Search for: All records

The Cyberinfrastructure Training and Capacity Building in Climate and Environmental Sciences (CI-TRACS) program represents a pioneering initiative aimed at enhancing cyberinfrastructure proficiency within Hawaii’s academic community. This paper outlines the program’s comprehensive strategy, which integrates curriculum development, hands-on workshops, and professional growth opportunities to cultivate a robust foundation in CI practices. The initiative’s core objective is to elevate CI literacy, promote cross-disciplinary cooperation, and endorse the principles of open science. Significant contributions from the CI-TRACS program include a suite of educational materials and resources tailored for integration into higher education syllabi. Collaboration with the Hawaii Data Science Institute has been instrumental in nurturing a burgeoning network of data science professionals. The CI-TRACS program is instrumental in realizing the shared vision of equipping Hawaii’s emerging workforce with the sophisticated CI skills necessary to navigate and excel in the evolving landscape of climate and environmental sciences. 

Supporting Pacific Indigenous Computing Excellence (SPICE) is based on unique expertise and proven models established through a partnership between the Texas Advanced Computing Center at the University of Texas at Austin, Chaminade University of Honolulu and Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). The SPICE program leverages shared partnership experiences to address two goals: 1) Perform original research and program development to bridge computation and culture -- developing culturally-consistent conceptual and practical frameworks for thinking about big data problems and communicating student outcomes and attainment to family, community and kupuna (Hawaiian wisdom figures); and 2) Implement an in situ Data Science, Analytics and Visualization (DSAV) Summer Immersion Experience (SIE) as a summer program in Hawai‘i to provide a month-long summer immersion program in data science, visualization, and virtual reality to Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) and disadvantaged students. In this paper, we present the framework for this effort, with relevant educational, and cultural research to justify decisions made to date. 

This paper reviews and critiques the literature on family engagement programmes in higher education, from the perspective of issues that may affect the design of programmes serving Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander students and their families. While there is compelling research suggesting that increasing students' family members' engagement with higher education will benefit students, it is unclear whether the concept of family engagement as it is conceived in western educational contexts can be universally and unproblematically applied in Pacific contexts. Recommendations for best practices in family engagement programme design highlight communication efforts with parents that can be characterised as fundraising and ‘friendraising’, but do not address issues specific to the experiences of under‐represented groups in higher education. Drawing on the literature and experiences of indigenous and other under‐represented students, and incorporating insights from literature on decolonising methodologies, we present considerations for authentic and culturally responsive family engagement for Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander students, families and communities.