Paʻēpaʻē o Waikolu

 In September, we hosted Mililani High School Marine Biology & Environmental Science students at the Kaimukī High School stream site. Their teacher, Jenny Kuwahara, has partnered with us every year for the last 7 years, and was actually responsible for working with Uncle Cory and Dr. Chan to develop our student-centered method for tracking stream animal biodiversity! Though her teaching career has taken her to schools far away from the ahupua’a of Waikīkī, she remains steadfast in her commitment to supporting us in our mission to restore the health of our watershed. We are continuously inspired by the ways she encourages students to utilize this unique field experience to initiate larger stream health investigations and environmental stewardship projects. 

In November, we welcomed our immensely talented ‘Iolani School AV team, Eric Wehner & Mitch Viernes into the field to capture images and video that will help us tell these stream stories on our new Community Science website We’re so grateful they offered their creative expertise to capture these meaningful learning moments with 6th graders from Shafter Elementary, and we hope their work inspires other community members and stewards to join our network. 

ʻĀina-informatics

Hawaiʻi Baptist Academy to name a novel bacterium discovered in a lava cave

In March 2020, students at HBA participated in an ongoing effort by ʻĀina-Informatics (and our partners Drs. Stuart Donachie and Rebecca Prescott at UH Mānoa) to sequence unknown microbes isolated from Hawaiʻi Island lava caves. Known simply as BL16E, one such organism sequenced and assembled by HBA students would later prove to be previously undescribed to science. The scientific name they have proposed for this bacterium is Paraflavitalea speifideiaquila, combining the Latin words for hope (spes), faith (fides) and eagle (aquila - HBA’s mascot). This is the second novel organism our network has had the honor of naming. In 2018, students at St. Andrews sequenced a novel bacterium and proposed the name Bradyrhizobium prioratisuperbia.

2022 FIRE AWARDS

Congratulations to Dr. Timothy Cottrell, Head of School at ʻIolani School and the ʻĀina-Informatics Network for being chosen as a recipient for Pacific Business News"ʻ first ever Inno Fire Awards celebrating the startups and innovators driving progress in Hawaiʻi.

Join our ʻĀina-Informatics team at the Sheraton Waikiki on Saturday, October 8th at 12:30 pm for the GEER Summit Innovation Exhibit & Showcase. Open to the general public, hear about the thirty-four innovative projects that were awarded GEER grants in 2021.