Um and do you have any questions for me? Because I I was listening to the other um earlier ones and I'm like I don't have that kind of detail. But I think we're more like the preschools. I mean a lot there's lots of need out there. Um, and we we don't always spend all of our money. A lot of it is out there beating the bushes. Um, and a lot of it is promoting. And we have a couple of members um me members on our commission that are specific around, you know, and and are experienced around marketing. And we know that's um some of our um important things is to get um the news out because there's so many great people out there doing um service and volunteering and they don't even know about the resources that are available to them. So, Kayala um our um our executive with um this um group um we had a little bit of a of stabilizing over the last maybe four, five years.
Um, and we're in a position now where we're trying to grow and get out there putting in putting in procedures and processes um, so that we can have a lot of the same things you're talking about with earlier boards um, so that there is process, there's transparency, there's communication and there's um, information. So that's a lot of the work that we have been doing. >> Thank you very much. and Mar and Maria, I really appreciate your willing to volunteer. And I want you to know that all of the people that have come forward before us today and coming forward after you, all volunteers on these boards, they don't get paid for them. And so without all of the volunteers, I don't know that government could operate.
So I don't really have any questions. I have two points I just want to state in your questionnaire. I loved it when we asked uh please describe the work you've done during your current term and contributions you believe you've made to the commission and you said studying the commission's work by doing the work. Amen. Just do the work. Right. I know I hear that from my my legislator from Y and I. You said just do your work. And then you go on to say in my opinion sometimes we get bogged down in process and it's important that we still need to continue to uphold our accountability. So, you know, great words. Uh, appreciate that. Uh, so with that, members, I'm open.
Any questions? Senator Dort, >> I just wanted to say thank you so much for your willingness to serve. Um, I think we all have the like-minded approach to be boots on the ground, to be in the room, and to show leadership. Uh, uh, do as I do, not do as I say. And I think that's going to reflect in, uh, the changes and the shifts that need to take place moving forward, uh, in that in that group. So, thank you very much, >> members. Any other questions?
Hearing none, thank you again. Have a great day. We are moving on to GM802 and this is submitting for consideration uh the confirmation through the board of directors of the research corporation the University of Hawaii known as RCU. Um David Carl for a term to expire 6:30 2029. And just a little bit about RC if you're not familiar with them. Uh the research corporation of the University of Hawaii is a public instrumentality attached to the University of Hawaii that supports and advances research training knowledge disseminated in public in to in the public interest governed by an eight member board of directors. The corporation operates under the board's general management and control with members drawn from the uh border regents, gubanatorial appointees representing research and business sectors and legislative appointees along with a non- voting exofficial uh research official. The board oversees RC broad and statutory authority to manage research activities, gifts, and coordinate research efforts that contribute to education, innovative and economic development across the state.
And one of the key areas or the key things that the board um enjoys is they are exempt from procurement which often leads to some of the conflicts uh will probably come out in questions. And so with that uh we have Leonard Goa Jr. in support and Dylan Armstrong also in support of David Carl GM 802. Anybody else wishing to testify on this measure or on Zoom?
Hearing none, we'll have um nominee, please. >> Aloha, Mr. Carl. >> Aloha. >> Good afternoon, >> Chair Kim, Vice Chair Kadani, members of Fukunaga Court, Hashimoto. Uh thank you very much for inviting me here today and spending time uh with all of these nominees. Um, I wanted to say that uh the the board of RCU uh consists of eight members as chair Kim just told us and they represent different sectors and the seat that I've been nominated for is a a seat that represents a university-based uh research scientist. And I would like to thank uh Governor Green for nominating me for this uh for this prestigious uh chair. And I I wanted to just uh briefly review um my uh experience and uh why I might be considered as a nominee for this position. I I started at the University of Hawaii as a faculty member in 1978.
So I'm in my 49th year of service. I'm still an active faculty member. I've been conducting uh publicly funded and privately funded research all of my uh academic career. I've trained graduate students. I've taught formal classes. I've developed new curricula. And RC over the years has helped me by uh helping to procure uh resources and uh expend those resources for my research. I'm an oceanographer, so I do complicated research. I've been to Antarctica 23 times. And oftentimes when you do field research as I do, uh you need an organization like RCU that has these uh exemptions from procurement that the chair just mentioned. Uh if you're stuck in Ushua, Argentina, and you need to procure something that's vital for your research, uh it would be impractical to go through the current procurement uh procedures of the state of Hawaii. So RC has a important mission.
um they have put research on the map in this state. They have helped with economic development uh workforce training and education and research. So thank you once again for uh for your efforts. I want to thank you also. Um and certainly u you know the whole intent when RC was um um imagined and part of it was that we wanted to be able to allow research uh to go forward and not be bogged down u by procurement and so in that sense um it serves it's been serving us well. Uh the issue that I will bring up is that from time to time RC has been used as a conduit to get around procurement um by the university. Uh which troubles troubles me troubles many of us. Uh a good example is uh RC was used to build West. Did you know that? >> Oh, I know that.
Yes. I I should have said I' I've been a board member since 200 uh 2020 and I served as the chair of the board for one one term, one one year term. So yes, I'm I'm fully aware of the controversy over uh construction and uh that is in the past. I I would hope um the RC board, the current board and the recently uh um completed board members have been very cognizant of this issue with the construction and and uh it's not uh I don't I don't think you'll see a repeat of the West Oahu um debacle. >> Okay. But we've seen a repeat of something similar um that more recent is the early clinical trials that was run through RCU. Are you familiar with that? >> Yeah, from the medical school. >> Yes. No, from the um cancer center. >> Cancer center. >> Um and the concern there is that when I asked the question for to uh the vice president Jan Goa and I said how come they didn't do it?
And um because when I asked RCU, I said, "So you did the procurement. So do you have a staff? Do you have people on the construction?" They said, "No." I said, "Where's the staff come from?" "Uh, so you use Django staff, uh's staff to to do all of this, but they're running it through RC." So you see the conflict there. and and the person that is the head of RC happens to be married to the vice president um that put the put the project at uh I mean at RC. >> Yeah, I didn't know about that part. I I I should say that the the current uh executive director, Lenny Gua, who uh just weighed in on my nomination, is um one of the most uh productive and um uh person of of very high integrity. and and I do know that they share a surname, but I didn't know any uh you know any kind of collusion between the two.
>> Well, I'm not saying there is collusion, but I said the appearance is there because why would you run a a procurement that you more than capable of doing because obviously you're doing it, but you run it through RCU to get the procurement exemption and you know there in lies a concern. Um so I I hope that doesn't I mean like you said that it wouldn't happen again but it has happened again after our um after West Oahu. Uh the other area that happened is um are you familiar with the XMBA program the executive MBA program that was run through RC. >> Oh yeah I'm very familiar with it. >> Yeah. Well again that's an area of concern that RC is not an entity to give degrees and it shouldn't be run through RC. Right. Yeah, I I I agree with you on that one.
>> Yeah, >> that should not have been run through. >> Exactly. And again, these things have come up. I've raised it and then luckily the some of the people there then nature didn't happen. The other one is all of the revolving accounts. You're familiar with that? >> They're no longer at the RC as you know, right? They've been returned to the university. >> But again, that that went on for years before it was fixed. So, I'm just hoping that the board be more proactive in looking at those kinds of things that, you know, it only gets fixed when we bring it up. And I only find out about it because somebody at the university calls me up and tells me these things, right? I have no other way of knowing it. So, there's complaints that come to me. I raise it and then sometimes it goes on deaf ears and nothing happens.
But luckily, there have been good people there who recognizes this is a problem and they fixed it. So, I've just raised that because those are concerns that we have with RC.
>> Okay, members, any questions? Senator Decord, >> thank you. Um, thank you very much again for your willingness to serve. I had brought this up during the info briefing in the beginning of the year where um your department had incurred some uh cyber attacks uh on very relevant information, social security numbers, those kinds of things. I have been um updated by your department that there have been serious measures that have been taken but maybe you can share with us uh a little bit on the record on um how this happened, how we are going to prevent it to happen and um have have we concerns about HIPPO violations, social security in this modern day of everybody getting scammed and those kinds of things. I'll go ahead and let you. >> Yeah, this is a terrible situation. When just to clarify, when you say my department, are you talking about the uh or RCA?
>> The the research the cancer the >> the cancer yes that's not my department. Um I'm in the oceanography department of the school of ocean science and technology. I happen to know about the cancer center only through my volunteer work on the RCO board. But this is a terrible situation and I so I don't know how it happened and I don't know if there are uh um if there are uh policies in place today that would keep it from happening again. But um you know we live in a different world than when I started at as a faculty member at uh and and I think we we can't be vigilant enough on on uh private information like uh medical records and social social security numbers. >> RC is basically um the entity that the grants and monies come and they get into RC and then RC disperses it out um to the researchers and stuff like that.
So, but they did do the construction which is the part that I was concerned about. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else wishing to ask questions? Senator. >> Yes. Kan. >> So, in question nine of the questionnaire, you stated a greater emphasis may need to be placed on public private research partnerships, translational science, engineering, and philanthropic. How do you plan to address this and what would be the role of the board? Yeah, I think you know RC is not a um a funding agency nor is it a uh an organization that proposes uh um uh projects for funding. But they do execute research projects and um I think there could be a a greater role played by the board for providing opportunities for faculty members to do these three things that I mentioned. um increase uh funding for research through public private partnerships, increase funding through research through philanthropy and increase uh um through translational research that could lead to things like patents or other intellectual property.
And you know the the I I see RC as the as the collection of uh the research enterprise of the state. It's not just the University of Hawaii, even though that that is in the title. Other state agencies are eligible to use the services and expertise within the RC organization. So, we're really trying to um you know, build a a research enterprise where people work together and the sum is greater than the parts. And uh by doing these uh various um kind of non-traditional fundraising exercises, maybe we can raise the uh research funding from the 700 million a year that we have now, which is pretty phenomenal for a university the size of the University of Hawaii uh to over a billion dollars. That's our mark. That's our target per year. That that is peranum. >> Thank you. So that being said, then would you be willing to bring this up at the board to address this issue?
Yes, we we um I I think I mean it's just my own personal view. We need to be more proactive in the community. Very few people in the community know what RC is as an entity, what its role is. A lot of people maybe in the legislature don't even know that and certainly in the general public. So, you know, um I I'm a a big advocate of uh um public education and um especially in the science area where taxpayers and voters have to go in and make decisions on uh issues of science and technology and they really have very little training or experience. I think we could be a conduit for that kind of training. >> Thank you. You have about 2,00 2,500 employees, right? That's right. RC. So, it's a big entity. It's a big organization >> and two of their members on the board is from the board of regents.
And I say that because we have two new regions here which may not realize that um two of them do serve on the RCH board. >> Actually, we're honored to have the chair of the board of regents serving as the board uh representative on the board. We did revamp this board uh in past years. You had the president of the university sitting on the board and there was a huge conflict there on some of the decisions. Uh so that was changed and we had more uh uh border regions on the board and we cut that down to two because the influence shouldn't necessarily be them driving it. It should others driving it as well. But thank you for serving and your willingness to continue to serve. >> Thank you so much for your for your service. >> Thank you. Okay, we are now going on to our next GM which is still with the RCU is uh consideration and confirmation to uh RCU University of Hawaii gubernatorial nominee Michael Nedbong for a term to expire 6:30 2030 and uh he is on Zoom.