Learn a hei (Hawaiian string figures) with Renowned Kumu Hula and Scholar Dr. Kalani Akana10/5/2020
Our Research Team is featured in UH News for receiving a $50k research grant with Spencer Foundation9/25/2020
Hibernation mode, let's call this seven-month hiatus from blog writing just that: hibernation mode. I went through several transitions that in the past 2.5 years required my undivided focus to puka, emerge. Let's call the 2.5 years of absence: sleep mode. I do not need to explain myself, but that will not help the few that choose to walk a path of pursuing a doctorate in engineering with a similar life history as mine: first-generation, Hawaiian, from a rural community.
I have returned from po (darkness), and I will be revamping my website. I hope to use this platform to share my academic experiences to help others on their respective pathways. Although much of my silence derived from self-preservation and the need for the conservation of mana, I do not regret buckling down and getting it done. Now that I have reached the summit, earned my kulana (rank/title), I acknowledge not to forget my mau kuleana (duties/responsibilities). On Saturday, May 11, 2019, I participated in the commencement across which included a ceremonial draping of the robes on the Manoa Stan Sheriff stage. This final rite and ritual marked my transition from Mr. to Dr. Joshua Lelemia Irvine. I learned from friends that it would take me about a year to be maʻa (used to) my new name change. It's true: I still do not recognize when call me Doctor so-and-so. Slowly but surely I will adapt.
Since earning my degree, I have been on the go working on new collaborations.
At the moment, I am a lecturer at Manoa teaching CEE 421: Engineering Hydraulics. The most exciting news I have to share is that I have accepted a tenure-track position as an Assistant Professor of Physics at the University of Hawaii at West Oahu. There are no words to express my excitement to go home and teach.
NOTE THAT: I have a new email address: [email protected]. Please update your contacts. I made this change to mark my transition from student to professor. More importantly, Lelemia is part of my legal name. For those who prefer to go by their other legal name, the University of Hawaii system has a process to allow you to incorporate your preferred name within your accounts. Fill out the "Change of Name/Preferred Name Request" Form (https://manoa.hawaii.edu/records/pdf/name_change_preferred_name.pdf), then email the form to [email protected]. Read the instructions carefully if you qualify. The processing time was rapid, and the transition was seamless.
Here is to new beginnings!
It is official! I filed my dissertation on Monday, January 7, 2019, at 13:58 HST. Today, I was introduced by Dr. Harry Lee to my CEE320 lab students (Fluid Mechanics) as Dr. Irvine. My degree will officially confer in May, 2019. I look forward to this semester in preparing for my life transition: real life. I'm so stoked! If you know of any teaching or engineering/STEM gigs, please hit me up. Mahalo kakou for your continuous support! Love you all!
I am pleased to announce that my third paper, "Hydraulic design perspectives of bioswale vegetation layers: A meta-research theory", was accepted for publication with my co-author Dr. Albert S. Kim.
I am pleased to announce that on Monday, November 19, 2018, I passed my defense to earn my Doctor of Philosophy degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
I delighted to share that my first full paper, "Understanding bioswale as a small water and wastewater treatment plant: A theoretical review", has been accepted in Desalination and Water Treatment (Impact Factor, scimagojr, ranked 98th in Water Science and Technology and 45th in Ocean Engineering).
Dear University Student (a.k.a professional in-training),
You are receiving this letter as a friendly reminder on netiquette. Netiquette is defined as “the correct or acceptable way of communicating on the Internet” [1]. Social media and texting have evolved as an informal means of communication, but this writing style is not transferable to the professional world. In academia, there are norms on proper netiquette that you should adopt into your practice. This is important to apply when you write correspondences to faculty, staff, professors, and teaching assistants. My dissertation advisor always emphasizes to me that "the way you write significantly influences your future career." The absence of effective communication leaves readers to impute unfavorable impressions of your work. Here are some quick tips on email netiquette.
Feel free to take heed to this advice or not, but be aware that you run the risk of a delayed or none response. Thanks for your time and consideration! All the best, Your teaching assistant. [1] Netiquette [Def. 1] . (n.d.) In Dictionary Online, Retrieved August 29, 2018, from https://www.dictionary.com/browse/netiquette [2] Corcoine, D. (2018). "How to use gender pronouns". In Tean Vouge Online, Retrieved from www.teenvogue.com/story/how-to-use-gender-neutral-words [3] TSER (unkown). "Gender Pronouns". In TSER website, Retrieves from www.transstudent.org/pronouns101/.
In January, 2018, I had the privilege to participate in the Young Pacific Leaders (YPL) Conference at the East-West Center. They asked us to answer three questions regarding leadership. Here is a repost from the YPL Facebook page regarding my take "on leadership".
1. What does leadership mean to you? What’s the most important quality in a leader? Kaʻikaʻi means, depending on the context, to lift up, take up, to bear, to carry on, to lead. In this life, we all have our own huakaʻi, journey, that we go on that takes us on several different ala, or paths. This diversity of paths and (re)generative cycles by land, sea, air, and heavens in the plasmid, solid and liquid forms makes up our honua, earth, and what is beyond. As shared to me by my kūpuna (respected elder, a title bestowed and recognized by the community and not by the individual), named ʻAnakala Alika Silva, one way to say leader in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi (the Hawaiian language) is alakaʻi. As share by kūpuna to ʻAnakala to my sister (@aliahivine) and I (@Kumu_Lelemia), our kuleana (responsibility) in regards to leadership is to keep the path clean so our people can find their way back home and give the true light of our kūpuna. 2. What’s the most important issue facing young people in the Pacific? My generation is next to carry the mantle forward to the next generation. On our huakaʻi as young people in the Pacific, we will face good times and rough times before we reach better times. In the rough and calm times we will be tested to respond to the many grand and wicked challenges that we inherited today, and we create for tomorrow. It is up to us to change from within. An important issue (of many) facing young people in my region of the Pacific is bullying and suicide. 3. What are you most looking forward to about #YPL18? What do you hope to achieve by the end of #YPL18? I had no expectations entering the #YPL18 conference but hoped to make connections. Now that we are (re)united, I pray moving forward that we support and work with each other to keep the path clean so our people can find their way back home and give the true light of our kūpuna.
We are deep in scholarship season. Deadlines have passed and in some cases, letters of congrats/acceptance to degree programs, internships, jobs and other opportunities are beginning to trickle in. Yesterday, UH Manoa held a special thank you dinner to living donors of scholarships. We had an excellent speech from two students to our donors about what the award meant for them.
When you get the opportunity, here's some advice on what to do next:
When you get the opportunity (no matter how big or small), do not forget to express thanks to those who help lift you to that position. Also, pay it forward and do not forget to empower the next person behind you.
The City and County of Honolulu believes that "climate change is the most important issue of our era" (Mayor Kirk Caldwell quote). In 2016, Oahu residents overwhelmingly approved by City Charter the establishment of the Office of Climate Change, Sustainability, and Resiliency (OCCSR) to address and respond to the adverse effects from climate change.
Mr. Matthew Gonser, Coastal and Water Program Manager from OCCSR, gave a presentation to UH students, faculty and community members on "Assessing and Addressing Honolulu's Resilience in the 21st Century". The OCCSR is working to figure out how Oahu can be resilient. The city resilience frame work is based on 4 dimensions: leadership and strategy, health and well-being, economy and society, and infrastructure and environment which is further sub-divided into 12 drivers and 50 sub-drivers (Link to framework).
An example of an area of concern is stormwater runoff. They are interested in learning what actions can be done now to reduce non-point source pollution and peak-flow runoff which is a direct result from development, urbanization and increased use of impervious surfaces (i.e., pavement).
Lelemia and Shelby received poster awards at Pacific Water Conference of Hawaii Water and Environment Association (HWEA) and American Water Works Association (AWWA) conference. UH News
Post missile threat really got me pondering.
After the all clear, I am just grateful to be alive. Prayers answered.
After thinking about it for a day, I wrote a small poem--nothing fancy but something meaningful for me to mark this moment of vulnerability.
I count my blesses.
Snapshots to 2017
As you may have noticed, I have been in hibernation mode but active on my IG and Twitter every now and then.
In 2017, I grew overall and am grateful for all the love, support and prayers from my ohana/familia and community. I learned in 2017 to "never lose hope". A quick year review is based expressed in picture form.
I am looking forward to 2018.
Holomua!
|
Lelemia Irvine, Blog Author
Just giving a little Hawaiian style. Archives
April 2021
Categories
All
COPYRIGHT
© J. Lelemia Irvine. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without expressed and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to J. Lelemia Irvine with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. |