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Partnerships

Collaborations are vital to the vibrant research and educational programs at UH Hilo, uniting researchers, natural and cultural resource managers, and educators. Such partnerships include those through the UH Hilo Hawaiʻi Cooperative Studies Unit with the USGS Pacific Islands Ecosystems Research Center (PIERC), the US Fish & Wildlife Service, the USGS Cooperative Fishery Research Unit, and researcher participation in the Hawaiʻi-Pacific Islands Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit (HPICESU) with several DOI agencies. Successful partnerships and funding efforts have led to the development of degree and career development programs that provide hands-on experience for undergraduate and graduate students closely tied to community needs including UH Hilo’s conservation-related graduate program, the Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science (TCBES); the statewide Pacific Internship Programs for Exploring Science (PIPES), which provides pathways into conservation studies and careers; and the NSF Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) Islands of Opportunity Alliance in partnership with community colleges across the Pacific to provide island students support to explore research questions in the Pacific region. 

Central to PI-CASC efforts, the UH Hilo consortium staff, in partnership with collaborators, have identified and engaged long-standing stakeholder networks on Hawaiʻi Island and have directly connected these networks with UH Hilo faculty and students in collaborative climate adaptation research through the Manager Climate Corps (MCC) program. Learn more about this manager-driven research program at the MCC program page.