Federal economic stimulus money is being used to finance University of Hawai'i research into how honeybees learn, the evolution of moths and Icelandic geology.

So far, UH has secured 62 competitive stimulus-related research grants worth $42 million, according to federal filings.

The research projects — including the $210,000 grant to study bee learning behavior — have been criticized as a sign of waste and mismanagement within the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment program.

The UH honeybee grant made it onto a list of 100 projects identified as "silly and shortsighted" by Republican Sens. Tom Co-burn of Oklahoma and John McCain of Arizona.

To be sure, UH research grants are only a small part of the estimated $1.4 billion in federal stimulus money coming into Hawai'i during the next two years. Most of the money will pay for jobless benefits and other social programs as well as infrastructure improvements such as highways, bridges, transit systems and clean-water projects.

Jennifer Sabas, U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye's chief of staff in Honolulu, said the purpose of stimulus spending is job creation.

"Would that (honeybee project) have been our first choice? No ... (but) it's clearly not the big dollars," she said.

Honeybee research may not fit the general public perception of how stimulus money should be spent, said Gary Ostrander, UH vice chancellor for research. However, that project along with other competitive stimulus research grants, will pump money into Hawai'i's economy while generating valuable research, he said.

"I think folks thought that, 'OK, this money is being poured into stimulus — that means more jobs, lower unemployment, things like that,' " Ostrander said. "Whether it's coming from a construction worker, or three graduate students ... they're all kind of spending the money the same."

Just how many jobs the UH research projects will generate is unclear. The projects have created or saved 13 direct jobs so far, according to federal filings. Ostrander said most of the $42 million in research grants hasn't been spent yet, and the number of jobs created will increase with time. In addition, when the money is spent, it could create jobs indirectly.

"Generally, most of the money that comes in under these proposals goes to pay for technicians or students or post-docs, (and) faculty support, so it actually does generate more money coming into our economy," Ostrander said. "Those folks are spending the money at the 7-Elevens, at the movie theaters and places like that."

RESEARCH PROJECTS

The university's largest grant so far is $6.2 million to examine climate changes in ocean biochemistry. The grant, which pays for monthly research cruises in the North Pacific Ocean, has created 1.25 full-time jobs, according to the state. Much of the stimulus money pays for boat operations, Ostrander said.

As of Dec. 1, UH received $23.4 million in stimulus-related grant awards from the National Science Foundation for research into astronomy, biology and life sciences, marine science and physical and earth sciences. Another $12.6 million in stimulus grants from the Department of Health and Human Services is funding research into areas such as infectious diseases, child health development, mental health and cancer, among other things, according to the university.

These stimulus grants include:

• A $295,743 grant to map, collect and analyze glacial volcanic rocks in western Iceland.

• A $421,886 grant to build an evolutionary framework of Hawai'i moth species.

Combined, those two grants and the honeybee grant have so far created or saved less than two-full-time jobs.

UH's Ostrander says the research provides benefits other than just creating jobs.

Studying bee learning behavior could generate research helpful to humans while helping address problems created by the so called honeybee colony collapse disorder, which has resulted in significant losses of bee colonies on the Mainland, he said.

"Anything that we can learn about bees is potentially going to be useful as we try to come up with creative solutions to this crisis that's occurred across bee colonies across North America," he said.

Mark Anderson, a deputy director in the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism who tracks stimulus funding for the state, said spending on UH research helps promote the state's technology industry.

"Part of the promise of the stimulus is this investment in what they call science and technology," he said. "We need to invest more in research and development, and that's going to create new ideas that are going to be products that we can sell to the rest of the world and that will make us more competitive."

Whether such research projects are the best way to simulate the economy is a broader policy issue for congressional and administrative leaders at the federal level , Anderson said. Right now, the job of state and other local officials is to attract as much stimulus money as possible to Hawai'i, he said.

"One of our goals is to take advantage of (stimulus) funds coming into our state," Anderson said. "So if there's an opportunity for us to get funding from (the stimulus act), we're going to apply for it.

"You hope it's important research," Anderson added. "We do realize it's taxpayers' money."