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Outstanding Students from King Kekaulike High School Awarded Coveted Telescope Time

February 14, 2018:  Awards season continues as Maunakea Observatories staff convene educators, community leaders, students and families at King Kekaulike High School in Maui to announce the newest winners of the Maunakea Scholars program.  The student recipients are the first to come from Maui as the 2017-2018 program represents the inaugural participation of a school from the Valley Isle.

“We are delighted to see the Maunakea Scholars program continue to grow with our first student participants from Maui,” said Mary Beth Laychak, outreach manager for Canada-France-Hawai‘i Telescope (CFHT). “The imaginative and passionate student proposals from the 2017-2018 program participants piqued our interest and demonstrated what we already know to be true – astronomy has a special place in Hawai‘i.”

King Kekaulike students spent months analyzing data and preparing professional-style research proposals under the guidance of University of Hawai‘i’s Institute for Astronomy mentor, Dr. JD Armstrong. Greatly admired as both a scientist and educator in the Maui community with an amazing body of research and a summer science program that produces award-winning young astronomers, Dr. Armstrong helped King Kekaulike students transform their personal curiosities and interests into innovative and promising projects, with seven individuals earning invaluable observatory time.

The King Kekaulike Maunakea Scholars Award winners include:

• Janine Harris – “Cepheid Magnitude Periods”
• Ryan Siarot and Thorn Refugio – “Observing Asteroid Colors to Determine Composition”
• Quinton Uradomo – “Dark Matter”
• Kayla Wohlers and Caroline Stevenson – “Deep Into The Storm”
• Quentin Beamer – “White Dwarf Formation Temperatures”

These students, along with each and every Maunakea Scholars winner, will receive coveted telescope time atop Maunakea. Every student will be paired with a mentor and telescope staff who will navigate them through their research. We have seen past students use their telescope time to explore black holes, exoplanets, comets, search for signs of life and much more, and we foresee our 2017-2018 Maunakea Scholars winners testing the boundaries of science as they delve into the big and magical world of astronomy.

Congratulations to the First Winners of the Maunakea Scholars Program Awards Season

 Today we kicked off the Maunakea Scholars awards season by announcing our first round of winners from Kealakehe High School in Kailua Kona, Hawai‘i.  Executive Director of the Canada-France-Hawai‘i Telescope (CFHT), Doug Simons, joined excited students, teachers and families to award four exceptional student observers observing time for their scientific research at one of the world’s most powerful telescopes.

Simons shared his personal story of how STEM education opened incredible doors for him, leading to his present position with Canada-France-Hawai‘i Telescope. Hawai‘i Department of Education leadership congratulated the students on their work and remarkable achievements.  Leadership from the observatories selection committee spoke with individual project teams about the merits of their proposal, each of which was creative, sophisticated and ambitious.

“In our first year here at Kealakehe, we’ve been so impressed by the caliber of the student’s imaginative research proposals. Similar to other student ideas in our Maunakea Scholars cohorts, the limiting factor for their projects is our technology, not their creativity,” said Mary Beth Laychak, program lead for Maunakea Scholars and outreach program manager at the Canada-France-Hawai‘i Telescope (CFHT). “Even the most advanced instruments in the world of astronomy, right here on Maunakea, can’t keep pace with our local students’ groundbreaking ideas.”

The Kealakehe Maunakea Scholars Award winners include:

• Shane Arellano – “Is There a Relationship Between the Metallicity of a Nebula and its Shape and Size?”
• Nathan Weir and Mason Solomonson – “NIR Spectroscopy of Accretion Disks of Different Black Holes”
• Amanda Schiff – “Composition and Formation of Secluded Starburst Galaxies”

Students worked for months alongside mentors from the University of Hawai‘i Institute for Astronomy, and while every student compiled fantastic proposals, the projects of these four stood out as the most creative, scientifically promising and technically viable.  Our winners received certificates noting their achievement, and will soon embark on a visit to Maunakea, where they will have the amazing opportunity to collect data for their projects using a world-class telescope under the guidance of highly skilled and experienced mentors.

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