Chaminade University, in partnership with the United Nations, recently hosted a three-day conference to discuss sustainability issues impacting Hawaii and Pacific Island nations. Event co-organizers, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General Nikhil Seth and Chaminade University Provost Lance Askildson, spoke with Pacific Business News on ways in which the state can be more sustainable.
The local United Nations sustainability center based on the Chaminade campus, CIFAL Honolulu, has taken a few concrete steps toward helping future businesses address the sustainable development goals of the U.N., according to Askildson. One of these is investing into data science.
"When you talk about addressing energy, agriculture or any of the sustainability challenges facing businesses in Hawaii and the economy in Hawaii today, it requires more analytical techniques to make sense of massive amounts of data," Askildson said. "Our data science programs, of which we have several, are being integrated into this larger initiative."
Geospatial data analytics techniques, such as analyzing drone images and satellite images, can be used to find solutions for more efficient usage of land, and a better understanding of how to utilize solar, wind and wave technologies, he said.
"The goal is to really give local constituents, particularly those who are underserved or marginalized populations, advanced data analytics techniques so they can analyze data and make evidence-based decisions to move their economies, their businesses, their social policies in the right direction," Askildson said."...It's that type of analytics technologies that we're training students from all walks of life to be able to utilize and deploy in their professional roles that I think will make an enormous difference for Hawaii."
The center recently received a $10 million grant from the National Science Foundation to invest into data science careers, as previously reported by PBN.
CIFAL is also focused on creating credentials, or certificates in order to develop a concrete curriculum to prepare people, and indigenous people in particular, to be entrepreneurial and incorporate sustainable business practices, according to Askildson.
"The task is huge. It's not just in Hawaii, but we need to have a blueprint that is much wider and deeper to be able to get to where we want to get to very soon," Seth said.
