Three University of Hawaiʻi Maui College undergraduate researchers traveled to Long Beach, California, in October to showcase innovative scientific investigations at the 2026 National Diversity in STEM Conference.
The event, put on by the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS), brought together an audience exceeding 1,600 participants. The students participated through Project Kaihuwaʻa II (PKII), an initiative supporting local undergraduate talent funded by a $2.6-million grant from the National Science Foundation and directed by Buddhi Rai, an associate professor of physics at UH Maui College.
Real-World Challenges Tackled by Maui Undergraduates
The student presentations spanned multiple scientific disciplines, addressing tangible challenges in public health, pest biology, and aerospace technology. To lower microbial contamination, biology major Lillian Burkhart tested various ways to clean hospital shoes by analyzing disinfectant wipes, bleach, sunlight exposure, and ultraviolet treatment.
Focusing on pest biology, biology major Jillian Diego applied polymerase chain reaction methods and DNA extraction to detect Wolbachia bacteria within German cockroaches gathered from various sites across Maui. Meanwhile, computer science and technology student Vivian Breman engineered a portable ground station capable of receiving weather satellite transmissions and generating overhead imagery of the Hawaiian Islands.
“All three of our students’ projects were very well received. I believe these unique research projects represent the talents and potential of the next generation of scientists on Maui,” Buddhi Rai said. “What all three of these students and more scholars like them share is a passion for learning, for exploring new areas of science, for a willingness to venture outside their comfort zones, and a dedication to solving real-world problems here on Maui.”
Broader Representation Across University of Hawaiʻi Campuses
Other UH student research projects showcased at the conference included work from Kapiʻolani Community College, the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, and Leeward Community College. Sophia Kihei of Kapiʻolani CC presented Graph Theory Analysis of Scientific Coauthorship involving Native Hawaiian Researchers in Hawaiʻi,
earning an Indigenous Student Research Abstract Award in the mathematics category.
Leilani Phan from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa presented KaniMoana: Development of a Low-Cost, Open-Source, Underwater Acoustic Recorder,
which received an Undergraduate Poster Presentation Award in engineering. Additionally, Andrea Colmenares of Leeward Community College showcased research on cloning and purification of Leptospira LigA and LigB virulence factors using synthetic DNA.
PKII supported roughly 60 scholarship recipients, including more than 10 peer mentors and research interns this semester. Accompanying the students at the conference were mentors Jung Park, Michelle Phillips, and Michelle Gould alongside PKII program supervisor Sean Calder, who assisted with student guidance and program evaluation. Kapiʻolani CC presented oli and makana to Marilú Chávez-Leyva during the event on behalf of Hawaiʻi and the UH campuses in recognition of her dedicated service to SACNAS.
