The week of April 9th was a busy one for the Oceanit Ohana as colleagues went out into the community to support and promote technology, science, and innovation to students & teachers from all over Hawai’i. Oceanit is a strong advocate for developing the future tech industry and economy in Hawai’i, which starts with students in our local schools, their teachers, and valuable STEM mentors.
Oceanit’s Ohana were on-hand presenting technology, hosting workshops, and speaking with students at the Hawai’i STEM Conference, the Kamehameha Elementary School College & Career Fair, and 2018 Girl’s Summit. The activities were all informative and engaging opportunities to interact with Hawaii’s students, demonstrate some of what Oceanit does on the leading edge of innovation, and inspire those students to pursue their aspirations in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
On Tuesday and Wednesday (April 10-11), Oceanit exhibited our Augmented Reality Sandbox at the 2018 Hawai’i STEM Conference in the Hawaii Convention Center. Hosted by Women in Technology, students came to Honolulu from across the state with many traveling from Maui, Lanai, Kauai, Molokai, and Hawai’i joining their peers from Oahu. Oceanit engineer, Grant Tokumi, showed off Oceanit’s Augmented Reality Sandbox at the STEMworks Playground to demonstrate how coastal erosion, rainfall, and rising sea levels can affect coastal communities. There were over 1100 Participants from across the state of Hawai’i including over 500 Students from 100+ Public and Private Middle and High Schools Statewide. 300 Teachers also attended the event which had over 140 industry partners and local sponsors.
The AR sandbox was a big hit with students of all ages – even high school seniors spent time modeling landscapes and simulating how flooding and run-off would affect their models. Coastal resilience and sustainability will become an increasingly pressing issue across Hawai’i in the coming years and the AR Sandbox was a great way to spark interest in how we protect, build, and sustain our local communities – statewide and beyond. Read more about the Augmented Reality Sandbox here.
On Thursday (April 12), Oceanit attended the KES College & Career Fair at the Kamehameha Schools Kapālama Campus. Students from grades 1-5 had the opportunity to meet people from many local businesses and learn about the various professions that exist in Hawai’i. Electrical Engineer, Erin Horner, took Oceanit’s novel cooling vest to show off to the students. This ‘liquid cooled garment’ is being developed for people operating in extreme heat environments, to help them maintain a cooler core temperature while remaining mobile.
The material used in the vest helps to increase and optimize the transfer of heat so that the person wearing the vest can stay cooler, longer. These kinds of cooling vests are common in auto-racing, athletics, hot industrial environments, firefighting, and much more – but past solutions have not always been mobile (they must be plugged in to a battery or coolant source) or efficient at transferring coolness (insular materials). Oceanit is working to improve current technology and was happy to show it off to the students at Kamehameha Elementary School.
On Friday (April 13), Oceanit’s Altino Coding team held workshops at the 2018 Girls’ Summit at the Patsy T. Mink Center for Business & Leadership (MCBL) located within the YWCA, Oahu. The team, Sumil Thapa, Ian Kitajima, and Ravi Pare presented workshops on Altino coding & Design Thinking for 85 young women from The Priory, McKinley High School, and Farrington High School. The Girl’s Summit is an inspiring & informative one-day gathering for girls of all backgrounds to network with leaders in the community.
Through multiple workshops, the young women explored different career fields and were introduced to important skills such as Design Thinking (a human-centered creative problem-solving process), Coding (using Altino, a coding platform using autonomous cars, meant to be effectively utilized in lesson plans to make coding interactive, inspiring, and fun), and Financial Literacy & Advocacy. The Girls’ Summit contributes to the betterment of our local community by empowering the next generation of women leaders with confidence and leadership skills, as well as giving them the opportunity to explore exciting careers in technology and business leadership.
Oceanit was very happy to be invited to participate in all three events. We are committed to pushing the boundaries of Hawaii’s technology future so that our next generation is inspired, mentored, and encouraged to take the next steps in their learning. Mahalo to everyone involved in the organization and running of these events! Oceanit is thankful to have the opportunity to connect with our state’s teachers, mentors, and students.
