Issue 25   |   October 16, 2013   |   Archive

News & Events

Outwit the Viruses

Check it out—there’s a tomato variety trial field day coming up on Wednesday, October 23, from 10 a.m. to noon at Twin Bridge Farm in Waialua. Since the most effective management option for Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus (TYLCV) and Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus (TSWV) is the use of virus-resistant germplasm, it would be useful to know just what varieties have that resistance. So Leyla Kaufman (PEPS) and graduate student Amber Tateno are hosting a field day to showcase 14 commercially available varieties currently being field-tested, most with putative dual resistance to TYLCV and TSWV. Varieties are being evaluated on yield, virus resistance, and fruit quality and have different fruit types: grape, cherry, beefsteak, round, and globe. The field day will give farmers and agricultural professionals the opportunity to see the horticultural characteristics of the different varieties on-farm, as well as taste tomatoes. In turn, growers’ comments will help to determine the different plants’ desirability for the local industry and narrow down varieties for future trials. For information or to request an auxiliary aid or service, such as a sign language interpreter, designated parking, or materials in alternate format, contact Leyla Kaufman (956-2450), Jensen Uyeda (juyeda@hawaii.edu) or Jari Sugano (suganoj@ctahr.hawaii.edu) at (808) 622-4185 by Wednesday, October 16.

Eat Up Some Information

Come to the 3rd annual Food Day for food, fun, information, and a chance to hear a presentation by Jinan Banna (HNFAS). She will discuss the issue of food insecurity and the importance of improved access to healthful food, which many low-income families in Hawai‘i lack. The event takes place in the Campus Center Ballroom on October 24 from noon to 1:30 p.m. Food Day supports access to sustainable, healthful, and affordable food; it will be celebrated this year in schools and community festivals nationwide. Its mission is to inspire public support for sustainable farming, local food, and healthful lifestyles. Another guest speaker will be Chelsea Bell of Hawaii Meals on Wheels, who will discuss her work providing hot, nutritious meals to Hawai‘i’s kupuna. UH Sodexo Chef Carl Peterson will be providing a food demonstration in collaboration with Donna Ojiri, CTAHR alumna and the general manager of Sodexo. There will be food tasting, booths featuring ways to get involved, information on careers in food and nutrition, and games. Last year’s Food Day was well attended, so RSVP this year to ensure your spot at the table and get the chance to connect with Hawai‘i’s food and agriculture community!

By the Insects, For the Insects

Need some sweetness in your life? Ka Mea Kolo, CTAHR’s entomology club, is giving out 6 oz. jars of honey with every donation of $6 to Ka Mea Kolo, while supplies last. The honey, donated by the U.H. Honeybee Project, is from bees that fed off wildflowers in Wai‘anae, so it’s both local and delicious. Monetary donations will be used for supplies needed for Ka Mea Kolo’s stellar, kid-pleasing outreach events. Just email kameakolo@gmail.com to exchange a little folding green for a pot of gold, and help make a difference for the club that brings bugs and fun into children’s lives.

Grants & Awards

A Full Crop of Honors

Dean Maria Gallo has been named a Crop Science Society of America (CSSA) Fellow for 2013. The international science organization will present this, its highest honor, to her and 10 others from across North America on November 6 during its annual meeting in Tampa, Fla. Fellows are elected by select CSSA members based on professional achievements and meritorious service; they comprise just 0.3 percent of the society membership. Dean Gallo is honored for her work on plant genetics, using molecular biology and biotechnology techniques to improve the performance and quality of tropical energy and agronomic crops. The college’s former Dean William Furtick and the late soil scientist Goro Uehara also received the honor, as did these CTAHR alumni: Kenneth G. Cassman, Ganesan Srinivasan, Soon-Kwon Kim, Donald Plunkett, and Surajit K. DeDatta. Another CSSA Fellow (and founding member) is CTAHR plant breeder and corn expert James Brewbaker (TPSS, pictured), who this year has also been selected to receive another honor, CSSA’s Presidential Award. This award recognizes outstanding contributions to crop science through education, national and international service, and research. Dean Gallo will receive the award on his behalf. For more than 60 years, “Dr. B” has developed new varieties of crops for improved nutrition, yields, and pest and disease resistance. Recruited by CTAHR to establish a sweet corn improvement program, he was instrumental in developing the seed corn industry into the state’s most valuable agricultural crop. He has also done extensive work on tropical legume trees, and he established Hawai’i Foundation Seeds to manage parent seed stocks. Congratulations to Dean Gallo and Dr. B!

Grants From Sun Grant

Samir Khanal (MBBE) recently received a highly competitive bioenergy grant from Sun Grant Western Regional Center funded through the U.S. Department of Transportation. This 2-year, $200,000 grant aims at developing an anaerobic digestion (AD) bio-refinery using high-yielding tropical bioenergy feedstocks in a decentralized closed-loop system for producing diverse high-value co-products and/or liquid/gaseous biofuels. Pictured is a Swedish woman filling her car with biomethane. Find out more about Samir’s anaerobic digestion research here! The Sun Grant Initiative is a national network of land-grant universities and federally funded laboratories working together to further establish a bio-based economy; these institutes are at the forefront of research and innovation involving bioenergy and biofuels production. CTAHR is also a home of the Western Insular Pacific Sun Grant Subcenter, led by Andy Hashimoto (MBBE).

Biofuels Take Flight!

Owing to the biofuel research group headed by Andy Hashimoto (MBBE and Sun Grant Subcenter), UH has recently been selected as one of the leaders of the Federal Aviation Administration’s new Air Transportation Center of Excellence (COE), which focuses on alternative jet fuels and the environment. US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx explains that the COE, a research partnership between academia, industry, and the federal government, will help to “take environmentally friendly, alternative jet fuel technology to the next level.” The selected university members all have nationally recognized environmental and/or aviation-related education programs. Over the course of the next 10 years, the FAA will be granting the Center $40 million. Members, like the UH group for which Andy is PI, will also be eligible to negotiate individual contracts with relevant federal agencies. This new designation by the FAA should result in a number of research contracts, some already under discussion, for UH and the national team of universities forming the COE. Congratulations on another exciting opportunity and recognition of the national standing of our CTAHR group in biofuel research!

She’s a Jolly Good Fellow

Anne Alvarez (PEPS) has been honored as a Fellow of the American Phytopathological Society (APS), a distinction offered in recognition of distinguished contributions to plant pathology, whether in original research, teaching, administration, professional and public service, or extension and outreach. Anne is recognized as a pioneer in plant bacteriology, working on diseases of a wide spectrum of tropical plants. Her work ranges from bacterial ecology and epidemiology to phylogeny and molecular genetics, while the major goal of her research is to benefit growers by developing methods for managing bacterial diseases. She is recognized worldwide as an esteemed authority on plant-pathogenic bacteria who has made long-lasting contributions in her field, especially with regard to tropical plants. In short, her achievements, says the APS, demonstrate how research innovation and knowledge can directly benefit agriculture and education.

You Say Tomato; Kacie Says Opportunity

HNFAS alumna Kacie Ho, who is now pursuing graduate studies in food science at Purdue University, recently received a three-year National Science Foundation fellowship to support her research into the extraction of lycopene from tomato skins for use as a food enhancement or nutritional supplement. This honor comes in addition to a fellowship supporting her studies from Purdue and another through an industry fellowship program in which she interned at Cargill, Inc. in Minneapolis. Soojin Jun and Wayne Iwaoka (both HNFAS), who recommended her for the NSF fellowship, can be proud that their protégé is a continuing success. Many thanks to former CTAHR student marshal and fellow alumnus and Purdue grad student Jordan Oshiro for the information!

Spotlight on Our Community

Knee-Deep in Mud, High in the Sky

In the early morning of October 4, twenty-one CTAHR students and staff headed over to Kaua‘i for the Tenth Annual Meaningful Experience. First stop was the Ho‘opulapula Haraguchi Rice Mill on Kauai’s North Shore, the last remaining rice mill in Hawai‘i, dating back to the 1800s. CTAHR alumna Lyndsey Haraguchi-Nakayama led the educational, interactive tour of the mill, now coupled with a taro farm. Everyone sampled taro smoothies, learned the background of farming in Kaua‘i, picked invasive apple snails from the lo‘i, viewed the historic mill equipment, and pounded taro into pa‘i‘ai. After a healthy and delicious lunch, the group headed back to Lihu‘e for team-building activities facilitated by ASAO’s Lisa Kitagawa-Akagi, for bonding and building interpersonal and communication skills. One of the students, Arby Barone, gave a short presentation on the background of Ni‘ihau, including plant and animal identification and a brief history, in preparation for the next day’s activities. The following morning, students headed out to Hanapepe on the south side of the island for the Ni‘ihau Helicopter Tour. They had the rare opportunity to fly over the island of Ni‘ihau and even set foot on the Forbidden Isle. Students also were able to explore the nearby areas, including Waimea Canyon. Finally, after a full day of cultural learning, the group headed back to the airport for the flight back to Honolulu. Thanks are due to Lyndsey Haraguchi-Nakayama and the Board of Directors of Ho‘opulapula Haraguchi Rice Mill for hosting the visit to their farm. Gratitude is also extended to Roy Yamakawa of the Kaua‘i County administration, for reserving space for the team-building activities, and to SAPFB and ASAO for supporting the students’ trip. And much mahalo goes to the student participants who made the experience meaningful for all.

A Celebration of Style

The first Hawai‘i Fashion Month has been going strong this October, and FDM faculty are fully involved in the activities: Andy Reilly served on the steering committee, while Young Bahng organized a speaking series where Ju-Young Kang and retired faculty Marcia Morgado and Carol D’Angelo gave presentations of their research. Abby Cristi and Cynthia Tsark planned and helped produce fashion shows, and Shu-Hwa Lin partnered with Hawai‘i State Art Museum to install an exhibit that opened for First Friday, October 4. The exhibit, “The Way We Wear,” is a visual history of fashion in Hawai‘i and a collaboration between the Art in Public Places Collection and the UHM Historic Costume Collection. The fashion show at the Museum, “Fashion as Art,” featured FDM graduates Ryan Hanaoka, Feliz Salas, Breanne Lee, Jaclyn Mae Santos, and Erin Midori Ludolph, along with current FDM students Sarah Yamashige and Lyle Amine, the photographer. Check out Lyle’s great photos, and find out more information about what’s on for the rest of the month.

Growing a Green Partnership

The LICH conference/tradeshow, which this year highlighted native plants, was enriched by the participation of nine CTAHR students (pictured) and several faculty and alumni, including Andy Kaufman (TPSS), Jay Deputy (TPSS, retired), Ethel Villalobos and Zhiqiang Cheng (both PEPS), and Heidi Bornhorst, CTAHR alumna and head of landscaping at UH. Here’s to the strong association between the college and the landscaping organization, and here’s to this year’s conference theme, native plants. In a new twist on a familiar phrase, plant native—it matters!

The Secret Garden of St. John

Did you know there’s a hydroponic learning center on the 6th floor of St. John? Established with a grant from the Women’s Campus Club, it has seven different systems set up; they’re growing mizuna, tomato, red choi, and peppers so far, with space for more to come. The project hopes to expand, testing different vegetables to see how well they do in an urban growing environment, in service of its mission to educate everybody interested in urban hydroponics and gardening. The center is also hoping to attract further donations to improve and expand so that more people can benefit, adding such important components as permanent signs, different and more hydroponic systems, and alternate hydroponic nutrient solutions. Come by and visit the center, or email Robert Saito at rjnsaito@hawaii.edu for more information.

Disney Fashionista

It’s always inspiring to hear about alumni who take what they learned at CTAHR and thrive. Claire Pimentel-Powers (FDM alumna) gives updates on her career since graduating from CTAHR: “During my college years at UH, I interned with Jeff Berman and Jan Berman, owners of the Jeffrey Barr multi-brand store in Kahala Mall, who used to teach at Rhode Island School of Design and then taught for a little bit at UH also. So between UH and the Bermans, I learned a lot. After graduation, I left for Los Angeles for a design assistant job, and have been working in the fashion industry ever since. With my LA mentor Glynn Barrish-Dreyer, I learned hands-on industry skills that weren’t taught in school. Since then I’ve designed for labels like Arden B, Guess, Marciano, Bebe, and Victoria’s Secret, to name a few. I had a branded line called Love Amour that was sold in the U.S. at boutiques and stores such as Lord & Taylor, Nordstroms, Bloomingdales, and Macy’s, plus the Galeries Lafayette in France and boutiques in Canada and Australia. Then after my sister got pregnant for the first time, I decided to be more philanthropic and started my own eco-friendly clothing collection, Covenant Green, for which my first buyer was the prominent celeb-loved store Fred Segal. After the economy tanked in 2008, I closed my fledgling company and started working with Disney, designing the Disney Couture collection. A few years after that, I ventured internationally with some partners, and now I have my own design, licensing and distribution company in U.S. and Asia, and Disney is the major brand that I design for:).” She considers her CTAHR mentors to be Jeff and Jan Berman, Linda Arthur, Marcia Morgado, Diane Chung, and Jenny Maligro. There’s one more CTAHR connection as well: Claire is the niece of Lydia Gerakas, late of PEPS and now of Academic and Student Affairs. Small world!

VP of Fashion

Andy Reilly (FDM) recently was elected vice president of Research and Scholarship for the International Textile and Apparel Association. The duties of his three-year term include planning future annual conferences, facilitating recognition of diverse types of research and scholarship, and promotion awards. Andy recently hosted the 2012 ITAA annual conference in Honolulu, and his skilled handling of this successful event undoubtedly contributed to his election.

Have Fun and Graduate!

The national 4-H program has been selected to participate in American Graduate Day 2013, part of the public media initiative American Graduate: Let’s Make It Happen, aimed at keeping students on the path to graduation. The event will feature local and national programming, community partners, and celebrities focused on improving the high school graduation rates in America; other partner organizations include Big Brothers Big Sisters and Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Research has shown that youth involved in 4-H are stronger in healthy behaviors, academic excellence, and civic engagement. In particular, 4-H science programs increase the number of students pursuing science, engineering, technology and applied math fields in their academic studies and careers, and 4-H’s healthy living initiatives help participants to eat right and keep active. And the most fun thing about the video being used to introduce the 4-H segment is that it includes two photos from the Hawai‘i 4-H program: one of three boys with glow sticks who took part in the Kona 4-H Fun Day and the other of Kaua‘i 4-H members offering an activity at the Kaua‘i Garden Fair. Go Hawai‘i 4-H!

Kids’ Savings Saves the Day

Michael Cheang was interviewed about the Kids’ Savings Project on Hawaii Public Radio’s The Conversation with Chris VanderCook. He points out that even low-income families can and do save; it’s a matter of mindset and habit, as well as identifying and breaking down the barriers that may keep them from saving. His project, which has helped 1,800 kids in 28 DOE schools to save $322,000 since its inception, does just that. It brings the credit unions to the schools, provides $25 seed money to each participant, and fosters a spirit of community amongst the children saving—“like a savings club,” he says. Research has shown that children as early as 4 can learn economic concepts—and Michael’s project helps to ensure that they learn helpful ones!

Cage o’ Fish

Three participants in the Seafood Culinary Education Workshop hosted by HNFAS this past summer have since been interviewed on Hawaii Public Radio: workshop speaker Linda ODierno, outreach specialist for the National Aquaculture Association; Ron Weidenbach, president of the Hawaii Aquaculture and Aquaponics Association; and workshop organizer Tetsuzan “Benny” Ron, HNFAS aquaculture specialist. The workshop was sponsored by Aquaculture & Livestock Support Services of the Hawaii Department of Agriculture and by the National Aquaculture Association. Benny Ron makes the point that owing to the declining supplies of wild-caught fish, the solution is farm-raised—aquacultured—seafood, raised either in land- or ocean-based systems. He is presently organizing an environmental monitoring group comprised of federal and state representatives involved in the permitting process for aquaponics producers to make it easier to start an aquaponics operation. And just in time, too—Hawai‘i imported 800,000 pounds of tilapia from other countries just this past year!

From Vietnam With Love

Dr Nguyen Ninh, Nobel laureate and contributor to the 2007 IPCC report on climate change, visited CTAHR to sign a Memorandum of Understanding between the college and the Center for Environment Research, Education and Development (CERED), which he represents. During their meeting in July, President Obama and Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang had emphasized the importance of cooperation between the two countries in many different areas, including the environment and agriculture, and the Vietnamese government looks at this MOU signing as directly relevant with their national goals to collaborate with the U.S. The international MOU was created to facilitate collaborative work on soil fertility, particularly involving biochar, and crop development, particularly sweet corn and taro, in Vietnam and southeast Asia. The research and education efforts are expected to benefit Vietnam and surrounding nations, as well as Hawai‘i. After the signing, Dr. Ninh (pictured third from right) gave a presentation on the state of climate change in Vietnam, a chilling wake-up call. Check out photos of the event here.

Operation: Mindful Military Kids

Operation: Military Kids, a 4-H program, offered the second annual Hawaii Adventure Camp (HAC) this summer. 50 military teens aged 14 to 18 residing in the Pacific Rim region, including Hawai‘i, Japan, Okinawa, and Guam, participated in the 5-day military teen adventure camp held at Camp Erdman on the North Shore of O‘ahu. HAC 2013, which focused on three major themes: physical fitness, mental fitness, and personal leadership, included activities such as horseback riding, snorkeling, low/high ropes course, surfing, and standup paddle boarding. The key element of this camp was the incorporation of daily mindfulness sessions. Mindfulness is the ability to focus on the present moment with acceptance, which is instrumental in fostering mental fitness. The mix of mindfulness practice, recreational fun, and team-building challenges provided the campers with the opportunity to enhance their problem-solving and leadership skills while building strong connections with other military-associated teens from around the Pacific Rim. The camp was made possible through funding from NIFA/USDA-DOD to FCS Extension specialist Claire Nakatsuka and FCS faculty Thao Le, in partnership with Hawaii OMK and YMCA Camp Erdman. 4-H OMK staff Kiki Yoshimoto and FCS intern Janice Pascual provided key support. Appropriately, Thao’s article about the first HAC and camp experience in Colorado, entitled “Mindfulness-Based Adventure Camp for Military Youth,” is currently in press at the Journal of Extension.

Improving Native Hawaiian Health

Barbara “Bobbie” Yee, chair of FCS, organized a symposium entitled “Improving Native Hawaiian Outcomes in Health and Mental Health” for the American Psychological Association meeting held this summer in Honolulu. Pointing out that there are serious disparities between the physical and mental health of Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders and that of others in the Islands, she explains, “These disparities lead to poorer health and mental health outcomes across a number of social, educational, economic, health and wellness dimensions.” The symposium looked at ways psychology and Minority Fellowship Program fellows have advocated and developed public policy, pursued research with community capacity-building strategies, and developed career pathways that have contributed to the improvement of health and mental health outcomes for Native Hawaiians. Here Bobbie is pictured (second from right) with other symposium participants (left to right) Keawe‘aimoku Kaholokula, Chair of Native Hawaiian Health, JABSOM; Cecily Reber, Doctoral Candidate in Clinical Psychology and Tripler VA Psychology; and Kamana‘opono M. Crabbe, CEO, Office of Hawaiian Affairs).

Up-and-Coming Interns

The UH CTAHR Dietetic Internship program, which is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics (ACEND) of the national Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, welcomed its first interns this semester. The program requires 1,200 hours of experience and qualifies graduates to take the Registered Dietitian’s Exam. It also provides graduates of an academic program in dietetics with an opportunity to increase their knowledge of food and nutrition science, and to acquire competencies needed to practice dietetics in a variety of settings including clinical, food service, and community. The program offers a Community Concentration that focuses on Hawai‘i’s unique community. Through its activities, the internship will promote education of students in the multicultural environment, service in a variety of community settings and participation in various professional organizations. Pictured from left to right are dietetic interns, all of whom are graduates of the FSHN Dietetics program, Katherine Schuette (’13), Chrislin Yee (’13), Erika Chinn Galindo (’13), Tanieca Downing (’13), and Paul John Pangilinan (’11), and Internship Director Ann Ditzler.

Water for All

NREM undergrad alumna Angela Stevens, who has just finished up her first year of graduate study at the University of Nevada-Reno, recently got in touch with her previous advisor, Creighton Litton, to share her successes since CTAHR. A Caesars Foundation Fellow in Watersheds and Environmental Sustainability, she’s been featured in the local television news and the Tahoe Daily Tribune for her work with the Desert Research Institute studying near-shore turbidity in Lake Tahoe, as well as on the DRI’s own website, on which she is quoted as saying, “Water is a big problem, and I want to be part of the solution.” She was definitely part of the solution on her February trip to Panama, described in an article at the University of Nevada’s website, where she joined two other students and a Peace Corps volunteer to build three composting latrines in a remote mountain village (here she’s pictured in the blue tank top). UN’s site also describes her work with the university’s International Education Week, for which she organized the Student World Water Forum last year. The knowledge and inspiration she gained at CTAHR, coupled with her own enthusiasm and drive, have put her well on her way to making an important difference in the world.

New Publications

Small in Scale; Large in Impact

PhD student Michele Barnes-Mauthe and Assistant Professor Kirsten Oleson (both NREM) recently published a landmark study on small-scale fisheries in the journal Fisheries Research, arguing that their economic value has been dramatically underestimated. Using the case of a coastal region of Madagascar, they show that these fisheries employ 87% of the adult population and provide the sole protein source for 99% of household meals. However, “Small-scale fisheries are often completely left out of policy discussions due to a lack of data about their scale and importance,” Michele points out—until now. Since the fish is sold locally or used for subsistence purposes, it doesn’t show up in larger economic discussions; nonetheless, the activity is crucial to the survival of the region. The same is true of many other coastal communities, where the importance of small-scale fishing has long been known but has not been quantified. With hard numbers in hand, the authors hope that management initiatives such as community-led marine areas will arise to safeguard the sustainability of subsistence fisheries and strengthen food security. Even more important, they argue, is that these be supported by regional, national, and international policies that safeguard the rights of small-scale fishers over export-orientated commercial or foreign access fishers where small-scale fisheries are central to the livelihoods of impoverished coastal populations.

Leafy Treat

Ever had the desire to know how just many poisonous plants there are on the UH-Manoa campus? Medicinal trees? Agricultural crops? All of this information and more is available with a few moves of the mouse around the UH plant map created by Nate Ortiz (TPSS student) and Austin Stankus of the Zoology department. Both useful and just plain fun, this addictive and ingenious app was profiled in Ke Kumu ‘Ike, the newsletter of the Colleges of Arts and Sciences. The campus has been recognized by the Arbor Day Foundation as a USA Tree Campus, and as Stankus explains, it hosts trees that are found in no other US university’s landscape, so it behooves us to take notice of the verdant treasure all around. Each clickable tree yields an image, general information, and links to more detail. Pictured is the be-still tree, one of 27 lining Maile Way, according to the map—and yes, it’s poisonous.

Greening the Garden

Feel like your gardening skills are getting a little…rusty? Don’t worry—it might not be you; it might just be phytopathogens. If you’re seeing rust on your canna lily, crucifers, or ‘ilima, check out the publications by Scot Nelson (with Erik Patnude on crucifers) that will set your garden on the path to shining, rust-free glory. Buff and wax not included. But don’t feel left out if you’ve got no rust; Scot may still have a publication that will solve your particular problem…especially if that problem is leaf spot on your beach morning glories or powdery mildew on your garden vegetables.

Growers’ Woes

Other CTAHR researchers are concerned with pests more visible to the naked eye. For lychee growers, the biggest issues aren’t pathogens; they’re fruitflies and birds, which can play havoc with the crop. Andrea Kawabata and Stuart Nakamoto show you how to grow fat, juicy, and blemish-free lychee by bagging the panicles before they ripen! If you’re looking to spray your crop pest troubles away but want to make sure your sprayers are properly calibrated, just check out the simple and effective methods for both boom and handheld spray systems offered by Jensen Uyeda, Jari Sugano, Steve Fukuda, Mike Kawate, Robin Shimabuku, and Koon-Hui Wang. And calibration isn’t the only issue related to spraying, as Andrea Kawabata, Stuart Nakamoto, and R.T. Curtiss’s CBB-management guidelines make clear; this publication explains how to sample for borer infestation levels to decide when to spray. Because unfortunately, the damage done by the borer is all too visible.

Ag-Appropriate Apps

Looking for the right app for your work, stakeholders, or students? There’s an app for that! Kent Kobayashi (TPSS) has developed a mobile website describing over 160 free iPhone/iPad apps available from the Apple App Store for horticulture and agriculture. The website is the result of an invited presentation, ”Are There Horticulture-Related Mobile Applications for Me?” that Kent gave at the 2012 American Society for Horticultural Science Annual Conference. As you might expect, the answer to the above question is a resounding “Yes!” The talk also led to an article, which will be appearing in the ASHS publication HortTechnology.

Effects of Abuse

Loriena Yancura (FCS) recently co-authored an article in the Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment and Trauma showing that women who were victims of childhood physical abuse are 40% more likely to develop thyroid conditions than women who were not abused during childhood. A study of of 13,070 adult Canadians showed that more than 1,000 reported being physically abused before age 18, and 906 said they had been diagnosed with a thyroid disorder by a health professional. Lori says that “the enduring effects of childhood maltreatment may be due to the way early traumas change the way an individual reacts to stress throughout life. One important avenue for future research is to investigate potential dysfunctions in the production of the ‘fight or flight’ hormone cortisol among survivors of abuse.” The paper offers important insights—and illustrates the breadth of CTAHR research.

In Memoriam

Philip Eugene Parvin

Dr. Philip Eugene Parvin passed away at home in Port Charlotte, Florida, on September 17, 2013. He was born July 3, 1927, in Manatee, Florida, and earned a B.S. in Agriculture from the University of Florida, a Master’s degree from Mississippi State University, and a Ph.D. in Horticulture from Michigan State University. He became superintendent of the UH Agricultural Experiment Station on Maui in 1968, where he remained for more than 25 years until retiring in 1993. Dr. Parvin, credited with being the “father of the Hawaiian protea industry,” was a pioneer in research on proteas and other ornamental plants. His research led to both the development of the protea-growing industry in Hawai‘i and the widespread popularity of protea flowers worldwide. In 2007, a protea was registered and named the “Phil Parvin” in his honor.