To address pressing issues for the Pacific Islands such as soil degradation, wildfires, climate change and loss of biodiversity, the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa hosted two conferences focused on the study of clay with experts from around the world. The 61st annual meeting of the Clay Minerals Society and 5th Asian Clay Conference were held in June.
The Clay Minerals Society conference’s theme “Expanding Clay Science over the Pacific and Beyond” helped College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR) scientists’ expand their horizons in soil and agricultural sciences.
The conference provided essential knowledge for addressing environmental challenges effectively. Onsite coordination for the conference (and concurrent 5th Asian Clay Conference)—from inception to the final huakaʻi—was provided by the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management (NREM) and Department of Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences (TPSS).
In honor of the late Goro Uehara, CTAHR’s internationally acclaimed soil sciences professor, the conference included a special session on variable charge clays that highly influence the behavior of tropical soils.
“I personally feel that this experience has elevated our research group,” PhD student Kristy Lam said. “Mahalo piha to Clay Minerals Society [CMS] chair Yuji Arai and CMS Editor-in-Chief Joseph Stucki for providing us an opportunity to honor both Goro and our elemental ancestors that give birth to our life-giving soils.”
Local planning was led by Susan Crow, Jonathan Deenik, David Pompeani and Tai Maaz as the co-directors of CTAHR’s new soil health, environment and ecosystem resilience (S(HEE)R) Lab. NREM researcher Linden Schneider brought student volunteers from across the UH System to support the technical capacity, and Lam organized the opening kīpaepae in collaboration with Hālau ʻŌhiʻa, the huakaʻi to explore the geology, soils and history of southeast Oʻahu in collaboration with Deenik and Scott Rowland of the Department of Earth Sciences.
“I would like to thank UH for arranging and coordinating the student volunteers,” said Arai, of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and General Chairman of the Conference. “Thank you for your hard work. Your time and support meant a lot to us.”
