Posted on: Thursday, October 25, 2001
New center enhances UH-Hilo marine program
By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau
HILO, Hawai'i — The marine sciences program at the University of Hawai'i-Hilo scored two major advances this month with the dedication of a new $2.75 million center and announcement of a federal partnership.
Marine sciences is one of the fastest-growing majors at the university. Five years after it was approved as an independent program, there are now 200 marine science majors at UH-Hilo and many other students who take courses in the program.
"Our location gives us an advantage in oceanography and marine science that other universities can only envy," said UH-Hilo Chancellor Rose Tseng.
A feature of the new building on Lanikaula Street is a laboratory with computer facilities. A scanning electron microscope allows teachers, students and researchers to view tiny details of marine specimens, said Walter Dudley, chairman of the marine sciences program.
He said both classrooms in the center eventually will be equipped with digital projectors directly linked to the Internet.
Tseng said UH-Hilo has the promise of becoming a "world-class leader" in marine science because of the improved laboratory and other facilities.
The program is still looking for donations to buy new engines for the Four Winds, a former Maui tour vessel given to UH-Hilo for research excursions.
Concurrent with last week's opening of the marine science center, UH-Hilo officials announced a formal partnership with the National Ocean Service, under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to open an interpretive center in the restored S. Hata Building in downtown Hilo on Kamehameha Avenue.
When it opens next year, visitors will be able to learn more about the Islands and the coral atoll ecosystems of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
Other projects include the $7 million Keaukaha Aquaculture Research Center due to open next year to serve the marine sciences program, the UH-Hilo College of Agriculture and UH-Manoa's Sea Grant program.
