highlight some of the positive and welcome initiatives that are taking place in our community as we pull together to meet the challenges facing all of us.
For more information, and for a list of government services and businesses that may remain open during this time, visit the County of Maui’s website at mauicounty.gov.
Mar 25, 2020 | Community
As we celebrate Women in History month across the nation, we are truly blessed that Lei’ohu Ryder continues to bring the spirit of aloha to Maui and to the world. A beacon of light in the community, Ryder’s music and albums have touched the hearts of locals and visitors alike. Her kuleana (responsibility), leadership, and honor for all beings is her global calling, and her talents and wisdom are loved everywhere she goes. She has received the Peace Educator Award from the United Nations, the Women of Honor Award from Women’s History Month, the Educator Award from the Peace Corps, and the Malama Ka’Aina Award from the Sierra Club.
“Aloha is everything!,” Ryder explained. “It is about living in the moment, grounding my heart in service, and helping wherever I can. I received my awards because I am passionate about peace. I designed a peace curriculum when I taught at ‘Iao Intermediate School, and recorded music with children based on DOE goals, all around harmony and tranquility. It was through being a peace advocate, blind to ideologies that separate us from experiencing the true nature of ourselves and others, that I was honored with the Gandhi-King Peace Award.”
Aloha in Action, a nonprofit started by Ryder and Maydeen Kuuipo ‘Iao, both known as spiritual leaders, visionaries, healers, singers/songwriters and educators, earned them the title of Emissaries of Aloha. “Aloha in Action translates to helping others,” Ryder explained. “Our concerts support Aloha in Action as well as donations from community members. Through the nonprofit, we have been able to build schools in Kenya, provide scholarships in India, and contribute to educational funds here in Hawai’i. Additionally, we are able to help individual people and families in need of food and supplies here on Maui. It is wonderful to go directly to the people with goodwill and lovingkindness. We cannot fix everything, but Aloha in Action is giving something, and every bit helps. We invite the world to join us. Let us create a lei of aloha together, string it along and find the treasure of love in the center.”
We are currently recording our new CD, ‘Sacredness of All’, due out in May. Our music is about sharing a healing message that touches hearts.
Lei’ohu Ryder, Maui Musician and Emissary of Aloha
Mar 18, 2020 | Innovation
Upcountry girl Cymbree Kailiehu-Fevella, owner and founder of Cymz Sweet Kre8tionz Bakery, creates signature sweets of all kinds. Her journey began in 2014 while baking for family and friends. “What was just a hobby in the beginning became something that blossomed into a full time business,” said Fevella. “My mom used to bake all the time. I simply inherited a love of baking from her.” Fevella incorporates local fresh fruits from growers around the island to add to her truffles, cake cups, ube (purple sweet potato) pies, cupcakes, tarts, and more. “I try to remain innovative and creative when it comes to the ingredients,” she said. “I truly love what I create and bake, and try to show it through my work.”
Last summer Fevella and her husband opened up their own bakery retail shop at 153 Ma’a Street in Kahului. They built their own fully equipped commercial kitchen and a retail storefront to showcase the desserts. Over the years, Fevella worked with Gerry Smith, Maui Economic Development Board’s (MEDB) Director of Business Development. “He has been the best thing that has ever happened for our business,” she said. “He helped us understand how to price our products correctly, and figure out the logistics of our costs and everyday expenses. I would like to give MEDB and Smith many thanks for mentoring us with everything, our company’s pitch presentation, our commercial profile, the shop’s overhead, and numerous business-related odds and ends.”
Smith added, “One of Fevella’s keys to success is her ability to take advantage of the services that are available to help her business. MEDB has helped her with analyzing costs and helping her prepare for pitches. She also enrolled in the Maui Food Innovation Center class, received assistance from the Maui Food Technology Center, and recently she applied for a Manufacturing Assistance Program grant from the Hawaii Technology Development Corporation. In 2018, Fevella won First Place in the Maui Food Industry X-Celerator Program at the UH Maui College. Anyone in the Maui community can apply for these support services.”
MEDB helped us stay focused, making sure we knew our margins and were maintaining our consistency.
Cymbree Kailiehu-Fevella, Owner, Cymz Sweet Kre8tionz Bakery, Kahului
Mar 11, 2020 | Innovation, Sustainability
In February, Maui intermediate schoolgirls attended Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day (IGED). Sponsored by Maui Economic Development Board’s (MEDB) STEMworks™ (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) program, IGED is part of National Engineers Week, and marks MEDB’s 20th IGED anniversary. Over 70 attendees participated in activities designed to interest middle school girls in engineering career paths, which traditionally have been male-dominated.
“Our STEMworks™ project-based model is recognized nationally as an innovative, relevant, and successful approach to education,” said Lalaine Pasion, STEMworks™ Project Manager. “The mission of STEMworks™ is to provide students and teachers with resources and tools that empower them to improve their community and the world.” This year, industry partners Hawaiian Electric and the National Solar Observatory (NSO), along with MEDB’s STEMworks™ team and teachers, connected the students to real-world learning opportunities.
Sharon Suzuki, Hawaiian Electric President of Maui County and Hawai’i Island Utilities, said, “We’re honored to be a long-standing supporter of this event that has introduced young females on Maui to the field of engineering for the past 20 years. As a partner since its inception, our Maui staff always looks forward to engaging and fostering a new generation of STEM leaders and professionals in our communities.”
Jennifer Suzuki, Maui Waena Intermediate School STEM teacher, reflected, “Opportunities with IGED provide exposure to STEM fields and often plant the seed of interest, which lead to future careers. Some of my former IGED girls are now engineers, doctors, and computer scientists. Without this early exposure, these careers may not have even been on their radars.” Agreeing, Mark Cunningham, STEMworks Iao Intermediate Teacher, said, “These types of extraordinary experiences are what mold future ideas. My students returned to class with a passion for the world, how it works, and how to solve its problems.”
Lahaina Intermediate 7th grader Naiya Eide added, “IGED inspired me to set goals to be the best I can be, and never give up. Hawaiian Electric engineers gave tours of the facility and provided hands-on science experiments. We asked the NSO engineers questions about the Sun and space-related events, and learned first-hand how hard work and setting goals pay off.”
The STEMworks™ in-school and afterschool program engages, inspires, and motivates K-12 students throughout the islands.
Lalaine Pasion, STEMworks™ Project Manager
Mar 4, 2020 | Environment, Events, Small Business
The Hawai’i Energy Conference brings together regional and national experts on energy policy, strategies, leadership and innovation. The 2020 Conference will explore the timely issues of beneficial electrification and the design of an equitable energy transition. Participants will take a deep dive into how electrification can be “beneficial”. As more functions are served by electricity, demand for electricity will rise. This opens pathways for more deployment of renewable generation, which supports the sort of ambitious decarbonization goals that state legislatures are enacting. What are the benefits, challenges, and practical limits of electrification? How can we break through economic, cultural and linguistic barriers to ensure that we have an energy system that works for everyone? Is it possible to create a transition that respects local cultures, is socially just, and protects our most vulnerable?
Come join us as we explore pathways to creating an equitable, resilient energy system of the future.
Feb 26, 2020 | Community
The Bailey House Museum, one of Maui’s oldest surviving structures, now known as Hale Hō’ike’ike, is a jewel in the community. Located in historic Wailuku and operated by the Maui Historical Society, Hale Hō’ike’ike was dedicated as a museum on July 6th, 1957 and placed on the National and Hawaii Registers of Historic Places in 1972. The site offers a major collection of Hawaiian artifacts. The Archival Resource Center includes over 10,000 historic photos as well as maps, manuscripts, genealogy records, historical documents and more than 2,000 Hawaiian objects.
Hale Hō’ike’ike Executive Director Naomi “Sissy” Lake-Farm, a Hawaiian cultural practitioner and Kumu Hula (master hula teacher) shifted the museum’s emphasis from strictly visitor admissions to community engagement. “I am enthusiastically celebrating my sixth year as executive director,” said Lake-Farm. “I feel a deep kuleana (responsibility) and connection to the history of the land and the museum’s mission. As caretakers of the land, we share the history and heritage of Maui through the artifacts, photographs, and documents that are entrusted to our care. It is essential that the cultural roots and history that define our community will continue to be there for future generations.”
Built as a mission house in 1833, Hale Hō’ike’ike’s location is the former royal compound of King Kahekili II, the last ruling chief of Maui. It was transformed into the Wailuku Female Seminary in 1837, and remained the home of missionary teacher and artist Edward Bailey and his family until 1888. Over the years, private donors, various organizations, and local families helped build the extraordinary collection. Today, the museum showcases Hawaiian culture and artifacts, as well as paintings and furnishings of nineteenth-century Maui, a museum gift shop, and the Chas Fisher Memorial Gardens including native and missionary-era flora and fauna.
Lake-Farm added, “I have an amazing and knowledgeable staff to help me. Together we offer numerous community activities such as guided tours, educational workshops, lecture series, and Hawaiian music concerts. On Saturday, February 29th beginning at 5pm we have a Moonlight Mele at Hale Hō’ike’ike with Uncle George Kahumoku, UHMC Institute of Hawaiian Music, and Tarvin Makia.”
I love sharing Maui’s past, present, and future with the community. My dad, John Keola Lake, was a renowned historian here in Hawaii and also a Kumu Hula. I was born into this work!
Naomi “Sissy” Lake-Farm, Hale Hō’ike’ike Executive Director
