Thursday, February 7, 2013

CTAHR Notes
Issue 101 | February 05, 2013 |Archive

News & Events

Carnival Madness

Splash of waterWoo-hoo! CTAHR Spring Event is only a few days away: Friday, Feb. 8, 11:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m. In the grassy area next to Gilmore Hall, join your co-workers and friends for 2 FREE, fun-filled hours of hot dogs and other refreshments, carnival games with prizes, balloon artists, and more! And, this year, at the request of all students who received lower grades than they felt they deserved last semester, the following courageous faculty have volunteered to serve as live targets in the CTAHR dunking booth:
11:35–11:50 Cathy Chan-Halbrendt (NREM)
11:50–12:10 Halina Zaleski (HNFAS)
12:10–12:30 Mark Wright (PEPS)
12:30–12:50 Maria Stewart (HNFAS)
12:50–1:10 CN Lee (HNFAS)
1:10–1:30 Dan Rubinoff (PEPS)
Best of all, besides enjoying fun and games, you'll have a chance at the carnival to donate to CTAHR’s own 4-H program!

De Datta Data

S.K. De DattaRemember, Dr. S.K. De Datta, who will be developing a white paper on the establishment of a CTAHR International Office, is visiting CTAHR this week. Anyone interested in international programs is invited to attend a brown bag lunch session with Dr. De Datta on Wednesday, Feb. 6, 12:30–2:30 p.m. in Gilmore 212, when he will present on “International Programs Contributing to the International Scholarship of a World-Class University.” An ITS video conferencing bridge has also been reserved for this brown bag lunch session. If you want to use this, before the meeting you can click here to test your connection. Participants with UH Usernames please visitthis link; participants without UH Usernames (guests), can visitthis link. If you have any technical questions, please email Marvin Chun atchunm@ctahr.hawaii.edu, or call extension x63386.

There’s a Fungus (Expert) Among Us!

Brett Tyler in labDr. Brett Tyler, an expert in plant-microbe interactions and fungal bioinformatics, will be visiting the PEPS department on Feb. 14 and 15, and everyone is invited to attend his 2 presentations. He’ll be speaking on “Comparative and Functional Genomics of Virulence in Oomycete Pathogens” on Thursday, Feb. 14, and on “How Oomycete and Fungal Effectors Enter Plant Cells and Promote Disease” on Friday, Feb. 15. Both presentations will be offered 1:30–2:30 p.m. in Gilmore 301. Dr. Tyler is a professor and the director of the Center for Genome Research and Biocomputing at Oregon State University. He led the Phytophthora genome and plant pathosystem projects, and his group has published fungal effector-related papers inScience and Cell over the last few years. Dr. Tyler will also be available for individual meetings during his visit—contact Yangrae Cho (PEPS) to arrange a personal meeting time with him.

Grants & Awards

New Funding Opportunities Newsletter Jan. 30

It’s almost Valentine’s Day, and what more affectionate partnership could exist than that between your research and its beloved funding? Act like Cupid and get the two together by checking out Sharee Pepper’s latest Current Funding Opportunities newsletter! Here are grants likely to be of particular interest to CTAHR faculty and/or particularly susceptible to little golden love arrows:
  • Western IPM Center 2013 Competitive Grant Programs: Mar. 11
  • Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) - Healthy Eating Research RFAs: Healthy Eating Research: Building Evidence to Prevent Childhood Obesity-RWJF New Connections: Mar. 27
  • Organic Farming Research Foundation - Education and Outreach Projects: May 15
  • USDA, NIFA, AFRI Foundational Program - Agriculture Economics and Rural Communities: May 22
  • Healthy Eating Research: Building Evidence to Prevent Childhood Obesity, Round 8: July 10

Spotlight on Our Community

A Big Welcome on the Big Island

Dean Gallo on the Big IslandDean Gallo recently returned from a whirlwind tour of the Big Island, accompanied by PMSO’s Thomas Lim and hosted by the staff and researchers of all the island’s extension offices and research stations. She toured the Captain Cook and Lalamilo Experiment Stations; the Kona Experiment Station, where she got to taste a strangely turpentine-flavored berry; and the Kona and Kamuela Cooperative Extension Service offices. She sampled delicious blueberries and consorted with cattle at Mealani, and ventured to the verdant Upper Hamakua Experiment Station. Then it was on to Komohana, Waiakea, Malama-ki , and chilly Volcano, to drink locally grown and processed tea and learn about these Experiment Stations. All in all, the tour was a feast for the senses as well as the mind.

You Go, GoFarm!

Screen capture from video on GoFarm projectAUH News video report on the GoFarm Hawai‘i program is now up on theUH system website. The video describes how the program, which is part of the Community College Career Training program (C3T Hawai‘i), mentors students in a process of ever-increasing immersion in the life of farming. CTAHR faculty and staff are partnering with farmers for the 18-month-long program that will, it is hoped, add many more farmers and agricultural workers to the Island landscape.

Down With Diamondbacks

Studying diamondback moths with crucifersThe diamondback moth (DBM) (Plutella xylostella (L.)) is a pest of crucifers such as cabbage and broccoli that can severely damage crops and render them unmarketable. The moth is difficult to control because it readily grows resistant to insecticides, and CTAHR Extension professionals have worked with commercial crucifer crop growers on an insecticide-resistance management program since DBM’s insecticide resistance in Hawai‘i was discovered in 2000. Thirteen years later, DBM Insecticide Resistance Management (IRM) team members Robin Shimabuku, Randy Hamasaki, and Jari Sugano (all PEPS) , Ronald Mau (PEPS emeritus); Jensen Uyeda (TPSS); Steve Fukuda (TPSS emeritus); Ming Yi Chou, and Sharon Motomura (Hawai‘i County Extension) are continuing field and laboratory bioassays to evaluate new chemical classes for the IRM rotation program and monitor resistance levels to chemicals in the current statewide DBM IRM program at least twice a year. Managing and tracking insecticide resistance in commercial areas is an important component in sustaining Hawai‘i’s crucifer crop industries, which are themselves important to the Islands’ food security.

New Publications

Ginger Woes

Ginger rhizomesTroubled by yellowed, necrotic ginger? You’ll need to check out the new website about bacterial wilt of edible ginger, a serious pest that has substantially reduced the economic value of ginger in the state. The project to research management options and educate the public on how to deal with the disease is led by Susan Miyasaka (TPSS); other collaborators include Linda Cox (NREM), Scot Nelson (PEPS), Bernard Kratky (TPSS emeritus), and community stakeholders. If your ginger is wilting, don’t delay—check it out today!

Fire in the Pacific

Guinea grassNREM faculty Douglas Cram, JB Friday, and Creighton Litton recently published “Fire and Drought in Paradise: Say It Isn’t So, Smokey,” in a special issue of the journalRural Connections focusing on drought and wildfire. The researchers point out that what with volcanic activity, anthropogenic ignitions, and the increased growth of non-native species such as Guinea grass, wildfire is not only increasing in the Islands but can have particularly damaging effects. When an area is burned, they explain, the native plants often are destroyed, and invasive species grow in the fill the space. The newly established Pacific Fire Exchange is working to figure out what can be done to reduce the risk and damage of fire.

Fabulous Fiber

White and whole wheat breadMaria Stewart (HNFAS) just published an article in Nutrition Reviews on“Dietary Treatments for Childhood Constipation,” especially the use of increased fiber to combat the condition. She points out that although “eat more fiber” is a common recommendation, its efficacy has been insufficiently studied, and knowledge gaps remain, including how much fiber is the right amount and even what exactly a “whole grain” is.

Help our community to keep in touch! Please send news items -- awards, grants, special projects, special people -- and pictures to Frederika Bain atctahrnotes@ctahr.hawaii.edu.

Do you have an upcoming event that you'd like to promote? CTAHR faculty and staff can post events to theCTAHR website's calendar.

All CTAHR Notes readers canbrowse the calendar to learn more about the college's activities.
CTAHR faculty and staff can always check out the latestnew funding opportunities athttp://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/Site/FundingOpp.aspx

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