REU HIIAKA: Regeneration and Resilience of Socioecological Island Ecosystems

This REU Site award (REU: Hiʻiaka) to the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo, located in Hilo, HI will support the training of 10 students for 11 weeks during the summers of 2025-2027. The program is intentionally structured to provide participants with the research experience, quantitative tools, communication skills, professionalism, and overall expertise needed by the researchers of tomorrow.

The program - as it has done since 2002 -- will provide students with a critical research and educational experience that enables them to apply the things they have learned in the extraordinary environmental settings available on the island. Through close partnership with federal, state, and nonprofit agencies and organizations in Hawaiʻi, the program will (1) ensure students are well-prepared for further study or work in conservation science; (2) strengthen the messaging and communication of science through learning about compelling narratives; and (3) enhance mentor training and skills needed to develop place-based research projects.

Students will learn how research is conducted, and many will present the results of their work at scientific conferences. Assessment of this program will be done through a modified version of the SALG questions used in previous years. Students interested in the program may apply online through our website (hilo.hawaii.edu/uhintern) and participants in the program will be tracked using NSF ETAP (Education and Training Application: https://etap.nsf.gov).

Research projects are grounded in the concept of island resilience, reflecting the story Hiʻiaka and Pele - where Pele (lava) destroys, and Hiʻiaka (regeneration, succession) has the power to bring new life. This parallels the student journey of learning, defeating obstacles, and developing their potential. Hawaiʻi has experienced environmental modification and degradation, and research projects that test possible solutions from uplands to coastlines will be conducted to assist in creating more resilient socioecological systems.

Student-researchers will participate in a week-long Orientation, professional development, Huaka‘i (field trips with a service component), weekly writing assignments, the Hawai‘i Conservation Conference as attendees and presenters, and the creation of an ArcGIS StoryMap for a final oral presentation.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.