Hawai‘i EPSCoR

05/14/2026

🎓 Science & ʻIke in Action: Meet Tori Kiliʻohu Cashman Valdez

What happens when you combine Indigenous values with cutting-edge AI? You get the groundbreaking work of Tori Kiliʻohu Cashman Valdez. 🌿💻

As she prepares to graduate from UH Hilo this Spring 2026 with a double major in Environmental Science and Hawaiian Studies, Tori is already making waves as a student leader with Change HI.

Project Spotlight: I Ola Nā Niu o Nēia ʻĀina 🥥🪲
Tori has been at the forefront of the fight against the Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle (CRB) in Waikoloa. Her work with Dr. Ryan Perroy at the Spatial Data Analysis and Visualization Lab isn't just academic—it’s immediate protection for our palm trees.

The Highlights:

AI-Powered Detection: Tori utilized the Python Deepforest Package, training AI models to identify specific "V-shaped" damage in palm trees from aerial imagery.

Rapid Response: Under her leadership, the team shared suspect GPS points with the Big Island Invasive Species Committee (BIISC) in just over 24 hours, allowing for real-time public notification.

Scientific Achievement: Her research findings were a highlight of the 2025 Hawaiʻi Conservation Conference.

A Bridge Between Worlds: Whether analyzing LiDAR data or studying ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, Tori lives the "ʻāina-first" perspective, proving that you can’t care for the land without understanding the culture and history behind it.

What’s Next? Tori isn’t slowing down. She’s moving straight into a Master’s program in Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science, where she’ll continue using advanced tech like LiDAR to protect cultural sites from climate change.

"We intimately see the connection between the condition of our ʻāina and its impact on our livelihoods."

Congratulations on an incredible undergraduate career, Tori! The future of conservation in Hawaiʻi is in great

Read More ➡️ https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2026/05/12/uh-hilo-valdez-2026/

03/30/2026

Historic 14-day Rainfall Across Hawaiʻi

Two weeks, two Kona storms, and a record-breaking amount of water. Since March 10, back-to-back storms have officially made this the 3rd wettest March since 1920.

Historic Totals: Across the islands, we’ve seen up to 77 inches of rain in just 14 days.
Statewide Impact: Rainfall has reached as high as 3000% of the normal amount for this time of year (see figure).
Hardest Hit: The second storm (March 19-23) dumped up to 61 inches, triggering devastating floods on Oʻahu’s North Shore and throughout Maui County.
Mānoa Flash Floods: On March 23, intense bursts of 8 inches fell on already saturated ground, causing rapid flooding in the valley.
Preliminary estimates show that an average of 20.4 inches of rain fell across the major islands during this two-week period. That implies over 2.3 trillion gallons of water poured onto the islands—the equivalent of almost 3.5 million Olympic-size swimming pools

Data & map provided by the Hawaiʻi Climate Data Portal

Read More ➡️: https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2026/03/19/hawaii-mesonet-storm-data/

March 10 to March 16, 2026 Storm Viewer: https://www.hawaii.edu/climate-data-portal/extreme-event/

02/20/2026

2025: Hawaiʻi’s Second Driest Year in Over a Century 📉☀️

The data is in, and it’s a wake-up call for our islands. According to the Hawaiʻi Climate Data Portal’s first annual report, 2025 was the second driest year for Hawaiʻi in over 100 years.

Key Takeaways:

🏜️ Roughly half the state experienced drought conditions.

🌡️ Average temperatures were up to a degree higher than normal.

📊 4 out of the 5 driest years on record have occurred in just the last decade.

Thanks to the new Hawaiʻi Mesonet—a network of 100 climate stations—local researchers now have high-quality data in places where it never existed before. As federal data sources become less reliable, this local effort is critical to our state’s resiliency and understanding our changing climate.

Read the full report via Hawaiʻi Public Radio: https://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/local-news/2026-02-19/hawaii-records-its-second-driest-year-in-over-a-century

02/04/2026

Big news for Hawaiʻi! 🌴🌤️ After 8 years of development, we’ve launched the first-ever Hawaiʻi Annual Climate Report.

Read more ➡️: https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2026/02/04/hawaii-annual-climate-report-2025/

We’re making climate data accessible to everyone with:
✅ Plain-language summaries
✅ Interactive maps
✅ Open-access tools for better decision-making

Explore the report as an online flipbook or get into the details on our new interactive site:
Flipbook: https://online.fliphtml5.com/rblc/2025-Climate-Report-Final/ =1
Interactive site: https://www.hawaii.edu/climate-data-portal/annual-report/

Don't miss out—sign up for our new monthly climate updates coming this spring! 📅

Subscribe here ➡️: https://www.hawaii.edu/climate-data-portal/subscribe/

04/01/2025

Scientists working with Hawai‘i EPSCoR at the University of Hawaiʻi have developed new wildfire risk maps to better predict fire danger across the state. Unlike the current Red Flag Warning system, which relies on weather from a limited number of stations, these maps provide a daily, high-resolution look at the most current fire ignition risks statewide.

Publicly available on the Hawaiʻi Climate Data Portal (HCDP), the maps are easy to access and available to communities and emergency responders to alert them to the risk of potential wildfires. Users are able to zoom in to a particular area to assess the current fire risk, and generate customized packages of data to export from the portal. Historical fire risk maps are also available for the past 20 years.

Read more➡️ https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2025/03/30/new-hawaii-wildfire-risk-maps/

03/21/2025

Register for the Hawai‘i Data Science Institute Aloha Data AI Hackathon! 🧑‍💻🌈👾 Open to all UH students from any campus. Travel support is available for neighbor island participants.

✨BEGINNERS WELCOME!✨

🏆 Prizes include: Macbook Air laptops, iPads, AirPods, Google Cloud Credits and more!

Learn more and register➡️ https://datascience.hawaii.edu/ai-hackathon/

Register for the Aloha Data AI Hackathon! 🧑‍💻🌈👾 Open to all UH students from any campus. Travel support is available for neighbor island participants.

✨BEGINNERS WELCOME!✨

🏆 Prizes include: Macbook Air laptops, iPads, AirPods, Google Cloud Credits and more!

Learn more and register➡️ https://datascience.hawaii.edu/ai-hackathon/

University of Hawaii at Manoa University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo of Hawaii - West Oahu Kapiʻolani Community College Leeward Community College University of Hawai'i Maui College

08/27/2024

Change HI project data science team member Mahdi Belcaid led a two week summer program to teach interns from eight Hawaiʻi high schools to develop a digital assistant that aims to reduce paperwork and improve efficiency in medical offices using artificial intelligence. 💻🧑‍💻

Read More: ➡️ https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2024/08/23/ai-healthcare-efficiency/

This internship was part of Project Hōkūlani, housed in UH Mānoa’s Center on Disability Studies, College of Education.

07/30/2024

Change HI project and Hawai‘i Data Science Institute member Sukhwa Hong, an associate professor of data science and business at University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo mentored business students to develop an AI chatbot to assist with academic advising as a part of a recent summer project. 💻🧑‍🎓

Students Jing Feng (marketing major), Ginate Mahuru (management), and Basil Tavake (accounting) worked together to develop the best AI chatbot to assist fellow students with academic advising and career guidance.

The 2024 summer project specifically focused on innovative applications of natural language processing and large language models in sustainability and education

Read more ➡ https://hilo.hawaii.edu/chancellor/stories/2024/07/29/business-students-develop-ai-chatbot/

07/24/2024

Change HI project team member Sean Cleveland will serve as the principal investigator for a National Science Foundation (NSF) project to enhance cyberinfrastructure adoption, capacity and training in the Pacific region.

Read more about the SCIPE: Cyberinfrastructure Pacific Professionals (CI-PP) award at the link below.

The project will offer services, education and research programs to engage faculty, researchers and students in advanced cyberinfrastructure.

07/24/2024

In a significant development for climate research and management, Hawaiʻi Climate Data Portal (HCDP) is set to expand its reach to additional Pacific islands, and provide more data to help decisionmakers. 🌈☀🌧

Read more ➡ https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2024/07/22/hawaii-climate-data-portal-expansion/