Ocean engineering students develop custom solution for monitoring Lahaina waters
The students tested the water sampler as a part of the Hawai‘i Ocean Learning and Observing K-PhD Academic Integration (HOLOKAI) run by the University of Hawaii Marine Center aboard the R/V Kaunānā.
Through an innovative new ocean engineering course at the University of Hawai‘i (UH) at Mānoa, graduate students created a low-cost water sampler that is aiding researchers in their efforts to monitor the impacts of the destructive 2023 wildfires in Lahaina, Maui.
The course, launched in Spring 2025 with funding from the UH Mānoa Strategic Investment Initiative and UH Manoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) Dean’s Office, was driven by a dual purpose: to address community concerns that require technical or engineering solutions and to satisfy student’s significant drive to get hands-on experience solving real-world problems.
“This effort was a win-win,” said lead instructor Camille Pagniello, assistant professor in the Department of Ocean and Resources Engineering in SOEST. “Students got real, end-to-end design-and-build experience in marine instrumentation while also delivering a new tool to the scientific community that helps democratize ocean science.”
Pagniello and the five students in the inaugural cohort teamed up with Andrea Kealoha, Nick Hawco, Eileen Nalley, and Craig Nelson, all faculty members in the SOEST Department of Oceanography or Hawai’i Sea Grant, who have an ongoing project monitoring water chemistry, reef health, and fish populations in waters off Lahaina.
“Traditional ship-based or diver-based sampling methods are time-intensive and fail to capture short-term changes in seawater chemistry,” said Kealoha, assistant professor in the Department of Oceanography. “Automated water sampling technology can greatly expand our understanding of ocean chemistry by increasing the frequency and the spatial coverage of sampling efforts. However, it is often expensive, hard to use, and unreliable in the field.”
The sponsoring scientists challenged the students with a mission: design a low-cost water sampler for coastal monitoring that can be deployed in the ocean and autonomously collect seawater. The design criteria required that the device have a simple user-interface and the capability of collecting 6 to 10, one-liter water samples over a 36-hour period. The device also needed to be assembled and operated by individuals with no engineering background.
Working together, and mentored by Pagniello, the students successfully designed and built a water sampler that satisfied all the requirements and cost approximately $800 for the base model. Their cost-effective solution allows scientists to measure key carbon chemistry parameters such as pH, and offers the flexibility to substitute various components to expand its use for measuring trace metals and organic material.
The students tested the water sampler as a part of the Hawai‘i Ocean Learning and Observing K-PhD Academic Integration (HOLOKAI) run by the University of Hawaii Marine Center this summer aboard the R/V Kaunānā. The result of their collective efforts is a device that is widely accessible, designed with completely open source software and a build guide available online so that anyone can build the water sampler.
Expanding students’ passion and potential
“The hands-on experience was incredibly meaningful, as I think working and learning in a practical setting allowed me to develop skills that I wouldn’t normally have through traditional lecture, or laboratory-style courses,” said Cameron Richardson, SOEST oceanography graduate student.
“The experience in this project, from meeting with collaborators and discussing design requirements to using hardware tools to actually build the autosampler, was extremely valuable and showed me that I am capable of much more than I thought,” added Kaja Reinhardt, SOEST ocean and resources engineering graduate student. “I enjoyed the class so much that it led me to completely change my research focus to ocean instrumentation.”
This course is doing more than just teaching ocean engineering principles; it’s training a new generation of engineers who are community-minded and capable of addressing complex scientific problems with practical and affordable solutions.
“This class was one of the most meaningful experiences I’ve had at UH,” shared Maliheh Gholizadehsarvandi, SOEST ocean and resources engineering graduate student. “It showed me that I could take on a real-world challenge from start to finish, even though I felt overwhelmed at first. With Camille’s support, I gained confidence in handling complex problems and learned to enjoy the process. Seeing our project become something real that could benefit the community was very rewarding, and the teamwork and final presentation were definite highlights.”
Building on success: A call for community partnership
The success of the water sampling project proves the value of connecting student innovation with local needs. Pagniello will be teaching the course again in Spring 2026 and is interested to hear from the community about problems that could benefit from a technical solution.
“The next cohort of ocean engineering students is eager to partner with local researchers, community groups, or organizations on their next design-and-build challenge,” Pagniello emphasized. “We welcome ideas from anyone with any affiliation, in any sector including academia, government, industry, non-profit organizations, community groups and individuals. We encourage people to connect with us, even if their idea is not fully formed!”
To share your interest in partnering with the Spring 2026 students, fill out this Interest Form for Sponsorship of a Class Project.