Chaminade University of Honolulu science student. (Courtesy photo)
Chaminade University of Honolulu received a $1 million grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to fund Pacific Island culture-based STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) education programs.
The gift was announced June 7. The school was one of 24 awardees in the institute’s 2017-22 Inclusive Excellence program out of more than 500 universities that had applied for the prestigious recognition as a Howard Hughes Undergraduate Institution. The grant will help pay for Hawaii-centered research and activities that link science to family and community for Hawaiian and Pacific Islander students.
“Chaminade has been building excellence in STEM for a decade with support from agencies such as National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and Kamehameha Schools,” said Dr. Helen Turner, Chaminade’s Dean of Natural Sciences in a news release.
“This award recognizes the tremendous progress we have made in preparing the next generation of Hawaii and Pacific scientists,” she said. “It takes us to the next level of national recognition for the curriculum and cutting-edge teaching methods our faculty have developed.”
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s senior director for science education, David Asai, said that his organization “recognizes that science excellence depends on having a community of scientists that is rich in diversity of people and perspectives.”