Dacuycuy & Itokazu receive ARCS Scholar Awards

The Honolulu Chapter of ARCS Foundation awarded 18 ARCS Scholar Awards to doctoral students in STEM fields at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. This year marked the chapter’s 50th anniversary, celebrated by increasing each award’s funding to $6,000. These unrestricted grants aimed to support professional travel, computer and research equipment, materials, and both educational and personal expenses.Among the awardees were:

• Saige Dacuycuy (Electrical Engineering), recipient of the Brezlaff Foundation ARCS Award. A graduate of Waipahu High School, Saige conducted groundbreaking research on liquid-metal-based reconfigurable intelligent surfaces to enhance cell phone reception.
• Jonathan Itokazu (Electrical Engineering), recipient of the Frederick M. Kresser ARCS Award. A Moanalua High School alumnus and National Guard veteran, Jonathan utilized polarimetric radar to create contactless sensors for medical monitoring and security authentication.

The ARCS Foundation continued to foster innovation and support the next generation of scientists and engineers through these prestigious awards.