Congressman Ed Case (HI-01), announced hundreds of millions in funding in the Fiscal Year 2022 federal funding measure for the 10-campus University of Hawai‘i (UH) system. The Consolidated Appropriations Act 2022, which was passed by Congress and signed into law by the President earlier this month. Provisions of specific relevance to UH funding include:

Low-income and Minority Serving Institutions

• The maximum Pell Grant award was increased by $400, to $6,895, for the 2022–23 academic year, the biggest increase to the Pell maximum in more than a decade.
• $10.9 million for the Strengthening Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions program, a $5.8-million increase from federal Fiscal Year (FY) 2021, which runs from October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022.
• $21.3 million for the Strengthening Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions program, a $2.3-million increase from FY 2021.

Other federal programs received increases including the Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant, Federal Work Study, TRIO, GEAR UP and the Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need programs.

Native Hawaiians

• $38.9 million for the Education for Native Hawaiians program, an increase of $1.5 million from FY 2021.
• $4 million for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Education Grants for Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Institutions program, an increase of $806,000 from FY 2021, the first increase the program has received in years.
• A $5 million increase for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Minority University Research and Education Project, which has been directed to utilize funds to connect science, Indigenous culture and community at minority-serving higher education institutions, including Native Hawaiian-serving institutions.
• A $1 million increase, for a total of $3 million, was provided for the Center for Indigenous Innovation and Health Equity, a partnership between UH, Oklahoma State University and the University of Alaska. The measure encouraged the Office of the Director in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to prioritize the research needs of Native Hawaiians and to partner with entities that have a proven record of working closely with Native Hawaiian communities and organizations to allow for the development of NIH researchers.

UH Programs

•  $1 million for the UH Hilo ʻImiloa Astronomy Center for the Hale Pōhaku Exhibition and Planetarium Expansion.
• $1 million for Asia-Pacific Microgrid Development and Training through Hawaiʻi Natural Energy Institute, a unit of the UH Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST).
• $1 million for a Strategic Center for Indo-Pacific Studies in the UH Mānoa School of Pacific and Asian Studies.
• $1 million for a Rural Health Research Center in the UH System Office of Strategic Health Initiatives. • $900,000 for a new post-harvest processing facility at MAʻO Organic Farms, a UH partner, to provide more locally produced foods in the community while expanding their youth internship program, training and other educational opportunities through UH.
• $445,000 for Partnerships for Puʻuloa (Pearl Harbor) Shoreline Biocultural Restoration in partnership with the UH System Office of Indigenous Innovation and the UH Mānoa College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources’ Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management.
• $200,000 for the Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology, a unit of UH Mānoa SOEST, for the Nature-Based Coral Reef Features for Coastal Protection project.

Research

In addition, the FY 2022 Omnibus 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. That would include a water security and resilience initiative, hydrogeology studies and fuel tank corrosion evaluation and monitoring. The bill also includes a specific $5 million to continue UH ongoing efforts to improving the safety of underground fuel storage tanks at Red Hill as the Navy works to defuel the facility.

The act also makes strong investments in federal research agencies, all of which benefit UH, including the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The funding for research also includes:

• $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.
• $3-million increase for the U.S. Geological Survey Volcano Hazards Program, which provides continuing support to the UH Hilo Center for the Study of Active Volcanoes.
• $7-million increase for the Energy Transitions Initiative, which helps remote and island communities design their own resilience and clean energy solutions.
• $2.5-million increase in the Alternative Energy Research program, which supports the UH Hawaiʻi Natural Energy Institute and climate resiliency work in SOEST.
• $7.5 million for a new program called Resilient Innovative Sustainable Economies via University Partnerships that will support a collaboration between universities in isolated and island states with expertise in energy, 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.
• $1 million for science-based pest management strategies for invasive insect species that affect tropical grazing lands.

The federal funding measure also includes $1 million to fund rural health initiatives for the University of Hawai‘i and $200,000 for the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology. The funding came through Congress’ Community Project Funding (CPF) process. Using the CPF, the Rural Health Research Center will focus on rural health workforce policy and health equity in its Office of Strategic Health Initiatives to conduct high-quality and policy-relevant research and develop policy recommendations to improve rural health care in Hawaiʻi. This project is part of the existing UHealthy Hawaiʻi initiative and in partnership with key local rural health stakeholders. The Nature-Based Coral Reef Features for Coastal Protection project at the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology will explore the potential use of engineered coral reef “living shoreline” approaches for coastal protection and restoration. This project will pilot bio-enhancing concrete materials, textures and shapes (e.g. eco-concrete, composite pumice, or carbon infused concrete) on small sections of seawall at the institute to promote habitat for native organisms including corals, other invertebrates and fish, to achieve ecofriendly designs that simultaneously restore reef habitat and protect the shoreline.

A detailed summary of the FY 2022 Omnibus is available here.

 

AP Photo