Projects offered to selected students in 2003 were:

Dr. Patrick Takahashi, Hawai‘i Natural Energy Institute: “Blue Revolution” Integrated systems for ocean farming.

Dr. Boryann Liaw, Hawai‘i Natural Energy Institute: Electrochemical characterization of enzyme fuel cells.

Dr. Eric De Carlo, Department of Oceanography: Impact of runoff on coral reefs.

Dr. Robert Bidigare, Department of Oceanography: HPLC analysis of pigments produced from marine photoheterotrophs grown in continuous culture under different light cycles.

Dr. Monto Kumagai, Department of Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering: Isolation and functional characterization of cDNA clones from organisms isolated from the marine environment.

Dr. Graig Glenn, Department of Geology and Geophysics: Quantifying submarine groundwater discharge in Kāne‘ohe Bay, examining the impact of terrestrial fresh water seepage into the bay by collecting water samples from benthic domes and from the water column.

Dr. Edward Laws, Department Oceanagraphy: Phytoplankton ecology, aquatic pollution, aquaculture.

Dr. Michael Cooney, Hawai‘i Natural Energy Institute: Establishment and maintenance of animal/bacterial symbioses, pathogenicity of marine Vibro spp. flora in shrimp larvae production in Hawai‘i.

Dr. Grieg Steward, Department of Oceanography: Genetic characterization (16S sequencing and phylogentic analysis) of marine Vibrio spp. isolated from Hawaiian shrimp larvae.

Dr. Jeffrey Polovina, Department of Oceanography: Population dynamics of tunas, turtles, and other apex predators. Using instruments to collect data on their forage and migration habits, often using satellite remotely sensed oceanographic data.

Dr. Mike Fulle, Hawai‘i Institute of Geophysics: Magnetic properties of ocean sediments.

Dr. Mark Rognstad, Hawai‘i Mapping Research Group: Marine instrumentation, acoustic/optical remote sensing of the seafloor, remote operating vehicles.

Dr. Gordon Grau, Department of Zoology: Environmental physiology and comparative endocrinology.

Dr. Jo-Ann Leong, Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology: The generation and analysis of the gene data from coral cDNA libraries generated from corals undergoing exposure to different stressors.

Dr. Jim Cowen, Department of Oceanography: Hydrothermal plumes and assessement of microbial population size.

Dr. Thomas Hemscheidt, Department of Chemistry: Natural products chemistry, isolation and characterization of antimicrobials from marine bacteria.

Projects offered in 2004 were:

Dr. Patrick Fu, Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering: Grow marine cyanobacteria Synechocossus sp. WH8102 for integrated bioprocess development and metabolic engineering purposes.

Dr. Gordon Grau, Zoology: This project, entitled “The Search for Homeostasis”, will focus on developing a better understanding of the mechanisms that govern osmoregulation and how these relate to the regulation of growth and development, including reproduction.

Dr. Monto Kumagai, Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering: Isolation and functional characterization of cDNA clones from organisms isolated from the marine environment.

Dr. Theresa Lewsi, Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology: (1) Aquaculture vaccine development against Cryptocaryon irritans, (2) Coral disease assessment in Hawai‘i, (3) Population genetics in black pearl oysters (Pinctata margaritifera) using the amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) PCR-based technique and microsatellite analysis.

Dr. Jim Liang, Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering: To study the production of anticancer drug cryptophycin by cultivating micro-algae Nostoc sp. ATCC 53789 and GSV 224.

Dr. Qing Li, Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering: The overall objective of this project is to demonstrate a new concept of assessing gene regulation and protein expression via metabolite profiles in the marine bacterium Streptomyces tenjimariensis.

Dr. Boryann Liaw, Hawai‘i Natural Energy Institute: Enzyme-based electrochemical systems.

Dr. Michael Cooney, Hawai‘i Natural Energy Institute: To test the hypothesis that biofilm-free, biological surfaces in shallow waters of O‘ahu produce water in-soluble chemical compounds that control biofilm formation, this project will screen water-insoluble fractions extracted from biofilm-free marine biological surfaces for their ability to control or inhibit the formation of single species biofilms.

Dr. Petra Lenz, Pacific Biomedical Research Center: To define the physiological, environmental, and hydrodynamic parameters required to design a semi-automated system that can cultivate adult copepods (Acartia fossae and Bestiolina similis), collect and preserve their eggs for future use as a food source for finfish ornamentals.

Dr. Anne Alvarez, Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences: To characterize the role of microbial biota as causative agents of disease in shrimp larvae production systems, with a specific focus on identifying specific pathogens pathogenic and the environmental cues that trigger their virulence within marine hatchery systems.

Dr. Greg Ravizza and Jane Schoonmaker, Geology and Geophysics/Oceanography: An opportunity exists for a MSURF summer student to participate in a project to reconstruct the paleohydrology of an alpine lake (Lake Waiau, Big Island of Hawai‘i) using oxygen isotope variations preserved in diatoms.

Dr. Bruce Applegate, The Hawai‘i Mapping Research Group: To characterize shallow water geomorphology and processes.

Dr. Grieg Steward, Oceanography: To isolate and characterizing viruses and bacteria from the coastal ocean.

Dr. Guang-yi Wang, Oceanography: Metabolic engineering of microbial hosts for the production of industrially valuable marine natural products using both of rational and random design strategies.

Dr. Geno Pawlak, Ocean Engineering: To obtain real-time observations of the physical and biogeochemical character in the nearshore coral reef environment.

Dr. Spencer Malecha, Human Nutrition Food and Animals Sciences: Development of sex-ratio control technology in aquacultured marine shrimp and freshwater prawns.

Projects offered in 2005 were:

Paul Bienfang: Ciguatera fish poisoning.

Grieg Steward: Prophage-encoded toxins in human pathogenic bacteria isolated from coastal seawater.

Margaret McManus: Material fluxes in Southern Kaneohe Bay: Impacts of physical oceanographic process on primary production and community structure.

Quing Li: Biodegradation of Dinitrotoluene by the marine bacterium Pseudoxanthomonas sp. JA40.

Michael Cooney and Petra Lenz: Modeling flow fields in a novel air lift reactor.

Quangyi Wang: Optimizing Hydrogen Production from Metabolically Engineered Strains of Escherichia coli and Applications to Marine Bacteria.

Jian Yu: Identification and Sequencing of Novel Biopolyesters in Marine Bacteria.

E. Gordon Grau: Modulation of Growth Hormone Actions by Gonadal Steroid Hormones in the Tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus.

Rob Toonen and Brian Bowen: The ecology and ecological impact of the invasive soft coral.

Rob Toonen and Brian Bowen: Connectivity among coral reef organisms in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands.

Michael Rappe: Cultivation of Marine Bacteria for Pharmaceutical Screening in Kaneohe Bay or surrounding coastal Hawaiian waters.

Teresa Lewis: Fish vaccine development against the parasite Cryptocaryon irritans.

Fenny Cox: Connectivity of Pocillopora meandrina populations: genetic and oceanographic approaches.