UH Manoa electrical engineering professor wins internal competition for $1M sustainability research grant

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

A team of researchers led by Dr. Anthony Kuh, Professsor/Chair in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, has been awarded a $1 million research grant on the broad topic of sustainability. The winner in the UH Mānoa faculty-wide competition was announced on Earth Day 2009, April 22, by Gary K. Ostrander, Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education.

The grant is being provided by UH Mānoa to promote sustainability research with the potential for increasing Hawaiʻi‘s self-sufficiency.

The winning project will bring together a multidisciplinary team of UH Mānoa faculty—from the Colleges of Engineering, Social Sciences and Natural Sciences, and the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology—to conduct cutting edge research and work on education problems in renewable energy and island sustainability.

The three-prong aim is to 1) establish a prominent national and international science and technology program in renewable energy to achieve island sustainability, 2) assist local and national renewable energy industries by providing them with expertise and a well-trained workforce across the spectrum of knowledge and skilled workers, and 3) help move the nation toward energy independence.

"Ten teams submitted proposals, and the one submitted by Dr. Kuh and his colleagues, related to energy sustainability, emerged at the top of a very close competition," said Vice Chancellor Ostrander. "Our intent was to create an opportunity for faculty to build interdisciplinary teams based on existing strengths to address key issues of sustainability that are relevant to Hawaiʻi. The overall intent of this program is to best position ourselves for external follow-up funding and support."

Funding will be provided over two years. It is anticipated that the successful applicant team will then transition the project to an externally funded center or program.

Proposals were reviewed by a committee of internal and external scholars. Criteria for evaluation were merit, feasibility, appropriateness of budget, qualifications of proposed investigators, team organization and interdisciplinary approach, potential for sustained funding and relevance to Hawaiʻi.

For more information on the project, visit http://reis.manoa.hawaii.edu/reis2/reis/participants.