2022 RCUH Outstanding Employees of the Year

Tuesday, November 1, 2022


On October 27, 2022, a gathering of nearly 100 celebrated the accomplishments of 16 exemplary RCUH employees at the newly renovated University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Campus Center Ballroom.

A selection committee comprised of Ken Hayashida, Marie Kumabe, and Clyde Shiigi selected the awardees based on the nominees’:

  • Initiative, leadership, and resourcefulness in carrying out their achievements,
  • Impact of their achievements on the project, professional field, and/or larger community, and
  • Other variables such as the significance or quality of their achievements.

RCUH proudly announces this year’s awardees:

TEAM CATEGORY

First Place: Telecommunications and Social Informatics (TASI), UH Social Science Research Institute
Ginger Porter, Umerang Imetengel, and Alyssa Shimizu

Second Place: Cyberinfrastructure, UH Information Technology Services
Michelle Choe, Sean Cleveland, Maria Dumanlang, Jennifer Geis, and Jared McLean

Honorable Mention: Shepherd Research Lab, UH Cancer Center
Nisa Kelly and En Liu

PROJECT SUPPORT STAFF CATEGORY

First Place: Kelsey McBeain, Department of Oceanography, UH School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology

Second Place: Naomi Moran, Subaru Telescope, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan

Honorable Mention: Joanna Norton, Cassava Improvement Project, UH College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources

RESEARCHER/PROJECT MANAGER CATEGORY

First Place: Cris Milne, Hawaiʻi Center for AIDS, UH John A. Burns School of Medicine

Second Place: Hank Oppenheimer, Plant Extinction and Prevention Program, Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit, UH College of Natural Sciences

Honorable Mention: Jesse Abdul, Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research, UH School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology

Each individual received a certificate and cash award. Additionally, first-place awardees received $1000 (shared equally by team members), while second-place awardees received $500 (shared equally by team members).

We wish to acknowledge and thank the following principal investigators who submitted nominations: Dominic Chow, Kyle Edwards, Jeffrey Hare & Douglas Luther, Christina Higa & Norman H. Okamura, Shaya Honarvar,  Gwen Jacobs, Satoshi Miyazaki, John Shepherd, and Sharon Wages. Congratulations to all!