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

Effective October 23, 2020, RCUH’s micro-purchase threshold (MPT) for purchases made using federal contract funds is increasing from $3,500 to $10,000. The MPT for federal contract funds is being raised to meet the $10,000 MPT for all other funds (e.g., federal grant and cooperative agreement funds, non-federal funds), because the $10,000 threshold was recently adopted by the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR). The $10,000 MPT amount now applies to all types of funds.

Revisions to the MPT have been made in the following policies/documents:
• Policy 2.103 Request for Quotation (Sections I.A.; I.B.)
• Policy 2.106 Sole Source Purchase (Introduction; Section I.D.1.)
• Policy 2.107 Exempt Purchase (Introduction)
• Policy 2.110 Cost or Price Reasonableness (Sections II.A.; II.B.1.)
• Policy 2.201 Purchase Orders (Sections II.D.)
• Attachment 28 Procurement Checklist

Also effective October 23, 2020, the simplified acquisition threshold (SAT) for requirements in Policy 2.111, is being increased from $150,000 to $250,000 for federal contract funds, as the $250,000 amount has also been adopted by the FAR. The policy is now entitled, “2.111 Purchases Over $250,000 (Federal Funds)”. The $250,000 SAT amount now applies to all types of federal funds.

Questions may be directed to Erin Yoda, RCUH Procurement and Disbursing Manager, at [email protected].

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.

In cooperation with the State of Hawai‘i Office of Enterprise Technology Services, we are pleased to announce two (2) added features. Effective September 22, 2020:

• Multiple files uploaded (before sending) will be automatically merged into a single document (Important: Load files in the sequence you wish them to appear in the final)

• Audit Report/History will be automatically attached as the last page when the PDF document is fully signed and filed (applicable to users with eSign accounts)

We hope these added features will improve efficiencies in your workflow.

Should you have any questions, please contact RCUH Corporate Services at [email protected].

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.

The RCUH Financial Portal is currently down due to a system error. We are working to resolve the issue, and we will post a message when the Financial Portal is back in operation. Until the problem is resolved, the Financial Portal cannot be accessed. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience. Thank you.

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.

The RCUH Financial Portal will be down for system maintenance from Thursday, August 20, 2020, 9:00 p.m. to Friday, August 21, 2020, 4:00 a.m.

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