The RCUH Financial Portal will be down for system maintenance from Friday, November 6, 2020, 4:00 p.m. to Saturday, November 7, 2020, 3:00 p.m.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your understanding.

Although we are not able to celebrate these outstanding individuals at our annual awards luncheon, we hope that you will join us in recognizing their achievements with words of support and encouragement online. Before we announce the awardees, we want to give a big mahalo to the Selection Committee (Coralie Chun Matayoshi, Nelson Moku III, Ray Soon), which had the challenging task of reviewing and rating all nominations.

Without further ado, here are the awardees of the 2020 RCUH Outstanding Employees of the Year Awards:

RESEARCHER / PROJECT MANAGER / PROFESSIONAL CATEGORY

FIRST PLACE: 

David Cohen
Aquatic Invasive Species Biocontrol Specialist
Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit
UH College of Natural Sciences

Nominated by Principal Investigator Shaya Honarvar

 

SECOND PLACE:

Michael von Platen
TCR Systems Programmer
Telehealth Research Institute
UH John A. Burns School of Medicine

Nominated by Principal Investigator Benjamin Berg

 

HONORABLE MENTION:

– Fritzie Celino-Brady, Laboratory of Fish Endocrinology and Environmental Physiology, UH College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources
– Serge Chastel, Pan-STARRS, UH Institute for Astronomy
– Stan Fichtman, Apprenticeship Programs, Kapi‘olani Community College
– Mark Huber, Pan-STARRS, UH Institute for Astronomy
– Dawn Namahoe Sidman, UH Hilo Research Office

 

PROJECT SUPPORT STAFF CATEGORY

FIRST PLACE: 

Yoshitake Nabeshima
Telescope Control System Technician III
Subaru Telescope
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan

Nominated by Principal Investigator Michitoshi Yoshida

 

SECOND PLACE: 

Hope Ronco
JIMAR PIFSC Research/Logistics Technician
Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research
UH School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology

Nominated by Principal Investigator Douglas Luther

 

HONORABLE MENTION:

– Mary Jo Riehm, UH Hilo Research Office
– Sean Tanimoto, Applied Research Laboratory at the University of Hawai‘i

 

TEAM CATEGORY

FIRST PLACE: 

Maunakea Weather Center
– Tiziana Cherubini
– Ryan Lyman

Nominated by Principal Investigator Steven Businger

 

 

SECOND PLACE: 

Applied Research Laboratory
– Benjamin Jones
– Joshua Levy
– Ted Ralston
– Aricia Argyris

Nominated by Principal Investigator Margo Edwards

Most people assume that hiking is a natural activity that anyone can do without training so it’s often taken for granted and workers aren’t often aware of or focused on the hazards from slips, trips, and falls. The objective of this 40-minute training is to teach you how to stay on your feet and be more in control when walking in the wilderness. You’ll also learn what to do if you slip or fall and how to report any injuries to your supervisor and RCUH.

This online training is split up into three modules:

• Introduction & Hiking Techniques (22 minutes)
• Slipping & Falling Techniques (8 minutes)
• Hazards & Injury Reporting (9 minutes)

The course is available in the RCUH Training Portal. If you need to request access to the RCUH Training Portal, please complete this form. To access transcripts for these modules, click on the “Additional References” tab in the course.

We want to give a big mahalo to the O‘ahu Army Natural Resources Program and the Ko‘olau Mountains Watershed Partnership, and all of our external reviewers who guided us with their knowledge and years of wilderness experience during the creation of this course.

It is our pleasure to announce this year’s nominees for the RCUH Outstanding Employees of the Year Awards. Congratulations to all of the nominees!

Researcher/Project Manager/Professional Category

• Fritzie Celino-Brady, Laboratory of Fish Endocrinology and Environmental Physiology, UH College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources
• Serge Chastel, Pan-STARRS, UH Institute for Astronomy
• David Cohen, Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit, UH College of Natural Sciences
• Stanford Fichtman, Apprenticeship Programs, Kapi‘olani Community College
• Mark Huber, Pan-STARRS, UH Institute for Astronomy
• Dawn Namahoe Sidman, UH Hilo Research Office
• Michael von Platen, Telehealth Research Institute, UH John A. Burns School of Medicine

Project Support Staff Category

• Yoshitake Nabeshima, Subaru Telescope, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
• Mary Jo Riehm, UH Hilo Research Office
• Hope Ronco, Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research, UH School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology
• Sean Tanimoto, Applied Research Laboratory at the University of Hawai‘i

 Team Category

• Applied Research Laboratory at the University of Hawai‘i (Benjamin Jones, Joshua Levy, Ted Ralston, and Aricia Argyris)
• Maunakea Weather Center (Tiziana Cherubini and Ryan Lyman)

The purpose of the outstanding employees awards program is to encourage, recognize, and reward RCUH employees who have made demonstrable, significant, and exemplary contributions to their project during the past fiscal year or years. Please look for our awardees announcement on November 2, 2020.

The RCUH Financial Portal is open and you may resume processing transactions in the Financial Portal.

On Thursday, September 10, 2020, the RCUH Financial Portal encountered a system error and was restored from a backup of Wednesday, September 9, 2020 at 11:59 p.m. Any transaction activity that occurred on September 10 has been removed from the RCUH financial system. This means that all purchase requisitions, payments and travel transactions that were created, modified, submitted or approved on September 10 must be recreated, resubmitted, or reapproved. Transactions that were in pending status are not affected, unless modifications were made on September 10.

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this has caused.   If you have any questions, please contact Maile Brooks ([email protected]) at 988-8340 or Ricky Fujioka ([email protected]) at 988-8346.

This advisory provides guidance to Principal Investigators and RCUH employees as project staff prepare to return to the workplace, and as the University of Hawai‘i starts the 2020 Fall Semester. All RCUH employees (including non-UH projects) will be required to:

• Complete the COVID-19 UH Employee Safety Training in the RCUH Training Portal
• Comply with their Facility/Building/Property Management rules and procedures
• Comply with State and County temporary or interim measures
• Comply with their project’s COVID-19 safety rules and practices

RCUH employees who work for UH projects, working on a UH campus/off-campus facility, and/or working in a UH-managed operation have an additional requirement to register and use UH’s Daily Health Check-In App. Click here to view/download the advisory.

The RCUH Training Portal will be down for system enhancements on Friday, August 21, 2020 from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your understanding.

*UPDATE 8/20/20: The RCUH phones at the Manoa Innovation Center are back online.

RCUH phones are currently down at the Manoa Innovation Center office location, affecting staff in Accounting, Project Administration, and Corporate Services. If you need to communicate with employees from any of these sections, please reach out via email.

If you’re unsure of who to contact, you may refer to the staff listing in the RCUH Financial Portal or Employee Self-Service, or you may contact [email protected] for assistance.

RCUH added 43 new online courses to the Training Portal, including courses such as:

• Presenting Compelling Proposals 2.0,
• Master the Art of Negotiating 2.0,
• Reducing the Spread of Infection 1.0,
• Managing Your Remote Workers 1.0, and
• the Little Life Savers series.

Click here to view a complete list of courses. If you need access to the RCUH Training Portal, please complete the online request form. You may also email [email protected] if you have any questions.