Blood-based markers that could improve early, less invasive detection of inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) have been identified by researchers at the . The discovery offers a potential new blood test to diagnose the disease sooner, monitor its progression and support the development of more targeted treatments for patients facing this fast-moving form of cancer.

The study, published in , was conducted in collaboration with MD Anderson Cancer Center and the University of Texas at Austin.

IBC is a highly aggressive type of breast cancer that has historically been difficult to distinguish from other forms because it does not show clear genetic differences.

New sequencing approach reveals blood signals

The research team used a specialized sequencing technology to analyze RNA, or genetic instructions, found in blood samples. Led by Naoto Ueno, director at the ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Cancer Center, Savitri Krishnamurthy, professor of anatomic pathology at MD Anderson Cancer Center, and Alan Lambowitz, professor of oncology at the University of Texas at Austin, the team examined both tumor and blood samples to identify signals that may improve detection and monitoring of IBC.

Researchers said previous efforts to identify specific markers for IBC have been challenging because the disease closely resembles other cancers in standard tests. In this study, they used a sequencing method known as TGIRT, which is better at capturing complex and fragmented genetic material. The findings suggest that doctors may eventually be able to monitor the disease through simple blood tests rather than tissue biopsies. The markers could also help guide the development of new therapies tailored to this aggressive cancer.

Collaboration, persistence drive discovery

Ueno and associate researcher Xiaoping Wang of the ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Cancer Center initiated the collaboration that led to the discovery.

“The project began with simple curiosity and a lot of hard work,” said Ueno. “I first heard about this technology from a friend and was inspired by Dr. Lambowitz’s vision. At first, many people didn’t think we could find biological differences between this cancer and others just by looking at a blood sample.”

The project began with simple curiosity and a lot of hard work.
—Naoto Ueno.

Despite early skepticism from colleagues who questioned the project’s potential due to the rarity and aggressive nature of inflammatory breast cancer, Ueno and Wang continued their work. Their success underscores the importance of teamwork and persistence in advancing understanding of the disease and developing more effective treatments.

“Our discussions with Dr. Lambowitz’s team helped us better understand the findings and improve the experiments along the way,” Wang said. “Together with support from the clinical team at MD Anderson, these efforts ultimately led to the discovery of a promising blood biomarker that may help diagnose this aggressive and deadly disease.”

The research was funded by the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, The Welch Foundation, the UT MD Anderson Morgan Welch Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Program and Clinic, and the State of Texas Rare and Aggressive Breast Cancer Research Program.

Kona Low storms, rising oil prices and global conflict are creating new economic uncertainty for Hawaiʻi, according to a new forecast from the (¶«¾«Ó°ÒµERO). The pressures are expected to push Hawaiʻi inflation higher and weigh on visitor arrivals and spending.

The ¶«¾«Ó°ÒµERO second quarter forecast released May 15 indicates Hawaiʻi’s economy is slowing after what had been an improving outlook earlier this year. The war involving Iran has driven up global oil prices, increasing fuel and travel costs while weakening some of the international economies that help power Hawaiʻi tourism.

At the same time, Hawaiʻi is still recovering from damaging March Kona Low storms that caused flooding and infrastructure damage.

“Hawaiʻi’s economy is facing a new wave of uncertainty,” ¶«¾«Ó°ÒµERO economists wrote in the report.

Tourism entered 2026 with momentum before the storms caused a sharp drop in passenger counts. According to ¶«¾«Ó°ÒµERO, conditions have since weakened as jet fuel prices surged, driving up airfare and contributing to airline capacity cuts. Canadian arrivals continue to decline, while Japanese travelers face the weakest yen purchasing power in decades.

¶«¾«Ó°ÒµERO projects visitor arrivals will grow about 2% this year before slowing sharply in 2027.

The labor market is also showing signs of strain. Payroll growth has been mostly flat, and federal employment has dropped by more than 3,000 jobs throughout the past year. Construction and healthcare remain bright spots, supported by major projects including recovery and rebuilding efforts on Maui following the 2023 wildfires and the New Aloha Stadium Entertainment District.

Housing affordability also remains a challenge. Median single-family home prices have hovered near $1 million, while insurance premiums continue rising following the Maui wildfires and recent storms.

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¶«¾«Ó°ÒµERO is housed in ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Mānoa’s .

As climate change intensifies extreme weather and environmental conditions across the country, about 65% of U.S. adults are concerned that climate change will negatively affect their personal health, according to a new study published in .

The study, a collaboration between the University of Hawaiʻi at ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹ and the , analyzed responses from 6,888 adults who participated in the Health Information National Trends Survey.

The study’s co-authors include Alex Ortega, dean of the Thompson school, and Jim Stimpson, a professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center.

How Americans view climate risks

Researchers found that trust in science, political views and personal environmental experiences shape how people perceive the health risks of climate change.

“This study shows that concern about the health impacts of climate change is driven less by who people are and more by how they think and what they experience,” said Ortega. “Trust in science, political perspectives and lived experiences like extreme weather shape whether people recognize climate change as a health threat, which in turn influences public support for environmental and health policies.”

How we communicate about climate and health affects everyone.
—Jim Stimpson

Individuals who reported higher trust in science were more likely to express concern about climate-related health impacts than those with lower levels of trust.

Political views also influenced responses. Compared to respondents who identified as politically liberal, moderates and conservatives were less likely to report concern about climate change harming their health.

Personal environmental experiences further shaped perceptions. Respondents who experienced extreme weather in their neighborhoods were more likely to express concern. Similarly, those worried about outdoor air quality were more likely to perceive climate-related health risks.

The findings suggest public health messaging should focus on building trust in science, reaching people across political perspectives and connecting climate change to local conditions people can directly experience. Researchers said that approach could help public health agencies and policymakers keep communities informed and engaged as climate policies evolve.

“How we communicate about climate and health affects everyone,” said Stimpson. “When messages don’t build trust or feel personally relevant, people are less likely to recognize these risks or support policies that protect public health.”

For her research on fungi that can degrade plastic and sunscreen, Vera Wang, a senior at Kaiser High School, won in multiple categories at the for her research conducted in ’s lab at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Wang’s project earned 1st place Best in Category (Microbiology), 3rd place Best in Fair, a special award from the Friends of Hanauma Bay, a special award from Association for Women Geoscientist, and a scholarship award from the McInerny Foundation. She also qualified for the International Science & Engineering Fair, which will take place in May in Phoenix, Arizona.

“I am so grateful to have been given the opportunity to pursue my project in the Amend Lab,” said Wang, who worked closely with Kaylee Christensen, a graduate student in the Marine Biology Graduate Program. “My research would have never, ever, been possible without Anthony and Kaylee. This project has been part of a much longer journey, so having it recognized feels both surreal and deeply rewarding.”

“This work was made possible because of Vera’s vision, and it gives me such optimism about the future of science in Hawaiʻi,” said Amend, who is based in the at (SOEST). “Her success is a testament to our public school system which is doing a wonderful job supporting and training our next generation of students. I can’t wait to see what discoveries she makes in college!”

Coconuts, fungus vs. plastic, sunscreen

During her sophomore year, Wang designed and built an ocean filter that removed sunscreen and microplastics from the surface water that was inspired by traditional Polynesian weaving while incorporating modern environmental science. It was not only scientifically effective, but—made entirely from coconut byproducts—also environmentally responsible across its full life cycle. But Wang realized that removing the pollutants from water is only part of the problem. The next challenge she considered was how to dispose of them responsibly.

“I learned that the pore structure of coconut fiber supports the movement of air and water, which can create a favorable environment for microbes,” Wang said. “That led me to wonder whether coconut husk could do more than physically capture pollutants. So this year, my research at the Amend Lab began exploring the fungal communities living in coconut husks and studying their growth and degradation abilities on sunscreen and plastic media.”

They discovered that fungi found naturally on coconut husks can biodegrade (decompose) sunscreen and plastic and that a tannin compound can be used to identify sunscreen- and plastic-degrading fungi. Christensen shared that the tannins present in the fibers might be encouraging growth of these complex degraders. Additionally, their genetic testing showed that some of the fungal species did not have a match to anything in the world’s largest reference database of known genes and genomes, indicating that these may be previously uncharacterized species.

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The (¶«¾«Ó°ÒµERO) has released the Hawaiʻi Housing Factbook 2026, the fourth edition of its annual report offering detailed analysis of the state’s housing market. The report finds that Hawaiʻi’s housing crisis remains severe, despite modest improvements in affordability driven by flat home prices, rising incomes and lower mortgage rates in 2025. The Factbook also highlights growing risks from insurance costs, homeowners association fees, slow permitting, natural disasters and policy uncertainty.

“The data reflects our state’s deep housing crisis. Restoring affordability will require the production of more housing, and confronting the barriers that prevent homes from being built,” said lead author and ¶«¾«Ó°ÒµERO Associate Professor Justin Tyndall.

Key findings from this year’s Factbook include:

• Home prices have leveled off, but remain extremely high: The statewide median price of a single-family home was $950,000 in 2025. Median single-family prices rose 1% statewide, while condominium prices declined 2%. Existing-home values, measured by ¶«¾«Ó°ÒµERO’s Repeat Sales Index, were flat.
• Affordability improved for a second year, but homeownership remains out of reach for most households: Affording the median single-family home still requires more than 180% of the state median income, putting it within reach for only about one-in-five Hawaiʻi households. Condominium affordability improved more sharply, although rising HOA fees and insurance costs may offset some of those gains.
• Housing costs now include rising insurance and association-fee burdens: New Census data show that 42% of Hawaiʻi homeowners pay monthly HOA or AOAO fees, compared with 25% nationally. Hawaiʻi also had the second-highest median monthly HOA fee in the country at $470. In Honolulu, real estate listings from February 2026 showed a median advertised HOA/AOAO fee of $882. Insurance costs are also rising rapidly, with Hawaiʻi’s aggregate property insurance premiums paid in the state increasing 13% in 2024—well above the national average and the largest annual increase in over a decade.
• Permitting delays continue to constrain new housing supply: County permitting reforms have produced mixed results. Hawaiʻi County and Maui County recorded faster single-family permit processing times in 2025, while Kauaʻi’s delays worsened. In Honolulu, ¶«¾«Ó°ÒµERO was unable to obtain records after the launch of the city’s new permitting system, but permits issued in the first half of 2025 continued to show long processing times.
• Lahaina rebuilding is moving unevenly: Two and a half years after the 2023 Maui wildfires, Maui County reported 991 permits to rebuild permanent structures, with 634 issued. ¶«¾«Ó°ÒµERO’s analysis finds that single-family homeowners, including vacation-home owners, are receiving permits faster than owners of long-term rentals, apartments and businesses. About 57% of fire-damaged lots showed no permit activity to date.
• Policy changes are reshaping Maui’s condo market: Maui County’s Bill 9, which phases out roughly 7,000 short-term vacation rentals in apartment-zoned buildings, has already cooled the condo market. Maui condo prices in 2025 were down 11% from 2023, while prices for condos on the Minatoya list were down 16%.
• Extreme weather and flood-insurance changes add new housing-market risks: Severe Kona Low storms in March and April 2026 caused catastrophic flooding, landslides, evacuations and more than $1 billion in estimated damage. In June 2026, updated FEMA flood maps will add 3,700 net new parcels on Oʻahu to Special Flood Hazard Areas, raising costs and financing hurdles for 25% more property owners.
• Vacation rentals remain a major share of neighbor-island housing: Hawaiʻi had about 34,500 active advertised vacation rental properties in 2025, up from 33,600 in 2024. Vacation rentals account for 20% of all housing units on Kauaʻi and 15% in Maui County, compared with 2.5% in Honolulu.

The Factbook is based on a wide range of data sources and offers housing indicators at the state, county and zip code levels.

The .

¶«¾«Ó°ÒµERO is housed in ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Mānoa’s .

A University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa project focused on identifying early brain-based markers in infants exposed to methamphetamine before birth has been awarded a $50,000 grant from through the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The research represents a critical step toward improving how children at higher risk for adverse developmental outcomes are identified and supported early in life.

The project aims to identify neurodevelopmental biomarkers that can detect early neurobehavioral impairments associated with prenatal methamphetamine exposure. If successful, this work could lay the foundation for scalable screening tools and targeted intervention programs designed to improve outcomes for children across Hawaiʻi and beyond.

“This project is about providing families with answers sooner and equipping providers with better tools to deliver care,” said Katy Tarrit, assistant professor in the in the , principal investigator of the study, and director of the Hawaiʻi Developmental and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory. “The identification of objective neurodevelopmental biomarkers of risk in infancy enables a transition from reactive detection of developmental delays to early, targeted interventions that support optimal brain development during critical stages of neurodevelopment.”

Prenatal methamphetamine exposure has been linked to long-term cognitive, behavioral, motor, and developmental challenges. However, many children are not identified until these delays become more pronounced, often years later.

By identifying measurable early biomarkers of neurodevelopmental risk, the research team aims to establish a framework for early, targeted intervention—particularly in communities with limited access to specialized healthcare services.

More about Ola HAWAIʻI

Ola HAWAIʻI is a ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Research Center in Minority Institutions Specialized Center funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, part of the National Institutes of Health. Based at the , the center works to advance minority health and health disparities research in Hawaiʻi, focusing on communities that experience disproportionate disease burden and limited access to care. Supported through a five-year federal NIH award, Ola HAWAIʻI strengthens research capacity, mentors investigators and partners with communities to improve health outcomes statewide.

• Related ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ News story: Array of health threats to Native Hawaiians focus of $22.5M grant, September 21, 2022

The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa brought together cybersecurity experts, researchers and industry leaders on April 29 for the Indo-Pacific Cybersecurity Innovation Forum, a daylong event focused on strengthening digital security, critical infrastructure resilience and the responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI).

Held at Campus Center, the forum featured technical talks, policy discussions and workshops aimed at expanding regional cybersecurity capacity and building stronger public-private partnerships across the Indo-Pacific. Speakers included David Carroll of GDIT; Josiah Dykstra and Mengran Xue of RTX BBN; Robert Martin and Nick Tsamis of MITRE; as well as leaders from local fintech organizations and startups, highlighting the forum’s emphasis on cross-sector collaboration.

“¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Mānoa is positioning Hawaiʻi as a hub for Indo-Pacific cybersecurity by uniting academia, industry and government to address real-world threats and strengthen critical infrastructure resilience,” said ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Mānoa Professor Mehdi Tarrit Mirakhorli.

Threats, resilience

Speakers addressed emerging threats to critical infrastructure, supply chain security and the growing role of AI in both cyberattacks and defense systems. Sessions also examined how organizations can better anticipate and respond to evolving risks in complex digital environments.

¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Mānoa faculty and researchers joined national experts from government, industry and research institutions to discuss strategies for improving cybersecurity readiness. Topics included protecting transportation systems, securing software supply chains and improving detection of adversarial behavior in critical networks. The event also included a panel of chief information security officers from financial institutions and ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Mānoa, who discussed real-world challenges in protecting sensitive data and maintaining secure operations in fast-changing threat landscapes.

Afternoon sessions highlighted advances in cyber threat intelligence, secure cloud systems and resilience testing for critical infrastructure. Researchers also explored how human behavior, economics and system design influence cybersecurity outcomes.

Craig Opie, co-founder and CTO of Holocron Security, said, “As an island community, critical infrastructure resilience is personal. If power, water, communications or healthcare systems fail, our families and neighbors feel the impact immediately. We have to make the delivery of secure, compliant technology repeatable and built for real-world consequences. I’m proud to be part of events like the Indo-Pacific Cybersecurity Innovation Forum that help educate, empower and protect our community.”

The Department of Information and Computer Sciences is housed in ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Mānoa’s .

Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) children remain significantly overrepresented in the U.S. child welfare system. A study from the University of Hawaiʻi at ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹â€™s highlights how kinship care—placement with relatives—and culturally responsive placements can improve stability.

Published in , the study analyzed 2020 Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System data to examine placement stability and factors contributing to successful outcomes.

“Looking at kinship care specifically for Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander children is critical because their experiences are often hidden within aggregated data, which glosses over both disparities and strengths within these communities,” said Meripa Godinet, lead author of the study and associate dean of the Thompson School. “By focusing on NHPI children, we can better understand how cultural values, extended family networks, and community ties uniquely support stability in foster care, and ensure that child welfare policies reflect and strengthen these culturally grounded systems of care.”

Key findings

NHPI children placed in kinship care were nearly twice as likely to experience stable placements compared to those in other foster care settings. Those placed with NHPI foster parents were also 1.5 times more likely to have stable placements.

“Research indicates that when children are placed in kinship care they are more likely to have improved well-being outcomes, to maintain sibling relationships, and stay connected to their cultures,” said Francie Julien-Chinn, co-author of the study and associate professor in the .

The findings underscore the need for culturally responsive child welfare policies that strengthen kinship care and prioritize culturally matched placements to reduce disparities and improve stability for NHPI children.

Expanding Hawaiʻi’s Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit could help more parents stay in or reenter the workforce while partially offsetting its own cost through increased state tax revenue, according to a new report released May 1 by the (¶«¾«Ó°ÒµERO).

The report examines proposals before the state legislature to increase the maximum childcare tax credit from $2,500 to $5,000 per child, with two bills taking different approaches to how benefits phase out as household income rises.

Researchers find that Hawaiʻi’s high childcare costs are among the highest in the nation, and often discourage secondary earners, most often mothers, from returning to work. In 2024, center-based infant care averages more than $24,000 annually in Hawaiʻi.

The report explains that the policy’s offsetting effect occurs when a second parent enters the workforce, resulting in increased income tax revenue and additional general excise tax collections. In one mid-income household example, a second earner returning to work would generate $3,401 in state income tax revenue and $1,763 in additional GET revenue under the targeted credit proposal, resulting in a net fiscal gain of $2,663 for the state even after accounting for the $2,500 credit cost.

The report finds the strongest case for expanding the credit is among middle-income households, where childcare costs consume a large share of income, and the added tax credit is more likely to influence work decisions.

However, the report cautions that expanding the credit alone may not be sufficient if Hawaiʻi’s childcare supply cannot keep pace with demand. Without more childcare spaces, subsidies could simply drive up prices rather than improve access. The report also notes that for lower-income families, benefit cliffs—when earning slightly more income causes families to lose eligibility for public benefits such as SNAP or childcare assistance—could reduce the effectiveness of any tax credit expansion.

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¶«¾«Ó°ÒµERO is housed in ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Mānoa’s .

Hawaiʻi’s isolated and unique island ecosystem makes the state especially vulnerable to invasive species, which can cause major damage to the environment, agriculture and public health. That is why federal, state and private funders are turning to the University of Hawaiʻi for solutions.

¶«¾«Ó°Òµ researchers are currently leading 98 grant-funded projects totaling more than $33.5 million to combat invasive species. The work targets some of the state’s most urgent challenges, including rapid ʻōhiʻa death, invasive mosquitoes that spread avian malaria, destructive food crop plant pests, invasive ants and beetles, and non-native plants and animals that damage forests and watersheds. Together, the projects aim to protect drinking water sources, food production, cultural resources and native ecosystems and species found nowhere else in the world.

The funding includes 44 federal awards totaling $21,050,427 and 54 non-federal awards totaling $12,494,933. Projects are led by researchers at ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Mānoa and ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Hilo and involve partnerships with national and state agencies.

“These awards reflect the trust that agencies have in ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ to protect Hawaiʻi’s people, environment and economy,” said ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Interim Vice President for Research and Innovation Chad Walton. “You can see the damage coconut rhinoceros beetles leave behind, or how native birds are being wiped out by multiple invasive threats. Our ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ teams are conducting research to develop practical solutions that protect both our environment and our communities.”

Protecting birds, forests, farms, communities

Several large projects focus on protecting native forest birds by reducing populations of invasive mosquitoes that carry avian malaria. Others use satellite imagery and remote sensing (technology that gathers data from aircraft or space) to track forest health and detect invasive plants early, when they are easier and less expensive to control.

Researchers are also developing new molecular diagnostic tools—lab methods that use DNA to identify species—to quickly detect fruit flies, moths and plant pathogens that threaten local farms. Additional projects support fencing and removal efforts to keep invasive animals out of sensitive ecosystems, as well as testing new pest control tools that reduce reliance on traditional insecticides.

Some of the active invasive species projects:

• $5,343,414—Suppression of non-native mosquito populations in key forest bird habitats of East Maui (¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Mānoa)
• $2,562,586—Protect unique park ecosystems through exclusionary fencing (¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Mānoa)
• $2,250,000—Analysis of satellite imagery and meteorological data for forest health (¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Hilo)
• $1,393,541—Protecting endangered native birds on Kauaʻi from avian malaria (¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Mānoa)
• $1,361,016—Preventing coconut rhinoceros beetles from spreading in the Hawaiian Islands
• $789,777—Understanding how Phytophthora palmivora attacks plants to protect crops and ecosystems (¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Mānoa)
• $651,084—Using mosquito biology to suppress avian malaria and protect endangered honeycreepers on Kauaʻi (¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Mānoa)
• $600,580—Refine control and treatment methods for ecosystem-altering invasive plants at Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park (¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Mānoa)
• $200,000—Outreach, surveillance and treatment of little fire ant infestations (¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Mānoa)
• $34,500—Initial studies to control coffee berry borer (¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Mānoa)

For decades, scientists have worked to improve predictions of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), a climate powerhouse that can cause droughts, flooding, marine heatwaves and more around the world. Researchers from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa a study showing that they can skillfully predict El Niño and La Niña 15 months ahead of time using only observations of the ocean surface temperature and height—no complex climate model needed.

“We found that it can predict El Niño and La Niña surprisingly well, with useful skill up to about 15 months ahead,” said Yuxin Wang, lead author of the study and postdoctoral researcher with the in the ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Mānoa (SOEST). “Accurately predicting ENSO more than a year in advance is important because it can provide early warning, allowing communities, governments and resource managers to take actions and make adaptations to reduce the potential impacts from El Niño and La Niña.”

“Our simpler, data-driven empirical climate model, built only from ocean observations related to two core climate memories known for over 50 years, achieves ENSO forecast skill comparable to, and in some cases better than, many of today’s more complex climate models and leading AI-based approaches,” added Wang.

Building on past discoveries

Klaus Wyrtki, a pioneering oceanographer at SOEST in the 1960s through 1990s, was the first to show that sea level changes can reveal heat build-up in the tropical Pacific, which led him to propose using tide gauge observations to predict El Niño. Klaus Hasselmann, a German oceanographer and Nobel laureate, showed that the ocean can retain a memory of past climate conditions through large-scale temperature patterns, including sea surface temperature patterns outside the tropical Pacific that can still influence ENSO.

Building on these two principles, the SOEST team developed the “Wyrtki-CSLIM,” short for Wyrtki CycloStationary Linear Inverse Model, a computer model to predict ENSO.

Predicting future ENSO

The Wyrtki-CSLIM currently predicts the development of a strong El Niño, more than 2°C warmer than normal over the equatorial eastern Pacific, toward the end of this year. This up-to-date is available online at the ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Sea Level Center.

“Our Wyrtki model is predicting a stronger El Niño than most of the other statistical models, and it is in line with the much more sophisticated dynamical models,” said Matthew Widlansky, study co-author and associate director of the ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Sea Level Center. “However, it is important to note that all models have uncertainties, and the climate impacts of each El Niño event are different.”

This new research also offers a clear direction for other ENSO forecasting systems.

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Faculty from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (ICS) presented two peer-reviewed papers at the (ICSE 2026) and related events, April 12–18, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Mobile app accessibility

ICS Assistant Professor Anthony Peruma presented “” in the ICSE 2026 Research Track, co-authored with ICS master’s alumnus Amila Indika and Professor Rick Kazman from the .

The study examines how mobile app developers approach accessibility across platforms such as iOS and Android. Drawing on a mixed-methods survey of 110 mobile app developers across 43 countries, the research identifies how platform ecosystems, developer experience, organizational constraints and technical limitations shape accessibility practices.

The findings show that while developers recognize the importance of accessibility, accessibility-related testing is often performed late in the development process. The study also revealed meaningful differences in accessibility practices between iOS and Android platforms and across developer experience levels, offering actionable guidance for more inclusive app development.

Improving security for shared software packages

At the Cooperative and Human Aspects of Software Engineering conference, which was co-located with ICSE, ICS Assistant Professor Italo Santos presented the paper “.” The paper was co-authored by Peruma, ICS master’s student Truman Choy and ICS master’s alumnus Gerald Lee.

This research investigates how developers who maintain packages in the Node Package Manager (npm) ecosystem—a platform for sharing and managing JavaScript software packages—perceive and address security. Through a survey of 75 npm package developers, the study examines their security practices, the tools they use, barriers to implementing stronger security measures and recommendations for enhancing the security of the npm ecosystem.

The findings highlight concerns such as supply chain attacks, dependency vulnerabilities, malicious code, alert fatigue and false positives, while also identifying opportunities for better detection tools, clearer documentation, stronger account protections and expanded security education.

“Together, these two papers reflect ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Mānoa’s growing contributions to software engineering research, particularly in areas where technical systems intersect with people, organizations and society,” Peruma said. “Our work aims to understand the real-world challenges developers face and provide practical guidance for building software that is more accessible, secure and beneficial to the broader community.”

ICSE is widely recognized as the leading international venue for software engineering research, bringing together researchers, practitioners and educators from around the world to discuss advances, challenges and emerging trends in the field. Acceptance into the ICSE main research track is highly competitive, making the showing a notable achievement for ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Mānoa.

Oceanographers from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa discovered that microbial communities—from the sunlit surface to extreme depths—in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre exhibit robust seasonal cycles. provides new insight into how high levels of biodiversity are maintained in the open ocean.

“A long-standing question in biological oceanography, which we refer to as the ‘paradox of the plankton,’ asks: How can open ocean species diversity be so vast and sustained, in a seemingly homogeneous environment like the open ocean?,” said Fuyan Li, lead author of the study and affiliate researcher in the in the ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Mānoa .

The blue, deep waters of the Pacific Ocean have extremely low nutrient concentrations compared to coastal areas that teem with visible life, such as kelp forests off California or coral reefs in Hawaiʻi.

“Theoretical ecology suggests that one way co-occurring species diversity can be maintained, is if shared resources, such as nutrients, are used at different times of year, thereby minimizing competition,” Li said. “Though seasonal cycles are a fundamental property of many diverse ecosystems, seasonality in the tropics is less pronounced than in temperate or polar ocean habitats.” This work was funded by the Simons Foundation project called the SCOPE.

Tracking microbes through DNA

To determine whether microbial communities at Station ALOHA, a tropical, open ocean research station 60 miles north of Oʻahu, have seasonal cycles, Li and colleagues analyzed microbial DNA in samples collected monthly over eight years, leveraging the Hawaiʻi Ocean Time-series (HOT) program. The combination of frequent sampling over a long time period, and high-resolution species identification, allowed the researchers to make these new and unprecedented open ocean observations.

They found that more than 60% of the microbial groups they tracked exhibited seasonal cycling. While these seasonal cycles diminished at depths below 150 meters, surprisingly, they remained measurable in some deep-sea microbial species at depths of nearly two and a half miles.

“Notably, very closely related species or subspecies ‘bloomed’ at different times of the year, similar to seasonal patterns observed in some terrestrial plants and animals,” Li said. “Taking turns with respect to nutrient use throughout the year seems to be a key ecological strategy for microbial communities to maintain their diversity.”

By sustaining their populations throughout the year, microbial communities consistently supply organic matter and energy to organisms higher in the food web, for example larval fish. In this way, microbes ensure the stability of the marine food web and productivity in waters across the Pacific Ocean.

The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa has received nearly $1 million in new federal funding—including a National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award—for research led by Assistant Professor Tianlu Wang to develop tiny, flexible robots designed to work in hard-to-reach environments, from coral reefs to the human body.

The funding includes a five-year, $659,613 CAREER award and a two-year, $299,997 Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) Research Fellows grant, both from NSF.

“By focusing on both performance and safety, we’re working to make miniature robots practical for real-world use in places that are difficult to reach,” said Wang from ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Mānoa’s . “This research brings us closer to technologies that can better support healthcare and protect sensitive environments.”

The CAREER project focuses on improving how small “soft” robots move and function in fluids such as the ocean or inside the body. These robots, about the size of a few millimeters to centimeters, can adapt to their surroundings. However, they currently lack the speed, agility and manipulation capabilities as seen in small marine organisms. The research aims to change that by developing new ways for the robots to interact with fluids, helping them move faster, turn more easily and handle objects. Potential uses include exploring coral reefs and mangroves, monitoring aquaculture systems and reaching difficult areas of the body for medical diagnosis or treatment. The project also supports student learning through new courses, research opportunities and public outreach.

The CAREER program is the NSF’s flagship award for early-career faculty in the U.S., supporting those who show strong potential to lead in both research and education. CAREER awardees are also eligible for nomination to the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers, a White House honor recognizing innovative research and leadership.

Safety and environmentally friendly design

The EPSCoR fellowship focuses on safety and environmentally friendly design. In collaboration with the Mayo Clinic in Arizona, the project will develop miniature soft robots made from materials that are safer for natural environments and medical use. It will also establish methods for designing and testing these robots to ensure they can operate effectively without causing harm. The work is expected to expand research opportunities at ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ, while training students in robotics, materials science and biomedical engineering.

Wang also serves as an adjunct assistant professor at The Queen’s Medical Center and a cooperating faculty in ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Mānoa’s .

Related ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ News stories:

• Heart tech, mini medical robot breakthrough: ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ researcher earns $230K award, April 8, 2026
• Bio-inspired breakthroughs: Engineering solutions from nature, August 26, 2025
• Team of microscopic soft robots could transform medical care, November 10, 2024
• Robot tech to clean oceans wows international summit, February 6, 2024

The University of Hawaiʻi has launched a new office that will serve as a central hub for grant support, research development and funding opportunities to help boost scientific discovery, increase research capacity and stimulate workforce development in the state.

Backed by the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Institutional Development Award (IDeA) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the was created to help faculty and students from higher education institutions located in the Hawaiʻi EPSCoR/IDeA jurisdiction (encompassing the state of Hawaiʻi) to expand their research efforts, while enhancing the impact and visibility of Hawaiʻi-based research across the nation.

“The launch of this office is an important step in strengthening our state’s research capacity and expanding support for faculty and students,” ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ President Wendy Hensel said. “By building stronger partnerships and increasing access to federal funding, we can accelerate discovery, grow Hawaiʻi’s research workforce and deliver meaningful impact for our communities.”

The EPSCoR program is a federal initiative designed to strengthen research capacity and competitiveness across states, territories and jurisdictions that historically have received a smaller share of federal research funding. In 2016, NSF awarded ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ a five-year $20 million grant for its ʻIke Wai (knowledge of fresh water) project to conduct geophysical research to better understand the dynamics of freshwater aquifers around the state. In addition to providing updated information on water flows and capacities, the study helped to more accurately map the contaminant flow from subsequent leaks into the aquifer that contributed to the eventual shutdown of the U.S. Navy’s Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility on Oʻahu in 2022. Currently, ¶«¾«Ó°Òµâ€™s Change Hawaiʻi project leverages AI, machine learning and high-resolution data to advance climate resilience and ecosystem monitoring across the islands.

Similarly, the IDeA program works to broaden the geographic distribution of biomedical research funding in states and territories that have historically received lower levels of NIH research funding. In Hawaiʻi, IDeA enriches ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ programs such as ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Mānoa’s Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) and its Diabetic Research Center; the Hawaiʻi IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE), which helps to fortify research programs statewide to increase the number of undergraduate students seeking a biomedical science career; and the Center for Pacific Innovations, Knowledge, and Opportunities (PIKO) that aid medically underserved populations in Hawaiʻi by improving clinical and translational research infrastructure.

“The launch of the Hawaiʻi EPSCoR/IDeA Office represents an important step forward in strengthening our state’s innovation ecosystem,” said Amy Asselbaye, executive director of City and County of Honolulu’s Office of Economic Revitalization. “As a member of the Hawaiʻi EPSCoR Jurisdictional Steering Committee (JSC), I’m excited to play a role in aligning research priorities and translating federal investment into meaningful, community-centered outcomes. By advancing collaboration and increasing local research, we can support scientific discovery while creating pathways for economic diversification, workforce development, long-term resilience for Hawaiʻi, and a better quality of life for our people.”

The ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation oversees and provides administrative support for Hawaiʻi EPSCoR/IDeA initiatives. The Hawaiʻi EPSCoR/IDeA Office is currently working with JSC—a strategic advisory body comprised of members from local government, business, higher education, health, and community based organizations—on a new Hawaiʻi Science and Technology Plan (S&T Plan). The S&T Plan will serve as a five-year strategic road map to enhance the state’s research competitiveness, economic resilience and workforce through science, technology and data-driven innovation, by building on Hawaiʻi’s unique geographical, cultural and ecological strengths.

“The role of the Hawaiʻi EPSCoR/IDeA Office is to serve as quarterback for a team of outstanding faculty and students from higher education institutions in Hawaiʻi to help secure critical funding and infrastructure for their critical research that impacts not only our state, but the world,” said ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Interim Vice President for Research and Innovation Chad Walton. “Armed with a new S&T Plan that reflects the state’s research priorities, it is our goal to foster more public-private-academic collaboration to further strengthen our state’s research capacity and ultimately—our economy.”

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa researchers revealed that Waikīkī is facing a fundamental shift in flood hazards as sea levels rise—transitioning from a flooding that is driven primarily by rainfall to events increasingly dominated by tidal processes. The team identified two key pathways that will become more significant with sea-level rise, both of which will increase public exposure to sewage-contaminated waters. The study was published in .

“Our findings make clear that current flood management strategies for Waikīkī are incomplete,” said Kayla Yamamoto, climate modeling analyst at the in the ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Mānoa (SOEST). “Most planning focuses on surface damage and economic loss from storms, but largely ignores the contamination dimension. Our results show that contaminated flooding will become more frequent, more extensive, and eventually a daily occurrence rather than a storm-driven one. There are currently no effective management strategies in place to address this.”

Simulating future scenarios

The team used an open-source, physics-based flood model to simulate how multiple flood sources interact in Waikīkī. The team used an advanced flood model that, unlike previous models, integrates all sources of flooding—rain, tides, underground water behavior, and storm drains—to provide a single, complete view of the hazard

“What we found is that during extreme rainfall like we’ve been experiencing, high tides and elevated water levels in the Ala Wai can combine to create conditions where contaminated water flows back into low-lying streets and sidewalks,” said Shellie Habel, study co-author and coastal geologist with the Coastal Research Collaborative and . “As sea level rises, it will take less extreme rainfall and tides to cause similar flooding in the future.”

The two key pathways they identified were: storm drain backflow, where polluted water from the Ala Wai Canal is forced into streets and public spaces in Waikīkī through drainage systems, and groundwater emergence, which brings sewage and other contaminants from aging and leaking sewage infrastructure to the surface.

The model simulations show that storm drain backflow is projected to occur even when there is no rainfall:

• 1 foot of sea-level rise: Storm drain backflow occurs during extreme tides, even without rain.
• 2 feet of sea-level rise: Storm drain backflow occurs during moderate daily tidal conditions.
• 4 feet of sea-level rise: Groundwater emergence (bringing sewage to the surface) begins to occur without rain.

Researchers compared their model simulations against tide gauges, canal water level sensors, groundwater monitoring wells, and photographs of street-level flooding during three real recent storm events, including a major 50-year Kona storm in December 2021, a moderate storm in April 2023, and a five-year Kona storm in May 2024.

Implications for Waikīkī, beyond

The Ala Wai Canal is one of the most polluted waterways in Hawaiʻi, containing sewage, heavy metals and pathogens such as Vibrio and MRSA. Exposure to these waters is a documented risk, with MRSA infections linked to Hawaiʻi waters already contributing to an estimated 200 deaths per year in the state. Because Waikīkī is a primary economic engine where residents and visitors are in constant contact with coastal waters, the anticipated flooding represents a growing public health and environmental crisis.

Many coastal cities around the world rely on estuarine waterways to drain their stormwater, and face the same combination of aging infrastructure, rising seas and contaminated waters.

“Our modeling framework is transferable, and we hope this study serves as a wake-up call to modernize stormwater and wastewater infrastructure, integrate contamination risk into coastal flood planning, and build early warning systems before these thresholds are crossed,” Yamamoto said.

Astronomers at the University of Hawaiʻi have precisely measured the age of a nearby Sun-like star and its unusual companion, known as a brown dwarf, an object that falls between a planet and a star. The discovery offers new clues into how brown dwarfs grow and change over time.

Using the on Maunakea, the team from the ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ (IfA) studied the HR 7672 system, composed of a Sun-like star and a faint brown dwarf companion. With an instrument called the Keck Planet Finder, they tracked tiny five-minute pulsationss in the star’s light and used them to estimate its age to be about 2.3 billion years. The study has been recently published in .

Because the brown dwarf formed at the same time as the star, the star’s age also reveals the companion’s age, giving researchers a rare chance to check if their models of how brown dwarfs cool throughout time are correct.

“This is like finally having a reliable clock for an object we’ve been trying to understand for years,” said IfA Parrent Fellow Yaguang Li, who led the study. “It really helps us place evolutionary models under stringent tests and determine which physical ingredients are correct.”

Shaping discovery

For more than two decades, the HR 7672 system has helped shape how astronomers study brown dwarfs. Its companion, HR 7672B, was discovered in 2002 and was one of the first brown dwarfs ever directly imaged around a Sun-like star using adaptive optics (AO), a technology that sharpens images blurred by Earth’s atmosphere. Those early observations helped reveal how rare brown dwarfs are around Sun-like stars at close orbital distances.

Brown dwarfs do not sustain the same energy-producing reactions as stars. Instead, they slowly cool and fade over time. But testing how that happens has been difficult, in part because scientists rarely know their exact ages.

With this new measurement, paired with what is already known about the object’s energy output and mass, HR 7672B now stands out as a key reference point. The team compared their findings with several models and found the closest match with newer theories that better describe what’s happening inside these objects.

Full circle

The work highlights the long impact of the at IfA. More than 20 years ago, then-fellow Michael Liu discovered HR 7672B using Keck AO. Today, Li, the current Parrent Fellow, is building on that work with this new high-precision age-dating of the same system.

“HR 7672B was one of the first discoveries I made as a Parrent Fellow when I came to ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ,” said Liu, IfA faculty member and co-author of the study. “It’s exciting to see new work from another Parrent Fellow make this object even more valuable for understanding how brown dwarfs evolve.”

An invasive algae already well-established in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands is raising concern among researchers as it threatens to spread into the main Hawaiian Islands. Scientists from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) have identified a potential ally in slowing its advance: sea turtles.

Hawaiian green sea turtles (honu) have been documented for the first time actively grazing on Chondria tumulosa, an aggressive invasive red alga that has spread rapidly across reefs among three of the northernmost atolls in Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (PMNM).

The findings, recently published in the journal by researchers, suggest that honu may play a meaningful role in controlling this ecologically damaging species—while also potentially spreading it.

“After these exciting finds, our multi-partner effort to prevent this seaweed from taking hold in the Main Hawaiian Islands must include a plan to increase numbers of threatened, native green sea turtles, as well as ramping up efforts to identify all routes that could allow Chondria to spread to Oʻahu,” said Celia Smith, ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Mānoa‘s professor and senior author of the study.

Dangers of C. tumulosa

First detected at Manawai (Pearl and Hermes Atoll) in 2016, C. tumulosa has since expanded to more than 101 square kilometers of reef habitat (nearly the size of Kahoʻolawe), including Kuaihelani (Midway Atoll) in 2021 and Hōlanikū (Kure Atoll) in 2022. The alga forms dense mats more than 6 centimeters thick that can smother live coral and displace native reef species, making it one of the most pressing threats to the monument’s reef ecosystems.

Turtles take a bite

Using a stationary GoPro camera deployed on a reef at Midway Atoll in June and July 2025, the research team captured approximately 50 minutes of footage showing three honu grazing on C. tumulosa mats. One female took up to 18 bites in a 95-second burst, leaving disruptions 5–15 cm in diameter across the algal canopy—substantially larger than what urchins or fish could achieve. A complementary necropsy of a stranded adult female confirmed C. tumulosa fragments throughout her digestive tract, accounting for roughly 25% of the material in her esophagus and crop.

“These turtles are consuming a meaningful amount of this alga in a single foraging session,” said Tammy Summers, USFWS staff biologist and co-author of the study. “It’s exciting because it points to honu as a native megaherbivore with the potential to suppress C. tumulosa biomass—but it also raises important questions about whether fragments excreted during their migrations between atolls could accelerate the alga’s spread.”

The findings carry immediate management implications. Because 96% of Hawaiian green sea turtles nesting occurs at Lalo (French Frigate Shoals) before individuals disperse to foraging grounds across the archipelago, the authors recommend eDNA monitoring at Lalo to track potential spread of C. tumulosa beyond its known range.

The study was a collaboration between ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Mānoa‘s School of Life Sciences and USFWS Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, and was funded by USFWS Invasive Species Strike Team funds through a cooperative agreement with ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Mānoa. Smith leads the Limu Lab at ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Mānoa, where research on C. tumulosa physiology, distribution and ecology has been ongoing for several years. Other authors on the paper are Caroline Pott from USFWS and Angela Richards Donà from the School of Life Sciences.

This work was accomplished under permit numbers PMNM-2025-001, USFWS 274 Recovery Permit TE72088A-3, Recovery Sub-permit TE163899-2, NOAA Permit 21260, and 275 State of Hawaiʻi, Department of Land and Natural Resources Special Activity Permit 2026-01.

The School of Life Sciences is housed in ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Mānoa‘s .

Related ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ News stories on ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Mānoa research on C. tumulosa:

• Nuisance alga detected beyond Papahānaumokuākea for the 1st time, December 16, 2024
• Early detection system for nuisance alga infesting Papahānaumokuākea reefs, September 25, 2022
• Algae species discovered infesting NW waters has been identified, July 7, 2020

Astronomers using the have taken a major step in understanding the distant planet Uranus. By combining data from Keck Observatory with the Hubble Space Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope, researchers created the first complete picture of how light reflects off Uranus’s faint outer rings.

The results reveal two very different stories. One ring appears to be made of tiny grains of water ice, likely chipped off a small moon. The other is darker and rocky, mixed with carbon-rich material. Together, they show how collisions and impacts continue to shape the planet’s ring system.

The findings offer new clues about how planets and their moons form and change throughout time.

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The University of Hawaiʻi has been designated as a new Pacific Reef Research Coordination Institute (Pacific RRCI) by the (NOAA) to support coral reef conservation in the Pacific through research, collaboration and public education.

The Pacific RRCI will be housed in ¶«¾«Ó°Òµâ€™s , under the aegis of the , and will perform the following critical functions: conduct federally directed research to fill national and regional gaps; collaborate with relevant states and territories, Indigenous groups, coral reef managers, non-governmental organizations, and other coral reef research centers; assist in the implementation of the NOAA’s National Coral Reef Resilience Strategy and coral reef action plans; build non-federal capacity for management and restoration practices; and conduct public education and awareness programs.

“This new institute combines ¶«¾«Ó°Òµâ€™s strengths in cutting-edge, ocean-related research and our collaborative, place-based approach to working with resource managers throughout Hawaiʻi and the Pacific to protect our vital coral reefs,” said Chad B. Walton, ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ interim vice president for research and innovation. “At the same time, it provides us with further opportunities to develop our region’s next generation of researchers and managers in the field of conservation futures.”

To restore and preserve coral reef ecosystems in the U.S. from natural and human-related effects, the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000 was reauthorized and modernized by the Restoring Resilient Reefs Act of 2021, which was included in the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act that became law in 2022. The reauthorized law required the designation of two RRCIs, one each in the Atlantic and Pacific basins, was required. The RRCIs were chosen from 32 preselected coral reef research centers and were designated based on the results of technical merit and panel reviews. The Restoring Resilient Reefs Act of 2021 was introduced and sponsored by Hawaiʻi Senators Brian Schatz and Mazie K. Hirono, and Congressman Ed Case.

The ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ-led institute will be guided by experienced reef researchers from ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Mānoa’s Kewalo Marine Laboratory and the Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology, ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ Hilo’s Marine Sciences program, and the University of Guam’s Marine Laboratory. It will support research, monitoring, capacity building and outreach for coral reef management throughout the U.S states and territories of American Samoa, Guam, Hawaiʻi, and the Northern Marianas Islands and with the Freely Associated States of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of Palau and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

“Many people worked many years to make this vision for collaborative reef research across the Pacific a reality,” said Suzanne Case, director of the Office of Land and Ocean Conservation Futures. “We’re excited to jump in with scientists and communities and agencies across the region to take it forward.”