Connecting Learning, Life and Aloha
‘O ka ‘imi na‘auao, ke ola a me ke aloha kā kākou e huliāmahi ai

TCBES Symposium

TCBES Symposium Awards

Recognizing Outstanding Achievement at the TCBES Symposium

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UH Hilo Campus; aerial view Our goal is to increase undergraduate and graduate student participation in both the oral and poster presentation sessions. To encourage widespread participation, we are offering this event free of charge, and will be awarding prizes for outstanding presentations in various categories.

Whether you are a graduate or undergraduate student, resident or visiting faculty, or agency personnel, we invite you to attend, share and find out about the latest research in the community around you!

2023 Student Winners

Best 5 minute talks

  • 1st place: Brianna Ninomoto, "Rising coastlines: The future impact of sea level rise"
  • Honorable mention: Konapiliahi Dancil, "Developing Climate Resilient Restoration Techniques for Hawaiʻiʻs Lowland Wet Forests"

Best 10 minute talks

  • 1st place: Avalon Paradea, "Kuku Kapa and Pilina ʻĀina: Barkcloth-making and Relationships with Nature"
  • Honorable mention: Amanda Navine, "Advancing Endangered Hawaiian Bird Species Monitoring Using Bioacoustics and Machine Learning"

Best poster

  • 1st place: Lilly Thomey, "To Know, You Gotta Go: Surveys for Maui Nui Land Snail Species, Habitats, and Their Conservation Status"
  • Honorable mention: Sydney Lyn Lewis, "Into the Wormhole: Assessing associations between Christmas tree worms (Spirobranchus corniculatus) and coral health conditions"

2022 Student Winners

Best 5 minute talks

  • 1st place: Noah Hunt, "Nature's Playlist: On Shuffle" (mentor: Patrick Hart )
  • 2nd place: Lily Gavagan, "Investigations of unknown 'Aio Limu' (Annelida: Polychaeta) through microscopic morphology and untargeted metabolomics via LCMS" (mentor: Karla McDermid Smith )
  • 3rd place: Emma Stierhoff, "Mingling with (avian) malaria" (mentor: Patrick Hart )

Best 10 minute talks

  • 1st place: Stephanie Mladinich, "Pockets and pathways to invasion: Monitoring avian disease-carrying mosquitoes in the face of climate change" (mentor: Patrick Hart )
  • 2nd place: Darrian Muraoka, "Understanding human-induced waste within and through storm water runoff in Hilo, Hawai'i" (mentor: Lisa Canale )
  • 3rd place: Sofia Ferreira, "Prediction of photogrammetry-based habitat complexity using a trait-based approach on coral reefs in Guam" (mentor: John Burns )

Best poster

  • Akara Phongsuwan, "Parrotfish populations at Puako, Hawaii: Surveys of fish abundance and feeding activity" (mentors: Tim Tricas (UH Manoa Zoology) and Karla McDermid Smith )

2019 Student Winners

Best poster

  • Kayla Caliboso, Leeward Community College Undergraduate Student (mentor: Helmut Kae)

Best 5 minute talk

  • Nicolas Vanderzyl, UH Hilo Undergraduate Student (mentor: Steve Colbert )

Best 15 minute talk (Undergraduate)

Best 15 minute talk (Graduate)

Best Poster Honorable Mentions

  • E. Escobar and K. Agnoias, UH Hilo Undergraduate Students (mentor: Stan Nakanishi )
  • M.R. Morrissey and M.L. Webber, UH Hilo Undergraduate Students (mentor: Stan Nakanishi )
  • Valeria Alicea-Colon, Leeward Community College Undergraduate Student (mentor: Helmut Kae)

2018 Student Winners

Best poster

  • Tyler Branco-Hedke and Tiana Enos-Dano

Best 5 minute talk (TIE)

  • Ashley Pugh
  • Jared Nishimoto

Best 15 minute talk (Undergraduate)

  • Brandie Colwell

Best 15 minute talk (Graduate)

  • Rose Hart