$160,000 donation supports Hawai‘i’s future engineers

Civil and environmental engineering students testing the strength of beams.

Civil and environmental engineering students testing the strength of beams.

Hawaiʻi construction company Nan, Inc. has donated $160,000 to fund the Nan, Inc. Scholarship in Engineering at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa College of Engineering. The donation will financially support Hawaiʻi’s future civil and environmental engineers.

“We are so grateful for Nan, Inc.‘s generosity to help support our civil and environmental engineering students in such a significant way,” College of Engineering Dean Brennon Morioka said. “The construction and civil engineering industry plays such a huge role in Hawaiʻi‘s economy that the importance of providing a sustainable pipeline of quality engineers into our workforce is so critical for our way of life while also providing good paying jobs for our local residents right here at home. We are fortunate to have Nan, Inc. as a partner in our efforts.”

“As a local company with most of our engineers having earned their degrees at the University of Hawaiʻi, these scholarships are a little way of helping out some of Hawaiʻi’s future engineers,” said Nan, Inc. Founder Nan Shin. “Although probably not known to many, several members of our leadership team (Fooney Freestone, president; Ryan Nakaima, vice president; Frank Okimoto, vice president) are alumni of UH’s College of Engineering. It is my hope that this gift will help its recipients achieve their full potential.”

Civil and environmental engineering focuses on the activities of people and their interaction with the environment. A civil engineer conceives, plans, designs, constructs, operates and maintains man-made public works, such as buildings, roads and waterways, as well as earthworks.

FULL CAPTION: Photos from College of Engineering Professor Ian Robertson’s class. The students are testing the strength of the beams they poured with a very large piston. They're aligning the piston so that it sits just right on the beam. As the piston gradually increased pressure, cracks began to form, and the students traced the cracks as they appeared to see just how they were crumbling under pressure placed at center mass.

__________________________________________________________________

Nan, Inc. was founded in Honolulu in 1990 by Nan Chul Shin, stemming from the modest dream of a young entrepreneur hoping to help Hawaiʻi build its future. Nan, Inc. has grown to become the state’s largest locally owned and operated general contractor, with the capacity and expertise to execute the most complex projects. Specializing in preconstruction, general contracting, and design-build services, we at Nan, Inc. are committed to carrying forward the tradition of delivering excellence, operating with integrity, and being mindful of our clients’ needs in every project, while providing safe, rewarding, and growth opportunities for our employees. Learn more at nanhawaii.com.

The College of Engineering at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa is dedicated to world-class education and research. We produce the entrepreneurial and innovative human and intellectual capital required to be competitive in an increasingly technological and global society. Through our graduates and our research, we provide people and discoveries to transform lives and to support vibrant, knowledge-based economies. We are inspired by the principles of sustainability and resilience, flavored by our unique island environment.

The University of Hawai‘i Foundation, a nonprofit organization, raises private funds to support the University of Hawai‘i System. The mission of the University of Hawai‘i Foundation is to unite donors’ passions with the University of Hawai‘i’s aspirations by raising philanthropic support and managing private investments to benefit UH, the people of Hawai‘i and our future generations. www.uhfoundation.org

For more information, visit: http://www.uhfoundation.org