Honolulu, Hawaii, United States
PROGRAM: Education

With the support of the Graduate Student Travel Award, I went to the 18th Annual Hawaii International Conference on Education (HICE) in Honolulu, Hawaii. Honolulu is located on the island of Oahu, which is nicknamed “the gathering place”. The HICE gathered more than a thousand participants representing more than 27 countries. Through this 4-day conference, I was able to meet scholars from all over the world, attend sessions focusing on STEM education, present preliminary results of my own dissertation, and have fruitful talks with people with various background.

My presentation was scheduled with other three groups in a one-and-a-half-hour session about STEM education. Because one group was not there and I was the last one to present, when I started, I had more than 40-mins left in the session. Surprisingly, because of people’s interest and heated discussion within my presentation, I actually used all the time left. The experience was wonderful and showing the importance of my study and other studies that UD is doing. Another unforgettable experience during the conference happened during the breakfast time on the 6th. I had a conversation with Dr. Kobayashi, an associate professor in the Agriculture Department at the University of Hawaii. His research on space farming was very interesting. He was also involved in a program that taught middle school kids how to build a space similar to Mars and grow plants in it. His passion in stimulating kids’ interest in STEM also encourages me to continue my research in STEM education. At the end of our discussion, he said he was looking forward to visiting UD someday in the future.

I am grateful that the Graduate Student Travel Award provided the opportunity for this unforgettable and beneficial experience.