Honolulu, HI, August 6, 2025 – Today, Oceanit will host its annual Intern Innovation Summit, a private showcase of ideas, inventions, and technologies developed by the 2025 cohort of Oceanit Student Interns (OSI). The event will take place from 5:00 to 6:30 PM at Oceanit’s headquarters in downtown Honolulu, featuring interactive demos, presentations, and a behind-the-scenes lab tour.
Oceanit has run its internship program for 40 years, hosting over 700+ interns, mostly university undergraduate and graduate students in STEM fields. It’s an intense, immersive experience that exposes students to world-class scientists and engineers working globally in fields like aerospace, healthcare, energy, artificial intelligence, and advanced engineering.
Each intern is required to complete a capstone innovation project of their own choosing, focused on one goal: to make the world a better place. But there’s a catch. They must defend their idea in five slides in five minutes, followed by five minutes of tough questions, putting their creativity, technical knowledge, and critical thinking to the test.
In a “Shark Tank” style format, this year’s interns will pitch their projects to a panel of distinguished judges, including Representative Daniel Holt and Trung Lam of the Hawaii Technology Development Corporation (HTDC).
“Each year we see a transformation in these young people, many from the best undergraduate and graduate programs around the U.S.,” said Oceanit CEO and Founder, Dr. Patrick K. Sullivan. “It’s these young minds that will change the world. Our Intern Program isn’t just a summer experience—it’s a launchpad for Hawaii’s future innovators and a way to connect local talent to global opportunities.”
Over the past four decades, Oceanit’s Student Intern Program has launched hundreds of careers in science, technology, and entrepreneurship. Alumni have gone on to lead startups, attend top graduate schools, and join organizations like NASA, Tesla, Apple and leading universities. Many former interns also return to Oceanit as full-time team members, turning their summer experience into long-term careers in innovation. By growing opportunities for local talent, Oceanit is committed to enabling Hawaii’s brightest scientists and engineers to build meaningful careers at home, rather than leaving the islands for the mainland.
This year’s projects include everything from human-centered medical devices to software tools for social impact. The Innovation Summit is an invitation-only gathering, welcoming select community leaders, industry decision-makers, and key members of the media to experience the work of this next generation of talent.
The 2025 Interns and their Innovation Projects include:
Joseph Durstock is a Chemical Engineering major with a minor in Environmental Science at Ohio State University. His Innovation Project is called PROBE: Precision Nutrient Composting Sensor
Elvis Imamura is pursuing a dual degree in Mechanical Engineering and Data Science at the University of Rochester. His Innovation Project is called PUA: Passive Unity for Muscular Atrophy
Cole Nakamoto is a Materials Engineering student at California Polytechnic State University. His Innovation Project is called HEARS: High Entropy Alloys from Recycled Straps
Christian “CJ” Siador is currently pursuing a M.S in Computer Science at University of Hawaii at Manoa. His Innovation Project is called MADAR: Maintenance Anomaly Detection in Augmented Reality
Mairi Yoshioka is an Information and Computer Science major at University of Hawaii at Manoa. Her Innovation Project is called SATS: Service Animal Translating Suit
