The University of Hawaiʻi recently received over $500 million in extramural research funding. The money comes from the federal government, industry, and non-profit groups.
Vassilis Syrmos, vice president for Research and Innovation at the university, said the record-breaking funding is a testament to the faculty, staff, and students at the institution.
"The President had put a strategy over the last five years on how to increase our research portfolio," Syrmos said.
"We have been working methodically by hiring faculty, investing in facilities investing in equipment and infrastructure."
A plethora of programs will benefit from the funding, including research on rising sea levels and studies on health disparities within Indigenous communities.
Roughly $16 million will be allocated to community colleges under the Resilient Hawaiʻi: Good Jobs Challenge program. The university hopes to tackle issues such as the teacher shortage with the support of its community colleges.
Syrmos is excited for people to benefit from the university's programs and funding.
"These are areas that impact our daily life," he said of climate change and health care.
"Having a university like ours … improves the quality of life of our community of our citizens and actually improves the whole state."
Looking forward, Syrmos said local people will continue to be the university's top priority. He called the funding an "investment from the federal government" to better the islands.
"How can we advance this state with whatever we do in our research and innovation portfolio, or with whom we train for our future workforce development?" he said.
2023 marks the second year in a row that the university set a record for extramural funding.
This interview aired on The Conversation on July 25, 2023. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1. This interview was adapted for the web by Emily Tom.
