Air Force Collaboration Program assists in transformation of Hawaiian educational institution

  • Published
  • By Jeremy Gratsch
  • Air Force Research Laboratory Materials and Manufacturing Directorate
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Oh. --  In 2008, the Air Force Research Laboratory Research Collaboration Program recognized Chaminade University's potential for excellence in science education and research.

At the time, AFRL offered an opportunity for collaboration on wireless sensor network research to Chaminade's only actively funded research faculty member in the sciences.

Fast-forward to 2013; extramural funding from federal and foundation grants supports the recruitment and activities of nine new research faculty hired from R1 research universities, all of whom have federal and/or foundation funding for their science.

Chaminade University, a federally designated Native Hawaiian-serving institution offering undergraduate and master's level degrees, looks down over bustling Waikiki on the island of Oahu. Chaminade serves students from the U.S. mainland, the Hawaiian Islands, Polynesia, Micronesia, and beyond.

The university is emerging from a decade-long transformation -- physically, intellectually and culturally, into a thriving Pacific-centered academic organization with a national reputation for science education and research.

Through the AFRL RCP, science and engineering students, post-doctoral fellows and academic faculty members, along with industrial members across the United States work to address critical research issues within the Air Force Research Laboratory and help build the future work force.

More than 30 percent of the science faculty at Chaminade operate active research programs, and the faculty has shifted to 100 percent of full-time faculty in science major disciplines being Ph.D. qualified. Further, Chaminade's annual portfolio of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) research grants has grown from $85,000 in 2007 to $1.8 million in 2013. A further $2.5 million is currently out for review.

Since 2007 the university has secured approximately $6.8 million in research grants and contracts for STEM. Using U.S. Department of Education Title III monies, Chaminade acquired $2.5 million of advanced instrumentation, complementing the $16.5 million put into renovating science and associated lab spaces.

These changes created a climate for authentic student-faculty research and the implementation of a contemporary research and inquiry-based science curriculum.

Unprecedented numbers of science majors present themselves as freshmen, attracted by the combination of curriculum, faculty and facilities, and the small college experience.

An undergraduate research program offers internships both on- and off-campus, including those with the AFRL Materials and Manufacturing Directorate at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, which began mentoring students during the summer of 2013.

Asheley Blackford, program manager for AFRL RCP, says there are many added benefits for university students.

"Students are exposed to the exciting work being done by the Air Force as well as experiencing first-hand the advantages of a career in the science and engineering disciplines," she added.

Student scholars from the AFRL RCP include Rylan Chong, now a Ph.D. candidate and Sloan Scholar at Purdue in Computer Sciences, and Kara Kahue, who completed a 2013 summer researcher position at AFRL and hopes to continue graduate work there.

RCP funding continues to be transformational, supporting since 2012 a cutting-edge project on the interaction between carbon nanotubes (CNT) and cells of the immune system under the direction of Dr. Helen Turner and her team of post-docs, Ph.D. students, and undergraduates.

Looking forward, Chaminade will continue work on CNTs in addition to new faculty projects in microbe-assisted corrosion and the identification of biologically-inspired sensing for viral particle recognition.