The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa welcomed Vassilis Syrmos as its newest chancellor on July 1.
Syrmos brings for over three and a half decades of experience as a professor, researcher and administrator to his new role.
During his career, he served as the UH vice president for research and innovation and most recently as the university's interim provost.
Syrmos joined HPR to share his vision for the University of Hawaiʻi during a crucial time as the Trump administration has cut federal funding to higher education.
Interview Highlights
On the recent cuts to research funding
VASSILIS SYRMOS: There are interesting times, both in the academic enterprise of every institution in the country, not just here at UH Mānoa, but also in the research enterprise of every institution. A lot of funding has disappeared, or you know, eliminated, and a lot of the work that usually the university has done in the past, and we're very good at, it's not a priority for this administration. Having said that, I have to give a lot of credit to our faculty for reskilling, retooling, actually doing the work still, and being able to still bring some substantial research funding within the university. ...
So some of our Title III, and that is the money we get for our Native Hawaiian programs, are ending Sept. 30, which is the end of the federal fiscal year. So those are going to end. However, the university has made a decision to take some of the most successful programs and institutionalize them and provide them with the funding to continue to do the good work that they do. And then we have some programs, especially on climate change and environmental sciences, that the funding has dried up, if you will. Those programs we're looking to see whether we can support through philanthropy. Our philanthropy numbers are up across the university, so the good work keeps on going, but we have some challenges ahead of us. But I think at the end of the day we will overcome this one, too.
On AI and his vision for the university
SYRMOS: AI is here to stay. … I am a strong believer of place-based innovation. It's also called Sovereign AI. So it is AI that uses local infrastructure and local talent to actually provide solutions that have been discovered here locally for global problems. So rather than doing AI just for AI, I think we should actually use the place-based knowledge that we have and apply AI on that, so things like rural health. ...
Workforce development within the healthcare is probably one of top priorities, not only for UH Mānoa, but for the UH system. And when we talk workforce development, healthcare, most people think about doctors. Yes, doctors are a big part of that, but it's also nurses, physician assistants, radiologists, radiologist technicians, all types of professions … so we are pushing the envelope on that.
On his hopes as chancellor
SYRMOS: What I would like to achieve in my tenure is to improve the student experience and improve the image and the reputation of the institution, not outside the state, but inside the state. This is probably one of the best research institutions and academic institutions in the continent. It is a premier flagship global institution, and at the end of the day, it should be an institution of choice, a destination of choice for our local students, and also for students from the continent and internationally. It is one of the best institutions I've known of.
This story aired on The Conversation on July 7, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Jinwook Lee adapted this story for the web.
