Accelerating Research and Collaboration in the Age of AI: A Synergistic Workshop with Google

Hosted by the University of Hawaii & Google Cloud

Description of event

Accelerating Research in the Age of AI brings together University of Hawai‘i researchers and Google to explore how artificial intelligence is transforming research across disciplines. Designed with UH’s unique geographic context in mind, the workshop highlights how academic–industry partnerships can expand research capacity by improving access to advanced AI tools, high-performance computing, and specialized expertise.

This campus-wide program is intended for faculty, investigators, trainees, and students across biomedical, population, ocean, earth, and computational sciences. Through talks, discussions, and interactive sessions, participants will examine ethical and secure approaches to AI-enabled research, explore collaborative data-sharing models, and identify high-impact, interdisciplinary pilot projects.

Dates: March 25, 2026 from 8:00am to 5:00pm

Location: Sullivan Conference Center, University of Hawaii Cancer Center, 701 Ilalo St, Honolulu, HI 96813

Registration: Register using the link below. Space is limited. If you cannot attend in-person, please register to receive a Zoom link.

https://forms.gle/8DZf5yC1TUSnRjjRA

Call for Abstracts

University of Hawaii Students are encouraged to submit an abstract for poster presentations as part of the workshop. Judges will offer feedback and scoring for presentations and awards will be provided by Google to the best presenters.

The submission deadline is March 17 by 11:59pm. Poster presenters are required to attend in-person and stand next to their poster for judging during the lunch break. Submit as soon as possible as space is limited.

https://forms.gle/DxAD8Ni51T4kQL3F8

Agenda

8:00 AM
Registration, Morning Coffee, and Poster Setup

8:30 AM
Opening

Introductions by:

• John Shepherd (Chief Scientific Officer, University of Hawaii Cancer Center)
• Chad Waltman (Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation, University of Hawaii)
• Garrett Yoshimi (VP for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer, University of Hawaii)
• Haley Hendricks (Google Cloud Representative)

9:00 AM
Flash Talks: Great Challenges Across Disciplines

Peter Sadowski

Associate Professor
Department of Information and Computer Sciences, University of Hawaii at Mānoa

 

Decoding the Ocean Surface: Scaling AI for Sub-Kilometer Air-Sea Physics

Justin Stopa

Associate Professor
Department of Ocean and Resources Engineering at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

Justin E. Stopa is an Associate Professor in the Department of Ocean and Resources Engineering at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, specializing in ocean waves, remote sensing, and climate variability. His research leverages satellite technologies, such as altimetry and synthetic aperture radar (SAR), to quantify sea state characteristics and improve our understanding of extreme wave events and air-sea interactions. He employs machine learning to automate the classification of complex satellite imagery, translating high-resolution sea surface textures into actionable data for atmospheric and oceanic research.

 

10:30 AM
Keynote: AI Co-Scientist System and Gemini-Based Research Tools

Charlie Elliot

Lead of Rapid Innovation
Google Public Sector

 

10:30 AM – 1:00 PM
Lunch and Poster Session

Lunch is sponsored by Google Research.

During this time, presenters are asked to stand by their poster for viewing and judging. Three awards will be provided to the best posters.

1:00 PM
Deep Dive 1: Your Modern Research Toolkit

Francisco Gonzalez

Application Modernization Specialist Architect
Google Public Sector

 

2:00 PM
Deep Dive 2: Federated Learning for Global Collaboration

Tom Denton

Research Scientist
Google DeepMind / Google Research, Bioacoustics and Environmental AI

 

3:00 PM
Co-Designing Breakouts

Brainstorming sessions exploring challenging research problems and identify opportunities for cross-disciplinary collaboration. Three breakout groups will each focus on their own topic: AI for hypothesis generation, Google’s cloud tools, and Federated Learning.

Lightning Challenge and Synthesis

Breakout representatives pitch a 1-minute AI-augmented ideas from the breakout sessions. The group discusses.

4:30 PM
Vision, Summary, and Panel Discussion

Representatives will present the poster awards, summarize the key takeaways from the day, and identify a roadmap for future collaboration.