Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 20, Number 8, 1 ʻAukake 2003 — Pacific Allianee partnership helps Native Hawaiian and Pacific Island college students succeed in science, engineering careers [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Pacific Allianee partnership helps Native Hawaiian and Pacific Island college students succeed in science, engineering careers

By Sterling Kini Wong The University of Hawai'i College of Engineering, Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies and Siemens Building Technologies ine. entered into a three-year $318,500 partnership whieh will provide funding for programs that support Native Hawaiian and Pacific Island engineering and science students. "Native people are underrepresented at UH in science and engineering," said Josh Ka'akua, the program coordinator of the Native Hawaiian Engineering Mentoring Program (NHEMP). "This partnership will provide them with many opportunities." The partnership represents one segment of the largest educational investment in Siemens' 156-year history; a three-year $1,006,200 investment in the Pacific Allianee, a four-school National Science Foundation funded program. "Our goal is to bridge the gap between school and career," and to nurture indigenous and minority students, said Troy Behrens, Siemens' academic relations manager. The partnership, whieh was established on May 28, will allocate funds for scholarships; student engineering projects and competitions; travel funds for students to

attend conferences and seminars; funding to develop and equip a meehanieal engineering lab; and career simulator courses. Also included are monies for internships, exchanges, faculty externships and workshops and Siemens corporate tours in Chicago Siemens is a meehanieal and eleetrical control systems company based in Europe. Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies Director Lilikalā Kame'eleihiwa said the center will contribute to the partnership through the recruitment and retention of Native Hawaiian students

for the Pacific Allianee Program. The Pacific Allianee seeks to increase the number of Alaska Natives, Native Indians and Pacific Rim Islanders in the professional fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics by supporting students in these fields through recruitment, retention and outreach. To achieve this goal the Pacific Allianee, made up of UH, University of Washington, University of Alaska Anchorage and the University of Alaska Fairbanks, effectuates partnerships between government agencies, academic

institutions and private organizations to garner funding to support the education of native students. Ka'akua said that many native students are interested in science and engineering but are apprehensive about entering programs where they will be a minority. Ka'akua said the NHEMP, whieh just finished its first school year, offers students scholarships, internships, peer-tutoring sessions and co-enrollment of classes with other program members. "Our goal is to create a comfortable and easy learning environment for Native Hawaiians to succeed," Ka'akua said. NHEMP's trip to Kaho'olawe is an example of the program improving the learning environment, Ka'akua said. The program's study sessions were quiet and reserved at the beginning of the year, but the students bonded as a group while on Kaho'olawe studying environmental eleanup and ordinance removal. "When we eame back, our study sessions were fun," Ka'akua said. According to the National Science Foundation, the national retention rate of Native Americans in engineering programs is 27 percent. The NHEMP's retention rate was 100 percent, retaining all 15 freshmen. ■

Ho'ona'ai iao

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Pacific Allianee trainee Kalani Castro (middle) works on a project with fellow University of Hawai'i at Mōnoa engineering students.