Federal funding earmarks to help boost University of Hawaii research to record $500 million

Thanks in part to the return of congressional budget earmarks, the University of Hawaii system will receive tens of millions of dollars in the new federal budget, including research dollars that will help bring UH’s overall research funding to a record-­high $500 million for the year.

Congressman Ed Case, D-Hawaii, a member of the House Committee on Appropriations, said the budget also includes his $1 million Community Project Funding request to advance UH’s rural health research initiatives.

The $1.5 trillion fiscal year 2022 omnibus spending bill approved this month by Congress includes billions of dollars in nationwide higher-education funding.

This year is different in that lawmakers have brought back the process of earmarking appropriations for local governments and nonprofits following a decade-­long ban. While critics say so-called pork barrel appropriations have sometimes been abused and politically motivated in the past, proponents say congressionally directed spending is an efficient way to get worthwhile initiatives moving.

Case said in a news release that he has been working closely with UH President David Lassner and his funding team “to maximize federal funding opportunities for our university, which besides being our flagship institution of higher education, has been regularly ranked as one of the top research universities in the world.”

Lassner on March 18 reported to the university’s Board of Regents that UH research has pulled in $397 million so far, with a projected $500 million total for the fiscal year.

Among the federal budget highlights that support low-income students and minority-­serving institutions:

>> A $400 increase in the maximum Pell Grant award, to $6,895, for the 2022-23 academic year, the biggest increase to the Pell maximum in more than a decade. Pell Grants are offered to undergraduates with exceptional financial need.

>> $10.9 million for the Strengthening Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions program, a $5.8 million increase from the current federal fiscal year, which runs through Sept. 30.

>> $21.3 million for the Strengthening Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions program, a $2.3 million increase.

Appropriations for programs supporting Native Hawaiians include:

>> $38.9 million for the Education for Native Hawaiians program.

>> $4 million for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Education Grants for Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Institutions program.

>> A $5 million increase for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Minority University Research and Education Project.

>> A $1 million increase, for a total of $3 million, for the Center for Indigenous Innovation and Health Equity, a partnership among UH, Oklahoma State University and the University of Alaska.

Congressionally directed spending for specific UH programs include $1 million each for:

>> The UH Hilo ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center, for the Hale Pohaku Exhibition and planetarium expansion.

>> Asia-Pacific microgrid development and training through the Hawai‘i Natural Energy Institute.

>> A Strategic Center for Indo-Pacific Studies in the UH Manoa School of Pacific and Asian Studies.

>> A Rural Health Research Center in the UH System Office of Strategic Health Initiatives.

The budget omnibus bill includes more than $700 million in new funding to address the Red Hill water crisis.

“As UH has played an important role in the state’s response to the crisis, the university is expected to receive tens of millions over the coming years for related research,” Lassner said, including a water security and resilience initiative, hydrogeology studies and fuel tank corrosion evaluation and monitoring.

The bill also includes $5 million specifically to continue ongoing UH efforts to improve the safety of underground fuel storage tanks at Red Hill as the Navy works to defuel the facility.

Lassner in his report said strong investments were made in federal research agencies that benefit UH, including the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, NASA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Lassner said the funding for UH research also includes:

>> A $40 million increase for the High Performance Computing Modernization Program in the Department of Defense, which includes the UH-managed Maui High Performance Computing Center.

>> A $3 million increase for the U.S. Geological Survey’s Volcano Hazards Program, which provides continuing support to the UH Hilo Center for the Study of Active Volcanoes.

>> A $7 million increase for the Energy Transitions Initiative, which helps remote and island communities design their own resilience and clean-energy solutions.

>> A $2.5 million increase in the Alternative Energy Research program, which supports the UH Hawai‘i Natural Energy Institute and climate resiliency work in SOEST.

>> $7.5 million for a new program called Resilient Innovative Sustainable Economies via University Partnerships (RISE-UP) that will support a collaboration between universities in isolated and island states with expertise in energy as well as marine and blue economy technologies to diversify their state economies.

>> $1.2 million for coffee leaf rust research.

>> $1 million for science-based pest management strategies for invasive insect species that affect tropical grazing lands.