May 2016 - Hawaii Pulse

May 10, 2016May 10, 2016 Hawaii Star Wire

Dashboard to track Hawaii innovation launched

Hawaii’s progress in fostering and capitalizing on innovation can now be tracked on a new interactive dashboard launched today.

The “Hawaii Innovation Matters” dashboard was created through a partnership between UHERO and local coding bootcamp DevLeague, with support from the Hawaii Business Roundtable.

UHERO said that innovation is the key to economic growth and prosperity, accounting for roughy half of the increase observed in U.S. gross domestic product. As a result, “it is important to be able to track our progress over time and to see how Hawaii stacks up against other states and localities.”

Environment Science

May 5, 2016May 5, 2016 Hawaii Star Wire

Coalition, petitions call for expansion of marine national monument

The White House has sentÂ a delegation to Honolulu to meet with scientists, local fisherman, Native Hawaiians and the conservation community

Education Featured Science

May 5, 2016May 5, 2016 Hawaii Star Wire

UH leads $20 million study on water quality, policy

The National Science Foundation has awarded $20 million to the University of Hawaii to do a five-year, groundbreaking study of water sustainability issues through a collaboration called â€˜Ike Wai. UH officials say the project will provide critical data and data models to water resource stakeholders.

Increasing population, changing land use practices and issues relating to climate change are contributing to growing concerns over water quality and quantity in Hawaii.

“Water really is life,” said UH President David Lassner.

Featured Science Technology

May 2, 2016May 2, 2016 Hawaii Star Wire

CoralBeat Wins First NASA App Challenge in Hawaii

The threat that climate change and human activity poses to the world’s coral reefs was the focus of the winning entry in Hawaii’s first NASA Space Apps Challenge event.

CoralBeat won “Best Overall App” at the Honolulu competition, which was held at the Manoa Innovation Center from April 22-24. The diverse team included coders, scientists and science enthusiasts, and subject matter experts from NOAA and the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology.

CoralBeat is an app focused on coral bleaching in Hawaii, with an interactive map that displays years of NASA satellite data depicting sea surface temperatures observed over the entire globe. An animation in the app shows how the ocean has warmed during the most recent El NiÃ±o event.