ARCS Scholar of the Year!
On May 8th I attended the ARCS Honolulu awards banquet. It was another great chance to see the poster presentations of the other ARCS scholars and have more one-on-one discussions about all their research. I got to originally hear about these projects at the ARCS awards presentations on April 17th, and lots of them were fascinating – projects like studies of yellow tang genetics across the Pacific, beneficial bacteria on coral reefs in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, studying chemical and geological evidence left over from the eruptions of Mount Vesuvius, and coding up the brain of a density-scanning robot using techniques like genetic programming and neural networks to conduct unmanned autonomous searches for land mines. As a kid who grew up glued to PBS specials, I was in full-on geek-out mode for both occasions. Man, science really is just downright cool.
Amazingly, enormous exploding stars held their own even in the company of cute yellow fish and life-saving robots: at the end of the banquet I was named the ARCS Scholar of the Year for the Honolulu chapter! It was a big surprise, and a big honor, and I’m very thankful to the members of ARCS Honolulu for selecting me as this year’s recipient. During the banquet several of the ARCS members were also honored for their contributions to the organization this year and over the years, and it was wonderful to learn more about these women who have led such interesting lives, traveling all over the world and finding their way to Hawaii in such unique and interesting ways, and who still devote their time and energy and resources to the support of science. It was a truly wonderful night, and I’m so glad I got to be a part of it!
