$1M endowment supports grad students

A $1 million endowment awarding fellowships to graduate students studying plant breeding has been established at the University of Hawaii’s College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources.

University plant breeder James L. Brewbaker, a scientist for more than 60 years, established the endowed fellowship.

Brewbaker, who recently received the Crop Science Society of America Presidential Award, said he’s aware of the impact plant breeding can have on the world and that there is no better place to do the work than at UH.

"I’ve seen it contribute immensely to the health of people and the world’s environment," he said. "My gift simply underscores my faith that plant breeding can and indeed will have to contribute even more than it has in the past."

Brewbaker earned his doctorate at Cornell University’s Department of Plant Breeding and Biometry in 1952 and joined the UH’s tropical agriculture college in 1961. There, Brewbaker created Hawai’i Foundation Seeds, an organization that manages collections of parent seed stocks.

NEIGHBOR ISLANDS

Crash victim is identified

Hawaii County police have identified the man killed Friday in a utility truck crash in South Kohala.
The victim is Troy K. Pattioay, 31, of Keaau, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported.

His passenger, David Karratti, 26, also of Keaau, suffered serious injuries and has been flown to the Queen’s Medical Center on Oahu.

Pattioay was driving a utility tractor that was pulling an empty lowboy trailer west on the Daniel K. Inouye Highway in Waikoloa when the vehicle apparently lost its brakes on a steep grade, police said. He crossed the center line, veered off the roadway and flipped.

Pattioay was ejected from the truck and died at the scene, according to police.

Cone in Puu Oo feeds lava flow

A spatter cone on the floor of Puu Oo crater continued Saturday to feed Kilauea’s Kahaualea 2 lava flow, which extends 4.5 miles to the north.

But the last mile and a half of the flow has stalled, with most activity about 3 miles northeast of Puu Oo, the U.S. Geological Survey said. Cameras show several spots of burning forest.